St Martin 18:04.0N 63:05.5W
Pacific Bliss
Colin Price
Wed 10 Feb 2010 21:42
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St Martin
Now out of the BVI's or should i say Bloody Virgin
Isands, no really it
wasn't that bad, but i had been under the impression that is would be an extremely dreamy place and that was not the case. Now back in a land that Colin previously felt was Benidorm (St Martin), and it is, but we have now discovered it's charms. We came into the St Martin lagoon on the French side this time which is a little more encharnting than the pile it high dutch side. Plus it's $35 less to check in so this put a bit of a spring in my husbands step.... I rather like the mix of local 'glamourous dress shops' in very very close proximity to Hermes. And hugest super yachts and 'super-stinks' everywhere that you ever did see, which is amazing.   But since we've been here it's been marigolds on and CIF, bleach or the our new-best-friend, Vinegar in hand and scrub scrub scrub.... Who on this
planet thinks a yachties life is glam or relaxed is totally deludied if one owned this space as a flat and it got this filthy and cost this much Micheal Scott could retire given the amount of Yurts he would sell. But there really are up's. We arrived here on the 2nd, got our dates a bit mixed up, easy to do when you don't even know which month it is. We came into the lagoon and followed an other Catana (same as our boat, and they are rare out here) Then we discovered we had the wrong date ohh and place to pick up the sails..... So we storked the other catana, so unlike the prices i'd say. But thank goodness we did, Barry the property developer from bucks has had his boat out here for 8 years so great on local workforce, plus found an dock for a 1/2 the price of anywhere else in this bit of the world. Then we had our first encounter with an Yachtie night. Due to our hoplessness on dates we got to meet our fellow live-aboards at a bbq/bar which was great, we met up with our 'old' friends from Jolly Harbour and lots more. A right old mixed bag, but good lucky dip, and most importantly the kids met lots and lots or other kids, and the beer was only $1 so happy Colin.    In St Martin there is enough of a community of live-aboards that on the VHF from 7.30am there is local daily network. At first hearing one would consider but by the end of 1hr your on-side. Starts with the weather, goes onto events from tia chi, kids beach playdates to buy and selling. We are loving it.... so much we took a few things to a flee market on Sunday. Dirty old loo seat, drinks blender, old shoes, suspect you get the image and we came away with $50 and no extra weight in the boat.  Great day today, after renting a car, the islands cheapest Jeep. After doing 2 trips to the supermarket, each time the kids are having to sit on tins and tins of tomatoes, perhaps not the most practical car for big loads. We go on an island adventure. We reached the main french town, 5 mins on the dinghy from the boat. To discover a Islands Primary Schools Carnival. It was magic, better than any Notting hill carnival I've been to. Great way to see the mix or Caribean and French and very very atmospheric. The out fit that the local ladies stepout with are glorious, they embrace figure hugging garb and boy they look great. lesson learnt, and it doesn't seem to matter were your curves or lumbs are they just embrace and with great verve and colour ohhh and heals. So perhaps given this, I should start loving the rather flat chested Diana Doors look i seem to have adopted, I'm not meaning the kitten more the 50yr old Diana.    5 days on since arriving now, still no sight of sails but we have done lots and have been enjoying ourselves, We are infact anchored off the main air strip to the island but it doesn't seem to matter, very very odd this turn of events. Any way off to bed now to get sphiciated by aviation fumes, but the kids love the beach. |