April 2-8, 2013

“I’m kind of ashamed to say this, but I just took a bunch of pictures in the bathroom.”

-Shannon, s/v Cascadura (um, me too, Shannon…)

Buckle Up, folks.  We were in St. Maarten for 7 days but somehow managed to see 148 of our best friends, went to 36 happy hours, worked on our generator for 12 days straight, ate 12 crepes a day, and got blown over by a Jet Blue plane.  Yup.  It’s gonna be THAT kind of post…

We left Anguilla at 0615 in order to get to St. Maarten in time for the 0930 bridge opening.  Frankly, St. Maarten sounded like kind of a pain in the butt to me.  French side or Dutch side? (The country is under split rule by France and the Netherlands.)  French bridge or Dutch bridge?  Lagoon or outside?  Just finding a place to park the boat sounded like a hassle and there were fees attached to everything, including a toll for going under the bridge!  But we had LOTS of reasons for going, so we headed over and knew that we would figure it out.

There were heavy seas and rough winds getting there but we arrived with 30 minutes to spare before the bridge opening.  We tooled around the harbor checking out the cool boats and scoping out the hotel where Reese’s friend Kelli would be staying later that week.  Each megayacht was bigger than the next.  We didn’t see any Top 100 boats, but they were all huge and impressive.  It was fascinating to watch the uniformed crews walking with purpose and talking on their radios through headsets.  Theirs is quite a different “sport” than our two-handed crew, where anchoring involves me in a bathing suit, yelling back towards Chris to “Stop the boat!” and one or more kids trying to “help”.

It was finally time to go through the bridge, so we followed a megayacht through.  Watching that boat clear the sides of the drawbridge was not much help in calming our nerves as we “squeezed” through.  We waved to the crowds who come to have a drink while watching the boats arriving and departing and got our first glimpse of the party atmosphere.  It was only 9:30am!

After fueling up and slipping into our slip, we noticed that our next door neighbor was Myananda (great boat name, by the way.  “Ananda” means bliss in Sanskrit.  My Bliss…)  Anyhoo, Myananda was one of the boats that traveled south with us in the Salty Dawg Rally from the US to the BVIs back in November.  I was really starting to love how small the world is.  Unfortunately, Kurt and his wife were not on board.  They had flown back to the states but we hoped we would catch them back before we left.

Our first order of business was to check into the marina.  On the way, Chris ran into the crew from s/v Aftiki, an English family we had met in Dominica.  Our small world was getting smaller.  The next day, we discovered that our friends on  s/v Seaschelle and s/v Cascadura were in the harbor as well!  Plans spread over the VHF and we were already set to go to happy hour the next night at The Barnacle (very cool bar name).

But first Porter and I had to take the dinghy over to the doctor’s office to have his stitches looked at.  Dr. Dannaway was amazing.  He was great with Porter and instantly eased both of our minds.  He explained to Porter that he could go back in the water after two more days.  One of the stitches had fallen out (trying so hard not to be judgmental about Dr. Easter) so he butterflied it and said it looked like it was healing nicely.  He told us to come back in four more days to get the stitches taken out.  Porter and I left happily, holding hands and stopping at the gas station convenience store for treats on the way back to the dinghy.

After lunch, we swam at the marina’s pool.  I was so excited to swim in a pool instead of open water.  I decided I would try to swim every day that we were in St. Maarten.  I started off by swimming ½ mile that day.  I can’t measure my open water swimming, but I think that swim was the longest I had ever done without stopping.  Even better, I felt great at the end of it.  I couldn’t wait to come back the next day and swim some more over those lovely, straight black lines painted on the bottom of the pool!

We were SO excited that night to have our friend Matt Ryffel visit us on Patronus!  Matt and Chris grew up next door to each other.  Matt was the first person we had seen from “home” since we left the United States and my dad flew home after our passage.  Matt quickly dubbed himself “Number One”.  Matt brought goodies and gifts from home.  His suitcase was packed with bills (yuck), peanut butter, batteries, obscure boat parts, gifts from Grandma, Uncle Tom and Aunt Tara, and lots of American items we were having a hard time getting in the Caribbean.  After the dispersement of the gifts, we went off to have a wonderful dinner together at Pineapple Pete’s with Matt.

