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.....

Just bobbing around, Squashed fingers and more goodbyes

So its been very  windy with big choppy seas, just a tad uncomfortable on anchor, it’s been a lot cooler but hey it’s certainly not cold, we are still in shorts and T-shirts, we do have to cover up with a sheet at night, sometimes even a doona !!! 

We have been keeping busy with boat maintenance and all the usual daily chores, a boat is just like a house there is always something needs cleaning.

When we had the chance to get out and explore the island of Saint Martin with our fellow Aussies on Millennial Falcon they took us along for a day, driving around to see the sights, the island is really quite small, it’s surprising how quickly you travel in a car compared to a boat and I felt that I had already traveled on a lot of the road by local bus, while going about our everyday business.

We get a mention in their latest video, blink and you miss it but check it out, you’ll get a visual idea of where we are, plus they are fun to watch 😊 

The best thing about being here for a while is that we have opened an account with a company called West Tech, this company gives us an address in Florida we can get things sent to - then they forward the goods to Saint Martin, at a cost of $5 a pound plus $1 insurance.  So much easier than the dramas we went through in Grenada with import duty’s and taxes. Plus a lot of companies like Amazon do not recognise or ship to Saint Martin. 

It worked for the wind generator part from Portugal, it worked for the propeller seals from Miami but do you think it would work for Amazon. They froze the account I created, probably looked a bit sus, someone from Australia ordering goods to be sent to Miami, the device being used located in the Caribbean, anyway Craig eventually fixed it by opening another account using an old email address yay. 

On their way are 3 new parts for our bbq - the regulator, the radiant plate and the round middle burner bit, they had all completely rusted out. That was only 12 months and they needed to be replaced ah well we do like cooking on the outdoor bbq, we also invested in a hose with attachments that allows us to tap into our house propane. Up until now we have been using single use little canisters that don’t last long especially when you (meaning me) keep leaving the gas on instead of turning it off, it’s a tricky button that feels like it’s fully turned off when it’s actually still on !! 

Hence we have gone through so many of those little bottles. 

Once we were up and running with our amazon account we had a bit of fun ordering in a few things, I ordered a waterproof backpack, something we desperately needed but hadn’t found along the way. Quite often it’s raining or even just the big waves splashing into the dingy can drench everything.

I ordered some new undies, a bit if a confession - being a bit shy of hanging my nickers along the safety lines for the whole world to see I had bought one of those round plastic twirling hanging nanas drying things so that I could hang my smalls inside the cockpit, unfortunately  after hand washing things are still dripping water. 

So I had washed about 8 pairs and hung them up - well along comes a huge gust and whoosh off the contraption goes,  flying into the water twirling like a frisbee, it lands and promptly sinks to the bottom. 

It’s howling windy and super choppy so there’s no going in after it, the water is deep and Craig is rather mad at me so he’s not going in for it. Hence an order of a 10 pack of fruit of the loom cotton undies are on their way. 

Ps the ones I lost were all a bit saggy and out of shape after constant wear and hand washing so I was not too upset, I do feel bad for the plastic in the sea. 

But I’m having a bit of a giggle, I can just picture another boat pulling up their anchor and finding the nanas undies drier and all my saggy daks hanging off it !!! 

Craig ordered the parts for the bbq plus a new led mast light, it will sit on top of the mast replacing our current very dull light. Oh no I’m going to have to lift him up the mast again more trauma. 

My beautiful brother Steven forwarded to us our new credit card we had been unable to have it sent until we had an address and knew we were going to be in the one place long enough to wait for it, it still took about a month, this one we had sent to a friends shipping agent in Miami who then forwarded it  to Saint Martin, that’s before we decided to get our own agent.

Steven included in the box two Aussie flags yay we are going through them, we have already lost two, along with the poles they were attached to - both popped out and sank flag and all.

This happened twice once in Lunenberg, the metal flag holder was securely attached to the boat so that was a bit of a mystery. The second one was a wooden flag pole that was a bit loose, plus the dingy pushed on it when it was up on the davits so no mystery there. 

Our next two flags  just disintegrated in the wind and uv, so we were very happy to receive these unexpected gifts, he also popped in one of those car air fresheners the “sex wax” one, and wow did it remind us of home, it smells like our cars did after carting around the boy’s surfboards for years. 

The boat still has the surf wax aroma a month later. 

We are spending our time between the town of Marigot and Grand Case so far we have traversed between the two about 12 times. Marigot gives us access to the Dutch side, Carrefour supermarket, parcel pick up and the marine stores. But there have been a number of dingy thefts and one purse snatching that we know of so we are not too keen hanging around there.

Grand Case is much prettier, we can swim and walk on the beach, there is a laundry and superU supermarket about a 40 minute walk away, we generally catch the bus back much easier than carting heavy bags all that way. 

