Wednesday 28th February
(French) Simpson Bay Lagoon
St. Martin
18 02.683 N
63 05.508 W
SAFE TRIP HOME ROSE AND MARK, WE HOPE YOU HAD FUN, IT WAS GREAT TO HAVE YOU WITH US – COME AGAIN!
As expected we were awake long before the alarm went off. Once dressed we gathered some edibles into a bag, packed the luggage into the dink and took off for the dock. Much discussion has been had about the state of the world to which Rose and Mark are returning – they have nightmare visions of piles of dirty laundry, stacks of almost empty pizza boxes, inches of dust on everything, a dishwasher full of dirty dishes, overflowing rubbish bins, unsorted recycling, empty car fuel tank, hundreds of extra miles on their car, rooms rented out to friends, phone bills to rival a corporate entity, dead plants, empty fridge (except for that squiggy green thing that is hiding at the bottom) and bills for things that they never knew they owned. We have tried our best to reassure them that their children will have it all cleaned up and under control, but note to Lucy, Katie and Matthew – you only have until Friday mi
d morning! It’s always sad to say goodbye to friends at the airport and this was no exception; we will miss you guys, you can always come again now that you are international sailors! I have to say that as novices they did a fine job, not one spew and they took to rum drinking like they had done it all their lives (I suspect they were closet rum drinkers before they even stepped on to the boat). We had kept the car overnight so once Gerry had collected it from the parking area we loaded it up and took off for the airport where we made sure our friends were checked in and on their way before Gerry and I returned the car to the rental office. Then it was time to meet up with Dale and Lorie, exchange dinks a
nd have breakfast before wandering around the shops and then paying a visit to Budget Marine for those “must have” boat bits that we need. We still need to try and get replacement fair leads for the bow (I suspect we will have to get different ones to the ones we had, if we can find some that will fit). We did get some new line for our jib furler which was just as well as the old line was beginning to fray, plus we got spare bearings for our wind generator so that was a bonus. We had a very late lunch back onboard our boat and then had a short afternoon nap – trying to catch up from last night. Then at 16.45hrs we had to meet up with a couple who had put out a call for Bahamas charts on the cruiser’s net, we had told them we had some and they offered to swap or buy them, we were after charts for the area from T
rinidad to Panama which they had so it looked like being a good swap. We dinked into Shrimpy’s (a boaties haven which does laundry, has WIFI and of course a bar) and met up with a very nice young German couple and arranged our chart swap, another man chanced by whilst we were swapping and bought our Exuma guide book from us, it was a good deal all round. We chatted for a while about our various passages and shared advice and information – all useful. Then it was time for a shrimp dinner which turned out to be very good. Dale and Lorie had joined us for dinner and were talking of going on to a piano bar for the evening. Much as I would have lik
ed to go both Gerry and I were tired so we opted out and returned to our boat for an early night.
St. Martin
18 02.683 N
63 05.508 W
SAFE TRIP HOME ROSE AND MARK, WE HOPE YOU HAD FUN, IT WAS GREAT TO HAVE YOU WITH US – COME AGAIN!
As expected we were awake long before the alarm went off. Once dressed we gathered some edibles into a bag, packed the luggage into the dink and took off for the dock. Much discussion has been had about the state of the world to which Rose and Mark are returning – they have nightmare visions of piles of dirty laundry, stacks of almost empty pizza boxes, inches of dust on everything, a dishwasher full of dirty dishes, overflowing rubbish bins, unsorted recycling, empty car fuel tank, hundreds of extra miles on their car, rooms rented out to friends, phone bills to rival a corporate entity, dead plants, empty fridge (except for that squiggy green thing that is hiding at the bottom) and bills for things that they never knew they owned. We have tried our best to reassure them that their children will have it all cleaned up and under control, but note to Lucy, Katie and Matthew – you only have until Friday mi
d morning! It’s always sad to say goodbye to friends at the airport and this was no exception; we will miss you guys, you can always come again now that you are international sailors! I have to say that as novices they did a fine job, not one spew and they took to rum drinking like they had done it all their lives (I suspect they were closet rum drinkers before they even stepped on to the boat). We had kept the car overnight so once Gerry had collected it from the parking area we loaded it up and took off for the airport where we made sure our friends were checked in and on their way before Gerry and I returned the car to the rental office. Then it was time to meet up with Dale and Lorie, exchange dinks a
nd have breakfast before wandering around the shops and then paying a visit to Budget Marine for those “must have” boat bits that we need. We still need to try and get replacement fair leads for the bow (I suspect we will have to get different ones to the ones we had, if we can find some that will fit). We did get some new line for our jib furler which was just as well as the old line was beginning to fray, plus we got spare bearings for our wind generator so that was a bonus. We had a very late lunch back onboard our boat and then had a short afternoon nap – trying to catch up from last night. Then at 16.45hrs we had to meet up with a couple who had put out a call for Bahamas charts on the cruiser’s net, we had told them we had some and they offered to swap or buy them, we were after charts for the area from T
rinidad to Panama which they had so it looked like being a good swap. We dinked into Shrimpy’s (a boaties haven which does laundry, has WIFI and of course a bar) and met up with a very nice young German couple and arranged our chart swap, another man chanced by whilst we were swapping and bought our Exuma guide book from us, it was a good deal all round. We chatted for a while about our various passages and shared advice and information – all useful. Then it was time for a shrimp dinner which turned out to be very good. Dale and Lorie had joined us for dinner and were talking of going on to a piano bar for the evening. Much as I would have lik
ed to go both Gerry and I were tired so we opted out and returned to our boat for an early night. Labels: St Martin / Sint Maarten
posted by SV Orpailleur at 9:16 a.m.
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