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Published: April 30th 2013
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So this had two names after it the normal island title and frankly could have been equally BOAT WORK or TRANS-ATLANTIC PROVISONING. Both Gill and I were not really looking forward to this part of our trip, but as with all things, it was absolutely essential. St Maarten has two halves – one Dutch and one French, which obviously creates two very different styles of island. After a strong wind forecast and a rolly few nights in St Bart’s we decided to go into the Dutch side and the safe anchorage of Simpson Bay Lagoon. This was a wonderful change as the boat didn’t move and we could get a peaceful night’s sleep, or so we thought! We eventually rolled into bed about 11pm and were awoken at midnight with the biggest and loudest music we have ever heard from a nearby nightclub. OMG, White Sensation was the best dance\house music I had heard in a while, but not what you want to hear until 4am when it’s so loud it makes your chest move! Whilst Gill wore earplugs and tried to sleep, I lied there just wondering if I had the guts to pop over and revive my clubbing Tenerife
days! To Gill’s surprise I did not and ended up just lying there saying to myself “great tune”
Next morning with bags under our eyes we headed to Maho Bay where you can experience the closest aircraft landing I have ever seen. I will let the pictures tell you the rest! Health and Safety writ large – not!
Monday came and off we all went to two of the largest chandleries I have ever seen – yippee (again –not!). To the boys’ delight we walked around with a long list of stuff that we needed for Fabiola and 4 hours later and with two boys that were ready to eat their own arms out of hunger and boredom, we left. After a quick lunch – Gill started work on Fabiola and I started to compile my shopping list for the biggest shop known to man. Well, where do you start when you need to feed 7 people for 6 weeks on a moving object and no shops if you run out or forget something! A nightmare task when you have to calculate everyone’s individual consumption so to give you an idea; milk – 2.5 pints per person per
Boy did good!
Hot cross buns for Easter day multiplied 7 people and then multiplied by the number of days (which can only be an estimate) - the result is a truck-load of cow juice and the next problem, where to store it. This was only one item from my shopping list. What I can say – it’s a day I will never forget.
Next morning Cally (from Rafiki) and I head off in the dinghy at 8am to collect a mid-size pre-arranged car to collect this massive list of hard provisions for the crossing. To start the saga once we had done the paperwork and I had paid the 500 dollar deposit I was showed the smallest car known to man. It was laughable to think that two boats (13 people in total) would be able to get 6 weeks shopping in a Ford Ka sized matchbox. With no other cars available, I argued with the man for an hour and left with no car and at 11am no shopping yet to be even looked at - great start! So off to the bus we go and at 11.30 we enter our first shop - a large cash and carry, to buy all the large bulky
items like UHT milk, loo roll etc... Did you know that you need to allocate ¼ loo roll pppd?! So that’s a lot of bog roll.
After three hours and 5 trolleys between us, we head to the tills. Now this is where it gets interesting; as Cally went to pay she realises that she doesn’t have her passport. You may say no problem, but not it seems here as you need ID every time you make a credit card payment! So with a $1000 bill we try and use my card (as I had remembered mine) but what I did forget was my pin number. OMG, what a pair of idiots. So we have to then leave our shopping so we can go back to the boat and bring the passport and pin-code. Next we enter the second normal supermarket and spend another two hours where, between us, we have enough cash and travel back with them in the van to off-load the first delivery. Of course some of this in normal life would have been made easier with a mobile, but between us and now at 5.30 (nine hours after we had left) we arrive at the
dinghy dock with the first load! After a lot of “where have you been?” Cally and I return to the shops in the back of the van (Ted Bundy style) and go back to the original cash and carry to pay and arrange delivery (hopefully for tmw). To end this saga, apart from the gin and tonic that we hoped was waiting for us, we had to pay and box\pack the $1800 shop into large boxes otherwise they could not deliver. This was a bridge to far for me and I must admit I did have a sense of humour failure at that point. The only good news was the G&T was waiting for me along with pasta carbonara and an early night to recover from a 11 hour food shopping trip!
Transferring the shopping and shipping it to the dinghy (when we did the ARC provisioning we were alongside which made life much more simple) was akin to watching natives in dug-out canoes lifting out local delicacies to Captain Cook in the Pacific. The dinghy handled like a heavily-laden wheelbarrow (with a flat tyre!) but eventually it was all hoisted aboard – as well as the women to
entertain the men!
Apart from jobs, jobs and more jobs, the only other nice thing we did was hang out with our friends on Orion and have the best mojitos ever and just have the satisfaction of ticking things off the list.
One highlight of the visit to St Maarten was the dinghy regatta which we organised with the St Maarten Yacht Club. Located next to the opening bridge accessing the lagoon this a yachtie hub with coffees on tap, wifi, happy hours and flotilla of dinghies. They laid on a 8 optimists and a safety boat for a morning of dinghy sailing and racing. With minimal instructions such “try not to hit anything expensive” the kids from Mad Fish, Rafiki, Orion and Fabiola set off into the lagoon. Lots of fun, big campaign budgets like St Barths’ Bucket Regatta, equal levels of competition, knowledge of the rules and glamour! Astounding that Samuel’s opti was sponsored by an insurance company – might as well have said “Once I’ve hit your boat call this number...”
Anguilla here we come!
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Orion
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We miss your Fabulousness :)
Gil and Lisa, Your blog is hilarious and we miss the great stories you always had to tell!! We were relieved to see new postings as we had not heard from you and were getting worried. I'm sure you have just been spending your days laying around on the beach - not! Have a safe and easy crossing. Nancy and the rest of Crew Audacious on ORION