Statia

  We had a very relaxing day sail to Statia (St Eustatius) on Sunday and checked in yesterday morning.  A dolphin saw us off as we rounded the point of St Martin. It was a very clear day, with none of that Saharan dust to haze up the air, and we could see Saba, St Barts, and St Kitts, as well as St Martin and Statia.  Very scenic.  No fish on the line while enroute, but when I reeled in the lure, the wire leader was cut about a foot from where the lure used to be - must have been a shark, I guess.  We encountered a few small boats and one Tropical cargo ship near St Martin, but then no other boats until we neared Statia, where we had to go out and around several huge oil tankers and tugs.  They have a very large oil trans-shipment and storage facility on the northwest side of the island.  I still can't figure out why it's here, but it has the capacity for 13 million barrels of petroleum product.  I really like the island, though - the little town is quaint and clean, and there is almost no risk of crime, quite unlike St Martin.  One day I hiked up the dormant volcano and into the rain forest crater along with Ari and Mya of Skye.  The next day Judy and I went SCUBA diving.  You are required to go with a dive shop here, since it is all protected park.  The coral was a lot more colorful that what we've been seeing while snorkeling.  It worked out perfectly, because we had our own private dive master, which was a great way to get back into it.  It was very enjoyable, and we hope to do more soon.  I feel so relaxed down there!  We would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to head south.

 A wild Papaya growing in The Quill crater.

Silk Cottonwood tree with Strangler vines.

Ari and Mya, of Skye (They left New York in May, and are heading around the world).

The only town on the Island is very quaint.

We'll be back to Statia!

St Martin

  St Martin is very interesting.  It's certainly a good deal more cosmopolitan that I'm accustomed to - we are not here to dive or snorkel the reefs.  But, it is quite unlike being in the Caribbean - on the French side, it seems like being in Europe - you may hear several different languages being spoken at any one time - often involving the same person.  On the "Dutch" side, it seems a bit like being back in the USA  (I don't know what the official language is, but American English is most certainly, at least, the unofficial language, and the US dollar is the currency of commerce.)  Once you have checked into either country, you may travel freely between the two - in fact, since we travel by dinghy, I'm never even sure where the border is.  We are here because St Martin (or Siint Maarten, or various other spellings, depending which side you are on) is known as the place with the best selection and cheapest prices on marine equipment in the entire eastern Caribbean.  Well, that's not saying too much.  Still, I've completed some minor boat projects which needed attention.

  But, the big draw for me was the chance to stand about 10 feet below landing jets - I've seen photos and videos for years, and I wanted to experience it for myself. The runway threshold is literally just feet from the boundary fence, which is backed by a road and a beach.  We took a short bus ride to the Driftwood Boat Bar and waited for the incoming jets.  Some daredevils like to stand in the jets blast of departing planes - those folks are fun to watch.

We had to tuck Spike down into this bag in order to smuggle him aboard the buses.

KLM 747 on short final.

Over the beach.

I totally missed the money shot where the wheels just clear the fence!

The daredevils.

Are we having fun yet?

Note:  No animals were harmed during the filming of this blog post.

St Croix to St Martin

  We had a relatively smooth passage to St Martin, sailing for 8 hours until we were about 10 miles off the east end of Virgin Gorda (we could see many on the BVI), and then striking the sails and motoring directly  upwind and up current for another 18 hours.  The best part was, we actually caught a fish on Judy's hand line! It was just a small jack, and by the time I finished hacking out the fillets, there wasn't a whole lot there, but we just had it for breakfast, and it was delicious. 

Judy with the little prize.

  We had one small incident during the short passage.  Judy had taken the watch about 1AM, and I was sleeping in our bunk while we were motoring, when I woke to "John, John" I quickly harnessed up and scrambled above to learn that the genoa had just unfurled.  I made my way underneath the flapping "monster" to the bow, where I determined that the problem was due to some screws which had held the furling drum to the core - they had backed out and were missing, so there was nothing to keep the sail from unfurling.  I decided that the simplest thing to do was to drop the sail on deck and deal with the issue later.  After much wrestling and slipping, Judy and I finally managed to get the sail below.  Fortunately, it was fairly calm, only 4 to 5 foot waves with 15 knot winds, and the moon was out.  Even with the moonlight, I was using a headlamp, though.  Apparently, it is very annoying to other people when you look their way while wearing a headlamp ;-)  Interestingly, the next morning, we found two out of three of the little screws on deck.  We are currently on our way to the chandelry to find another screw so that we can repair the furler and get the sail out of the cabin - it is taking up almost the whole salon!

   Checking in to St. Martin (the French side) was also very interesting - we simply dinghied into the "Captainaire" (or something like that), went upstairs in the nicely air conditioned office (well, after they got back from their two and a half hour lunch break), and used a computer to fill out the entry form and then print it.  Once I got used to the French keyboard, it was no problem - it's a good thing I can't type without looking at the keys.  So, I hand the form the the lady, she asks for 5 Euro (~$7), and we are in - she didn't even look at our passports!  By far the easiest country we have ever checked in to.  Apparently, we are actually in France - what I've read is that that it's as much a part of France as Hawaii is of the US.  Tres bon.

St. Croix

  We sailed to St. Croix last week to see my daughter Brandy and her boyfriend Aaron, who were vacationing in a beautiful villa on the east end of the island.  We had a great time, spending a few days with them and two nights ashore at the villa.  We toured the Cruzan rum distillery, getting up close and personal with large open vats of thick, bubbling, fermenting molasses (it doesn't smell sweet - by the time we got to the last vat, I was ready to retch).  The whole process was quite interesting, though.  And, of course, we received our free drink at the end of the tour.  A real highlight for me was playing nine holes of golf with Aaron at the Buccaneer, a beautiful resort.  We had the course to ourselves and there was no problem playing barefoot.  We also sailed out to Buck Island for a day, and spent another day on an almost deserted beach on the east end of the island, which was accessible by a half mile hike.  Thanks again, Aaron and Brandy!

Aaron tees off on this Pebble Beach like hole. 

He put it within three feet for a birdie!

While Aaron and I were golfing, the girls were lounging on this beach, sipping Mojitos.

View from the Villa

At the beach near the east end.

On the hike to the beach.

This sun dial like monument is on the extreme eastern end of the island (which is all parkland), and supposedly is at the eastern most spot in the USA.