Our friends Fenghua and Lance joined us in a sail over to a small island called Isle Tintamarre it was only a short sail but as usual we have to tack back and forward a few time’s so it took us a few hours, Craig does this just to be out there sailing, he is in his element, me I don’t enjoy it so much but it fills in a day. 

We or should I say Fenghua posted lots of photos of the island on social media so I don’t need to go into detail but I will say it was a beautiful sunny weekend, the wind and seas were calm so lots of locals were out and about too. It’s a very popular spot, we had fun just sitting in the cockpit people watching. 

Unfortunately Craig had a bit of an accident on the Sunday, when he was checking the rope holding Adriana on to the mooring ball he noticed the pulled up anchor was chafing the line, it was quite bouncy conditions so lots of movement, we had been given a piece of old fireman’s hose (thanks Scott on Fruit Bat) and he had undone the rope on the bow and fed it through the hose, then he had jumped in the dingy and was in the process of securing it with cable ties so it wouldn’t slip down, he put his hand on the bow sprit, (where the anchor sits) and the movement of the boat pulled the line and jammed his fingers between the rope and the anchor, the three middle ones on his left hand. He actually had to stand there with the full weight of the boat pressing down on his fingers, stand there in pain until the boat swung away from him, he says he felt the bone crunch, today two weeks later the middle finger is still numb, the nail is blue black and he wears a finger splint most of the time, we are so very lucky there was no blood, the metal anchor could have severed the top of the finger right off, luckily too it was his left hand, he’s right handed so we could still motor sail off the mooring ball and back to Marigot. 

He decided not to see a doctor our friend Alison on Turquoise Turtle is a nurse, she had a look and agreed it would/should heal itself but “you must wear a splint” she said. Searching through our first aid bag I was sure I’d seen a splint but I couldn’t find it so Craig used an icy pole stick and a bandage to keep it straight, Alison called us a couple of days later “where are you, I have a finger splint for Craig” how nice was that she picked up one from the chemist, it was a beauty with a doubled over end to guard the painful part of the finger and tiny velcro straps to keep it secure. That is until one day we were letting the dingy down and whoosh off the splint flies it didn’t even float, ah well back to the lollop stick. 

We said goodbye to Paul and Myles with pizza from the local food truck, we were all anchored sheltering in Galliot Bay, that’s around near the power station, because there was a big swell and high winds for the few days, so it was a life threatening transfer from boat to dingy and a Soaking wet ride for the extra 10 minutes to shore. 

The boys are sailing back to the US to sell the catamaran via Puerto Rico then Dominican Republic, they have the B1 & B2 visas that are required to pass through these countries. This was always their plan, Paul will go back to the US to be with Molly, there could be a wedding being planned, I think they will eventually try to settle in Australia so there is a good chance we might see them again.❤️

It’s now early March 2021 

Two years to the week we departed Australia, before we left I had a diary planner and I’m reading all the mad dash things we had to organise before we departed, Craig and I both worked right up to the last minute, our life is certainly going at a much slower pace nowadays. 

We still pinch ourselves not quite believing where we are and what we are doing. 

A hard part of this lifestyle is saying goodbye to the nice folk we meet along the way, Dan and Nawal on Breakaweigh have departed for Cuba we will be following their journey on you tube

Just quietly when Dan says they “had a friend helping them with weather routing”, that was Craig.

We met Dan and Nawal very early on in The Bahamas, had lockdown in Samaná as part of the Quarantine-tilla with them and I have spent lots of time with Nawal walking Zeuss, having girlie chats and generally just hanging out - gonna miss you guys.❤️❤️ 

But we have caught up with Fenghua and Lance and Tom and Carol on Gina Lee. 

We met Tom and Carol in USVI’s and enjoyed many evenings watching the sunsets on Magens Beach.

Fenghua and Lance were with us in Samaná when we celebrated Craig Birthday talking of which it is only a few days away, I wonder how we will celebrate it this year. 

Everyone who was there agrees last year’s impromptu street party was so much fun, we had just landed safely in Samaná after a rough passage, so everyone was ready to cut loose, the music was loud, and the mojitos were sooo cheap and really strong, Dan has a bit of footage in one of his YouTube episodes.

This is how ridiculously cheap alcohol is here or how ridiculously expensive it is in Australia. 

We shopped at a big warehouse called Divicio and a box of 24 Amstel Light (Holland) - light being low carb and slightly lower alcohol3.5% - were on special for €5, being something we hadn’t tried I bought one box, turns out it was really nice beer, kicking myself I didn’t buy more. 

The next time we went Red Stripe (Jamaica) was the special €10 a box (24) and being an unknown beer we decided to buy a six pack. I handed over a €2 coin and a gold 50 c piece for a six pack of perfectly drinkable beer, €2.50 thats just loose change - ridiculous. 

