Christmas in St. Maarten and St. Martin

 

Sandy & Sandy
The people here are sure nice...and some of the best are named Sandy.
This fellow's daughter has a bar/restaurant she named after me and her dad.
Ok...just her dad.

After we anchored in St. Maartin's Simpson Bay Lagoon, we spent time on shore in both the Dutch and French sides. The 1st day, we visited a chandlery (a marine parts store) on the Dutch side. I was like a kid in a candy store! There were sooo many things we could've picked up and the prices were good (as far as Caribbean prices go.) Jim and Connie decided on a new dinghy, since there other one was getting tired. Karen and I walked over to a dive shop and picked up new shorty wet suits and other gear with Xmas $ from her mom and dad. (We'll model them for you in a future blog) Karen looks hot in hers...she said I look like a sexy walrus. Thanks mom and dad.

Some folks get a little "wound up" when coming through the bridge
and we all get to enjoy it! These guys must've had too much Patron!

Some views of Marigot, St. Martin (French side.) On Christmas eve, Karen, Jim, Connie and I walked around Marigot. According to Jim and Connie, since they were here last (about 5 years ago) the town is nicer with many improvements and a facelift to a lot of the storefronts. We stopped in for a nice drink at small corner bar, then had a nice dinner at one of the marina-side restaurants. MMM good! The girls and Jim still rave about their great salads. I told them they were full of lettuce. 

Connie and Jim Priebe, sunset in Marigot, St. Martin



Yes, I still make pies. My piemaking abilities are a
tribute to my mother...everyone thanks you, Mom!

On Christmas morning, Connie and Karen made some fixins' for our evening meal and I made an apple/pear pie. Jim kept us all in libations. That evening, Ann and Bob Todd (anchored next to us on s/v Jule III) joined our merry crew for dinner. Yes, everyone...we had a traditional-style meal: turkey/stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy, broccoli/rice casserole and deviled eggs...and pie.


Karen sure is enjoying the view of Simpson Bay Lagoon,
St. Maartin (Dutch side) from s/v Plane to Sea,
Jim and Connie's record-setting Jenneau 50' sailboat



We hope you all had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas and will enjoy a prosperous 2011

Dr. Seuss' Protege



Caribbean Booby on our bow being bored


Karen and I have been doing some really fine stuff lately....and you might want to come here and try it sometime too.

Come on! Get your mind out of the gutter...were you thinking I was talking about "wacky weed"..."ganja"..."smoke"...cannabis?

I was talking about spending quality time 24/7/365 with your spouse! We've become really silly lately...that's what happens when you get attached at the hip.

Michael's (Beans) magnificent moored mansion



Photo of floating with a nearly-full moon



Sailing to St. Maarten on a super-sized sailboat

One of the things on our bucket list was to make a long overnight sail. This year, we were thinking of taking our boat to St. Maarten. It is about 90 miles from the BVI and would require about 20 hours of motorsailing in our boat to get there.

We met Jim and Connie Priebe last year and had planned to travel alongside them in our boat. Instead, we were invited to travel there on their boat "Plane to Sea".

"A" really radical Russian rowboat

A ketch-rigged kazillionaire's kreampuff

 We left the BVI, passing between Necker Island and Virgin Gorda under sail, at about 6pm on the 21st of December. We pulled into Simpson Bay, St. Maarten about 4:30am....that's 10 1/2 hours folks. We stayed on a port tack and averaged over 8 1/2 knots..all--the--way!! It may not seem like we were going very fast, but in a sailboat traveling to St. Maarten, this is so rare that it's almost unheard of. Needless to say, Jim and I were absolutely grinning from ear to ear. The girls were not as enthused as we were, though. Raging through the waves, heeled over, occasionally taking water over the bow...for 10 straight hours...wasn't as fun for them. So we slowed the boat down, just a little, to keep everyone happy. We even set out the fishing lines, but no fish...oh well, the sail was still perfect, to us.

