Today, Thursday we have been grocery shopping ready for our departure. It is supposedly duty free here but we find it expensive compared to home. Sally has baked two of her tasty fruit cakes in the Ninja, a treat to have cake again. 

We have been rather stuck in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of St Maarten. The wind has been rather boisterous, too strong to do the last hop to Virgin Gorda (BVI), first stop of our BVI cruising.

This island (St Maarten) was badly hit by hurricane Irma in 2017 and as yet has not made a full recovery. There are still large areas of derelict landscape and many businesses have failed to reopen. Not sure if that is because of the economy, lack of staff or general Caribbean ‘we’ll get around to it'.

So many people have recommended St Maartie as a fab destination, and maybe it is if you go to a swanky ‘all-inclusive-hotel' (of which there are some), but for me (Sally) it is a bit down at heel. There is an early morning radio broadcast for cruisers (there was also a great one in Antigua). There have been a couple of security warnings, robberies/attacks and the message to take care is reinforced. Admittedly they were muggings 
on lone persons after dark, but even so, you are reminded of the general poverty and economic inactivity on the island.

Yesterday we took the dinghy over to the French side of the island (if we take Cassini around, it’s another set of customs/ immigration fees! You can read all about this in our last blog). It was the only place we could find to get the laundry done, but it was a 5 mile round trip so we needed to find something to fill in the 5 hours before we got the washing back! 

We wandered into the centre of town. If anything, even more derelict than the Dutch side. Found a general market, some local crafts etc., and a huge amount of fabric goods, most of which I would think were made in China! However, there were plenty of Americans spending money, and judging by the number of wristbands and lanyards to be seen, I think they had been bussed in from the cruise ship terminal along the coast!

We then found a splendid French restaurant which had been recommended by Catherine’s nephew and had a very leisurely lunch. It was fabulous; filled in the time perfectly to our laundry collection nicely; fabulous banana rum shot to finish!

Back to Cassini for library time, when it was noticed that a halyard was halfway up the mast having come apart from the plastic spinning thing (anchor ball) that denotes we are at anchor. Catherine volunteered to go up the mast, but her sparrow legs were not enough to fill the safety harness… Queue Sally being kitted up in the safety harness (more muscular, not thunder thighs I like to think😉) and hoisted up to clear the foul line and bring it back to the deck!  

Good job I (Sally) didn't have time to fret about it… anyway, I did it and there is photographic evidence!

Today has been a shopping day for supplies, before we hopefully set off tomorrow. Just made 2 beaters cakes in the Ninja and we have the last 4 tuna steaks from our latest catch tonight.

Going ashore shortly to find Wi-Fi and find a cool shady spot for a refreshing drink on stable ground!

Sally and Catherine