What we drink normally is Presidente which is around €16 a box of 12. I bought a 3kg block of Dutch Gouda cheese, for €4, we halved it with Adam and Khiarra, I split my 1.5kg into 3 and stuck what I wasn’t using in the freezer. It’s perfect cheese for toasted sandwiches and nice enough on its own with crackers. Me who avoids dairy is struggling to say no.... 

A round of Camembert cheese €2 a long baguette is usually €1 or less. Sliced ham is not so cheap neither are things like lettuce and tomatoes, still they are available and cost much less than they did in say Grenada and The Bahamas. 

At the moment the exchange rate is €1 to $1.60 Australian 

We have Island hopped between isles Tintamarre and the mainland a number of times it’s like going on a holiday we swim and walk on the beach every day while we are there. We had a lovely few days there with Tom and Carol, Fenghua and Lance and Adam and Khiarra, it’s nice to have friends around. We are still just bobbing around waiting to see what happens in the world, nothing has changed in these last couple of months, vaccines are rolling out around the world and cases are dropping but it’s still such an unknown with new more aggressive/ contagious variants emerging. 

We will probably be able to be vaccinated here once all the residents have their turn, I’m happy to wait for a while. 

This island still has active cases so we are better staying on the boat, really we only go out to supermarkets and to walk on the beach. 99% of people wear masks and respect social distancing in public places. 

Oops I’m planning a get together for Craig’s birthday and last night I mentioned about his birthday last year and how Fenghua and Lance were there too and Craig says “ don’t mention it’s my birthday to anyone “ Oops too late......

French Saint Martin, Christmas and Birthday celebrations

 So what did we do for Adams birthday ?

It’s always hard organising a birthday party, but especially hard in a new country during Covid so we (the girls) decided we would buy and cook Adam one of the beautiful imported French steaks that everyone had been eyeing off and talking about, but were not prepared to buy for themselves, Fruit Bat offering to host the dinner.  

So off we went Sam, Khiara, Molly and myself dinged and walked up to Carrefour to get the necessities.  Choosing the meat was not as easy as we thought and we wished we had taken Craig with us for advice, there was soooo much choice and the labels are all in a French, even we as a collective group could not justify buying the huge brontosaurus size rib eye that we initially intended, it was too big and too hard to cook on the boat, so we settled on 2 packs of bulk buy porterhouse looking steaks and a huge imported from France piece of a similar cut for Adam (Adams being the largest cut).

The steak was cooked on the BBQ and accompanied by a rocket, feta and pear salad w balsamic dressing, green beans and scalloped, baked in cream potatoes (a luxury as the tray bake takes about an hour to cook which uses so much propane) 

We had a fun night, the eight of us had bellies full of decadent food, we drank a few bottles of cheap French red and even the store bought cheesecake (imported from France) was delicious. 

It was probably all the more poignant as we knew we were about to say good bye to Scott and Sam.

We had met Scot and Sam in The Bahamas but didn’t really get to know them until Luperon in the Dominican Republic, that’s where they rescued Captain Lupe as an abandoned kitten and we spent time with them in Los Hatis National Park, it was Sam who came up with the name Quaran-Tilla I have so many good memories of our time together very open generous lovely people, it’s so hard to say goodbye, who knows we may catch up with them again I’m sure they would love to get to Australia one day.

Well it’s NYE 

Well it’s NYE and Craig and I are on our own and we are anchored out the back of Marigot Bay, way off to the side, in front of the power station and commercial ship dock.  It’s not very picturesque but it’s calm and safe.

We are hiding from the forecasted “Christmas Winds” blustery weather full of constant wind and strong gusts, topped off with rain squalls, some showers are light where they have eased off before we even have the hatches closed but some are heavy downpours and you just never know what your going to get.

 

Our New Years tipple was a bottle of €2.95 champagne and we drank that with our 3 cheese pasta w chorizo, garlic and tomato sauce, listened to some music, had some quiet time reading, then we both went to bed around 9.30pm thinking that was it our lonely New Years Eve only to be woken up by the siren of the anchor alarm going off !! 

It was smack on midnight, we had swung around as the wind changed but hadn’t dragged just swung close to the parameters Craig had set on the alarm. So no drama but it did allow us to watch the midnight fireworks.

And what a show, fireworks were  going off all around us, the best ones though were across the water in Anguilla, the English owned island we could see just across the channel.  So close but we can’t go there without...multiple PCR tests, 10 days quarantine and current health insurance that covers COVID-19.

The Anguilla fireworks were just as good as our local town put on and there were showers of light explosions at each end of the island quite a sight.

After it was all over we snuggled back in to bed in our nice clean sheets that I’d washed the day before, it’s a bit of a treat to have clean sheets.

