Apr 1
On the Coconut Telegraph this morning, several boats indicated that they were moving to St. Maarten in the next day or two. At the end of the net, Lee from Allegro made an announcement that Simpson Bay Lagoon in St. Maarten was full and no more boats could come in. April Fool's.
We dinghied in to the boat yard and met Stephen the manager. We picked the exact day we will haul out as May 28th. Another piece of the puzzle becomes set. Stephen was very nice and knowledgeable about the workings of the yard and was very concerned with answering all of our questions. We learned that MoonSail will be stored right next to the marina office, so security shouldn't be an issue. After speaking with Stephen, we went to the marina office to meet Donna, the lady that I had been exchanging e-mails with. She was also very pleasant and introduced us to Festus, the manager of the whole marina/boatyard complex. He took time to make sure we didn't have any unanswered questions as well. I'm sure we will think of something before the haulout, but for now I think we have it under control.
We met Mike & Lynn and had pizza for lunch at a place in the marina complex. After lunch we went to the Epicurean grocery store to shop. We got enough stuff to last us a couple of weeks.
After returning to the boat, putting away groceries, and relaxing for a couple hours, we met back at the Foredeck for our last happy hour in Jolly Harbor this time around.
GPS N 17-04.327 W 061-53.295 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9931.
Apr 2
Mid morning we made a trip to shore to drop off our garbage. While there, Barb went to the marina office to swap some books at the book swap. We left the marina and dinghied over to the Customs dock to check out. We found very pleasant people there, but the same silly shuttling between the three offices several times to complete the process. While at Customs, we ran into Dave & Michelle on Daniel Storey. We hadn't seen them since they came through Grenada northbound before we left.
We went back to the boat and hoisted the dinghy in preparation for leaving for St. Maarten this afternoon. Our plan is to drop the mooring at 14:00, go to the fuel dock and fill up the fuel and water tanks, and then head out about 15:00. About 13:40, we saw our friends Chuck & Barb on Tussen Taak II motoring in towards the marina. I called them on the radio to see if they were going to the marina or the fuel dock. They were headed to the fuel dock. Chuck said they were getting about five hundred gallons, so that may take a while and delay our plan. About 14:15 we dropped the mooring and slowly headed in to the fuel dock. Tussen Taak II was still there, but it looked like they were finishing up. We drifted around the basin until they left and we pulled up to the dock. We got twenty-seven gallons of fuel and twenty-seven gallons of water. Must be our lucky number. We were off the dock at 15:10, just a little behind schedule. We hailed Seabbatical to let them know we were done, and they dropped their mooring.
The forecast for this afternoon and overnight is for winds about fifteen knots or less, and four foot seas. As we left the harbor, I put our full mainsail up. I waited to see what the conditions were going to be like a little ways away from the island before deciding about the foresail. As we got a couple of miles out from the island, we saw that the forecast was wrong as usual. The wind was blowing twenty to twenty-two knots and the seas were about six to eight feet in a confused state. The predominant waves were hitting us right in the side, and they were very shortly spaced, so we rolled side to side quite a bit even with the sail up. Since the wind was blowing more than we expected, I didn't put the foresail out and we continued to motorsail. A little after dark, we started having issues with the GPS and the auto-pilot. The GPS would loose it's satellite fix for anywhere from one to fifteen seconds. This in and of itself isn't that big a deal as long as the signal returns, but the beeping alarm is quite annoying. Then, the auto-pilot started going into standby mode with no warning. There was no beep or anything, it just turned off and you noticed the boat was changing course. The GPS issue happened every minute or two, with the longest breaks between alarms being maybe ten minutes occasionally. The auto-pilot was kicking off about three times an hour, but in totally random fashion. This meant whoever was on watch had to not only look for any lights in the distance, but continually keep an eye on the auto-pilot display. This and the bouncier than expected sea conditions made for a stressful passage. We took two hours turns on watch, trying to nap in between. By my last shift off between 04:00 and 06:00, I finally got used to the GPS alarm beeping enough that I actually fell asleep.
GPS N 17-04.327 W 061-53.295 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9931.