The Captain (Jim), Connie and Karen

Great gaggle of glam goddesses going through the gate

 We anchored, then got some sleep for a few hours. After waking, we hurried towards the lineup for the drawbridge to open, allowing everyone to enter Simpson Bay Lagoon. There were about 20 boats of various sizes waiting, but we found it was quite easy to cut in line and go through 2nd, ahead of the rest. No one even blew their horns at us...so no foul!

Simpson Bay's special vessel span 

Our boat is beating the best of the rest

There were so many cool and unique boats. At one point after we anchored inside Simpson Bay Lagoon, I counted over 30 megayachts and 10 megasailboats over 100' long tied up to the various marinas. There were some yachts that remained outside the bridge as they were too wide to enter!

J-Boat jewel

Smokin' through the "slot"

"Holy

Smokin' Spaceship,

Batman!"

It's not 20*F here...

As I'm viewing the wx in areas of our wonderful country, it dawns on me that Karen and I are truly blessed to be able to spend our time with barely any clothes on, enjoying the temperatures, swimming in the 90* water, with a slight tropical breeze to cool our skin. And I didn't even mention that we have this to look forward to for the next....um....let's see...I guess it would be...um...yep...6 months!

I guess things could be better...we could have all of you here to enjoy it with us.

There is a blog that we follow that is absolutely hilarious   www.dearmissmermaid.blogspot.com
She also has written some books that are a great read. Below is a recent excerpt:

Beautiful Hand Made Christmas Slippers
I've been busy all day making Christmas Slippers so when the big day
arrives, my friends will have something festive to wear on their
tootsies. These are fairly economical and fit my tiny gift budget
perfectly this year.

Here's the instructions and supply list:

A box of Maxi Pads (you will need 4 per pair of slippers)
Tape or Glue
Little Red Bows (2 per pair of slippers)
Optionally little Snowmen or Santas or Christmas Decor

Lay out two pads, for the soles.
Tape or glue the other two pads around the lower sole, for making the top of the slippers
Tape or glue the red bows in the center of the top of the slippers
Decorate with little snowmen or small candies or small ornaments, use glue or tape to hold in place

These slippers have many unqiue features

Budget Friendly

Absorb Sweat from Feet

Built-in deoderant feature

Soft

Hygenic

Environmentally Safe

Non Allergenic

Disposable

Biodegradable


The really cool thing is, once the holidays are over you can remove the red bows and decorations to recycle for next Christmas. Also, when you are cleaning up from New Year's Eve debauchery,these slippers can be used to mop up spilled champagne or eggnog, then tossed out.


Go check out her site and look at the slipper pictures....it was such an inspiration that I've sent Karen to the store for some supplies to make Xmas presents for all of you!

I went diving the other day and saw some interesting things:

I saw Karen in the holiday spirit






 

A christmas sea star

One of Santa's slow reindeer

No, we haven't been getting too much sun, but thanks for worrying about us.



So you don't think we've forgotten what snow looks like...we have pictures to look at! The orchard in our backyard...Montana....winter 2008!



Rock'n'roll Bay and other nav chart corrections

We've renamed some of the places that we anchor and thought you would like to correct your navigation charts to reflect the new names. I am going to include the appropriate justification for each.

Rock'n'roll Bay aka Fat Hogs Bay
It was a really special place to visit...once! We discovered that places to anchor here were minimal, but we did find a spot that looked good. The initial weather at the time of our stay had the winds/waves from the east, which left us pretty protected. By midnight, the waves started coming out of the southeast. Of course, as luck would have it, God put the harbor's opening towards the southeast also. So picture this...our boat, being held by the anchor, was pointing to the east. The waves were hitting us on the side because of the orientation of the bay. The dishes weren't actually flying out of the cupboards, but it sure sounded like it!

