THIS AND THAT

We're watching Manon and Jervais' progress on their boat La Bete. They have been working on her for the last five weeks. Hopefully they will be back in the water this week.

One spot we go to for provisioning.

We had a great time at Sunset Beach Bar. This bar is at the end of the International Airport. It is very popular as people stand right under where the planes arrive and take off. (and get blasted!!)

There are small planes and 747's arriving on a regular basis.

Noisy but fun.

We run into Jay and Jen (Rum Runner) with their guests at Happy Hour at the Yacht Club.

Derek and Cathy (Idle Island) have caught up to us again..so of coarse we have sundowners at the Yacht Club together.

HAUL OUT TIME

May 1st. MAY DAY. Marigot is the capital of the French side of St. Martin.

























View to the west from Fort Louis.













Fort Louis













View from Fort looking east.














Great meeting up with Pat and Carol again off Song Bird.











Our trip to Philipsburg....What an incredible change from our last time here in the early nineties.










May 10th We went treasure hunting and what a find.....Snorkeling, Randy found this piece of stainless.

May 11th; Happy Mother's Day.

0830 We are moving the boat through the French Bridge into Simpson Lagoon and prepare for tommorrow's haul out.

The bridge is very narrow and the current is 2 1/2 knots.

As the lagoon is really shallow we really took our time . During the past few weeks we had seen and heard that a number of boats had gone aground.

Lance the manager at Bobby's asked us to come into the dock stern first so we asked Kathy and Kerry to come over and help catch our lines. The winds were with us and Randy did fabulous steering.

Just to let you know this is our new boat---just kidding; she sure is pretty though. (We watched her go through the Dutch bridge while we enjoyed a sundowner.)

Randy's constant scrubbing of the hull has made a huge difference in it's state. Looks like a power wash and light sanding is all we will need to do before painting.

Thank you to Manie and Booige for doing the sanding and painting.

Last touch up where the supports were.

Back in the water.... Three days total. Amazing.

High States looking pretty off "The Witches Tit"

CARNIVAL

Kathy and I went by bus to Philipsburg to watch the Carnival parade. We were told the participants marched for seven hours. It took us almost two hours to watch. The costumes were dazzling.

Enjoy

St. Martin/ Sint Maarten- CALL IT $50.00

April 21st.

1500hours..Leaving from Virgin Gorda we went through Necker Passage as we wanted to see Necker Island. Necker Island is owned by Richard Branson, who wrote "Loosing one's Virginity"(highly recommend as a good read.)

1615hours..We've got our foresail out , traveling with the wind virtually on our nose, so we'll see how long we want this challenge. We are travelling between 5.5 and 5.8 knots.

2010hours. Incredible moon rising. we continue on our heading of 145* magnetic. Right now it's beautiful---not enough wind for the foresail, but the main is helping; the seas are a gradual swell.

Sorry picture did not do the moon any justice.

2100hours. All unnecessary power is off as the alternator is not working. Winds have died down.

2200hours. Engine off again; foresail out again and we're sailing at 4knots.
By 2300hours we're down to travelling at 2knots. At this rate it will take another 20hours. No thank you. Back on with the motor.

April 22nd.

0100hours. It's either getting colder or we are getting more tired. We spell one another off every hour from the helm. Where is AUTO?? Randy really only rests about 30 minutes at a time.

0700hours We're in Marigot Bay on the French side of St. Martin and by 0800hours we are anchored. The trip took 16hours.

St. Martin/Sint Maarten is approximately 7 miles square. It is divided in the middle, the northern section is French and treated as part of Guadeloupe;the southern section is Dutch and is part of the Netherlands Antilles. The French side uses the Euro or US funds while the Dutch uses primarily US and the Dutch Guilder.

Checking in to customs on the French side was very simple. We really felt welcomed to their country and they said we can stay as long as we want.

April 23rd.

We've moved in closer to shore to get out of the heavy boat traffic that seems to want to fly by us on a regular basis.

The pattiserie; La Lucriere, our favorite internet hang out with friends Kathy, Kerry, Yvon and Carmelle.

April 24th. We got our phone up and running--Took all day and such a frustrating time it was.--Too long a story to bore you with.

Towing Yvon so he can get his new dinghy motor.

April 25th. Randy replaced our alternator to-day.

April 28th. The last few days have flown by. We're amazed we haven't had much time to actually sight-see the island. We have gone over to the Dutch side a few times to the Yacht Club to watch the boats come and go through the bridge, we've done some hiking, plus dropped off our laundry.

Oh yeah the laundry. There is no where that we can do our own laundry, we must take it to a laundry service. Well,,,, 4 towels, a set of sheets, one cotton blanket, shorts, shirts and lingerie--probably 3 wash loads....cha-ching, cha-ching...$47.00U.S. MAY AS WELL CALL IT $50.

Randy retrieving our grocery cart that accidently rolled into the sea.

Once more saying good bye to Taima. Until we meet again.