Apr 3
Shortly after dark last night, we had noticed a cruise ship on the horizon behind us. It was about three miles behind us when it hailed us on the VHF. The captain told us he was going to turn some and pass on our port side, about a mile from us. We thanked him for letting us know, and watched over the next hour as he passed us and went over the horizon to the south. At dawn, as we approached St. Maarten, we saw two cruise ships converging on Philipsburg, the main port of St. Maarten. One was clearly going to cross in front of us on his way to the port, with more than two miles between us. The second ship was further out. Adventurer of the Seas hailed us on the VHF and said he was needing to turn towards us to make his approach to Philipsburg. We told him to make his turn and that we would turn to port and pass behind him. He thanked us for our cooperation. We continued the remaining three miles to Simpson Bay, where we anchored at 07:30 to await the next bridge opening.
By the time we were anchored and had a quick bite of coffeecake it was time for the Coconut Telegraph. I checked in to let everybody know we made it safely to St. Maarten. I then also checked in with the Cruisehiemers net from the States. We got hailed on the VHF by Britt from Sea Otter. We haven't seen Britt and Teri from Sea Otter since last spring in Grenada. We also got hailed by Sol Y Mar who made the trip up here a few days ago.
At 09:10, we started to weigh anchor. I wanted to allow plenty of time in case we had any issues, since the bridge won't wait, and it only opens three times a day. We got the anchor up with no trouble and motored around slowly until 09:30. About five minutes before the bridge opened, a tug and barge that had been tied to a dock outside the bridge decided it was time to leave. This meant this guy pulled the barge through the dozen or so boats all milling around waiting for the bridge. Remarkably, he was out of the way just in time. The bridge opened at 09:30, and we were the first to pass through.
Inside the lagoon, we found Sol Y Mar, not far from where we anchored two years ago. Things have changed here somewhat in the past two years. The island of St. Maarten is shared by two countries. The Dutch control the southern half of the island, and the French control the northern half. Simpson Bay Lagoon is also split by the boundary of the two countries. When we were here two years ago, you could enter the lagoon through either the northern French Bridge, or the southern Dutch bridge. You could check in with either county and stay anywhere in the lagoon with no hassle. Last year, the Dutch got stricter about this and implemented new fees. There was always a bridge fee, but it was raised, and they implemented a fee for just being in the lagoon, either anchored or in a marina. The fee depends on the size of the vessel. Cruisers were up in arms about this, and a mass migration to the French side ensued. This year, the French implemented new fees, which includes a bridge fee which had not existed before, and an anchoring fee to anchor in Marigot Bay, but not in the lagoon. So the result is there are still lots of boats anchored on the French side of the lagoon, but most of the services are on the Dutch side. This means you have a longer dinghy ride to anywhere except Marigot. Since the fees are based on vessel size, and we fall into the smallest category, we decided we would anchor where it was most convenient for us (the Dutch side) and just pay the fees. It amounts to $10 US for the bridge fee and $20/week for the anchoring fee.
We got our dinghy launched and picked up Mike from Seabbatical. We went in to Customs to check in. It took a little while because there were several ferries and tour boat captains checking in or out at the same time. But, to their credit, the ladies behind the counter came out their side door and took personal boaters one by one and processed their papers without us having to wait for all the ferry captains.
Another boat we saw that we have not seen in over a year was Lone Fox. Ira, on Lone Fox, spent the first hurricane season we were in Grenada in Clarke's Court Bay Marina also. Lone Fox is a sixty-five foot wooden boat built in 1957. Ira lives on it, charters it, and races it regularly in the various classic regattas throughout the Caribbean. As we went to Customs, I stopped by and said hi. He was quite busy with his crew varnishing to get ready for the Antigua Classic Regatta in two weeks. He also has guests coming in this afternoon. We didn't keep him long and hopefully will see him again next week when he returns from a few days in St. Barths.
