We have had a great time in St Maarten! We have been here for over 4 weeks and it is time to continue on. St Maarten is a great stop for many reasons, it is a duty free island so the Chandleries (aka boat stores) have good prices, the provisioning for food is wonderful, the grocery stores have items from Europe as well as the US and the prices are the best we have seen since Grenada. The variety and selection is the best we have seen since Martinique! There are many familiar brands and foods which Menno recognizes from his "homeland!" We have stocked up on hagelslag, nutella, bami and nasi to name a few! I bought a large wheel of gouda cheese for $20 US, it won't fit in my fridge, so I have it in the larger freezer/water fridge for the time. The French side of St Martin has great French wines at very reasonable prices, 5 EU a bottle. So, of course I have filled every nook and cranny on EIRA with good French wine! We did buy a new dingy as well. A nice 10 foot Caribe dingy. Our other Caribe was still in good shape but it was purchased 13 years ago in Venezuela and was starting to see a bit of wear and tear. We sold it to a fellow cruiser here in St Maarten. Our new ride is fast and relatively "drier" however there is no avoiding the infamous "dingy but!"

St Maarten is a busy stop but also fun. There are hundreds of cruisers spread out in the different anchorages around the island and in the lagoon. We spend time in the lagoon for ease of shopping, provisioning,dentist appointments, vet appointments, running errands and there is free wifi at the infamous Shrimpy's Restaurant! We will usually go into Shrimpy's in the afternoons to catch up with friends and access the wifi. Daniel and John have become addicted to Runescape, which is an online internet game, so they spend their time playing the game. Shrimpy is also the restaurant's dog and he is one of John's favorite pets to play with! There is laundry available at Shrimpy's however it is run by a "laundry nazi" and I no longer will have anything to do with her! Long story for another blog! Menno seems to get along with her just fine....so I will leave it at that!! On Sundays there is a "jumble" aka flea market and John purchased a beautiful pair of earrings for me! Menno was able to sell our KISS windgenerator at the market, he was not happy with its performance so he sold it! ouch! But we are purchasing another windgenerator and it is on hold for us in the Virign Islands.

The Fench side of St Martin has the great restaurants! We have had many delicious meals out! Last night Menno and I went ashore after dinner for a stroll and cup of coffee. The boys and Daisy stayed aboard and watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

We are going for a day sail today to the small island of Tintamarre, the weather is beautiful, nice and sunny with a slight breeze to cool us down.

Photo: John, Ben and Daniel at beach in Simpson Bay