March & April 2021 Saint Martin, Caribbean

It’s been a while since I’ve put pen to paper and honestly it feels like not much has been happening, I say that then I look back at the past month and we have had lots of fun days, it is still warm, but best of the water is a stunning turquoise blue and we are living on a yacht in the Caribbean, so maybe, "yes" I do have a story to tell. 

Although I feel this page is a bit like a Seinfeld episode, “it’s all about nothing” 

Examples of typical homes in Grand Case

We celebrated Craig’s birthday on the 13th March starting with Adam and Khiarra dropping in at around 9am with boxes and bags of delicious goodies, they had already walked the 40 minutes to the shops and back and there they were with arms full of treats and big grins 

So many delicious treats           

    “Happy Birthday Craig” 

they yelled as they climbed onboard, the kettle went on and we had a bit of a feast, almond and chocolate croissants, lemon muffins, the French version of vanilla slice, a red jelly dome cake, a very large sour cherry and custard tart, a pile of profiteroles that we filled with canned whipped cream, I think that’s all !!  It was a real sugar overload. 

The feasting lasted all day including numerous cups of tea and coffee, a movie (a documentary on Don Macintyre’s Golden Globe Race 1968) and a quick fish finger and coleslaw taco to counteract all that sweet food. Do you know we actually ate all those cakes.

Much to his dismay I had also let our friends Fenghua and Lance know it was Craig’s birthday, that was everyone we know in this part of the world ! 

It was decided that we were all a bit BBQ’d out, after eating at the local bbq restaurants once too many times, so a different restaurant was selected, a busy looking burger place set in a little garden, the menu looked interesting and reasonably priced

We headed out to meet Fenghua & Lance and Adam & Khiarra on the dingy dock. It had been rather windy the previous couple of days so we were looking forward to getting off the boat and stretching our legs as well as catching up with our friends. 

We headed for the chosen restaurant only to find there was a Dj playing and there was extremely loud music spilling out of the place, one look and we all shrunk back, shaking our heads in unison, no that won’t do, too loud - it is a 58th birthday dinner after all. 

Craig and I had talked about dining at Barranco, a beautiful restaurant on the waterfront but had felt it was probably too expensive to suggest to the group but as we walked past, everyone was quite keen to at least have a look inside, then of course once your in the door they have you. 

Grand Case dingy dock

I double checked and everyone reassured me they were happy to “hang the expense” 

Barranco is a very chic restaurant with French chefs, working out of an open kitchen, lovely heavy cutlery, linen napkins, fine long stemmed wine glasses, timber floors and walls, huge wicker bird cages full of fabric flowers hang from the ceilings, an open glass less balcony overlooks the beach and the sunset, it was very special. 

We all chose to drink white wine and each couple funnily enough ordered a Japanese cuisine share plate. With morsels of Japanese delicacies including seared tuna, tempura vegetables, battered prawns, teriyaki chicken and sushi with all the trimmings. The couple of bowls of fries we ordered were unnecessary as there was ample food on each platter and for €40 a couple it was rather good value. And there was even housemade ice cream to finish. 

The food was delicious and I think everyone enjoyed eating in a swish restaurant for a change.

No one ate the big red fan, it was probably the most expensive item on the platter 

A lovely evening to celebrate Craigs birthday 

To top off the days celebrations we stopped for a cleansing ale at the bar at the end of the dingy dock, it’s not very often we are onshore at night, for me it’s always a scary dark dingy ride back to the boat. 

I love seeing how other people live, I love the little glimpses into the lives of the locals that we get just by catching buses and walking the streets. 

Most of the houses in the areas we walk on both the French and Dutch sides are hurricane damaged, it’s hard to explain they are just weathered and in disrepair, the once bright and colourful paint is old and peeling, most of the properties have concrete fences and the concrete is broken, there are no gardens just weeds and the occasional flash of colour from a bougainvillea or oleander. 

The main roads are not too bad but the smaller side roads are uneven with huge stinky open drains. I have to concentrate so hard while out walking so that I don’t trip and when it rains it’s muddy and slippery. 

