Discovering St. Marten...18*02.872N, 63*05.868W

Wonderful Caribbean Band gets right into your core.


Elmo, Shrek, Diego and the young dancers groove to the beat of the band.


Beautiful Makaws at St. Marten Park


A day at the festival face painting and my first taste of cotton candy!

Since we've been here for almost 7 weeks (really??) I thought I should post some of what we've learned about this place. The Island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin is barely 7 miles in each direction or 37 square miles, but still boasts 38 white sandy beaches in two separate countries (France and Netherlands Antilles)separated by an invisible border almost through the middle of the island and each country is very unique from the other. For one thing, on the French side, everyone speaks French and there is not as much English spoken or understood as one might guess. On the Dutch side, I don't think I've heard anyone speak Dutch, but I've heard German, Swedish, Creole, Spanish, French, Swahili (sp?), English (with accents from England, U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Wales and a few others. Life on the Dutch side costs a fraction of what it does on the French side. Example: On the Dutch side, a beer, a diet coke and a juice will cost a total of $5 at most corner stores or beach bars. On the French side it's $18!! You would think that the island would flip right over because everyone would all rush over to the Dutch side for cheap beer, but apparently, the price of beer ($1) must be a well kept secret from the French because St. Marten is still floating upright.

Anyway, the story goes that the Dutch and the French were so civilized and courteous, that rather than fight over the island in the early days, they had a Frenchman walk in one direction with a bottle of wine and a Dutchman walk in the other direction with a flask of gin. Where they met became the boundary and the French ended up with slightly more because the gin was stronger than the wine.

The Island of St. Marten is now the duty free shopping mecca of the Caribbean since it has wholeheartedly embraced tourism. While it hosts about a million visitors annually by ship and by air, those people must all be shopping because it still amazes me how easy it is to find an entire pristine beach all to yourself on such a small land mass. The island is home to many yacht clubs, marinas and the two biggest chandleries in the Caribbean (both of which we have made substantial contributions to).

From our own experience, the people here whether locally grown or imported, are both friendly and honest. They respect other cultures as much as their own and value the economic boost that tourism brings. We had the privilege of attending the 4th annual Child Fest here this past weekend and what a huge testament that was to how the people here feel about children, families and how important their youth are to the future of their Island.

We have been at anchor in the lagoon for the past several weeks awaiting the completion of some repairs and some paperwork. We won't be able to check into many other countries without our Canadian boat papers, so we must have those before we leave. All of the little delays do get frustrating at times and we are itchy to move on and discover new places, but part of our committment at the start of this journey was to slow down and live in the moment as much as possible. We've had many lessons already about life on "Island Time" and are at least making great use of our time here and loving all the experiences and wonderful people we're meeting on the way.

I'm watching you!



Anyone see my turtle go by?



Stealing peanuts