When I was back on the boat we had our celebratory arrival beverage. Since it was only 10:30 we made it Bloody Marys. We also each had a cold fried chicken breast that we had gotten before we left Jolly Harbor. This was our first food since lunch yesterday. (We tend not to eat while underway.) The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and sort of napping. I have trouble napping even when I'm dead tired, but I laid down and closed my eyes for about an hour.
At 16:30 we met Sol Y Mar and Seabbatical at the Yacht Club for happy hour. The Yacht Club is right by the Dutch bridge, so happy hour is an event watching the boats come and go through the afternoon openings. The bridge opens for outbound traffic at 16:30 and inbound at 17:30. I took pictures of Ira on Lone Fox as he left the lagoon. There were no mega yachts coming or going while we were there. At the Yacht Club we met several other boats. The first was Bob & Zan on Cheers. Mike & Lynn already knew them and introduced us. After an hour of chatting, we realized that we were both from Kemah. We started comparing notes and realized that we had been at their going away dock party. We had not met them before in Kemah, but were good friends of the guy in the slip next to them. Once we made the connection, Zan said she had been thinking all evening that she recognized me but couldn't remember where from. Small world. Next we met Ed & Sue from Angel Louise. It turns out they knew good friends of ours in Kemah also. They had traveled from Iowa to Kemah just to look at our friend's boat which was the same as one they owned then but have since sold. In continuing the small world events, I saw a guy talking to another couple that we didn't know but we were told they were from Texas. The guy looked exactly like an old dock neighbor from Kemah from when we lived in Portofino Marina. I went up and introduced myself, but it wasn't the guy. Cecil - now retired from NASA - if you keep up with our logs drop me a line. You have a twin running around the Caribbean.
We were getting hungry and decided to eat here at the Yacht Club with Sol Y Mar and Seabbatical. We pulled two tables together and Tom, an American working here as a waiter, took our drink orders. There was a nice selection of things on the menu, and Tom told us we could order anything from the dinner or lunch menu. Everybody agreed the food was very good, and we were also impressed at the service. There was no complaining about giving us separate checks, no problem making special requests on the orders, and everything came just as it should have.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 92. Total miles 10023.
Apr 4
I hosted the Coconut Telegraph this morning. Inside Simpson Bay Lagoon, there is lots of radio interference. I don't know if it is because of all the mega yachts or because we are only a mile from the airport. I was able to be heard just fine, but I was having trouble hearing people responding. I heard more than I expected to, and with the help of a couple other boats south of here relaying, we got the net done and almost set a record for the number of boats checking in.
After the net we dinghied up to Marigot at the north end of the Lagoon. There is a large market in Marigot every Saturday morning which has arts vendors as well as produce and fresh seafood. Our primary purpose of going to Marigot though was to hook up with Britt & Teri from Sea Otter. We haven't seen them in a year, and they actually delayed their departure from St. Maarten because they heard we were coming. Pat & Dori and Mike & Lynn were with us, and after wandering through the market a little, we went to a nice patisserie to get something to eat. The guys all got there first as the ladies were still looking at jewelry. I got a chocolate croissant and a glass of fresh orange juice. I was done with that by the time the ladies arrived, so I got back in line with Barb and got a salmon sandwich and a beer. I went from breakfast to lunch in a matter of fifteen minutes.
About 11:30 we said goodbye to Britt & Teri and walked into the main village of Marigot. Pat & Dori took off since they need to take a bus to Philipsburg to get some jewelry repairs done. Lynn and Barb were looking in some other shops, while Mike and I went to the marina where we left the dinghies and got a beer. Eventually the ladies joined us as did Fred & Kathy from Makai.
On our way back to our boat, we spotted another boat we know from Grenada. Ernie on Joat Mon spends winters in St. Maarten and summers in Grenada. He used to dock in the Simpson Bay Marina all winter, so we were surprised to see him anchored out. We stopped and knocked on the boat. Ernie came up and we chatted for a few minutes. He explained that he was anchored because he didn't want to pay the Dutch fee when he was in a marina. Can't say as I disagree with that.
