Fireworks New Years Eve, Sunset Beach, St Maarten

Since our last entry on 12/18, we have been quite busy. St Martin has a lot to do and with the holidays and peak tourist season, the island has been hopping. Unfortunately, so has the anchorage. It is packed. The Christmas winds arrived on time and have kept us rocking and rolling not to mention the wakes from the Anguilla taxi boats that are playing chicken with our stern. Winds before Christmas were blowing sustained in the twenties and gusting in the thirties. After a bit of a lull, it has again kicked up this AM to the 20s with gusts to 38. It makes for some really wet dinghy riding - the WAF is running at a 10 today! The good thing is we know many of these boats and rarely go to land without seeing someone we know. It makes you feel right at home here and worth the trip!
Despite the windy, rough anchorage, we managed to have a very nice Christmas and New Years. Christmas Eve we watched the Jets vs the Giants game at the SPN Cafe and then had Happy Hour over at Barnacles with the cruisers and returned to the boat for a filet mignon dinner. After exchanging gifts Christmas morning and a Skype call home - Casio watch for me and an Antigua hand carved mahogany barracuda for Kevin - I prepared a champagne brunch followed by a nap, of course. Christmas night, we had dinner on land with Sean and Janet Grant and baby, Hali, at Toppers. The turkey dinner was enjoyed by the ladies and the men had the prime rib. Very tasty and generous portions and a free glass of wine!
We stopped for a night cap back at the marina on Sean and Janet's boat. The night was suddenly interrupted by the stereo blasting Avril Lavigne from the boat in the next slip. Considering the singer was born in 1984 and sings songs about "boys and girls", we were discussing the possible reasons a 50ish man would have for playing the CD incessantly and at maximum volume. Apparently, this is a pretty regular thing and one day he played it over and over for an entire day. In the midst of our discussion, we heard a loud splash and looked over to see the subject of our speculation in the water attempting to pull himself up hanging onto a dock line. That wasn't working so Sean ran over and tried to give him a hand up onto the dock. That didn't work either so Kevin drove our dinghy over and wanted him to grab on so he could tow him to the swim platform on the back of his boat. The guy was pretty panicked by then and determined to climb into the dinghy instead. After a couple tries, he made it into the dinghy and was able to climb from there on to the dock. He went on his boat and the guys returned to Caribana - Kevin in a very wet dinghy. Of course we had to have another night cap and re-hash the man overboard mission while Avril continued to wail in the background. On New Year's Eve, we saw the fellow in the marina bar and he was talking to the bartender about coming over later to the swim up pool bar. You could tell he did not recognize Kevin when Kevin innocently asked how deep the water was in the pool but I had a hard time keeping a straight face. It is 3 feet deep so I guess there were no rescues necessary at the bar New Year's Eve.

Friday we rented a car and circumnavigated the island with stops in Marigot for croissants, beach time at Orient and a late lunch at Oyster Pond. We picked up Sean, Janet and Hali and went up to Sunset Beach Bar to watch the planes and have Happy Hour. It was a beautiful day and we had a very relaxing time.

New Year's Eve we again went to Barnacles and had dinner and drinks with the cruisers. George and Joanne arrived back from Canada and received a warm welcome. After dinner, we all piled into some local buses and rode up to Maho. We ended up over at Sunset Beach Bar again and stayed to watch the fireworks at midnight and were back at the boat by 1:30. Several of the group stayed until 4 AM and were not to be seen at the beach yesterday afternoon. Kevin and I walked the beach and did some people watching at the New Year's Day party at Karakter then grabbed a bite at Mary's Boon later. Kevin was bummed to miss the Giants game but it started at 9:20 PM our time and he was too beat to have another late night on land. Plus the wind had picked up again and the Lagoon was getting rough. It appears to be calming down a little now so we will be heading in to do some shopping and to see George and Joanne.

When the right weather window comes up, we will be heading to Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. We hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays. We wish you all the best for 2012! Fairwinds and smooth sailing!