This road is not too bad, most are much worse 

Houses that have had their roofs ripped off and are inhospitable are everywhere 

So many colors 

I think there are people living in the bottom part of this one

Usually on the buses we are the only white people and I guess by our clothes we look foreign. But most people smile and say hello, everyone says “Bonjour” good morning or good afternoon, as they step into a bus or walk into a shop.  

One day I was in the laundrette and two young local guys came in, they announced themselves by saying “Bonjour” and I’ll admit I would have been quite intimidated if they hadn’t been so friendly. 

Talking to a girl in a clothing shop she told me the locals living on the Dutch side all want a French partner so they can have a French side address and so receive the government benefits on the French side that the Dutch don’t have, such as medical and welfare, 

At first we were shocked by the number of abandoned buildings, broken walls and fences, wrecked houses, so many huge hotels sitting damaged and empty, just concrete shells with fallen in roofs, but you get used to it and it’s just the way things are here and after a while you don’t even notice. There will be a repaired intact building right next to a dilapidated broken one.

It’s the same going through the lagoon, there are so many sunken boats, some half submerged, lying on their sides, some floating but obviously abandoned, we pass one that just has the top of the rigging above the waterline and another one that only has the bottom of the upturned hull sticking out. 

All around the edges are wrecked boats piled against each other, yachts and motor boats, big and small, no wonder boat insurance is either over the top expensive or impossible to get when you see so much hurricane damage. 

At the moment both governments are starting to do a combined cleanup, floating and removing the wrecks, a huge undertaking and what do they do with all the hulls ? 

This is 2021 the last major hurricane was Irma in September 2017. 

There are also a large number of abandoned boats used as housing by locals or sailors who have gotten stuck here. 

After Irma 2017 (images from google)

It’s coming into mango season again, yay, we are starting to see locals selling bags of four or five for $5, I’m always happy to pick up a bag. 

What do we do all day ? 

I don’t know, I just know the days fly along and all of a sudden it’s Friday or Saturday or Sunday it doesn’t matter, the days turn into weeks that turn into months and all of a sudden we have now been in these islands for almost six months. 

It’s sort of like when I was home all day with young children, we eat just about every meal onboard so there is the prep then the clean up afterwards it’s never ending circle of cooking and cleaning. 

We have been doing lots of maintenance, an engine oil change, replaced the deck light, I had to haul Craig up the mast again for that one, we took down the foresail and took it to get trimmed, it has stretched over the years and needed adjusting, and on one of the panels of the dodger the flexiglass had torn so that was taken in to be repaired. 

We replaced the lines on the dingy davits as they were starting to fray, Craig spliced metal loops on the ends to make the clicking in process easier. 

Polishing the stainless steel, Stantons the poles that hold up the wires (lifelines) at knee height around the boat plus the frame that holds up the dodger, solar panels and dingy davits and all the cleats around the deck all have to have the rust polished off,  every time salt water washes over the bow or sprays on deck, it’s a constant job.

I have to buff polish the deck to stop it from going powdery but I haven’t started that yet, it’s a bit overwhelming, I have already done the cockpit interior that came up a treat. 

They say cruising is just fixing things in exotic places

I hand wash what I can, the whites and lighter smaller items but we still take our laundry to a laundromat occasionally.  Supermarket shopping seems to take all day no matter what one we choose to go to, one day the weather was so rough Craig didn’t want to leave the boat for too long so he dropped me off and I walked up, but even with our red little nanas trolley and a bag over my shoulder I couldn’t carry too much. 

The new bulk store Davico that opened had another beer special, Red Stipe a Jamaican beer,  a Case (24) for €5 so you can imagine we made a few trips filling the nanas trolley with beer each time. 

It’s always ‘fun’ getting in and out of the dingy

The week before Craig’s birthday had been very windy and choppy, the week after was even worse, so we moved back to Galisbay, that’s the very sheltered spot in front of the power station we sat onboard for a few days bobbing up and down and hiding from the 30 knot + winds. 