At 16:30 we went to another boat we haven't seen in a while. Steve and Linda on Seaman's Elixir were also in the marina in Grenada during our first hurricane season. They invited us over along with Pat & Dori from Sol Y Mar, Bob & Lynn from Leap Of Faith, and Fred & Kathy from Makai. Everybody brought nice appetizers and we enjoyed catching up with Steve & Linda. After a while, the conversation amongst the guys turned to rum, and Steve told us he had quite a collection of sipping rums. He started pulling bottles out of several cabinets and we had an impromptu rum tasting. We had sips of ten different rums, including a thirty year old Mount Gay that can't be purchased anymore. I'm not much of a straight rum drinker, but these were all very old and very good and it was fun to try them all. Seaman's Elixir is a big catamaran, so it has lots more room than we are used to. Just hosting a group of eight people comfortably tells you a lot. The other thing it has is satellite TV, so we watched the two Final Four college basketball games while we were there. After the basketball games were over, the onboard games began as they recently got a Wii system. I have never seen a Wii before. While I'm not sure I would get hooked on playing with it all the time, the technology amazes me. If you're not familiar with Wii, you can play things like bowling or tennis, and the movement of the Wii control in your hand is sensed by the base. So as you swing your hand to throw the bowling ball, the character on the screen does the same. There were several games of bowling played, and several games of tennis. The fact that we could play a game like Wii inside the main saloon of the boat also gives you an idea of the amount of space there is on a large cat. We finally said our goodbyes and headed back to the boat. When we got home we were shocked to see that it was midnight. Time flies when you're having fun.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 5
I hosted the Coconut Telegraph again this morning and reception was a little better. I still needed a bunch of relays, but we got it done.
Our plan for today is to go to the Sunset Bar and Grill. The Sunset Bar and Grill is famous on St. Maarten because of it's location. It is right at the beach end of the airport runway. It is off to the side, so the bar itself is only affected by the noise made by the planes coming and going. But the attraction for those who have had too much beer to care about their personal safety is to stand behind a plane as it takes off. Some people stand right at the chain link fence and hang on for dear life. Some stand across the street on the beach and try to not get blown into the ocean. Most don't stay standing. It's something that is a lot of fun to watch other people do. We took a bus to the bar and got there just in time for the first arrival. The bar has a surfboard turned chalkboard stuck in the sand on which they write the scheduled arrival times of all the day's flights. The arrivals are impressive too. You see the landing lights of the plane in the distance and it gets bigger and bigger as it approaches. Sitting at the bar, we are only about two hundred feet from the end of the runway. The 737 and 757 arrivals from the US were cool but everybody was waiting for Air France. Air France runs a daily A340 flight here. An A340 is a big plane and it's the only daily wide body flight here. Right on time at 13:40, the Air France flight appeared on the horizon. People all ran from their seats to get out where they could get a shot of it. As I said, the arrivals were impressive, but the true nut cases here come for the departures. The first big plane to depart was an MD80, which isn't really very big. A bunch of people ran down the beach to stand right behind the plane. They got a lot of sand blasted on them, but they all survived well. The next plane was an American Airlines 757. This time there were even more people on the beach. The pilot held the brakes on the plane as he ran the engines up to full throttle. By the time he had finally released the brakes and rolled away, the people on the beach had literally been blown off their feet into the ocean. There were also a number of hats and other things blown a couple hundred feet offshore. After that there were fewer and fewer people standing on the beach as each plane took off. Being Sunday, we were treated to an extra good show because the once-a-week Corsair 747 came in from France. 747's are just incredible to watch close up. I'm still amazed every time I see one take off. When it landed, it seemed like it was pretty deep down the runway and the roar from it's reverse thrusters was heard at the bar. (We couldn't hear the reverse thrusters of other planes as by then they are a mile down the runway.) The bartender told us that a couple weeks ago, the Corsair 747 touched down right on the end of the runway, and that they were told to bring it in further in the future. In between all the fun of reasonably priced beer and airplanes, we decided to eat lunch. Barb had grouper fingers and I had an excellent tuna steak sandwich. The tuna was about an inch thick and cooked rare just how I like it. We stayed until both the A340 and the 747 took off. There were a few people who come just for the wide-body takeoffs and they were on the beach and hanging on the fence. I was impressed watching from the side as the huge planes took off. Once they were gone, we hopped a bus back to where we left the dinghies and went back to the boat.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 6
Happy Birthday Brother Bob! Today is my brother's birthday, although he has declared that he has stopped having birthdays. I sent him an e-mail this morning and got a response only because his flight from NY to Madison, WI was delayed because of snow. No flight delays for snow here.
