The Hard Life

Things have changed dramatically since out last post and it’s finally looking like we’re going to be getting out of St. Maarten in the next few days! We are currently on the hard (hauled out and placed on dry land) and have been able to get a tonne of things ticked off our to-do list and a few little extras that have showed up.

Our boat getting lifted. That man is controlling that massive crane. Scary stuff!

So, since being on the hard, we have been able to:

• Wire up our inverter so we can charge our laptops
• Install our solar panels (finally we can charge our batterys without running our engines!)
• Connect our freezer and put it in its place (the thought of being able to have ice cream is a welcome one for us)
• Install our watermaker
• Fix our rudder which had a bit of play in it
• Change our saildrive (where the propeller mounts) seals

Waiting for the epoxy to set. Goodbye rudder play!

Our solar panel bracket taking shape

Markus doing anything possible to speed up our departure

Clearly, we have been able to get a lot of things done whilst we’re on the hard, which is good, but there are also little surprises that rear their nasty heads once the boat’s out of the water and you get a good look at the hulls. One of the major problems is one concerning our antifoul – the paint that stops nasty little animals and plants from growing on the hulls. Basically, our antifoul was in a much worse condition than we anticipated and if it wasn’t fixed very soon, it would go from a big problem costing enough money to a massive problem costing a lot of money. We thought about waiting until we were further south but we added up the costs and it was better to do it now, so, we bit the bullet and went for it. It takes about three days in which they sand the hulls back, apply primer then the antifoul. I’m sure you’re thinking that it doesn’t seem so bad considering the problems it will avoid, but, every day we spend stuck on the hard is a day we could be spending in the BVI’s. Also, typicaly, what should be a three day job will inevitably end up taking longer because, they started work on a Thursday and they don’t work on the weekend which adds two days and to rub salt into the wound, it has started to rain everyday and the forecasts don’t show any sign of a break until mid next week so work will probably be postponed until then.

In the back of our minds, we have the mast track problem which has been causing us grief for weeks! Markus has found a guy that will fix it, but of course, he is highly sought after and our job is tiny in comparison to the other jobs he gets, so, any help we get from him is appreciated.

Despite our problems, we are slowly getting closer to our goal of leaving St. Maarten which is definitely something to look forward to and to be celebrated when the moment finally comes!

Paul Johnson

So, once again, it’s been a while since our last post thanks to sub-par internet and not being able to charge our laptops so this post is quite a few days late. However, things are finally starting to move along at a decent pace so we’ll hopefully be able to have good-ish internet and charged laptops within a week – fingers crossed!

Since our last post, we’ve had quite a lot happen but I’ll try and keep it short and use lots of pictures.

First big news is that, we finally got away from Oyster Pond (Stinky Pond as Markus calls it) and into some nice clean water! We took a quick trip to Anse de’Collombiere in St. Barths which was a welcome change from the marina we’ve been stuck in for the last month. We snorkeled almost everyday, went for lovely walks along the cliff tops, saw all sorts of wildlife and just had an enjoyable time.

Having some fun with our spinnaker halyard.

Looking down on our boat in St. Barths.

A photo from the hills in St. Barths.

While we were there, we met an incredible man by the name of Paul Johnson. I’m sure when most people think of sailing around on a boat, Paul is probably the kind of guy people picture in their heads. He has done almost everything you could think of from surviving shipwrecks to hanging out with rockstars. We first noticed not him, but his boat.

Paul Johnson’s boat.

An old timber looking ketch (mast at the front with a smaller mast at the back) that looked like it had been around the world a few times over. Once we met him, however, we were awed by his experiences and his life in general. He is 75 years old and has been on boats since he was 5, so, to say he has salt water running through his veins seems fitting. His boat was built by himself and had traditional timber parts and just enough electricity to run a CD player and a light. His dinghy was reminiscent of a wooden canoe that he had built himself and had no motor, just oars and a sail.

Xavier going for a sail with Alex who was on Paul’s boat.

Paul is truly a legend and his stories are second to none so hopefully we’ll be able to catch up with him further down south during hurricane season because I’m sure he has many more stories to tell.

Paul Johnson.

Crowds, Colours and Caribbean

It can only mean one thing. It’s Carnival time!

So yesterday we went to the capital of St. Maarten, Philipsburg, to watch the annual carnival. At first we were hesitant on going because it was a steaming hot day and we were all so tired but, we figured that people come from all sorts of places to watch it, and, we happened to be here, so, we went for it! We (us and another Australian family of four we’ve met) asked for a taxi big enough for all of us and were greeted by this huge bus, big enough for about six families! Markus followed us in our hire car so we could do shuttle trips to get home but we were all so exhausted we crammed all nine of us into it which ended up being surprisingly comfortable. We are so fortunate we went as it was quite an experience and something that should not be missed if you’re in the area.

I’ll let the photos do the talking.

We asked for a big taxi so we could fit all 9 of us and got this bus

People of all ages were getting into the spirit of things

Anxiously waiting for the parade to come past

Photos were welcome

Transport for the bands

Da Party Bus

We managed to fit 9 of us into our tiny Toyota Yaris on the way home

In other news, drama seems to just follow our family around which can be exciting but also very scary and today was the latter. Markus, Xavier and I went shopping as we do most days and Markus went into Electec (a big electrical store) while Xav and I went to a bar for a juice and some WiFi. We then saw two men running up the side of Electec in balaclavas with guns. To say my heart stopped is a massive understatement. The men ran off and a few minutes later we caught up with Markus and it turns out, the two men had arrived on their dinghy, run up to the main office and grabbed employees’ handbags and valuables then fled. Fortunately, one of their balaclavas came off as they were fleeing and it turned out to be an ex-employee! Anyway, it comes as proof that thieves are stupid people, considering today is the day after a public holiday, so, all the money is banked. You’d think an ex employee, of all people, would know!

Anyway, tomorrow we’ll be leaving the marina finally but of course, our plans have changed and we’re no longer heading to the BVI’s because there isn’t enough time. Instead we’re going back to St. Barths for a few nights before coming back to install our solar panels, water maker and other goodies!