We caught up with Iain and Brioni one evening, a Scottish couple who have purchased an ex charter catamaran, and are setting it up for cruising, there is so much work to be done on it. Ex charter boats have usually been heavily used (trashed) with minimal repairs and they don’t include luxury’s like good batteries, up to date chartplotters and watermakers. 

They have started vlogging 

https://youtube.com/c/RedSeas 

Check them out and hit subscribe, it will help their channel grow. 

Their mission is to help in some way, when they can, in the places they visit. They are currently in the process of organising with WOW (Wats On Water) to receive and distribute a heap of portable solar lights to Saint Vincent the tiny island that has just had a volcanic eruption that has displaced  thousands of island residents.

Saint Vincent's and the Grenadines were on our list of must visits places they are very close to and just North of Grenada, the undersea volcano "Kick em Jenny" is apparently linked to the erupting volcano, beautiful islands but due to Covid restrictions we decided to give them a miss we might be able to drop in if we pass this way again. 

Luckily we are about 350 km away and the winds have moved the ash in the opposite direction of where we are but we have been seeing pictures of the damage it is causing its heartbreaking for the people who live there.

We are located about 350 km away and Luckily for us the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, boats in Grenada are reporting ash covering their boats and laying on top of the water, making it impossible to run engines and watermakers 

The ash is so heavy it’s causing roofs to collapse 

La Soufriere billowing rocks and ash into the atmosphere 

We were invited to help celebrate Iain’s birthday by going to Loterie Farm an ex sugar plantation with a flying fox zip line, a mountain to hike up and a natural pool and spa area. 

I was reading in the blurb on the place that they use the word “farm” now instead of “plantation” as plantation reminds people of slavery times. 

On the way there we took the bus, up and down a couple of big hills, saving our energy for the hike later, Craig, Iain and Brioni wanted to do the zip line and I thought while waiting for them, I’d have a swim and lounge by the pool. 

Off went the adventurers and I headed towards the pool area, I had to pay €20 for the privilege. But it was rather interesting, this place is where the locals go to have celebrations or just to have a fun day out, it was party central, the music was blaring, from the dj located up in a treehouse, there were cute waiters carrying trays laden with colourful cocktails and huge platters of finger food, one went past with a full tray of champagne glasses and a huge blue magnum of champagne over his shoulder. 

There were little cabanas hidden in the trees (€300 for an afternoon) everywhere I looked there were people drinking and dancing. It was like a daytime nightclub. 

So many beautiful black girls in so many shapes and sizes all wearing swimsuits with crotchet coveralls or sheer full length wraps, I always wondered who and when these things were worn. 

I had a lovely swim, that is after I made a fool of myself - sitting down I slid myself off the edge of the shallow ankle deep platform, into the deeper water, I thought my feet would touch the bottom, but they didn’t and I went under, sunglasses hat and all, I really don’t think anyone was paying attention to me but I felt a bit silly -  emerging spluttering and wiping my eyes. 

Loterie Farm, up in the hills

Craig and the kids had a great time although the actual zip lines were of a short duration and everyone agreed it wasn’t the most adventurous thing they had done, Craig had a bit of bother with his shoes his old runners from home that he used to wear in the workshop at the track, they had solidified on the bottom (probably from exposure to petrol and oils in the workshop) and there was no grip or flexibility left in them, so he was sliding and slipping his way around, he completed the course barefoot but the guide asked him to put them back on for the cameras after the last line, he then threw them in the bin. 

There had been the lure of monkeys in the jungle around the zip line but none were spotted.

After enjoying a lovely poke bowl lunch we realised we had run out of time to do the hike, it was decided just to head back, missing out on the hike was compensated by having to walk up and down those hills all the way home. 

It was Sunday and the only bus that passed us, passed just as we arrived into town. 

Everyone’s legs were sore for a few days we put it down to the very steep hill we had to walk up in flip flops (I’ve stopped saying thongs, Canadians and Americans think it’s hilarious) to get back to the main road, as well as the other two steep hills. 

I must add we were quite upset with ourselves for spending so much money ... €20 = $31 just to sit by a pool I can’t (or don’t want to remember how much the zip line was or lunch but Craig informed me we spent way too much. 

