STV ‘Christian Radich’ approaching the Galis Bay Pier for provisioning on Saturday.
St. Maartener Menyelec helping the crew with provisioning preparations.
MARIGOT--Norwegian Tall Ship Christian Radich, the first Caribbean Sail Training (CST) member vessel of the season to visit the island, left Marigot this past weekend after a five-day visit with crew visiting both sides of the island.
This was the third visit for the 73-metre (240 feet) long Christian Radich. The ship previously docked at the Philipsburg cruise ship pier a few years ago and last season, and for this latest visit she returned to the commercial port in Galis Bay, Marigot.
Around 80 crew members and trainees have explored the island during the ship’s visit and were welcomed at many restaurants, bars and shops.
“Many crew [members – Ed.] remarked that they had seen the hurricane devastation on Internet photos and videos and were impressed with the progress of cleaning and rebuilding made by the local community,” said Managing Director of the ship’s agent, Veerle Rolus. “In addition to the money spent by crew and trainees over five days, some 2,000 provisioning products have been delivered by several trucks of local companies to cater for the upcoming months of travel. This underlines the importance to the local economy of hosting these vessels by Port Director Albéric Ellis and his team at the Galis Bay Port.”
Rolus added she was delighted with the effort and services of all the local suppliers and wholesale companies who delivered most of the provisions as some of them had barely re-opened their businesses after the hurricanes. Many were working with damaged trucks, but everything went smoothly and on time.
Christian Radich is now sailing to St. Barths, Guadeloupe and Les Saintes, Grenada, Cartagena and Cuba and will return around February 15, 2018, to St. Martin before crossing the Atlantic again to Europe.
