This morning, the guy on the radio (99.9FM) read an article from the local St. Maarten newspaper which said that last night, the police on the French side of St. Martin were evacuating people from the lower portions of the island near Sandy Ground.
Last night, we had lots and lots of boats wanting to pass through into the lagoon from Simpson Bay at 5:30pm. They closed the bridge at 6pm probably to let some of the cars to pass and then opened the bridge again for about 20 minutes at 6:30pm.
Quite a few more boats have gone into the lagoon at 9:30am and 11:30am this morning.
Right now outside the bridge in Simpson Bay where we are anchored (Wednesday, March 19, 2008 @ 12:15pm) it's not bad at all. It varies, but I'd say that the maximum swell we have had so far today would be a 2-foot wave. There's some surf on the beach which some kids are playing in. We'll let out some chain though just to be prudent.
At 8:00am this morning there was a report on the net from someone anchored in Marigot Bay on the French side of St. Martin. He said that they had about a 18-inch swell there...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PRBut aboard So It Goes... so far, so good!
357 AM AST WED MAR 19 2008
...LARGE LONG PERIOD SWELL TO AFFECT LOCAL WATERS THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON...
AN INTENSE WINTER STORM SYSTEM OVER THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC HAS BEEN GENERATING VERY LARGE LONG PERIOD SWELLS THAT ARE BEGINNING TO CROSS THE LOCAL WATERS THIS MORNING. THIS NORTHERLY SWELL EVENT IS EXPECTED TO PEAK OVERNIGHT TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING...CREATING VERY DANGEROUS AND HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ACROSS THE REGIONAL WATERS. MARINE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED TO IMPROVE SIGNIFICANTLY UNTIL THE UPCOMING WEEKEND.