Aw well Happy Birthday Iain it was lovely getting to know you on your birthday day x 

Brioni and Iain hail from Glasgow and have started a YouTube channel https://youtube.com/c/RedSeas 

We received the Covid vaccine the Pfizer one, we consider ourselves to be extremely fortunate, I’m not going to go into the circumstances, except to say we walked up joined a queue and received the vaccine, no questions, the fact that I turn 60 this year definitely helped and I think the lady who registered me didn’t care where we were from she was happy to process everyone. 

But I do want to mention the BRAIN FOG we experienced afterwards.

It was mind numbing, we both felt a little headachy and achy but no fever just this inability to think.... 

Which caused us to look so stupid, we were anchored at Grand Case and going ashore over a few days we managed to get so much wrong. 

We threw the stern anchor out, off went the anchor, chain and rope into the water, the whole thing dropped to the bottom, it wasn’t even tied on/attached to the dingy. 

Craig spent the next 10 minutes amusing a guy watching from the restaurant balcony above us, as he dived to find it - eventually he located it, tied it on, but then had to heave himself very unglamorously back into the dingy. 

The guy witnessing our plight made the passing comment “I’m exhausted just watching you”. 

Craigs walk to the shops was a bit uncomfortable in dripping wet shorts, the water running down into his flip flops making them snippy underfoot. 

Then the next day we headed back to the shops to do some laundry and on our return there was no anchor attached to the rope, picture Craig sitting in the dingy pulling in the rope, pulling, gathering, pulling and zilch nothing is attached to the end (I was in fits of laughter)

Stripping off his T-shirt he slipped over the side back into the water to look for it, after about 10 minutes or so squinting through the salt water, diving down and feeling the sand, where he thought the anchor might be, a young boy (having lunch at one of the restaurants) offered us his snorkel mask, which made searching easier, but with no luck, giving up he swam to shore and walked along the dingy dock to get back into the dingy, a little bit more dignified. 

 “it’s been stolen” Craig was cursing as we dingy back to Adriana. 

At the same time we forgot our keys that are needed to lock the dingy to the dock, after climbing out of the dingy and throwing all the shopping bags, hats flip flops etc on the dock, Craig then had to go back to the boat. 

We found Craig’s flip flops that had sat on the dock for a whole weekend, the wind didn’t blow them off and no one stole them.

And lastly we left the boat keys on the dock driving away, not realising until we tried to get the hatch door open, wasn't until emptying all our pockets and bags did we realise that we had left them - just sitting in the timber slats, we were so very lucky they were still there.

I’m being polite saying “we” 

Our young, more energetic friends on Red Seas Iain & Brioni headed over to the dingy dock with their snorkels to have a look for our lost anchor, they were back within minutes waving it in the air, so no it hadn’t been stolen, the knot holding it on must have come undone. ... 

That really was our only side effects. We have to wait 3 weeks for our second dose. 

The day before we went to get our vaccine we had chatted to the captain of Schooner Ruth a beautiful old fashioned 100 ft, sail training vessel, built in 2014 by traditional methods and built in the same genre as the Bluenose out of Lunenberg, we had already sailed close to them as we were entering Grand Case probably about a month before, at that time they called us on the radio asking for a weather update, the boat and crew hail from Barbados and due to Covid they couldn’t go ashore to get data, they were just sitting under the Q flag waiting for the right wind to take them to the island of Saba where they had a school group to take out for a couple of weeks.

Anyway we awoke to find Schooner Ruth anchored behind us again and while I was up on deck a girl was yelling “Adriana” “wifi wifi” I got Craig to call on the radio, this was the cook thinking she might be able to hook into out Bad Boy antenna and score some wifi (unfortunately we didn’t have any to spare it’s not free for us and we couldn’t just give her a hot spot to Craigs phone she was too far away and we couldn’t risk the whole crew sucking our data in one fair swoop). 

Anyway Schooner Ruth had had their school group onboard and done their teaching gig, they had been anchored off Saba when, during the night the wind and swell had increased significantly and they had dragged anchor, they don’t have an engine so they hoisted the sails and headed to the shallower, calmer waters off Galisbay.

