Back on Making Connections

During our time back in Colorado, we enjoyed several days of cross country skiing, being with family and friends, and especially being with Burton during his last months of life (he made it to 14 and 8 months!)

We arrived in St. Martin on May 11th, easing into boat life at the Port de Plaisance Marina. It’s easier to provision from there and we waited patiently for Keshawn from the Volvo Penta dealer to service our engines and generator, something we don’t want to have to deal with down island..

When we arrived, our boat had been on land – dusty land. Think Lake Powell parking lot with gusty winds. The outside of the boat was filthy - caked-on dirt – everywhere. The inside was in great shape except for a small cooler where we left some beers and Trulys. Note to self. Don’t leave anything with carbonated sugar in the heat. It explodes. And take batteries out of flashlights. They corrode in the humidity, quickly. And rinse everything with fresh water because zippers on shirts and snaps on favorite raincoats rust.

So we cleaned, scrubbed, and sprayed the boat inside and out. A couple of times. We even cleaned the anchor chain. We visited our favorite restaurants, Creperie du Lagon on the French side of St. Martin, La Suciere Patisserie, Simpson Bay Yacht Club, and found new favorites in Little Jerusalem for the best shawarmas, and Dock 48 with the amazing bartender, Coco.

Luckily we walked a lot and had a gym at the Marina to work off the good food.

It was a very cushy environment with air conditioner, water, power, Wi-Fi and entertainment by three boats with little kids. We watched 7 little kids play on the doc everyday. One of them had sold their house during COVID, bought a boat and sailed the Caribbean. We’ll be forever grateful to the staff at Port de Plaisance, especially Anthony, Steve and Jessica.

We did a few trips to Budget Marine, Ace Mega Store, Divico (like Costco),and Carrefour Supermarket for provisions. We met Kevin from Littleton, Colorado who owns the catamaran Gi-Gi. It’s the size of our catamaran and he’s sailing it by himself. We were fascinated by that, as we think that having just two people is tricky. He invited us on board to show us all of the things he had done to his boat, from extra lighting, to new flooring.

A special shoutout goes to Radi and Eddie from Electec. We'd highly recommend them to anyone needing help with water makers and solar panels.

We also said good-bye to our Tradewinds Captain, Ross who is now on a 30 day Atlantic crossing on a 53 foot steel boat with a crew of 4. Imagine 30 days at sea with no land in sight!

We had everything ready to venture south from St. Martin. We’re visiting islands that are unfamiliar to us. First stop, St. Kitts (or St. Christopher, named for the patron saint by Christopher Columbus) and its sister island, Nevis, a nine hour sail. Our longest sail, giving us a chance to work on our trimming skills.

After 2 1/2 months on St. Martin we say “good bye - we love you!”

Making Connections on the dusty hard. Looks like it laid a car while we were gone.

We did this a lot.

Our favorite Super Complete crepe from Creperie du Lagon. We love Manu and Pasquale, the owners.

Out in Simpson Bay.

Our cushy spot at PDP Marina.