Sailing.
Less than a week until I go. Can hardly wait to get the fuck out of this miserable parochial country with its pasty-skinned denizens.
Sailing from here (you may need to click through the fluff):
http://www.sunsail.com/brochure/bareboat/bareboat_maps.php?rescode=chlesm&view=base_overview&size=
You will notice the lovely reef protecting Oyster Pond from the Atlantic swell? Aye? Well, now imagine what happens when Big Swell meets Shallow Water. Yup, fucking wild!
"The channel out of Oyster Pond is not for the faint of heart! It is located on the east side of St Martin so it receives the full benefit of waves rolling in from Africa. In heavy seas (which we had for two weeks), you head out and make a sharp dogleg to port between two reefs that are covered in surf. With breaking surf to your right and left, you really, really do want to stay in the channel which allows you to exit with only the occasional wave breaking over the bow. Needless to say, you exit under full power and hug the three red sticks maintained by Sunsail. They provide a chase boat to lead you out and in just to be sure you find the channel. When we returned to harbor two weeks later, unknown to me, another boat decided to follow us in and a crew member reported at one point that she saw the boat on the crest of the wave behind us while we were in the trough (10 foot waves!), it's a sight she will never forget, burned in her memory as she put it."
(From: http://www.usual-suspects-sailing.com/adv-sherer-feb03.htm)
Sailing from here (you may need to click through the fluff):
http://www.sunsail.com/brochure/bareboat/bareboat_maps.php?rescode=chlesm&view=base_overview&size=
You will notice the lovely reef protecting Oyster Pond from the Atlantic swell? Aye? Well, now imagine what happens when Big Swell meets Shallow Water. Yup, fucking wild!
"The channel out of Oyster Pond is not for the faint of heart! It is located on the east side of St Martin so it receives the full benefit of waves rolling in from Africa. In heavy seas (which we had for two weeks), you head out and make a sharp dogleg to port between two reefs that are covered in surf. With breaking surf to your right and left, you really, really do want to stay in the channel which allows you to exit with only the occasional wave breaking over the bow. Needless to say, you exit under full power and hug the three red sticks maintained by Sunsail. They provide a chase boat to lead you out and in just to be sure you find the channel. When we returned to harbor two weeks later, unknown to me, another boat decided to follow us in and a crew member reported at one point that she saw the boat on the crest of the wave behind us while we were in the trough (10 foot waves!), it's a sight she will never forget, burned in her memory as she put it."
(From: http://www.usual-suspects-sailing.com/adv-sherer-feb03.htm)