Sint Maarten, Caribbean

Susan

Well the end of March finds us still on the island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin in the Caribbean. We’ve been busy with continued boat renovations since Christmas. Renovation isn’t really an accurate way to describe the scope of the project. We are really building half of a boat interior. We’ve made great strides though and it is looking more and more like the inside of a proper yacht these days. Check out the renovation pictures by clicking here. Be sure to refresh the page if you don’t see the recent photos.

We haven’t had much time for enjoying the ocean or socializing. In November we met a couple of fellow Canadians from Port Moody on a boat near ours. We got to know Art and Corinne quite well and really enjoyed their company. They abandoned us in January to head south but we are looking forward to meeting up with them again in Venezuela this fall. We spent Christmas and New Years with Art & Corinne and their visiting friends and Wayne’s niece and her boyfriend. We enjoyed a fine Christmas tradition of snorkeling and then stuffing ourselves with food. The Caribbean didn’t disappoint as we found a great snorkeling spot that had thousands of colourful fish mobbing you for whatever food you might have with you. A Ziploc full of squished chickpeas was a real hit with the local fish population. The snorkeling was a great reminder of the life that we have been missing for years and we’re certainly ready to experience more of it.

As much as we would prefer to have been done the renovations and been long gone from here, we are very happy that we were stuck here of all places as the health care on the French side of the island is superb. I was diagnosed with early cervical cancer in December and in January an attempt was made to remove it during a simple day surgery. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite do the trick and in February I went back to the hospital for a hysterectomy. If you have to have major surgery with a long recovery period, then it’s best to do it somewhere warm. Recovery time was also a great excuse for me to get out of working on the boat for a while. Thankfully I was given a clean bill of health in early March, which was a huge relief after a lot of worrying. 

We were scheduled to move onto the boat at about the time I found out I needed surgery so we had to postpone the move to the boat and instead moved to a studio apartment in the same hotel complex where we had been staying. We moved a few feet to the new room and settled in again amongst our 30 boxes of possessions. We were lucky to get the room as the 25^th Anniversary of the Heineken Regatta was here on the island at that time and almost every hotel was booked. 

During all of this time, Wayne and Bernhard, our local carpenter, have continued working on the boat and have made fantastic progress. The island is actually a great place to be if you are doing any kind of work on a boat. There are well-stocked chandleries, hardware stores and sail makers. It’s not quite the same as being at home in terms of selection but it is pretty good considering the size of the island. It is also a duty free island so we’ve been able to order in a few things that we couldn’t buy here without having to deal with customs and duties. 

These last few weeks have been especially busy as we are preparing to move to the boat in early April. We’re quite excited about settling in to our new home but it will be a big adjustment. First order of business is to find a permanent home aboard for the contents of the 30 boxes that we shipped from home. Then we’ll have to adjust to living in an ongoing construction zone. We’ll be living at a dock for at least the first few weeks. We’d rather be at anchor but we have more work to do before we get to that point. Regardless of the adjustments to be made it will be a big step towards getting out there and going sailing. 

It certainly feels like a good time to get moving as the temperature is on the rise again. When we arrived here in October last year, it was right at the worst of hurricane season and hot as can be. According to the weather channel most days got up to 110 with the humidity factored in. There was no wind and it was stifling. It started to cool down in November and we quite enjoyed the weather throughout the winter. The trade winds are strongest during the winter and they help to keep you cool. It was still a bit hot for hard work without the option of jumping over the side into the ocean, but livable. In the last few weeks, we’ve noticed the temperature starting to climb again although the humidity is much lower than it was in the fall. Definitely time to be living at anchor enjoying the ocean breeze and cooling dips in the ocean. 

At the moment, our plan is to have wrapped up the majority of the work by early May ahead of the hurricane season. We then plan to sail south from here in mid-May working our way through the Caribbean island chain to the coast of Venezuela. So here’s hoping our next update has more fun and a little less work in it.