Rollyville used to be considered Road Harbor.
Due to the direction the ferries come into the harbor, as well as the southern orientation of the opening of the harbor, this anchorage can be really rolly. We are in good company, though, because there's always others to share the fun. Our anchoring area is just outside of the breakwater, next to where the cruise ships dock. This gives us something to concentrate on while trying to avoid mal de mer aka seasickness. This is where we happen to be right now as I write this blog and we are pleasantly surprised it is somewhat calm tonight. It is a great place to anchor when you need to spend money in Road Town (groceries, laundry, hardware, chandlery, booze....).

CaCatown, actually the inner harbor area of Road Harbor.
I don't have pics of the slimy/fouled anchor, various parts of our boat deck covered with yuck or my hands that were covered with the crap found on the seabed here. I'm not about to anchor in there ever again. We anchored about 4 times there (last season) and each one was worse than the previous. If Karen decided that any of these were Kodak moments, she and the camera would've been swimming. We would rather spend a lifetime in Rollyville than one more day anchoring in CaCatown.

Black and Blue Bay used to be White Bay, Peter Island.
We had heard of the beauty of this place...and we had never anchored here...Ahhh, the tranquil scene with few other boats to crowd the scenery. Then the cold front blew in from the east. No Problem Mon...we were in the shadow of the hill so we shouldn't feel a thing...WRONG! The wind would lull for 5 seconds and blow for 30 seconds (20 to 30kts) ALL---NIGHT---LONG (5 second lull/30 second blow....we should write a song!) I should have suspected something was up when I noticed the wind generators on top of the hill above us. And we also had the fun of hearing our anchor chain dragging up and down and across rocks on the seabed...I'm guessing we got about 1/2hr of sleep that night. [enter a long sigh here]

Buggybay, formerly Trellis Bay.
Now, here's a place that is filled with many friends of ours. It's also the place that's popular for the full moon parties. The locals must be using some sort of magic potion that repels the no-see-ums off of them and onto unfortunates like us (fresh meat). You can't believe the little blood-sucking monsters can bite so hard. I'm not kidding when I say they are smaller than the "i" in this sentence but their teeth feel like it's a pitbull. Honestly, the problem with these little bugs from hell only exists when the wind calms. I do believe there is no flying distance too long for them to seek out their meals.

We sure endure a lot just for your entertainment!

Friends and bearded man

Dale and Gary next to their "Sognare" (a 45' Robertson/Caine)

While spending quality time on the dock waiting for our parts, we made some new friends. Gary and Dale charter their catamaran for all to enjoy....man, it's nice...so roooomy!



Karen and Scruffy

 Also, while staying in Nanny Cay, waiting patiently, I participated in the "Gro it, Sho it, Mo it" Campaign for prostate cancer research. Or, maybe it was for promoting prostate digital exams...I don't remember. Anyway, I only grew the beard...I didn't participate in any prostate checks.



Sue and Toddy enjoying some relaxation on our boat

Toddy and Sue joined us for an overnight sail around the islands, with snorkling and diving included. We sure have a lot of fun when we are together. Toddy gets to do most of the steering, because he doesn't get much "helm time" while doing instructing for his students.

"Fun, Fun, Fun, 'til daddy takes his car keys away"

We decided to take a side trip into Paraquita Bay. There's a small sailboat that Toddy and Sue are contemplating purchasing...a 32' Jenneau. We also saw a lot of mangroves and sunken boats from bad storms (or ownership).



<>

Toddy and Sue like this one



No interest in this one, though....kind of a fixer-upper

So we headed back out to the boat and left for Road Harbor (Tortola). We dropped off Toddy and Sue and spent the next day getting provisions for the next week's fun...and a refill of our dive tanks. Yippee!



Home Sweet Home



 

Boat improvements, mostly

Karen and I mentioned to many of you the trials we encountered trying to get the boat relaunched this year. As a brief recap...as soon as we put it in the water the 1st time, we encountered a leak in the bottom. We had it pulled back out, I fixed it and then set it into the water the next day. We then tried to start the engine to check it for fuel leaks (the high pressure fuel pump was removed/repaired/reinstalled during the summer). It wouldn't start. Of course, the starter was bad...soooo, we ordered a new starter from the mechanic that installed the fuel pump. "Don't worry, Mon...I weell have it to you by Thursday or Friday" and he also said..."I will get eet from my buddy in Virgin Gorda...he can get eet for you at a great deescount. But I must have the moneey first, so it can be ordered. No Worries, Mon".


