St. Martin, French side

Friday, November 20, 6:50 am.

We got into St. Martin early in the morning, I was asleep when the change in engine rpm woke me up, indicating maneuvers to anchor. We were in the Margiot Bay. We went ashore to clear customs and visit the town of Marigot, where they speak french and there are dozens of stores as the ones you would see in any big city. It was very hot, but I can't complain. We then left to sail to Pinel island, to the east. Getting there, we saw a wrecked sailboat on the shore, he must've hit the reef; it's sad to see this.
Once on Pinel island, we anchored near the beach, thanks to the shallow draft, we could be where other boats can't go. We swan tot he beach, located in a superb setting. The next day, we used to dinghy to go to Orient beach, on the other side of the bay. Part of the beach is nude and people are not shy to get a tan without lines. It's supposedly a world renown beach. The rest of the beach is filled with small restaurants that rent chairs and umbrellas in their small reserved space to the water. It's so nice outside, the perfect day to be on the beach.
This morning, we woke up early because we were touching the bottom, we shifted direction during the night and it's shallower. We are leaving for Philipsburg, the big commercial place on the Netherlands side, so that Jean can buy a dvd player. We will then be in the lagoon for a few days.
Internet is not readily available here, I've been told that the big telecom companies have gotten a law passed that restricts companies to get wirless signal outside of their walls, for us to have to pay... So to get internet, we often need to be clients of a restaurant. I'll try to put my pictures online before leaving for St. Barth.