Sadie Hawkins Day!  February 29, 2016

So we have been in St. Martin for two weeks.  We thought we would stay for about three days but for many reasons we kept putting the date for leaving off.

We have loved St Martin for many reasons but the first to mention are two friends we have made, and they are friends to any cruiser who spends time with them, Sally-Anne and Michael at Shrimpys!  A couple who have travelled the world sailing and settled now in St Martin providing friendship, advice and numerous services to cruisers.  It isn’t so much the services it is the friendship, advice and caring.  They have done it all and so have a wealth of advice to offer.  We are so glad that we became friends with them and visited every day.  We will miss listening to Mike every morning on Channel 10.  Saying goodbye this evening was sad.

If you yearn for true French baguettes, croissants and pastry….St Martin has so much to offer.  Wonderful restaurants and you can choose what you want to pay…from inexpensive to top dollar it is all here but we found good food at every price!  We rented a car for a day and toured the island, French and Dutch sides.  Beautiful beaches offering every water sport you can imagine or quiet bays to swim and snorkel.  Marigot on the French side and Phillipsburg on the Dutch offer very different European experiences.  The first is a charming harbor with open air markets daily, the latter is all beach front with a boardwalk experience.  Both are wonderful!  Nature offers much here in terms of sea life and wonderful birds, picturesque scenes and sunlit harbors. 

While we enjoyed all that the island had to offer we spent much time working on the boat.  Ken fixed our shower pump…omg what a luxury!  We now, probably most importantly, have an engine that starts and stops on command!  A ball valve that was an accident waiting to happen…corrosion abounded and given that it lead to an open seacock…I don’t want to think what the possibilities may have been…it is now fully replaced and installed with  preventive measures against future corrosion.  We cleaned out some of the bilge areas (yuchy areas under the cabin floor (sole) ) where there are pipes and tanks and sometimes water….on purpose water and not so on purpose water.  We did so much more…but that is living on a boat.

Tomorrow we head off again…hopefully St Kitts.  Got diesel, now add that to my list of not so pleasurable tasks…getting to fuel dock with 51 foot boat and only the two of us.  Ken at the helm, fenders out and me stepping off to tie us on.  Add to that the fact that this is our second dock and it too had waves, swells etc. to make it exciting.  Anyway we managed with no drama.

Here’s hoping we have fair winds and following seas!