May 23, 2010 - Marigot, St. Martin

Before Deb and Kate arrived in Sint Maarten last week we had been having an unbelievably bad run of squally, windy weather. But ever since they've been here, the weather has been perfect. It has been such a relief to be able to do everything on our packed itinerary without having to work around bad weather.

Here is the next installment of Deb's guest blog entries [with a few additions by me in brackets]:

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Do Brazil

We all slept well in the calm and protected harbor and awoke happy to see that it was another beautiful morning in the Caribbean. Gustavia had several flat stretches of road, so Kate and I decided to use that running gear that we dragged on vacation and went for a run through town. The heat was overwhelming, but we muscled through about 45 minutes of exercise (running, walking and hills) before meeting up with Danika back at the harbor.

Shell Beach

After grabbing our swimsuits from the dingy, we went to the patisserie for some water and lovely French treats. (When in France, right??) From there, we went back to Shell Beach for a little more swimming and were able to sit in the shade on the beach chairs provided by Do Brazil. The beach was much more crowded than yesterday, seemingly with locals who came prepared for a day full of sun, fun, food and cocktails. Around 1130, we decided that we'd left Sten alone long enough (and, frankly, we were baking in the sun), so we headed back to the harbor and got aboard Mata'irea and soon departed for a return trip to St. Martin.

It turned out to be a surprisingly good day for sailing, with an unusual northwest wind. We raised the main, unfurled the jib and we were soon sailing towards St. Martin at 5.5-6.0 knots. We decided to sail past Simpson Bay and directly into the harbor at Marigot, which Danika and Sten thought would be fairly well protected from the swell based on the wind direction. We anchored around 530pm and everyone took a swim to cool down after a long [and hot] afternoon passage.

When we were back on board, Danika mixed some cocktails and Sten prepared proscuitto-wrapped shrimp, which he grilled and served with marinated zucchini and eggplant. YUM. We had thought about going into town for a dessert of sweet crepes, but the heat lightning in the distance killed that plan before we even got started. Instead, we had a dessert plate of Three
Musketeers, York Peppermint Patties and Charleston Chews.

Over dinner and drinks, Kate and I were able to fill D&S in on the myriad of horrible reality TV and celebrity gossip that they have been shielded from over the past few years. It was kind of funny to see their reactions to things like "Flavor of Love", "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and the seemingly endless streams of "Housewives" shows. I have a feeling they won't be getting cable when they get back to Newport!

Sten and I fell asleep in the cockpit (as usual), while Danika and Kate finished the last of the wine [as usual]. What a wonderful evening with wonderful friends!!!

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