6 April 2008, Island Water World Marina, Simpson Bay Lagoon, St. Maarten
The halyards on the neighbouring boats keep waking us up in the gusting wind. The boats make all kinds of noises in the wind, muffled during the day but very loud at night. Strange at first, they become familiar after the first few nights. Every once in a while a rain squall comes through, bringing a whiff of wonderful cool air into the boat. The wind is unusual this time of the year. It surprised us getting out of the airport, almost bowling Tatiana over. A bit extreme, even for sailing. On top of it, no sailboats can get into or out of the Simpson Bay lagoon where Blue Moon is docked. In the strong wind the two bridges that connect the lagoon to the open ocean cannot be opened. And so there is an air of waiting around us, everyone taking time to fix whatever needs fixing before the next passage. I feel sorry for those that have come for a week or two of a vacation, but for us, time right now doesn’t seem to matter. Tatiana calls me “timeless” as I have given up on wearing a watch.
We spend our days provisioning, eating ice cream and exploring the island, while Kuno is putting up the dinghy davits and solar panels. Oh yes, and let’s not forget the obligatory fixing of the head (gasket failure), power outage (that I have caused) and a sundry of other usual sailor’s chores. Turns out he forgot a box with many of the fittings and right size screws for the davits. Uncharacteristically, this gets him quite flustered. It is a good thing that there is a marine store at the entrance to our dock. By now we have opened an account there to get a bulk discount, as Kuno keeps running for yet another gadget back and forth on a regular basis. But as of yesterday evening, the davits are up, solar panels are assembled (although not quite yet connected), sails are up, dinghy is in the water and generally things are looking up.
Kuno and I celebrated our 11th anniversary in style – French cousine on a Caribbean beach. For me, it doesn’t get much better. In fact the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin (belonging to Netherland Antilles and France) is fantastic that way. It has beautiful beaches, great food (I am finding European goodies in the supermarket that I haven’t seen since I was a kid) and tres chic French boutiques. Too bad the type of clothes that would look great here would look very strange back at home. And so I am just window shopping. And let’s not forget boat ogling. Next to the amazing selection of mega yachts, both sail and power, our beautiful 40ft Blue Moon looks like a little toy boat. But for us, she is starting to feel like home (a very small home as Tatiana keeps reminding us).
The halyards on the neighbouring boats keep waking us up in the gusting wind. The boats make all kinds of noises in the wind, muffled during the day but very loud at night. Strange at first, they become familiar after the first few nights. Every once in a while a rain squall comes through, bringing a whiff of wonderful cool air into the boat. The wind is unusual this time of the year. It surprised us getting out of the airport, almost bowling Tatiana over. A bit extreme, even for sailing. On top of it, no sailboats can get into or out of the Simpson Bay lagoon where Blue Moon is docked. In the strong wind the two bridges that connect the lagoon to the open ocean cannot be opened. And so there is an air of waiting around us, everyone taking time to fix whatever needs fixing before the next passage. I feel sorry for those that have come for a week or two of a vacation, but for us, time right now doesn’t seem to matter. Tatiana calls me “timeless” as I have given up on wearing a watch.
We spend our days provisioning, eating ice cream and exploring the island, while Kuno is putting up the dinghy davits and solar panels. Oh yes, and let’s not forget the obligatory fixing of the head (gasket failure), power outage (that I have caused) and a sundry of other usual sailor’s chores. Turns out he forgot a box with many of the fittings and right size screws for the davits. Uncharacteristically, this gets him quite flustered. It is a good thing that there is a marine store at the entrance to our dock. By now we have opened an account there to get a bulk discount, as Kuno keeps running for yet another gadget back and forth on a regular basis. But as of yesterday evening, the davits are up, solar panels are assembled (although not quite yet connected), sails are up, dinghy is in the water and generally things are looking up.
Kuno and I celebrated our 11th anniversary in style – French cousine on a Caribbean beach. For me, it doesn’t get much better. In fact the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin (belonging to Netherland Antilles and France) is fantastic that way. It has beautiful beaches, great food (I am finding European goodies in the supermarket that I haven’t seen since I was a kid) and tres chic French boutiques. Too bad the type of clothes that would look great here would look very strange back at home. And so I am just window shopping. And let’s not forget boat ogling. Next to the amazing selection of mega yachts, both sail and power, our beautiful 40ft Blue Moon looks like a little toy boat. But for us, she is starting to feel like home (a very small home as Tatiana keeps reminding us). 
Here is a picture of Tatiana in the pullman cabin – her “room”. Kuno was a bit incredulous when I was packing new polka dotted sheets, pink decorative pillows, neon green floor mat, bunch of Hannah Montana posters and what seemed like a full library of books (not to mention of Archie comics), but Tatiana’s exclamation “I love my room!” proved it was worth it. Tonight we went to see a local dance school production of Hairspray (only those with pre-teen daughters probably have an idea of what I am talking about). It was excellent – either that or the rum punch we had just before was very potent!Tomorrow is our last day before we take off from St. Martin. The wind is slowly settling down and the bridges are back to the twice a day opening schedule. Our “to do” list for tomorrow is still long, but experience tells us that on a boat the list is never done. Kind of like owning a house, except the consequences of something breaking are different. But by now we are keen to get going. By Tuesday, we should be on our way to St. Kitts.
