Sint Maarten.......still.

 

View of the lagoon from a high hill. The left half is the Dutch Side, the right half is the French Side.

Tuesday 11^th May, Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten.

Yup. Still here. Same spot. Our anchor chain has worn away a pizza-shaped patch of seagrass. We do actually have a plan to leave now though, probably late next week. Why are we still here, you ask, instead of off exploring the dozens of other Caribbean islands? A few reasons. Sint Maarten is awesome (see previous entry). We got ridiculously lucky and got our Covid vaccines so staying around an extra three weeks for the second dose was absolutely happening. Lots of islands are closed or have long quarantines. We were going to go to St. Vincent next but then their volcano started erupting. So we have accepted that The Universe has spoken and decided to just stay put until it's time to head back to Grenada for hurricane season. The superyachts have already all gone to North America or the Med leaving spookily deserted docks all around the lagoon. And our friends have started leaving, we had to finally part paths with Umnyama who we've been with since St. Helena.

Men delivering pontoons or pontoons delivering men?

So what have we been up to? Well the number one crazy excitement was getting vaccinated (didn't think that would be a trip highlight when we left Australia). It was a bit of a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment. Our friends had registered online, gotten an appointment and been vaccinated so we thought great, that's worth a try (even though they were Dutch and in an older age group). We registered but never got an appointment. Then we heard that there were two queues at the vaccination centre – one for people with appointments and one for walk-ins – so we thought great, that's worth a try. As we approached we were confronted by a very hostile police officer who had the vibe of “I'll be turning you away, I just need to figure out why”. Did we have an appointment? No, but we're registered! Do we have ID? Yes! How long have we been in St. Maarten? Uuuuuh, a few weeks? Hah! Got you! You need to have been here for at least six months (said in whatever the opposite of an apologetic tone is). So we scurried away, tails between our legs. Then more of our friends got vaccinated (including teenagers!!!!!) by arriving late in the afternoon and waiting to see if there were spare doses at the end of the day. Great, that's worth a try. We arrived, a little apprehensive, eyes peeled for the scary police officer. Then a delightful police officer emerged, explained (apologetically) that the first ten people in line would definitely get a vaccine but he couldn't guarantee that we would. No problem. We can wait (a skill we have honed in the Caribbean). Next a very enthusiastic and efficient nurse emerged and said “hands up who has an appointment”, hands were raised, “hands up who's having the shot”, Karl and I looked and each other, eyes wide and eyebrows raised, then shot up our hands. And that seemed to be that. There were a few more steps, some paperwork, some more waiting, checking our registrations (and passports, eeek, clearly showing we hadn't been here six months), moving up the queue, being invited into the main hall and allocated a chair, being greeted by wonderfully friendly and enthusiastic staff....still didn't believe it was going to happen.....and then a needle in the arm! Woohoo. Thank you so much Sint Maarten, we very very much appreciate this.

My big moment

A very grateful man

The second most exciting thing has been joining the yacht club. Yes, I know, we're no strangers to yacht clubs but this time we've joined for the purpose of actually sailing (although the 10% discount at the bar will not go to waste). One of the Heaven's Door crew is an avid dinghy sailor and sailing instructor so I went out with her on a two person dinghy and it was lots of fun. Then Karl and I decided we'd join the club and start taking out a little Laser Pico each. The sailing school instructor eyed us slightly suspiciously trying to figure out if it was safe to let us go (supervised by Ada from Heaven's Door of course). “What's your sailing experience?”. “Well”, said Karl thrusting out his chest, “we've sailed our 43 foot monohull from Australia”. She seemed unimpressed. “Any dinghy sailing?”. “Uh, we hired a hobie for an afternoon in Tangalooma resort once”. “Oh. You'll be swimming then”. And how right she was. So off we went, with Ada clucking around me and Karl like a mother hen. It has brought back strong memories of our early days learning to ski - Karl's using his typical approach of throwing himself at it (it took him all of 30 seconds before his first capsize) and I'm taking the slow and cautious approach (I have capsized once). But I reckon some day soon I'll be better than him. Tortoise and hare. Tortoise and hare. We've challenged the crew of Christina Too to a regatta next week. The skipper (male) came sailing with us and did really well and the chef (female) did dinghy sailing as a kid so I think we may be in trouble. Though I'm cautiously confident that the boys will push too hard, capsize left right and centre and then it'll be anyone's race.

