THREE WORLDS, One Boat
It’s funny how oft en the islands of the Caribbean divide into neat groups of bite-sized cruising territories. It’s as if they were doled out by divine intervention like cookie batter on a baking sheet of azure waters.
Some of these convenient clusters, like the BVIs and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have a certain homogeneity. Other groups like St. Martin and its neighbors, Anguilla and St. Barts, are bursting with refreshing contrasts. Although within half a day’s sail of one another, these islands differ in language, customs, approach to yachting and even the daily pace—although their signature flavors all remain definitively Caribbean.
Having some idea what to expect, I decided I would heed that niggling feeling in my gut, that intuition that tells you “here is something special,” as I booked a charter to this contained corner of the Lesser Antilles.
ST. MARTIN
We may have boarded the plane headed to St. Martin, but we actually landed in Sint Maarten. The first spelling is French, the second Dutch, as befits an island with a split personality. Princess Juliana airport is on the Dutch side with its glide path over the world famous Maho Beach, where