We spent the next morning doing schoolwork and cleaning up the boat, which is so much more pleasant when we are at a marina and have access to power and water.  Chris dinghied around to the chandleries and after lunch, we went back to the pool.  I did another ½ mile swim while the kids played and splashed with some local kids.  Just call me Erica Phelps.

It was a good thing we had a quiet day because at 5pm, we dinghied over to The Barnacle for Happy (7) Hour(s).  We should have known we were in for a carousing time by the look of the dinghy dock.  This was THE place to be for cruisers.  As we walked up the dock, we could see groups of people at tables, leaning against posts, and standing at the bar.  Their sailing apparel gave them away, if not the fact that one group of people were huddled over an iPad looking at navigational charts and another group was talking very animatedly about the weather.  Only sailors get this whipped into a frenzy about isobars, TROFS, and other fancy weather-talk.

The kids went off running as soon as they saw their friends from Cascadura and Seaschelle.  Chris and I sat down at the spot that was saved for us at the table and we had a lovely reunion with Matt and Erica from s/v Seaschelle, who we last saw in St. Croix on New Year’s Eve, and Kevin and Shannon from s/v Cascadura, who we saw last in St. Lucia.  Of all the people we had met over the year, we were so happy to run into these families again.  We really like them and their great children.

Painkillers and beers were ordered.  Another round.  Did someone from this table order three baskets of French fries?  Where are the kids?  Playing on the dock?  Cool.  Another round please!  It was at this point that Shannon came back from the ladies room and spoke her now famous line, “I’m kind of ashamed to say this, but I just took a bunch of pictures in the bathroom.”  I turned to her, laughed, and said, “Me, too!”  The very cool bathroom was filled with witty one liners, drink recipes, and inspirational quotes.

Not willing to have the night come to an end, but famished beyond belief, we took the party back to Cascadura.  Shannon fed the kids and cooked up some popcorn while they started a movie.  Kevin busted out the single largest bottle of rum I have ever seen in my life.  It took two hands to lift the bottle and I thought he was going to need a funnel to get it in the glass.  We brought over painkiller mix and the party continued.  A few months later, Shannon, who makes jewelry, would have to teach me how to use a crimping tool.  In the meantime, I had to teach her that you have to take the nutmeg OUT of the shell before you grate it over your Painkiller.  We learn something new every day…

The next morning, I had the following conversation with Porter.  A bunch of our friends met us the next day at the beach, but one unnamed parent stayed home to, um, recover:

Porter: Where’s their mom?

Me: She had to stay home.  She is sick.

Porter: What kind of sickness does she have?

Me: Oh, she’s just feeling rundown.

Porter: Really?  ‘Cause last night she was ALL powered up!

 “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”  -Thoreau

Before the beach, we picked up Matt at his resort and visited the Butterfly Farm.  It was small and low-key, but we were all blown away by the beauty and variety of butterflies.  Our guide was knowledgable and friendly and the kids were especially intrigued by the area set aside for the cocoons.  I made it my single goal in life to take a picture of one particularly fast blue butterfly.

 

But really we drove all the way across the island for one reason besides spending the day with Matt.  And that was to check out his resort.  We had never been to a clothing optional beach before and were curious about what the vibe was.  We found some beach chairs on the regular public part of the beach and set the kids up with our friends while Matt, Chris and I took a walk to his beach.  It was pretty cool, once we got past one particularly proud man who was reading a book while leaning on a rock with his hips thrust forward.  Geez.

The rest of the day was a blast, spending time with friends, enjoying the water, and eating at a restaurant owned by some New Jersey folks.

 

The next day, we took advantage of having a rental car and got a bunch of errands done.  St. Maarten was the biggest, most developed island we had been to since leaving the United States.  We hit the supermarket (twice), went to the chandleries, found the good wine store, and dropped off some laundry.  I swam ½ mile again and then took the kids to the beach.

