A sunny morning, and no signs of a repeat of last night's stormy encounter, and we set off by local bus into Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Maarten. With more traffic that the M25 on a Friday night, it took us quite a while to get there, but proved well worth the journey. The town is very cosmopolitan and partly geared towards the large numbers of cruise ship passengers that frequent this duty-free island. Jewellers and fancy designer clothes shops were everywhere, and the owner of a very fancy watch shop appeared most disappointed when I asked him for a replacement battery for my CASIO diving watch! He obliged and I left the shop with US$2-00 less in my wallet... Moving away from the tourist part of town, there were plenty of good coffee shops, clothes shops for normal people, with some good bargains to be had. We have realised that Sint Maarten has been the cheapest place that we have visited in the Caribbean for food, drinks and clothes. This has given us the chance to throw out a few oily rags, formally known as shorts and T shirts, and look slightly more respectable again. After a great lunch consisting of a cheeseburger, fries and a small beer each for about £3-00 each (!), we headed back towards Simpson Bay on another bus, joined another major traffic jam, supplemented by the reported fire in the middle of town and a town-wide power cut, and generally finishing-work time. No storms had moved QUASAR IV while were were out, and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon peacefully snoozing on board. All-you-can-eat spare ribs for dinner on the 'Lady C', a floating restaurant and bar nearby, and a late night back on the boat looking at the star constellations with background music provided by the numerous bars and clubs trying to out-do each other in terms of music volume. We depart for Antigua on Monday, so tomorrow will be spent clearing out with Customs and Immigration, stocking up on food, and generally getting the boat ready for the 105 Nm passage south east towards Jolly Harbour.