My first ever dinghy sail

Going solo in the smaller Picos

"Capsizing Karl" in a rare vertical moment.

Number three most exciting thing (sadly) has been picking up all the packages we ordered through our US address. Every couple of days something else would arrive. At first it was all Karl's boring boat stuff (I was definitely not as excited as he was when his angle grinder arrived) but then my Clinique and Molton Brown started to trickle through until finally, the pinnacle, my new mini washing machine! Who'd have thought a domestic appliance could bring such joy. I'm in love.

Isn't she pretty? It's collapsible and after this I discovered it expands vertically by another 50%. Huge!

We've also been doing some work. Karl attacked our watermaker whose membrane was long overdue a replacement. After much running around looking for parts, an initial leak and many consultations and careful instructions from a wonderfully helpful South African at Electec the new membrane was in and ready to go. It's running right now in fact, making water, so we don't need the numerous trips in the dinghy with the jerry cans to the fuel dock across the lagoon. Another little victory. I've done some long overdue winch servicing. A new feature since I last serviced them has been the appearance of Karlhair furballs. That stuff gets everywhere!

Karl in the middle of taking the watermaker apart.

Mid winch service at the awful stage where you've taken it all apart and desperately hope you can get it back together again.

On the downside Dingo (the new dinghy) got a puncture. We got back from sailing one day to find the floor deflated (and suspicious blue markings on the tubes and a scratch on the oar as though there'd been some sort of incident that no-one's owning up to). The patch repair hasn't worked (due to the distinct lack of low humidity and temperatures below 25 degrees in this part of the world) so now we give a little pump before each trip. It keeps us busy.

Otherwise we've got a nice little routine down. We have our nice running route. We can pop across to La Partie Francaise whenever we feel the need for a civilised lunch but mostly we stick to The Dutch Side. There's been some socialising, some nights out, some comparing of beach bars and rum punches. We walked up to one of the highest points on the island for a nice view. We brought our bikes ashore and did a circumnavigation of the lagoon. We got my bike fixed (warped back wheel and dodgy gears and brakes) because there's a triathlon shop here that services bikes! And we hired a scooter and drove around the whole island just to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

Karl conquers Fort Louis in Marigot

View of Marigot bay from the fort

Scooter visit to Grand Case.

Karl won the cocktail competition at Grand Case

A nudist resort at Baie Orientale that was destroyed by hurricane Irma in 2017, the beach is still clothing optional so Karl indulged in his first bit of public nudity. He wasn't that impressed once the initial thrill wore off.

Dwelling, Simpson Bay.

How busy must this place be in non-covid times? Millions of empty beach loungers.

Karl breaks a small dog's heart.......

Awww.

Karl's officially favourite beach bar, Driftwood at Maho, right at the end of the airport runway. When Karl, Carlos (Mirniy Okean) and Carlito (Valentina) open their beach bar this is what it'll be like.

When you stand too close to the planes at takeoff you just can't get the sand off.

So the plan from here is to do a final bit of tourism across to Saba this weekend as that island has just reopened for vaccinated people (which we are, yippee!) and then set off for Grenada once we've stocked up on enough french goodies to keep Karl going all hurricane season. Then I'm headed back to Oz (fingers crossed) to work in Hobart from July to September, so any of you Aussies who are hankering for some “overseas” travel should come visit Tassie! It'll be great!

The good life.

The good stuff.

And a bonus video for you if you've lasted to the end. Karl finally succeeds in recording a new voicemail message after a gazillion fails. Moral of the story is the that the time to record a new message may not be after an unlimited cocktail Boozy Brunch at Dinghy Dock while wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/karl_oneill/albums/72157720025844114