Sol Y Mar is heading out today. They are going back to the States, and are trying to catch other friends to travel on to the US with, so they are in a hurry by cruiser standards. We met them and Mike & Lynn for lunch at Lagoonies, the restaurant at the Lagoon Marina. We had never seen this marina before, and had considered it as a place to stay for a few days while my brother is here at the end of the month. It's a nice laid back place, but we may look at other options just based on the dockage. The burgers were good though, as we had heard from other cruisers. They had sweet potato fries which adds to the goodness. We had hoped to do some internet stuff while here, but it turns out the internet is only for marina guests. So, after we were done eating we went over to the Yacht Club. We know they have wi-fi.
At the Yacht Club, we ordered beers and inquired about the internet. Turns out it isn't free, but it's only a dollar per half hour, so we each bought half an hour. Sol Y Mar and Seabbatical each had their computers. I just had my Skype phone since I just wanted to make a couple of calls. Unfortunately, if my Skype phone can deal with a internet connection where you buy a temporary userid and password, I couldn't figure out how to make it work. So I didn't make my calls, but Sol Y Mar needed more time, so I gave them my half hour. When we were done, we had hugs all around with Pat & Dori. As I have said before, saying goodbye to cruising friends is the hardest since you don't know if or when you will see them again.
We went back to the boats about 14:45. What Sol Y Mar didn't know was that Mike & Lynn were going to join us back at the Yacht Club at 16:15 to wave goodbye to Sol Y Mar as they went out the bridge. When the bridge opened at 16:30, we were on the deck waving and yelling goodbye. I yelled that they were lucky we didn't have any water balloons. They are off for an overnighter to the USVI.
While at the Yacht Club, we ran into a number of other people we know. Ira from Lone Fox came in first. We didn't expect to see him again until mid-week. We visited with him some before other folks came in and stole him away and us away. Next Martin & Vicky from Arto came in. We knew Martin from Grenada, and Vicky has joined him onboard since then. While we were talking with Martin, Kevin walked up. Kevin knows Martin, and is they guy who I mistook for our friend Cecil two nights ago. Kevin is on Exodus, and now that I have been properly introduced, maybe I won't mistake him for Cecil again. Next, a woman came up to Barb thinking she looked familiar. It turned out we had never met, but we knew their boat name. Dana & Adrianne are on On On. The first time we heard somebody call On On on the radio, we guessed they must be hashers. They are. We left the yacht club about 19:00 when there was just a hint of light left to get home without getting lost.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 7
We spent most of the day aboard reading and relaxing. At 15:30 we met Mike & Lynn ashore and rented a car. The car cost twice what one did two years ago, but it was still less than we have paid anywhere else on our way north this year. I think the lower price two years ago is probably because we were here two months later in the year, so the high season was over. Speaking of high season being over, more and more of the big boats continue to leave the lagoon. When we got here, the big marinas were about 75% full, and in less than a week, they are about 25%. When we were here two years ago in May, there was one big boat in the whole harbor.
Our reason for renting the car, and doing it late in the afternoon, is so we can go to Grand Case to the street fair. We were not aware of this event until we heard about it on the morning VHF net a few days ago. Apparently last week was supposed to be the last time this season they did it, but they decided to do one more. So this is our only chance to attend. We drove the long way around the northeast tip of the island to Marigot, and then on to Grand Case. We got there about 17:00, and the street doesn't get closed off and vendors set up until about 18:00, so we parked and stopped in the second bar we came to. The first bar was one that we have been to on at least two previous visits, so we passed it and went to the Zen Bar. They had a two for one happy hour going on and we each had two drinks. We had a nice view of the anchorage from our table, and we all agreed we had never seen as many boats anchored here as there are today. I'm not sure if it is because of the street fair, or maybe because the French charge to anchor in Marigot Bay now and not here. There were at least fifty boats anchored, and in previous visits I would say there had never been more than half a dozen.