I must explain Saba is a quite small island (13 square km) with very steep volcanic mountains that go straight into the sea, there are very few beaches or surrounding shallow water. Tourist go there for the snorkeling it’s supposed to be amazing, there is nowhere to anchor but there are mooring balls, Schooner Ruth was too big to take a ball. 

So when they dragged in the big winds they had no choice but to take off. Luckily they had finished with the school group. 

Craig gave them a weather report but it was going to be 4 or 5 days before they could leave. We had said “if there is anything you need “ and they asked if we would mind doing a grocery run for them. 

So our vaccine day was huge, firstly we had to dingy out to Schooner Ruth and pick up some $ they gave us $200 and a shopping list and instructions to catch a taxi from the supermarket to dingy dock (whew normally we can only buy what we can carry) 

We then dingied the 10 minutes to Marigot Bay, then the 20 minutes through the cut and across the lagoon to the Dutch side, tying up at Lagoonies restaurant, we hiked it up the hill to catch the Philipsburg bus, which doesn't go down the road the Bellaire Centre is on, so we had to hurry down that road for about 10 minutes and lastly walk what seemed like half a mile through the huge car park. 

We were done within the hour and back up the hill by 11am, too early for the Burger King lunch Craig was craving they were still on their breakfast menu. 

To fill in some time we decided to have a look in the Cost U Less store across the road  (Cost U Less is a bit like our Costco) I did pick up 3 different sized waterproof bags for $10 US , I was very excited about that, they will keep things like the iPad and purse dry inside our backpacks.

We couldn’t really buy anything as we were headed to the Supermarket in Marigot. 

We emerged back into the sunshine looked at the KFC on our side of the road, realised our bus stop was on this side of the road and the road was a nightmare to cross so we decided it was KFC for lunch. It’s not very often we get a junk food fix. 

A bus back to the top of the road above Lagoonies a hike down the hill, back in the dingy and back through the Lagoon, back through the cut and up the inside of the bay to the Marigot dingy dock, locking the dingy we walked the 15 minutes up to Super U. It was rather difficult buying food for Schooner Ruth, they had written down 2kg mince, 2kg chicken, then a list of veggies but One staple item the list did not include was onions, did that mean they had plenty or had they just forgotten to put it on the list ? We couldn’t just call them to check. 

Anyway we did what we thought was right, on the list was pasta, bread, cheese, 2 minute noodles, then we added a heap of fruit, the bill came in just under the $200. 

Standing by the side of the road a guy in a car stopped and agreed to take us to the dingy dock for $10, easy . 

We loaded up the dingy and headed over to Schooner Ruth, anchored way out the back of the anchorage, what a slow trip, it was decidedly choppy, we were weighed down by so many groceries and we got rather wet, we did ok but just as we approached the big schooner a rogue wave hit us side on and we were drenched. Due to the chop we couldn’t stay chatting for very long to the captain but he said to look him up if we ever get to Barbados. 

Heading back to Adriana we had to strip off, even our underwear was wet, then rinse off all the salt water, just as if we had been in for a swim. 

2019, March we purchased Adriana in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada 

2020, March we were in Samana National Park Dominican Republic with Quaran-tilla as the       world was hit by Covid 19 

2021, March we are in Saint Martin, Caribbean 

On Easter Sunday we had a lovely celebration with Adam & Khiara, Iain & Brioni. 

Our contribution was a Craig roasted leg of New Zealand lamb with roast carrots, cauliflower and cheese sauce. I think the last time we had roast lamb might have been in Canada with Todd and Heather if not therebeforeit was before we left home, lamb is super expensive in Canada, and everywhere really. 

We wanted to make an accompanying mint sauce, I had spent two days walking for miles, going to 2 different supermarkets looking for fresh mint, couldn’t find it but found what we thought was like a mint essence that tuned out to be like a spearmint sweet sauce, something got lost in the translation. 