Just before Christmas Adam and Khiara had some work to do on their boat so they had rented an airb&b and very kindly offered us the use of the washing machine and wifi while they were out working on their boat.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity we knew the winds were due to pick up and even though we worked as quickly as possible it was still an ordeal dingying back and climbing aboard Adriana, the wind had picked up along with the swell, Adriana was rocking from side to side so much that I had to put the glass jar with the kombucha along with the other bits and pieces on the bench into the sink like I do when we are underway.  

We couldn’t stay in Marigot close to the unit, with this huge swell running, it was so uncomfortable, so we decided to head back to Grand Case where we were hoping it would be a bit more sheltered and hopefully it would be calmer.  

As we were motoring along we spotted the boat that belongs to the guy who works at Island Water World, he is a live aboard local and dingys to and from work each day, so we figured a local would know the best spot to be in the forecasted bad weather.  We turned in towards the shore and anchored just in front of him, instantly it was calmer with no rolling and although we could hear the wind whistling through the rigging it didn’t seem to reach the deck, it was a constant 25 knots with gusts over 30 knots showing on our instruments but only the occasional gust went through the dodger.

We felt bad leaving Adam and Khiarra, who had rented the unit but then had to take it in turns sleeping back on the boat scared she would drag anchor if no one was there to do anchor watch.

We also felt bad about slipping in behind the power station as we had planned to go back to Grand Case and anchor alongside Paul and Molly on Happy Times, they had upped anchor and left about half an hour before us.  We messaged them but they had already dropped their anchor and were happy to stay where they were.  

We eventually moved back around to Grand Case 3 days in to the 4 day bad forecast and yes our industrial spot was way more protected and comfortable.

What we did for Christmas 

It was hard to decide what to do for Christmas Day, we knew there were going to be six of us but there was talk of Dan and Nawal arriving plus Estelle (a French single handed sailor we met in St Augustine when we met Alexis) And maybe Chris and Katie were planning to leave the Dutch side to join us on the French side so it had the potential to be too many people on anyone’s boat.

Us girls had visited a few restaurants asking if any were open on Christmas Day.  We found a couple but none of them seemed just right so we decided to move around the corner back to Grand Case, one of the you tube channels Craig follows was there and they had written in a post that they were having local BBQ on the beach on Christmas Day so we sort of knew at least one of the four BBQ restaurants would be open.

As it turned out there was just the six of us and only one of the restaurants open.

To start the day we had egg nog and a feta, caramelized onion and pumpkin tart (made by Craig) on Adriana.  That had us a bit giggly, a good start to the day.

Then we went ashore to the local BBQ for lunch, it was actually quite tasteless and disappointing but still fun. Absolutely no reference to the day, special menu or decorations so not very Christmassy.

These open air bbq restaurants always smell so good with the smell of the cooking meat wafting down the street as you walk past.  We discovered later that the one that serves the really tasty food was the one in front of the one we ate at but on Christmas Day the one we visited was the only one open. 

They serve ribs and chicken, lobster and prawn skewers straight off the grill, the sides include Mac cheese, coleslaw, fries, potato salad, plantin and a spaghetti squash with a cheesy topping.  Not really Christmas fare but it was easy and cheap.

The afternoon was spent on the beach with everyone trying waterskiing behind the dingy and playing on the stand up paddle board.  Everyone except for me, who had to spend the afternoon next to the toilet as the milk and cream in the egg nog went straight through me. 

But I was ok later, in time to go over to Millennial Falcon for dessert, lemon tart (made by Craig) and chocolate cheesecake (made by Molly) there was just the 6 of us, Craig and I, Adam and Khiara  and Paul and Molly, beautiful desserts and more drinks finished up a different kind of Christmas Day.

I had a great birthday, Khiara shares her birthday with me so on Boxing Day we had a huge day on Happy Times with chaturie plates and cocktails - so many cocktails, some fun in the sun jumping off the roof of the Catamaran, Chris and Katie called in to say hello, it was a 10 hour day finished off with puffy dogs, thank goodness someone had thought to bring something for dinner.

There had been a shark attack a few days before Christmas around in Orient Bay  (only a few km around the corner) a lady who was swimming 100mt from the shore was attacked and died from her injuries, attacks like this are really rare on these islands either that or kept very quiet because of tourism. 

I saw Jaws at a very impressionable age and have always had a fear of what’s under the surface so my swimming activities have been somewhat curtailed. 

It didn’t stop everyone else have a ball jumping in the sea off the top deck, or off the back off Happy Times, we talked about playing a board game but the time went so quickly everyone was happy just chatting and hanging shit on each other as only Aussies can do.