At 1700, we found The Buccaneer, a fun outdoor bar and restaurant right on the beach.  We met s/v Cascadura and s/v Amara there.  The restaurant had set up a little outdoor movie theater for the kids, so they were happy as clams.  We sat and ordered up some dinner.  When I got up to go to the restroom, I walked past a couple, looked up at them, and said casually, “Hi Bryson and Cindy!”  Wait.  What?!  Bryson and Cindy are here too!??!  We had a great reunion with them and they ended up joining us all for dinner.  Bryson was racing in a regatta near St. Maarten and Cindy’s family was visiting the island.  The coincidences kept on coming… (Bonus points if you can count all the familiar faces we met in St. Maarten!)

 

We spent the next day hanging out in the cockpit with Bryson and Cindy while we anxiously waited for Kelli to arrive.  Kelli is Reese’s friend from school.  They have both had a tough time being away from each other this year.  We were so excited when Kelli’s grandparents offered to take her to St. Maarten on vacation so that she could visit with Reese.

 

 

 

 

It was a long day, counting the minutes till Kelli arrived.  I got my ½ mile swim in and we cleaned the boat.  Porter and I went back to Dr. Dannoway to get his stitches out, which took all of 2 seconds.  Dr. Dannoway apologized that he only had “dark” BandAids left.  We didn’t realize that they made bandages in different colors for different skin shades.  Cool!  Matt came to visit and have dinner with us and finally Kelli and her grandparents arrived.  It was so wonderful to see Kelli and her family.  Reese and Kelli shared a shy hug and then ½ a second later they were off giggling and talking and scheming and planning.  My heart melted and I was so grateful that Kelli and her family are in our lives.

 

Are they married? Reese cutting Kelli’s waffle for her.

 

The next day was a whirlwind.  Two days left on St. Maarten but we were going to make the most of it.  Kelli was dropped off early and we took her for breakfast at our new favorite creperie.

 

 

 

 

By 0930, we were on the dock by the bridge to watch the boats come through.  We had a secret surprise for the kids that we had been bursting with for days.  Anything Goes had left St. Lucia and was arriving in St. Maarten that day!  As their boat slowly appeared from under the bridge, I heard Reese say, “That looks like Anything Goes.  Wait.  That’s Maggie.  Wait.  What?  That’s ANYTHING GOES!  Did you know they were coming here?!!”  We all started waving frantically and screaming and taking pictures of each other taking pictures.  It was a great moment that probably distracted Craig to no end being as he was negotiating his boat through a narrow bridge opening.

 

 

We jumped in the dinghy and raced after them so that we could say hi and tell them where we were docked.  As soon as they were settled, we all piled onto a bus and went to the “airport beach”.  We had to attempt the fun of standing on the beach at the head of the runway to catch the jetwash as planes landed and took off.  It was loud and incredible.  I’m pretty sure we will be finding sand in our ears for the next three years though!

 

The afternoon was wonderful.  We met up with Bryson and Cindy, took the kids to the pool, and we all piled back to Patronus for dinner.  Kelli slept over, despite being completely exhausted from all the excitement.

 

The next morning, we made blueberry muffins with the girls and met Anything Goes at the pool.  I got my ½ mile swim in before having to leave to check out at customs.  I had done a LOT of swimming that week and felt strong.  I hoped I would have the motivation to keep going once in the open water again.  Chris and I moved Patronus back out under the bridge with Reese and Kelli while the boys hung out with Anything Goes.  We were leaving that night for the British Virgin Islands but the bridge only opens twice a day, so we anchored in the outer harbor.  We met everyone, and I mean everyone, at the Buccaneer, for one last night of fun.  The Kuenzels treated us to a lovely dinner and we all enjoyed the live entertainment while the kids played on the beach.

 

At 9pm, we said all our goodbyes and dinghied back to the boat.  We would see Anything Goes in the Bahamas in two weeks and we would see Kelli when we returned to the states.  Our other boat friends were moving on to the next part of their adventures.  The best we could hope for was to cross paths again sometime in the future.  By 9:45, we had the outboard engine hauled and we weighed anchor for the 110 mile passage to the BVIs.  We were excited about spending a week in one of our favorite spots with our friends, The Armitage’s!