By now the street was closed off and the art vendors were set up. We walked down the street with food in mind before art. There is an open patio area where several different restaurants have their barbeques and tables set up. The menus of the four places were all about the same, so we picked Germaine's for no specific reason. Mike & Lynn both had grilled fish and Barb and I both had ribs. It was all good, and they even had real Texas style BBQ sauce for the ribs. That's not something you find further south in the islands although they all have ribs.
After we ate, we walked the length of the street. The ladies were checking out the shops and artists with tables set up on the street, while Mike & I pretty much checked out the people. We got rum and cokes from a lady with a table on the street, and she was very proud to point out that she was using a high quality rum from the Dominican Republic. The DR seems to have found a good market in St. Maarten since everyplace serves Presidente beer and Brugal rum. There were two musical acts performing at opposite ends of the street. One was a four piece band with a female singer, and the other was a guy who sang along with pre-recorded background music. Kind of like karaoke but he knew the words. In between them was a marching band getting ready to play. They were a typical island band that you might see in a Carnival parade. There were two bass drums, at least eight other snare and tom-tom drums, one trumpet, one trombone, and a couple of saxophones. Once they started to play, they slowly marched down the street. The crowd had to part to let them through and the other bands took a break while the drummers did their thing.
At one point in the shopping saga, Lynn & Barb tried to elude Mike & I. To be fair, I should point out that Barb is not a shopper. But Lynn has enough shopper in her for at least two people, so Barb keeps her company on these forays. They stopped at one table for quite some time and seemed to be negotiating with the vendor. But eventually they came away empty handed. We went down the street a bit and they went inside a regular shop. While Mike & I were standing to the side, we saw them come out of the shop and hustle back up the street to where they had been negotiating before. They thought we hadn't seen them, but we had. In the end Lynn never did buy anything, but the hunt was fun.
We stopped in one more bar for a nightcap before heading back to Simpson Bay. As we entered the bar, we noticed a sign on the wall that proclaimed "Smokers Welcome". Sure enough, we were about the only people not smoking. Even though we were on an open patio facing the ocean with a good breeze, the smoking was still obvious. We've gotten used to the lack of non-smoking rules in the islands, so it wasn't really surprising, and since there was lots of air movement, it was a big problem. It was just interesting to see how many Europeans smoke compared to Americans these days. While we were enjoying our drinks, we noticed a guy at the next table stand up and take his shirt off. Then he took everything out of his pockets and went down the dock and jumped in the water. We thought it was an odd time and place to decide to go for a swim, but then we noticed a dinghy drifting out to sea. The guy swam to the dinghy and climbed in. We assumed it was his dinghy, but then instead of starting it and driving it back to the dock, he jumped back in the water and swam back towing the dinghy. The dinghy was a large, center console type that you normally find on large boats. He swam it back to the beach and tied it to something, then came back to his table where he sat down and continued to enjoy his drink. We didn't think about it a lot, but there was more to this story that we learned the next day.
We drove back to Simpson Bay and parked the car in the supermarket parking lot where there is lots of light. Our dinghies are just a couple hundred feet down from the grocery at what used to be Shrimpy's. Mike, a.k.a. Shrimpy, did not renew his lease last year when the landlord jacked the rent sky high. The place has set idle this season much to the cruisers displeasure. Fortunately, we are still allowed to use the dock to land our dinghies, but when you come back after dark, you have to walk around the long way to avoid the guard dog that gets tied to the old bar at night.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 8
About 09:00 we met at the dock to go drive around the island. We headed towards Philipsburg with our first goal being the Grand Marche supermarket. This grocery is the largest and most like an American supermarket in the Caribbean. It is always well stocked, it carries just about everything you would expect to find in the States, and it's huge. We found that we get the urge to buy stuff just because we can, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that we are only going to be on the boat for another six weeks or so and we need to get rid of all our food. We found Crest toothpaste, which we have never seen in the Caribbean. We got the couple of things we needed, like orange juice and Coke (and toothpaste because we could) and took off.
