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Larry's LogWe had lost a cover for the forward hatch with one of the bad wind gusts, but fortunately, Diane had spare material with us and the Church let people use their sewing machine. It took a few hours, but she made a replacement. We also checked out the Princess Casino and Hotel for the nightly dinner specials, It was a pretty good deal and we made arrangements to go with Tony and Jenny later in the week. Unfortunately, the day we were to go, Diane wasn't feeling well, so we called Stage Sea via VHF and postponed our "date." We stayed on the boat and while Diane rested and recuperated, I, naturally, did boat chores. Thursday, February 8, I had a kind of epiphany. I actually like Brie. Diane had gone shopping on the French side and brought back some wine, cheese and baguettes. Wine and cheese are particularly inexpensive in St. Martin because its really a "department" of France and there is no duty on any imports. So you can get French wine that would normally cost $15/bottle in the States for $3 to $4/bottle. She also found a wine warehouse that was even cheaper than the normal stores. Diane had also bought some really good Brie (about $10/kilo (2.2 pounds)) and she persuaded me to "just Try it." Well, that was it. I loved it and we would up spending A LOT on that cheese. Just delicious on a fresh baguette!! The next day we got a delivery of fresh water from the water barge at $.14/gallon. I couldn't run the watermaker in the lagoon because the water was somewhat polluted. It was more expensive than the marina but the convenience was worth it. We had dinner and drinks at the SMYC that night and met some more very nice people. Not much happened over the next few days, except the wind continued to blow, making a dinghy ride an eye-opening experience. Then on Sunday, the 11th, we finally made it to the dinner buffet and show with Tony and Jenny. While the dinner was OK, the show was very good, with lots of dancing and audience participation. Even I got up and did some gyrations! The wind continued to take its toll. We lost a dodger panel during a big gust the next day. It was opened up and still held by a zipper across the top but the wind just unzipped it and blew it into the lagoon. The dinghy was hoisted up to get it out of the water to prevent bottom growth and it was blow sideways against the hull. I heard the dinghy but didn't know about the dodger panel until a boat anchored next to us called on the VHF and said he had seen something blow off the boat. Damn, we would have to get that replaced since it was the center panel and we couldn't really sail without it. It prevented spray and rain from entering the boat. Tuesday, the 13th, was another day of importance. Diane finally learned how to drive the dinghy. She had complained that she wanted to learn but that the wind was too much. Well, since the wind wasn't calming, she decided that she just had to DO IT. So I taught her in 10 minutes and we did a little tour of the anchorage, at ¼ throttle. Still, it was a beginning. And she got the hang of it. And so, I got stuck on the boat while she did her errands, visited other boats and generally got away from the boat. That night, we went to visit Free Radical, a very nice red Canadian boat with Julie and Ed aboard. They had redone the boat almost from a bare hull and had done it with a tremendous amount of care and effort. And it showed. The boat was neat, had a tremendous amount of storage and was setup perfectly for a cruising couple. And being a Cartwright 44, it was also fast. Unfortunately for me, it was a flush deck with a pilothouse, and there wasn't really enough headroom for my 6'5" head. After banging it a few times, I learned to duck. They had cruised down the island chain before and we picked their brains about upcoming places to visit (or stay away from). The next day was Valentine's Day - and no, Diane wouldn't let it pass without some recognition. She had bought a nice bottle of champagne which we had that night. We also watched a video that evening and went to bed. Thursday, the 15th, was also a red letter day since we got our new PC and mail from home! The PC had been due to arrive earlier but there was some confusion in the Business Center's Miami office. But we finally got it and we could now get back to the SSB email service I had come to like and not have to worry about waiting an hour in the Business Center to use one of their expensive, slow connections. I don't think it was their fault, just that service on the island wasn't very good. That night we went to the SMYC again and heard Eileen Quinn sing. She and her husband Dave are cruisers from Canada and she has written a number of songs (she has 2 CDs out) about the cruising life and its trials and tribulations. They are really quite good and we wound up buying both CDs. We then walked to a Pizza Hut with Tony and Jenny. Sometimes you just NEED pizza. Coming from NY, it was pretty good, but of course not completely up to NY standards. After some difficulty with the laundry service, Diane is again on her way to the laundry the next day. I stayed on the boat working on the PC. That night, we invited another boat, Tony and Bente from Side by Side, over for drinks. We had first met them briefly in Bermuda since they came in at the same time we did. (see the log on the Gulf Stream crossing) We reminisced about the crossing and then Bermuda although they had seen much more of the island than we did since they stayed there for several months. One of the downsides of cruising is making good friends and then saying goodbye. Tony and Jenny were planning to leave the following week so we invited them for dinner. The next day, the 17th, Diane made her "famous" salami rolls, Penne ala Vodka and brownies. Stage Sea brought the wine and we had a wonderful evening. The next day after a visit to Free Radical and some downtime, we went to our first potluck at the SMYC. It wasn't as crowded as it usually is and we had a chance to meet more people. Folks from all over the world, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. Interesting stories from all. Monday the 19th was an important test for us. I had been working on the watermaker and we needed to see if it was working OK. Since we couldn't run it in the lagoon, we had to go out to Simpson Bay, which meant catching a bridge (remember 9, 11 and 5:30). So we left the lagoon and anchored among about 12 other boats. Before trying the watermaker, I cleaned the boat's waterline. Since we had painted the boat to its "normal" lines, and since the boat was now loaded with LOTS of gear for cruising, poor ol' Destiny was sitting about 1 inch lower than her designed LWL (she had been floating above it the prior year). Since there was no antifouling paint there, all sorts of marine growth had started - small barnacles, algae, etc. It took a plastic scraper, scrubbie sponge and 2 hours just to get the waterline so you could see it again. I will have to do this every week or 2 until (if) we haul again to repaint the bottom during the trip. |