Is it really happening? Say it isn’t so! We have been sitting in St. Maarten for two months and now that we have the opportunity to go, we find ourselves not quite ready to do so. The electricians finished all of their work on Wednesday afternoon. Tests and trials were complete. We now have a fully functioning power plant and electrical system. Yipee!

Greig checked the weather on the internet as well as the emails sent to us from friends and fellow rat packers and determined that Thursday was the day to go. So not allowing any sea grass to grow on our keel, we ran around like mad things getting provisioning, doing laundry, clearing customs, and paying off our bill at several boating businesses and bars in town. At 1530, the dock attendant loosened our dock lines and we were off to make the last bridge opening of the day at 1600. It didn’t matter that the dinghy wasn’t secured yet, or that all of the water and fuel jugs weren’t tied on. Down below bags of groceries and laundry were just thrown everywhere, and everything still needed to be secured. We knew we had to make the opening regardless of the state of the boat. We made it through, then found a calm patch of water on the other side to finish tidying up and securing for sea. It was a good thing too, because for the next two days, we had the best sailing since we started this trip.

This was the most relaxed I have seen Greig in two months. Everything ran like a top; he got to sail the trades for the very first time and we were out of St. Maarten. Who wouldn’t like that? We sailed through Thursday night, all day Friday, and by lunch time Saturday, we were sailing into Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. We had a mooring ball reserved with Rodney Bay Marina. We talked about going to anchor, but there had been some theft going on in the outer bay, so we felt it was better to pay to stay in the inner lagoon. The mooring balls do not have pennants on them and the wind was picking up. The marina’s dinghy was down, so they couldn’t help us. It was the most challenging mooring we have done to date, but we managed without too many swear words. Once secure, we tidied the boat, including pulling out all of my bedding and mattress to dry on deck. During the passage, we buried the bow several times, which forced water through the forward hatch. Something else to put on the list for Grenada.

After lunch, we put the dinghy in the water and went in to clear customs and pay our mooring fees. All was as we were expecting price wise except for the extra fee for clearing during non weekday hours. The guide book said that the extra charge would be approximately 15 - 25 EC. They charged us 100 EC. If we had cleared on Monday, we wouldn’t have had to pay that at all! After doing all of our paperwork, we visited with friends on Calypso, who we haven’t seen since the Bahamas. After one beer though, we had to turn done their generous offer of more, (I know, hard to believe, Greig turning down beer!) and returned to the boat for a quick dinner and blessed sleep.

Recap of the businesses in St. Maarten.

Groceries: Simply’s for cheapest groceries, Market Garden for the best produce, and Grand Marché for specialty items.

Restaurants: Lagoonies for best happy hour prices, Pineapple Pete’s for the best Philly Cheesesteak anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, The Cappacino Bar for the best lunch specials, and Serafina’s for the most decadent pastries ever produced.

Marine supplies: Budget Marine and Island Waterworld, were both well stocked and very helpful and were happy to take a large helping of our money.

Engine work: I cannot recommend Simpson’s Bay Diesel as a place to go. In our experience, they did not come in on time (one month later) nor on budget (70% over estimate). We were lied to on several occasions concerning the location of our engine in transit as well as why we they couldn’t start work on the install right away. The one plus to this business was Gregory the diesel mechanic and Carl his assistant. They know what they are doing hands down.

Electrical work: Electec, five stars plus, plus, plus! Every employee was very professional and went above and beyond with their work. They not only came in on time but exactly on budget, even though there was a few glitches along the way. As a bonus, Orin, our electrician, was going to up date our electrical drawing for the boat. When he did this, it looked too messy for him, so he did a complete new drawing on his own time for us. Now that’s what I call service!

Overall we were glad that we had the breakdown in St. Maarten. There was everything that we needed there, including many friendly people who were willing to do what ever they could to help. If you are ever in St. Maarten, go by Lagoonies around 1700 and when they ring the bell, don’t forget to call out “Happy Hour!”