Our trip to St Barths 

There are four islands in the collective of St Martin, St Barthelemy, Martinique and Guadeloupe.  These islands are subsidiaries of mainland France and and travel between the islands is usually easy and unrestricted but now with Covid entry requirements have changed, we wanted to visit St Barths it’s only a day sail away and from what we read and heard, the entry requirements were - that we had to fill in an online form to let them know we were coming.

Forms completed we upped anchor and headed out, we had a lovely downwind sail gently heeled over, some larger waves breaking over the bough but nothing too heavy just cruising along when suddenly there’s a bang and the foresail  is flapping - it’s dropped down, something has given way up on the mast.  

Turning into the wind we heave to and pull down the sail, not furl it in but actually pull it down onto the deck arggg that slows our progress so we have to turn on the engine much to Craig’s chargin, he hates turning on the engine using diesel that we have to pay for but it’s also the principal that we are a sailboat and the engine is auxiliary, anyway lucky we have the luxury of being able to turn it on otherwise it would have taken us hours to get to our destination.

We had passed a cruise ship off to our port side, the ship contacted us on the radio, it’s always a thrill to hear your boat being called on the radio, Adriana Adriana Adriana this is sailing vessel (I actually don’t remember the ships name but let’s say Bounty of the Sea)

They wanted to let us know that they were sitting out there just drifting so not to get too close as they had no steering, it wasn’t a drama as we had no intention of going anywhere near such a big ship.  

They were sitting waiting to go to fuel up at Philipsburg.  There are all these cruise ships just hanging around probably with a skeleton staff to keep the ship moving, there is no where for these huge ships to go. So they are just slowly aimlessly moving around.

Our approach to the harbour of Gustavia was full of mega yachts, so much wealth, apart from the purchase price, these things cost millions of dollars just to staff and run each year.

We had James Pakers mega yacht ELJ behind us in Grand Case and it is here again behind us in St Barths, Mark Zuckerberg’s mega yacht is there too.  We googled a few of them they are mostly Russian or Arab millionaires , we watched a helicopter land on one of them, quite a feat of skill.  This other one had a sailing yacht as big as Adriana just sitting on its deck in case the owners wanted to go for a sail.

I also read Paul McCartney was holidaying on the Island. In other news there had been a scandal early on during Covid with a Canadian politician being on holiday there while his country was in lockdown.

This one island really is the playground of the rich and famous. 

We manoeuvred our way past the mega yachts then the super yachts, past the huge chartered sailing boats and slipped in close to the other travelling cruisers and the small live aboards anchored closer in to shore. It was after 5pm so too late to check in.  

And of course just as we drop anchor and start refolding the sail that is still sitting on the deck, it starts to rain, then stops just as we finish, time for a cold beer I think.

The next morning we had showers and got kind of dressed up ready to go ashore and explore, Chris and Katie called past they were anchored close by, they had hired a car and were off to explore the island by road, but we had to check in before we could do anything.

So many super yachts all beautiful and shiny with crews straight off the series “Below Deck” (worth a watch if you haven’t seen it)

We tied up the dingy and headed off down the immaculate harbour walk to find the Capitianier to check in,  a low wall lined the harbour and colorful pots of bougainvillea and bench seats along the way added to the feeling of decadence, there are “footpaths” it’s been a while since we have been anywhere that has consistent level well maintained footpaths !!

A word of advice don’t use $ signs in your password in foreign countries, we could not work out if the symbol was in the lower or upper case and had to ask for help just with the signing in.

Turns out we had missed an important step in the Check in process - we were meant to have gone to customs in St Martin and checked out, for some reason we thought that letting them know we were arriving was all we had to do, we had checked this information on Noonsite, but things must have changed with Covid, there was no arguing we had to return to St Martin and check out.

The customs guys were very nice about it, “of course please come back” “but no you cannot stay, you have to go and check out”.

So much for getting all dolled up.

We walked back through the cobblestone streets, passing a photo shoot with a blond girl being fussed over by hair and makeup, huge light reflecting panels, the works. 

The shops were stunning, all the big labels are represented but we scurried past back to the dingy and Adriana.

This island was also hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017 but you wouldn’t know it has been completely re built, there was no evidence, no rubble or abandoned buildings here, not like St Martin where the place has an air of brokenness and disrepair.

We had been told of a quiet bay at Colombier Beach just around the corner from the main harbour, Craig wanted me to pull him up the mast so he could have a look to see why the foresail had come down.  

Then when we were lifting the anchor there was a new smell emitting from below, an ugly almost electrical smell,    shit what now!!!