Everyone...just sigh now...I know what you're thinking. Okay, we had reservations also, but he came recommended to us from some friends in the business. Sadly, they got thrown for a loop like us, too. Anyway, our mechanic never showed with the part...or the $$. We waited over 3 weeks, patiently, until the patience ran out. We ended up buying our 2nd new starter and hired another mechanic to help troubleshoot the installation and various wires that were disconnected.

Phase 3 of the engine start process worked better than the first two...the engine turned over, anyway. It just wouldn't start. It seemed that the other fuel pump...yes, there's two of them...needed to be replaced. And whilst I was buying the pump, I might as well replace the leaking exhaust mixing elbow. Yes, I installed these newly purchased parts and yes, it finally started. When I mentioned to Karen that I might want to stay in the marina for another day to repack the winches, she reminded me (not nicely at all) that we had been there for 3 1/2 weeks...enough for now. So we departed the marina and got lots of free time to enjoy...and I still haven't done the winches. Oh, by the way...we heard from the mechanic today, the day of infamy, that he was going to leave the $$ with our friend in the marina....hmmm...this sounds familiar.....we'll keep you all informed, as the storyline continues.

Here's some pics of the projects we did do while waiting and waiting and waiting for the mechanic:

Karen applied new ATC vinyls to the port and starboard sides of the boat





Karen made shade screens for the back and sides of the cockpit




Karen sewed bottom cushion covers for the salon



Karen cleaned and re-oiled the cockpit teak



Karen made covers for the cockpit cushions

Meanwhile, just so you don't think I was watching someone else do all the work...I repaired the keel (no pictures) washed the boat (no pics) repaired holes in the mainsail (no pics) cleaned/painted the anchors (nope) ran a new wire harness for the speed transducer (nope) cleaned the bilges, burped the shaft seal, put a new "Y" valve in the head (nope, naw and nada)....etc. All of this on top of supervising Karen's progress!

AND...I installed dive tank holders in the cockpit locker



Sailing in Idaho

Today, Dec. 7, is a day that still lives in infamy~

Dennis, Tom and I traveled to a small lake in Central Idaho for the year-end sailing regatta.

Like most races, we got a little close at times

Tom and Dennis celebrating our superior sailing skills...see how far ahead we are!

Dennis' Captiva 24'



 We raced with a group of about 10 other boats of similar size...and placed 3rd overall. The racing took place in 4 heats on a Saturday and Sunday in October. It sure was a fun time!

Yakima and the Wenas!

Since we have been in the islands, it's been difficult to get some of these blogs published. Internet access is spotty and upload speeds are terribly slow. We have purchased better phone and internet service, so we'll see if that helps. For those that want to call, our BVI ph number is 284-441-3691. Our email remains the same shelton59106@msn.com I will get out the blogs still pending from this last summer and have us current with everyone shortly.

 Karen and I enjoyed such a fun time with everyone this year. We were able to spend time with our family, friends (new and old) and see so much of the country we've never been to. One trip I was able to take was with my cousins, Cindy and John, to Yakima, WA. We met my parents at the hotel, enjoying some late evening drinks together. Cindy and John went over to the other side of the family and visited while I stayed with my parents and visited relatives and saw the sights.



My 1st home (1957), in the Wenas valley. The house is in the trees behind the van, and the old dairy barn is on the right.




Aunt Bev and Uncle Paul (Mom's side)




Aunt Margaret, Aunt Angela, Mom and Dad (Dad's side)

 Most recently, I traveled with my Boise-based cousins to Yakima (my birthplace) and visited aunts, uncles and parents. We spent most of the day driving around, looking at sights and reminiscing about the "old days".

My grandpa, my namesake

Cousins Steve and Chris

Dad and Mom