Its time to start sailing again !

Wow!! Can’t believe we’ve been on St Martin for over 2 weeks… where did the time go ??,

Basically we have just been hanging out… spent a few days at Great Bay at Phillipsburg… really beautiful beach, but very very quiet & most of the shops & things we need are in Simpson Bay..

Days are filled with a few boat projects (cleaning stainless steel.. so much fun!), got our dive compressor working & went for a short dive to test the air… got a new anchor.. a bit of hiking & sightseeing.. mainly its just been hanging out waiting for our new trampoline to arrive. We ordered it on Feb 16 & the company promised we would have it the first week of March delivered to St Martin (which is important because it is a duty & tax free island). First week of March arrived so we contacted the company to see if they had an expected date for us… well the darn thing hadn’t been manufactured yet… blah, blah, blah… so sorry, etc, etc… promising us for sure we would have it within 10-15 days. So on day 10 we contact them to see if it is being shipped soon… guess what still has not been manufactured… so sorry, blah blah blah.. we promise within 2 weeks… sorry buddy, we aren’t believing you any more.. please refund our money. So we made some repairs to our existing trampoline, which should do the trick.. but we really do need to replace it soon !! Grrrrr… so frustrating !!

So, I guess we are leaving St Martin soon !! We rented a car yesterday, did a bit of sightseeing on the French side.. and started getting ready to go!

Main thing is grocery shopping… since we are heading to the Bahamas we need to stock up here (remember… duty & tax free island = cheap groceries) Bahamas is very expensive!! Especially the smaller remote islands that we plan to visit… basic grocery items can be purchased… but very expensive!! We’ve heard of rolls of TP being $5…. so, after several trips to the local “Costco”-type stores, we are ready to go. Freezer and fridge are filled to the brim.. tons of rice, pasta & canned goods.. enough to last us about 2.5 months (including feeding Quinn when he arrives the end of April).

Lots of wind gusts these past few days have put our new anchor to the test… its performing very well! Sometimes it even gives us a bit of a jerk when wind is pushing the boat back & the anchor is dug in so much that it doesn’t give an inch. Today as we were unpacking groceries we heard a loud twang… ran to the front to see what the h— and here our bridle had snapped. The bridle is a line with rubber snubbers that absorb the tug so that it takes the pressure off the anchor windlass. So quickly pull up the anchor & drive around the lagoon while Scott replaces the bridle. Never a dull moment !!

Besides food & booze shopping… filled propane tanks, gas & diesel filled, laundry done, boat cleaned, downloaded books & Podcasts while we have internet, meal prep for a 6-day passage (no stopping – just eat, sleep, sail). Blog done… just need to book our covid test, fill out the Bahamas travel application & we might even be out of here on Friday… we’ll see how much we get done on Thurs.

Weather looks good for a Friday or Saturday departure… don’t forget to watch the red dot to see where we are!