we are over here now
http://slow-mocean.blogspot.com/
The mere fact that I hyperlinked this address and you can't click on it is yet another reason I am moving.
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07/02/2009, St. Kitts
Ahoy, all! This is guest-blogger, Aileen on the G.S. Slow Mocean once again! Hopefully I will be able to weasel out of Seattle and down to whatever nautical location Slow Mocean may be every year, if I'm lucky. For now it was easy to do since I finished college without landing a REAL job (no worries, still employed at my college job). Anyhow, this year certainly has surpassed the experience of the last. Last year when I'd visited, we were cruising through the not so warm waters of the Cheasapeake with less than comprable weather. This year was AWESOME! After graduation, we flew into San Juan and spent the day eating Puerto Rican food and seeing the sights of Old San Juan. Fried cheese, fried cornbread, fried pork pockets (can't remember what they're called... epanitas?), and tostones! YUM! from there we headed down to the other side of the island to catch a boat to Culebra, where the boat was anchored. It was a long ferry ride, but the view was spectacular. At Culebra, chickens roamed the sidewalks as stray cats do in Seattle, but even more interstingly (and it seems to be a common occurance throughout the carribean, at least on my trip) lizards are to the tropics, as squirrels are to Seattle. Unbelievable! Anyhow, westayed in Culebra for 2-3 days getting ready for the cruise down to St. Maarten. In Culebra we also went snorkeling (my first time!) and saw lots of delicious fish and conch, but none were big enough to catch... except the puffer fish. That guy was MASSIVE! if only I'd invested in an underwater camera. By far, the time we spent underwater was much more exciting than above--with the exception of being sandblasted, but that comes later. So from Culebra we cuised down to Culebrita (sp?) and hiked up to the old lighthouse, oldest one in the carribbean according to Blake. It's a pretty neat place to check out if you are around there. The beach is also splendid. We did more snorkeling there, and it was probably the best snorkeling spot on our trip because we even got to spot a seaturtle! Mom didn't do very much up to this point of the trip, she just sat on the boat and cleaned things. Sometimes I think she was just looking for things to clean. From Culebrita we sailed to St. Croix... the journey was not pleasant. Luckily I did not eat anything prior because I would surely have lost it and made a worse mess on the side of the boat. In St. Croix, mom finally decided to get off the boat and play. Blake and I snorkled around the underwater park at Buck Island--lots of fun! They have good signage too, although they really should hire someone to clean the signs now and then because some of them are thickly overgrown with... sea life. We spotted trumpet fish, lots of not cow fish but something that looks similar to it, we saw a lobster and barracudas among others. In St. Maarten I bought a postcard of local tropical fish to send back to my friend in seattle and recognized seeing all but 2 of the fish that were featured on the card. Pretty cool. From St. Croix we sailed/cruised (my parents used to motor a lot on this trip for sake of speed and me not throwing up too much, aren't they sweet?) to our final destination together, St. Maarten. There, we stayed on land for about a week and checked out both sides, French and Dutch. The French side has a lot of French... people speaking it, signage in French and typical shops: Boulangerie, Epicerie, Patisseries, etc; but, the Dutch side, in many parts you can't even tell that it's supposed to be Dutch. Everything is in English and alll the people speak English, at least in Cole Bay. Some parts had a bit more Dutch, but still, very heavily English. Unless your ambition is to flop around and achieve the skin consistency of a leather pouch I'd suggest spending your time of the resort/hotel areas. BORING. We did the normal touristy sight-seeing in Philipsburg, Marigot and some of the beaches, but getting lost (despite what Blake may claim about his internal compass) in the normal parts of town was much more interesting. The best part of St. Maarten though, which you must do if you go there, is getting sand blasted at Maho Beach. Nowhere else in the world, probably, could publicly accessable land be closer to jet engines. Maho beach is a tiny strip of land at a length of one road and a fence away from commerical jets. The last day before I had to fly back to Seattle, Blake took us down to the beach and my mom and I stood front and center for the blasts... and it was AWESOME! had Blake told us we could get pelted by rocks and the potential for serious injury I wouldn't have done it. Thank goodness for ignorance, because it was fun. The four engine KLM jet was the best though. We got blown backwards off our feet and recieved some nice exfoliation from all the sand. Even Blake, who was way off to the side behind a jeep, got the full blast of one of the engines! It was the funnest vacation I've ever had (even though it was fun 24/7, the fun times were much more fun than on other vacations). I'm already missing my parents a lot... so I can't wait to see them again soon, hopefully next year (though it'd be nice to see them for christmas). Happy sails to all. Love, Aileen
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Had a great trip across the Anegada and have spent the week at the Pelican Resort Hotel overlooking Simpson Bay. Aileen made it across easily and never got sick. She just went to bed in St Croix and woke up in St. Maartin. Actually, she did stay up for quite a while on the crossing, but did well. We anchored in the lagoon and one of the first things we did is make a trip to Budget Marine where we ended up trading in our old dink and getting a new one. words cannot express the difference in these two boats and we are incredibly happy to be cruising around in our new AB.
We also rented a car and Aileen thought it would be great fun to head to the beach. I remember how ironic it was in the movie Castaway where Tom Hanks is given a welcome back party with all the fixings like lobster shrimp and all the great things he had to eat for so long. Beaches get a bit tiresome for me especially when they are hotel or public beaches. Aileen of course doesn't see them everyday so it was good for her. We did have fun and we have seen most of the island this week cruising around in our super small car. We took the dinghy out two days ago to Maho Bay to watch the planes take off. Maho is a pretty famous spot and even if you've never heard of it you most likely have seen it in some funniest videos clip or online. The threshold for the local runway is separated from the beach by a fence a one lane road and usually more than a dozen half naked beach goers with cameras. As the planes turn to launch they blow sand, rocks and usually a few people into the water. It is kind of like being hosed down with a sandblaster. Well when in Rome do as the Romans do and all that so we checked the flight schedule and timed our visit to Maho to coincide with KLM's 747. A mere 737 just doesn't have the kick a 747 does. Long story short we will be picking sand out of our bodies for the next month, there are no decipherable photos and we all had a blast. Kinda reminded me of working on a flight deck again.
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