We limped the few miles around the rocky shoreline to Colombier a beautiful sheltered horseshoe bay inhabited by lots of what looks like loggerhead turtles and with only a couple of mono hull yachts and a couple of huge charter yachts on mooring balls it was flat and calm, the perfect spot to send Craig up the mast. But it did cross my mind that we were out of phone range and this bay was only accessible by boat, there were no roads in or out a disaster if anything should go wrong pulling or lowering Craig the 64 meters of the mast.(210 feet)

The smell turned out to be the seal on the prop shaft it had disintegrated and the smell was the rubber heating up when we turned the engine on and the propeller started turning.

A bit of a worry as salt water is now pouring in through the broken seal when we run the engine, not so bad when the engine is stopped.  

The water falls into the bilges, an area below the floor, right down into the keel of the boat, there is an automatic pump that switches on and discharges the water when it reaches a certain level and there is an alarm that goes off if the pump fails or the water gets too high. So we are not going to sink but still not a comfortable feeling.

This meant that we should only sail back to Saint Martin avoiding using the engine at all costs.

Concerned with what the problem was but happy to have found the source, we proceeded to tackle our first issue, the foresail sitting folded on the deck.

I’ve manoeuvred Craig up the mast a fair few times now and I’m comfortable with the process but it doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong, his arm or leg could get caught in the rigging, the wind could gust at the wrong time and send him swinging out of control (he grips onhard with his knees) or any of the ropes or shackles could give way, it is very stressful for both of us so full concentration is required, no getting distracted by the huge turtles sticking their heads out of the water to take 3 breaths, it looks like they are coming up to say hello as I’m sure they eyeball us, anyway full concentration and up he goes, the shackle holding the sail to the top of the mast has burst open the sides holding the pin in place have widened under the pressure and the pin slipped out, a simple explanation as to why this has happened.  

Craig drops the line but it comes down on the wrong side of the mast, so I winch him back up (I’m using the electric winch thank goodness) he sorts out the lines and I slowly let him back down, my lowering him gets a bit bumpy where the  line I’m dropping is weathered and expanded and doesn’t run through the cleats smoothly but he’s down safely phew.

The halyard knot that is holding the broken shackle on is well and truly knotted and undoable so Craig cuts the line, keeping the broken shackle in the cut off knotted line for show and tell when he’s back sharing a beer with the boys.

Instead of replacing the shackle he decides to use just the halyard knot and once he has sealed the end by melting it with the small blow torch I winch the sail back up, Craig feeding it into the furler as it goes up, that’s that problem fixed.

We up anchor saying goodbye to the turtle heads that pop up as we pass aww they are so very cute.

Luckily it’s all smooth sailing back across the St Barthélemy Channel and back up the Sint Maarten coastline and back around to the French side we even managed to sail right into the anchorage and drop the anchor without turning the engine on, that’s quite a feat of skill from Craig and extremely nerve wracking for me !!!

The prop shaft seal had been replaced almost exactly 12 months ago when we were in Nassau in The Bahamas, the previous one had been on the boat since new about 12 years so we don’t understand why this one has deteriorated so quickly.

We couldn’t source a new seal on the island so had to order one (plus a spare) in from Miami, it only took a week so we just sat tight in Marigot Bay.

The process of replacing the seal and placing the spare on the shaft was tricky and probably should have been done out of the water but somehow Craig managed to pull it out enough to slip the 2 seals on without sinking the boat, we did have to spend a whole day hand pumping the water out of the bilges, there are 3 bilges the one directly under the engine is on its own the other 2 down the Centre of the boat are connected, it was a slow tedious job and I had to stop Craig from getting too OCD about making them dry and spotless.

Dear ........

We are good still bobbing around enjoying the sunshine, thankfully it’s a lot cooler here than it was in Grenada, probably ranging between 26c and 20c the nights are cooler but it still doesn’t help me sleep.

We have days that are super calm with no wind and lovely flat seas and then days where the wind is constant and the seas are like a washing machine, on those days I have to hold on to the different hand rails as I walk through the boat.

We spend most of our time outside in the cockpit, we can open up the canvas to allow airflow or close it up to shelter us from too strong winds.

We live with very little on tables or kitchen benches as things will slide and move with the movement of the boat.  It’s not always comfortable.  Some days there is a swell running and if there is no wind to face us into the swell and it hits us side on, then things get really rocky. At the moment we are tucked in to a little sheltered bay as there is a huge swell , bigger than normal forecasted.

The view is not very pretty with the power station onshore but the volcano shaped hills behind remind us that we are somewhere exotic.

It’s a small space to live in and quite often we don’t leave the boat so not much walking gets done, lucky we have stairs otherwise I’m sure my leg muscles would be non existent.  

Just now I’m trying to eat less as we are both getting rather plump with all the baguettes we love, that and lack of exercise. 

My Dad was in hospital with a bowel infection, mum had to be home by herself, Steven was more than great but I felt awful not being there, but there is not much I can do about it, we are a bit like refugees living in another country, lucky the French don’t require visas that can expire so we can stay here for a while at least until hurricane season starts again.  We might move but for now we are sitting here just waiting to see what’s happening in the world.

