After five weeks here in St. Martin it's time to sail off on the penultimate leg of the circumnavigation. With the exception of a brief social flurry in the early part of May, mostly I was anchored in the middle of St. M's huge lagoon doing little chores on the boat and killing time until son Fred's arrival on May 26. He and I did some touristic exploration (not nearly enough) and some 2-person maintenance jobs I saved for his arrival: re-reeving the mizzen topping lift and scrubbing the propeller and the bottom. I can go up the mast alone or with casual support on deck, but it is definitely safest to have a capable and experienced person on deck, because often the unforeseen happens in work up the mast and it's helpful to have someone who can improvise solutions safely and quickly avoiding repeated climbs. This climb and repair went smoothly. For the bottom cleaning (also much safer and more convenient with good deck support--we shared the underwater work) we went on a little cruise around the island to the most popular resort area off Orient Beach--on the east side of the island obviously. Among other resorts on the beach there is one called Club Orient which is a "plage naturiste" or nudist beach (clothing optional as they say). We had to interact with that a bit for Fred to rent a windsurfer. Mostly we would have preferred if the subathers (and walkers, lots and lots of walkers) had kept their clothes on. An amusing moment: we anchored at one point quite close to the beach to be in shallow water to wash the bottom. The totally Gallic and totally naked captain of a nearby day charter cat dinghied over to inquire (politely) why we were so close to his boat and was satisfied to hear we would be away in a few hours, before he returned from his day trip. Fred later observed it was a bit tough to take him entirely seriously. I had been a dedicated if solitary nudist during most of the long leg from Cape Town, so somehow it did not seem so odd to me. Probably not a good idea for a male sailor to work entirely nude in the engine room, for the same reason you don't wear a tie in shop class! And of course women are well-advised to wear tops when working with wringers. (this reference may be obscure to younger readers--ask your mom or dad).

On a more serious note, we have been following the weather patterns quite closely since hurricane season technically began yesterday (early hurricanes are usually in the Gulf of Mexico) and there is no evidence of the existence of an "easterly wave" which is the little low coming like a smoke ring off the Sahara and drifting across the Atlantic on the trade winds. These are the pesky things that sometimes, at this time of year and through October, become Atlantic hurricanes. Glad not to see one the day we leave.

I mailed the pactor modem off to the US for assessment and repair. It hasn't gotten there yet (3 weeks) so is probably lost in postal space. Oh well. Point is--no posts or emails until we get to Bermuda, hopefully on or soon after the 10th.