Khiara made her decadently delicious potato bake & the green beans and Brioni had the job of creating dessert, Brioni is an excellent cake decorator, she competed in the UK bake off tv series so we knew what we were doing assigning her dessert, she didn’t disappoint, chocolate cheesecake w caramel sauce and as a gift individual egg shaped Oreo truffles coated in chocolate and decorated to look like Easter eggs.

With some nice French wine, good company and good music, it was a fabulous day there was so much food, for the whole next week we were left eating the little chocolate eggs I’d bought to share.

Easter Monday Craig and I walked to a little, very local coffee shop. It’s nothing fancy, French tv is blaring in front of the counter, it’s full of expats we love sitting observing and listening to the goings on and the French language. There are some tiny yellow birds that hop in and out of the bougainvillea that we love watching. If it’s close to lunchtime we have been known to enjoy their ham and cheese baguette, and one morning Craig had an omelette just to try a traditional French one. The coffee is really good too. 

Our morning circuit is completed by taking our lives in our hands and walking about a km down the busy road (with no footpath) then back along the beach, keeping an eye out for sea glass along the way, once we pass all the beach restaurant that set up deck chairs/sun loungers/ sofas/ even rugs on the sand we stop for a swim, if there is shade we will sit and read a book. When we first arrived the sun was behind the buildings and we could sit comfortably, but six months later the season has changed and the sun is higher in the sky earlier so not so much shade. 

Grand Case beach 

So we did the big trip to Philipsburg again to get our 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine, my appointment was for 9am. We decided to move Adriana over to Marigot the day before, as we had to get up at 6.30 am to leave by 7.30

Dropping the dingy, it was really choppy, jumping in, undoing the ties that hold it in place was quite a challenge, being back in Marigot we have to lift the dingy EVERY night as there have been too many dingies go missing and the saying is, don’t be the low hanging apple on the tree. I

to get there It took us about an hour all up  catching the local bus, I swear they change the price every time we get on one of those buses €4 (€2 each) on the way and €3 (€1.50 each) on return, Craig says he was charged €1 when he went on his own, ah well it’s still extremely cheap, to go all that way. 

Once there it didn’t take long to be processed, we were much earlier in the day this time and when we left the line was almost empty. They have vaccinated 12,500 people out of a population of 43,264. (Numbers sourced from google, they may be out of date ?) The locals have been very hesitant to get the vaccine. That's partly why we were able to get it but the fact I turn 60 this year definitely helped.

Island Waterworld, one of the local chandleries held a liferaft demonstration, they opened up 3 old, different sized inflatable rafts, it was very interesting, seeing what’s inside but let’s just hope we never have to deploy ours, they look so fragile. 

The same day there was a gathering of cruisers intending to cross to Europe this season, we sat in on the talk, there weren’t a lot of people maybe 20 mostly Europeans wanting to return home but we did meet Scott and Debby another Australian couple who are heading to Azores then Portugal. 

The next Saturday morning we went to the monthly cruisers jumble sale at Lagoonies it was fun lots of really good stuff but best of all there was a fresh produce stand I bought a bag of rocket and good size papaya for US $3.50.  

We spent some time chatting to Scott and Debby agreeing to meet them over in Grand Case for bbq later in the week. 

Now we are vaccinated we can set our sights on moving, we have been here just on 6 months, we never intended to stay this long in any country and Craig has very itchy feet. 

It feels so decadent to be able to think of being able to travel like this, while the world is still going in and out of lockdowns, we have watched so many other boats take off heading to Cuba, Bahamas, USA as well as the other direction to Columbia or Panama. 

We stopped moving but lots of boats have just kept going. 

We are planning to head to Bermuda then across to the Azores and if we can mainland Portugal, the Mediterranean and maybe the UK. 

This trip has been Craig’s life dream he has been dreaming and planning it for 20 years, he is not ready to give it up so we are going to try to keep going, if things haven’t improved and we can’t get into those countries we will return to the Caribbean. 

If we can’t get into Europe and we have to return back this way, at least Craig can say he sailed to Bermuda and The Azores, he says he will be happy if he gets to do that. So now we are passage planning, watching weather, preparing Adriana and madly provisioning. We have to wait 2 weeks for the vaccine to kick in then we are good to go.....