We are fine, missing home obviously but we have some Aussie friends that we hang out with that we are comfortable to be around, the French food is awesome and we have good internet 

Love and miss you 

An addition to the boats means of power generation has been purchased a SilentWind 400+ wind generator, a propeller on a shaft that sits above the solar panels it spins in the wind and with magnets it generates a low stream of power it doesn’t put in big amps but it runs 24 hours a day unlike the solar panels that have limited hours of input even less on cloudy days.

A fellow cruiser was selling the unit, he had bought it but never installed it. 

We had to get a pole and brackets made to hold it securely in place plus order in a part, our boat works on 120v and the unit is 240v.

The part took ages to get here it had to come from Portugal and when it did arrive Craig spent hours trying to get the old one out 

After a trip to the hardware to purchase a small rubber hammer that they used on the “how to” YouTube video and a “maybe this might work” blow torch, 

Eventually it came out, the heating of the casing worked - expanding the plastic enough to allow the coils to be tapped out.  

We had been starting to think we were going to have to spend more than we paid for the unit to get a whole new magnetic part, it took so long to get it unstuck.

The structural pole also took a few trips over to the rigging workshop on the Dutch side to get the angles right.

But now it’s completed we have a much better power supply and can even watch tv of an evening plus we just worked out (after a couple of years) that we can stick a usb directly into the tv and watch downloaded movies, we swap hard drive full of movies and tv series’s when we can.

January 2021

More nasty weather there is a huge swell running through the Atlantic, reaching down into the Caribbean and hitting us full on, big rolling waves coming into the anchorage, we decided to move back around next to the power station which was fine for a couple of days until a huge steel fishing boat dragged its anchor right in front of us.

luckily it happened in daylight, we were in the cockpit having our morning cuppa when it became obvious the boat was getting closer, and closer, throwing on some shorts and a T-shirts we stashed the kettle and our tea cups, turned the autopilot and the engine on and upped the anchor swinging Adriana around and out of danger just in time,.

The crew onboard the fishing boat must have just noticed when they heard us moving as they finally appeared on deck and lifted their anchor too,  they moved forward and reset close to the shore but we decided to just keep going and motored around the corner to Grand Case.  Paul and Molly were already there, they had said the roll wasn’t so bad and there was the added bonus of bbq ribs back on shore.  Millennial Falcon decided ribs sounded like a good idea and came around too.

Well maybe we were a bit ambitious thinking we could go to shore in the big swell...

First we had to drop the dingy from the davits no mean feat, the dropping is not so bad although the dingy can build up a good swinging motion of its not lowered quick enough, it’s the jumping in and undoing the shackles that are used to attach the dingy to the poles, that’s the hard part.  

The dingy is in the water but tied in 4 corners to the 2 poles by short lengths of rope.

The dingy is jumping and splashing around and once I (it’s usually me who jumps in and Craig does all pulling up of ropes) I undo one side I have to hang on to the pole and undo the second shackle, then hold it out at arms length until Craig pulls it up and away enough to prevent it from hitting my head, then we do the same on the second pole, I have visions of a pole swing around and knocking my teeth out.

So we maneuver the dingy down, closed all the hatches, we are still getting surprise showers, grabbed the wallet and face masks and headed to shore.

Omg the huge swell was smashing into the buildings on the shoreline and had taken out a lot of the timber slats on the dingy dock, we watched in disbelief as a dingy was thrown actually up onto the dingy dock, shit there goes our ribs for dinner, but no Paul makes it to the dock, Molly jumps out and promptly gets drenched by the next crashing wave, they tie up and hop over the missing slats to safety.

Honestly if they hadn’t have gone first and made it ashore we would not have even attempted it but they were not just going to jump back in their dingy and the call of the bbq ribs was too strong.

The swell was running with lulls between the big sets so after hanging around for a bit and watching we timed it between sets, throwing out a stern anchor so we didn’t mount the dock.

Adam and Khiara followed suit and we all made it to shore without incident and without giving the audience in the beach facing restaurants too much to laugh about.

The bbq chicken and ribs were worth the effort, we even had a walk onshore the first in a few days. Craig has been having the mixed plate bbq chicken pieces and a pile of pork ribs served with your choice of 3 sides. I have been having a grilled chicken salad, quite a basic lettuce tomato cucumber salad, to tell the truth I’m getting a bit bored with this place.

The return trip was just as fraught with danger, the swell was literally lifting the timber slats as it surged through the dock, they are still piled at the top of the walkway waiting to be repaired.