We took a road I had never been on before to skirt the north side of the Great Salt Pond and avoid the Philipsburg traffic. Our destination is the Butterfly Farm near Orient Beach. We found the Butterfly Farm with no problem. In our previous visits we have not stopped here. When we got to the entrance the fee was $14 USD per person. Our first thought was that it was a little steep and we were reminded of our experience two years ago when we went to an old plantation and were very disappointed after paying $14/person. But we ponied up the cash and stepped inside. We were told to wander around and that in about fifteen minutes there would be a guide in to explain things. The "farm" isn't very large, maybe a hundred feet square enclosed in a mesh sunscreen material to keep the butterflies in and predators out. There were lots of different butterflies flitting about. We took lots of pictures in the hopes that a few would be good poses. Eventually the main guy came out and gave his speech. He was Dutch and was quite entertaining. He explained how to make your own butterfly garden at home, wherever that is, although it may be tough on a boat. He also explained the life cycle of butterflies, showing us the chrysalis' and caterpillars. They keep the chrysalis' in a screen box until they hatch and once a day they open it to let out whoever hatched in the past twenty-four hours. We were all glad we didn't let the entrance fee turn us away, and we enjoyed the visit. We left just in time as two big tour busses of cruise ship people pulled up.
From the butterfly farm we went a short distance to Orient Beach. Orient Beach is well known for being a topless/clothing optional beach. The reality is that only a small area at the southern end is clothing optional, and there is a big sign to warn you lest you be offended. On the rest of the beach, topless women are a common sight, but not really any more than on any other Caribbean beach, especially on French islands. We were parked near the south end of the beach so we started walking north. There are more people on the beach than we have ever seen before. This is probably partly because we are here earlier in the season than before, and also because there are three cruise ships in Philipsburg. There were several boats anchored in the semi-protected southern end of the bay. One was a huge mega-sailboat. The weather has been quite settled the past few days, but even so the bay still rolls some, and there is a constant barrage of water toys racing around. I don't think I would like to anchor here. We stopped at the Bikini Bar for lunch. I'm not sure why they call it the Bikini Bar, because none of the staff were wearing bikinis. We enjoyed a good lunch and then walked back south to the car.
We drove south to Oyster Pond and stopped at Mr. Busby's Beach Bar, which is next to the resort where my brother's timeshare is. We sat at the bar and had a couple of drinks while we were entertained by a large group of people. This group was apparently from a cruise ship. The common denominator between them was that the guys all worked for the same company. The trip was some kind of reward deal and there were wives and kids along. It was obvious which guy was in charge because he was the loudest and had the money. There were at least twenty people in the group and the loud guy kept ordering lobsters until everybody had their fill. They had at least eight or nine large grilled lobsters, as well as burgers and other sandwiches for the kids. It was quite a show.
By 14:30 we were headed back to Simpson Bay. We have to return the car by 16:00. We dropped off the car and went to the boats, although not for long. On Wednesday's there is a cruisers happy hour at the Turtle Pier marina around by the airport. We got there at 17:00 and met lots of people we know and some we didn't. We saw Dick & Jane from Cheetah II, Fred & Kathy from Makai, Ernie from Joat Mon, Mike & Mary from Adagio, and Bob & Sally from Mariche. We met Hans & Hazel from Geode, whom we have heard checking in on the Coconut Telegraph for months, but never met. We also met John and Linda from Kool Kat who are from Houston and are just beginning their cruising on a catamaran they bought in the BVI. There was a very large crowd and many more faces that I know we have seen before along the way.
