Blathering

Wednesday, March 14
Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten (a.k.a. The Dutch Side)

N 18 degrees, 02.441 minutes
W 063 degrees, 05.605 minutes

We spent an one day at Anse du Colombier in St. Barts, admiring the sand, perfectly clear to us 25 feet below, and trying to take a decent picture of one of the many turtles that hang out in the anchorage. Like most anchorages we've been to this winter, this one had many more boats than it did when we passed through last spring--an unfashionable season to see and be seen in the Caribbean.

On Friday the 10th we got up early and beached the dinghy in order to follow the narrow path along the shoreline that leads to a small village around the corner from our anchorage. I lured Dean by promising that there would be pain au chocolat on the other end. And there was, but it was not particularly flaky, as French pastries go. The town itself had one store (the one selling pastries) and otherwise consisted of beach houses that valued their privacy. After strolling down the main street and looking at a whole lot of bougainvillea peaking over tall fences, we opted to return to the trail via the pretty beach.

As we passed one couple on the beach and I threw out my casual "bonjour," the woman gave us a big smile full of lips and teeth from behind her enormous square glasses. Dean and I came to the same conclusion immediately: "THAT was Angelina Jolie!"

Well, that was Angelina Jolie if she is only average height, and not extremely thin, and if she ever walks on any beach without a passle of children hanging off her hips or hands (not if you ever examine those magazines at the checkout counter). The thin, gray-haired man she was next to would have to be her lawyer or or agent or accountant; he was certainly not Brad Pitt. We had a chance to double back and verify our sighting, but we decided that thinking it was POSSIBLY Angelina would be better for the blog than DEFINITELY NOT.

After our walk we hopped back in the boat and headed 15 miles downwind for St. Martin. Another great sail was had by all. We anchored for a few hours in the outer anchorage while we checked into the country and waited for the final bridge opening of the day. Once we got inside, we threw down the anchor and headed for Shrimpy's, where we knew we'd find Kim and David enjoying the free Wifi.

Also in various ports around St. Martin are Dreamweaver, with whom we had some bad Chinese food; Nancy Dawson, on whose boat we played a terrible game in which I lost the first three hands and found myself decorated with charred cork ash; Eira, with whom we had a very happy happy hour before dinner; and Dragonfly, who arrived this morning. We have been busy.

Last night we braved the wind and rain and dinghied over to the French side with Amanzi. From there we took a bus ($1 U.S.) up to Grand Case, where Dreamweaver and Eira were anchored. On Tuesday nights Grand Case closes its main street to cars, and musicians and vendors set up stands all along the sidewalks. Eira had told us how much fun they'd had the week before, and Avalanche had told us about the delicious and cheap order of ribs they sell at the beach shacks, so we did not want to miss it.

Nobody told us that the event is much more subdued in case of rain. The street wasn't closed, and the musicians never appeared. Still, all ten of us had a great time aboard Eira and then at the ribs place, where dinner, drinks, and tip cost us $10 U.S. apiece.

This morning we are all business again. Because of the proximity of chandleries, laundromats, large grocery stores that deliver to the docks, free Wifi, cheap water, and lots of other services, the lagoon is a place where people stay a long time, in spite of the fact that it's not actually that nice here. We are trying very hard to finish our errands in order to sail around to Marigot Bay on the French side, but everything takes a lot longer than planned.

One thing we have accomplished is the purchase of a new dinghy! Okay, it's new to us, but it's really very used. As our last two sets of visitors will attest, Digby, while still useable, was starting to exhibit signs of age, and though we knew we could continue to patch and glue the items that are coming unstuck, we figured it would be just our luck for the transom to detach itself when we are in Bahamas, with nary a chandlery in sight.

We only need something to get us back to Boston this summer, so instead of buying the beautiful, new Caribe we priced at Island Water World, we found another sailor who was upgrading, and we bought his old, off-brand inflatable for one tenth of the price of a new Caribe. It floats, it'll take four people, and it looks a lot better than Digby, proving once again that if you have low standards, you'll never be disappointed.