Adam and Khiara hired a car for a couple of days, a patron of their YouTube channel has gifted them a new dingy engine and they needed the car to pick it up, but on the Monday it hadn’t arrived so they called us and asked us to join them for the day, “yes please” we haven’t seen much of this island really, only that one day we were driven around by Chris and Katie at the start and just the places we have explored on foot.

It was lovely to see the other suburbs, Cul de Sac, Orient Bay, Quarter of Orleans, Oysters Bay to name a few.  

We drove over to Phillipsburg the main town on the Dutch side it was incredibly sad this is where the cruise ships normally arrive  - daily, three or four at a time and there was literally no one there just us, we were hassled by the shop keepers, “come in, have a drink, have lunch”

because it is such a tourist area there weren’t even any locals on the street.

You could see how vibrant and fun it would be normally and the saddest part is this should be their busiest month.  There is very beautiful turquoise blue water and a lovely clean sandy beach, a huge promenade with sheds for market stalls (all empty today) lots of beach bbq, restaurants and bars.

We skipped the beachfront and took refuge in Second Street, the next street back where a lady sitting out front of an interesting laneway said “come in here we have $1 beers and free French fries”, there were no free fries and the $1 beers were out of best before date Bud Lights, still they quenched our thirst and we stopped for a rest, the sun had come out and we were feeling the heat, maybe we are just used to being in our always windy boats.

We took advantage of having the car and checked out a couple of anchorages and a distant shopping Centre and best of all had our propane gas bottle filled without having to carry it for miles.

The next day Khiara and I continued our tour of the island and visited the beautylicius store (a huge cosmetics, hair care warehouse) checked out a Leader Price Supermarket, another European brand, then did a huge shop at Davico a just opened bulk supermarket where we stacked  the trollies high with toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, rice, flour, tinned stuff, soft drinks, beer, 

(Amstel Light 3.5% $5 a carton of 24 !!! Full strength 5% was $17.50)

I tried to buy all the bulky heavy things this will make shopping easier for a while, we filled up the tiny hire car, I actually thought it would bottom out going over the speed bumps.

We caught up with Tom and Carol on Gina Lee our friends we met in USVI’s they had left Grenada earlier than us and spent time in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines a group of small islands close to Grenada.  They were leaving soon to go to Saint Kitts and Nevis we will hopefully see them again back down either in Grenada or SVG for hurricane season. 

Dear .......

Our path home by boat is not possible at this time due to closed borders.

Covid has really stopped the world in its tracks, I don’t know if you fully understand our position at this time, we are like refugees taking shelter in a French outpost, we are accepted to remain in French waters by the French government ( these islands are like French Polynesia or Marquises Islands or New Caledonia in the pacific) our boat is a huge investment we cannot just abandon it or afford to put it in a marina indefinitely if we could get home.

Our path home by boat is not possible at this time due to closed borders.

Flights cost thousands of dollars and there are taps on the number of returning Australian citizens.

I’ve have had to accept that if anything happens to my 86 year old Mum or my Dad or even my boys we are stuck here and won’t get home, it’s rather frightening and upsetting.

We are not under any health care system so not in line for a vaccine although I did read that when the vaccine does get to these islands the French government will inoculate even unregistered residents, but that is a long way off.

I must say looking from the outside Australia and New Zealand are the envy of the world and I really hope for everyone at home that it stays that way.

Masks and social distancing are compulsory here but very few people follow the guidelines and it’s only the bigger supermarkets and banks that enforce the protocols.  Cases are rising here after the holiday season when they allowed international flights in to help boost the economy.

There was testing of course but watching what’s happening in Melbourne quarantine hotels this virus seems impossible to contain.

 We are happy and safe enough at the moment, it’s warm and we have access to beautiful food imported from France (subsidised by the French government so not expensive).

Stay safe

We are missing everyone 

Love Zena

It’s not all doom and gloom, we just try not to think about things too much.

We keep ourselves busy, maintenance on the boat is ongoing and doing any one thing just seems to take the whole day.

I just spent Tuesday and Wednesday walking to the shops using the laundromat (it’s now 11th Feb, we did our last laundry in Adam and Khiara’s unit just before Christmas).  

I hand wash most things but tea towels, bath and hand towels, Craig’s shorts and T-shirt need a good wash in a machine.  

It would have taken one day if the two of us could have gone in but it was extremely windy and Craig wasn’t happy leaving the boat unattended. So two trips as I couldn’t carry it all.

We are heading around to Maho Beach to say goodbye to Molly, she is heading home to chilly Chicago, Paul’s partner in the boat Myles has arrived from Australia, apparently there is no problem leaving Australia, it’s the getting back in that’s the problem.

Paul and Myles will sail Happy Times back to the USA to sell it, then they will go their separate ways, Paul will go to Chicago, Molly is a teacher and has been applying for international schools positions, it was lovely to spend time with them and who knows we might even have a wedding to look forward too.