It's all about tradition

So.... Your in a new anchorage, but this one isn't so new for us, but it is how the story goes.

A yachty spins past in there 9.9 hp dingy and says "hey"? You say hey back. Nine times out of ten they are Australians saying it. I do have an Aussie flag flying so it makes sense. "We do drinks at the yacht club at 5ish to watch the bridge opening" K, I said, I will be there (Jules and Sarah are off on an excursions to Saba while I sort Ooroo out) I'm alone for this one.

Rightio I'm off.

The Dutch Bridge in St Maarten is where all the big boats come in and the yacht club sits right at the opening. To paint the picture for my family back home, Ooroo is anchored in a lagoon that spans both the Dutch and French side of this island. The lagoon opens to the sea on both sides. The French bridge has a shallower depth, the Dutch bridge can take 100 million dollars of boat...no sweat. The lagoon is a parking lot for everyone. So the happy hour for the Dutch bridge is timed for the 5.30pm opening when the big boats come back home to roost. Two dollar beers, a great big deck and a closeness to the yachts coming through that you can almost touch them.

The funny thing is that most of the big ones just have crew on board. Imagine Kate Hudson....dressed in tan shorty shorts and a tight white collared shirt with epaulets? The buff captain is the male equivalent who when you wave provocatively he blows his horn.....for the record I don't wave. The owner or guests are probably having a nap at this stage.

These boats glisten with beautifully polished stainless and glass. They are so white that they make my "Ooroo" look positively brown. They can have dozens of staff and only a handful of guests. Obscene wealth on display.

Smaller boats like mine slide through as I did six months ago and wave to the getting drunk crowd. In the time it takes me to finish my beer I have seen a dozen yachts both big and small.....possibly 200million dollars worth.I sip my $2 Presidente. It goes down well.

So then what? Well, this night it was kick arse pizza right next door to the yacht club. A table of four, a couple of French reds and cheese and garlic bread, massive pizzas with extra anchovies was under $100 bucks. I'm dining with an Aussie (not the one that invited me) who mates on super yachts, and a Canadian couple who simply live ( skipper and manage) a 70 foot ketch while waiting for there employer to come sailing. Which he does very occasionally. These people are the ones who keep the tradition of the bridge opening exciting. There lives and stories add to your own.

The mornings hangover cure is a fast trip in the dingy to one of the many coffee shops spread around the lagoon. The conversations from the previous night continue over coffee. Everyone has the same idea. Or is it just ingrained tradition. Maybe it's just common sense. It's another life. One I would have pursued years ago if I new it existed.