At 18:45 we were getting hungry and joined a parade of dinghies around to the Dutch bridge to the Lady C. The Lady C is an old wooden boat converted to a restaurant and bar. Wednesday is their all you can eat rib night. We both had ribs and visited some more with folks we know. There was a table next to us that overheard that we were on boats. They asked us to settle an argument between their son-in-law and dad about the size of the mega-yacht closest to us in the marina. The son-in-law said the boat was fifty or sixty feet max. Dad thought it was much bigger. I guessed it was between 250 and 300 feet. We found a girl at the bar who was crew on another boat in the same marina. She confirmed that Limitless is 276 feet long.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 9
We spent the morning aboard goofing off as usual. We had lunch aboard and then I joined Mike & Lynn ashore to do some internet stuff. We are constantly amazed by what we encounter in our travels as far as internet access is concerned. St. Maarten is by far the most developed island in the Caribbean. Yet there isn't anybody offering reliable wi-fi to the anchorage. We can see ten or more signals from the boat, but either they are secured or they won't connect reliably. Because of that, we took our computers in to Ric's Sports Bar where there is free wi-fi as long as you are buying something. We set up along with a couple of other people and started to do what we needed to do. The connection was fairly slow, and after about ten minutes we all lost the connection. We were twenty feet from the router, so wireless signal strength isn't the problem. We finally were convinced it wasn't coming back on it's own, so we mentioned it to the waitress. Apparently this isn't uncommon since she knew exactly what to do to reset everything. After the reset we were back online. One of the things I needed to do was make a couple of Skype phone calls. I found that the connection was so bad that having a conversation was impossible. At that point we decided to try the Yacht Club instead. The Yacht Club isn't free, but what good is free if it doesn't work? At the yacht club, I got a beer and purchased a ticket for online time. I got connected and made my calls with no problem. Guess we'll just come here in the future.
By the time we were all done with the computer stuff, it was 16:30 and time for the outbound bridge opening. So, we got drinks and watched the boats go by. We ended up staying until 17:30 to see the inbound opening too. There were two huge sailboats inbound, so it was fun.
I went back to the boat after the bridge. Barb had not come with me this afternoon because she wasn't feeling great, and when I got back she was feeling worse. Seems like she may have picked up a bug somewhere. I fixed myself a little dinner and let her rest.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.
Apr 10
This morning I did a few boat repairs. Most things that have gone wrong lately have just gotten put on the list of things to fix when we return to the boat after storing it. But there were a couple that had to be done. One was to reattach one of the trim tabs on the dinghy. Last time we hoisted it on the davits we noticed that the nut had come off that attached the gas shock to the tab. The repair was simply to put a new nut on, but doing this in the water while hanging over the back of the dinghy adds to the difficulty factor. I did accomplish the task without dropping either the nut or the wrench in the water. The next repair was to replace the gas shock on one side of the refrigerator lid. The refrigerator lids lift up from the countertop and are held open by a gas shock on each. The shaft of the gas shock had started to rust and was getting harder to close. This morning as Barb closed it, instead of the shock sliding closed, it jammed and bent the shaft. Fortunately, thanks to Dave from Pirate's Hideout, I have a spare. I popped the old one off and a new one on with no trouble other than having to take everything out of the fridge to get to the bottom end of the shock.
The rest of the day was spent aboard reading and writing. Barb is still not 100% but she is feeling some better. At 16:00 we went to the Yacht Club for happy hour and to watch the afternoon bridge opening. After happy hour we went next door to the pizza place adjacent to the Lady C for dinner. There were six of us, and the first thing we encountered was that the lazy waitress wouldn't do separate tickets for us. Now, those of you in the States may say "Of course they wouldn't", but in the islands it is a common practice. Most of the places we go are used to dealing with groups who are on separate boats, or couples who may be on vacation together. The waitress told us she would put all the prices clearly on the ticket so we could figure it out at the end. She didn't do that either. She also never smiled and seemed to be put out by having to be there at all. She had obviously passed her "How To Walk As Slow As Possible" course with flying colors though. To add to the frustration of this, there was an automatic 15% gratuity added to our check since we were six or more. I came close to making an issue of this with the owner, but didn't want to hold everybody else up. The pizza was pretty good, but I don't think I'll go back there again. I should point out that while they share the premises, the Lady C which has the great rib deal is a separate business from the pizza place. We'll be back to the Lady C again.
GPS N 18-02.429 W 063-05.610 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10023.