18:01.940N 063:05.645W Update: Saba to St Martin ( Simpson Bay )
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Fri 15 Apr 2011 16:04
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Wednesday 30 March:
We arrived at Simpson Bay around midday today and D
scuttled off to Check-in with customs and immigration as we must all over, only
the officials in St. Martin had never seen a residents permit quite like mine so
we had to involve an agent to help us out and allow us to stay for the two days
planned. The agent turned out to be an ex-pat South African and got it all
sorted out so I was not arrested or deported...yay! Today would turn out to be
our Chandlery day, D and I spent the most part of the afternoon browsing as any
yachtie would in a Budget Marine Shop... It was all so shiny and new. So we
bought the essentials only... new binos and a new digital screen (repeater) for
the instruments so that the Skipper can now monitor the whole boat from the
safety of his cabin.
We also visited the local Yacht Club / Watering
hole for sunburnt, faded T-shirt wearing, salty sea types... was a lot of
fun.
Thursday 31 March:
DIY Island Tour was the name of the game today...
We rented a nice new silver jeep wrangler and cruised the busy street of St.
Martin from the Dutch side to the French side where we had to beg for breakfast
in a little spot called Marigot Bay. It was very French! Just like in Paris I
think the distress caused by hearing English affects their capability to smile
or talk or anything really. While enjoying our well fought for meals
we were wonderfully entertained by the geriatric American cruise line shufflers
who had seemingly practiced their 'walk' together onboard shortly before
steeping off to absorb the sights and sounds of paradise one more time. To
make it even more interesting for their front row customers the restaurant
had deliberately not repaired the boardwalk, leaving little obstacles and traps
for the 'gerries' to slalom through.
After breakfast we did a little shop browsing and
street cruising before having a little local lunch in an old airplane turned
restaurant, where the staff had not seen the likes of us in years. You could
almost hear them thinking 'Tourists here?'
Then we drove a little more discussing the
differences between the French and Dutch sides of the island. Dinner was had at
a great roadside grill and then we popped into the watering hole for some live
music, a whacky crowd and some rum before returniong to our world.
Friday 1st April:
Today was to be our last day in St. Martin so we
decide3d to do what other people do and go to the beach. We found a funtastic
beach club called Waikiki on the North East coast and wanted to spend a few
hours there but time would not allow. We wanted to leave tommorrow so we
sat down to a Sushi lunch and then hurried back to Simpson bay to check out of
St. Martin before the customs people knocked off.
Saturday 2nd April:
Sailed from Simpson Bay ( St Martin) to Virgin
Gorda, mom flew. We left nice and early this morning just in time to catch an
Hilarious South African radio guru running his own form of a morning radio
talk-show over VHF. It brilliant he had different segments in his show. There
was a segment where you could call in and sell or look to buy stuff and then his
rendition of the morning weather report and local news. All that wiff de bestest
accsent n ou cood eva hev. Jus Brrrrilliaaant!
St. Martin the island of food and
fun!
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