03/19/2010, Oyster Pond, SXM
This morning, with the aid of my brother Ben as chauffeur, Ken and I officially checked out of the Dutch side of St. Martin, then we drove over to Marigot and checked in to the French side. This was all done seamlessly, and the computerised system on the French side is darned easy. Even the French computer keyboard wasn't too much of a trouble (the "A" and "Q" are switched, to begin with), so once "CQNQDQ" was corrected, we were good to go, and $8.00 later.
The only glitch came when Ken looked more carefully at his passport. That was when he realised that his passport expires on April 1 - this year. So now we are scrambling to figure out what to do about it, and the easy internet access at the villa is making this easier. I Skyped Ottawa three times, Ken emailed his daughter (she works in the High Commission in England, so is a good source of info) and I Skyped the High Commission in Barbados. All of it was useful, except for Barbados - they close for the weekend at 1:30 on Fridays. I'll be on the phone with them first thing Monday morning.
To make a long story short, it looks like we may be in St. Martin for another month. It's not so bad - it is a nice place!
Besides the bit of drama today, we also had a good drive around the Island. We introduced Ben to the Prime Cash and Carry. This is not only a good place to buy large quantities of stuff, but they are also wholesalers of alcoholic beverages. Ben was amazed at the price of the cognac - an XO for about $50, this was less than half the price he has ever seen it anywhere else. He is taking home two bottles, and we will be bringing some home for him this June. It seems like a fair trade for the books and maple syrup they brought down for us.
We visited the Yamaha shop to see if our outboard was ready to go, but the carburetor hasn't come in yet. The visit to the bakery was far more successful.
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03/18/2010, Oyster Pond, SXM
It's interesting how much our life has differed from "the folks back home". This has never struck me more than now as my brother and his family are down in St. Martin for a week.
They are in a lovely villa with all of the amenities. The concept of having laundry, showers and TV all for free and right when you want it is actually pretty wild to us. A big refrigerator with lots of room, and a big freezer seem like such luxuries to us now. Wow, we can have more than eight cold drinks in the fridge at once!? AND there is an ice maker! This is getting to be more than I can adjust to. Oh, and ice cream, too, right there when you would like some...
My brother and my niece came on the boat with me as I went to get a few things from her. They both commented on the motion that I didn't even notice. We were going to have the kids try sleeping on the boat for a night or two, but they like to sleep until 11:00am (I'm up by 7:00), plus the lack of air conditioning and the movement of the boat probably would not make for a good night's sleep for them.
They are used to having a car at their disposal, whereas every grocery trip and any land travel for us requires planning and thought. Ben commented on the 20 pounds of flour I bought when we went for a quick grocery shop. "Ben, the price is decent, it is the stuff I like, and I don't have to personally carry it very far!" He's going to get a real education when we go to the Cash and Carry tomorrow morning, as I will be doing some serious stocking up there.
We are now from different worlds, as much as it is hard to admit that to ourselves. They take 10-20 minute showers, we use a one liter pressure sprayer to wash, when we don't just take a "sea bath". Power is just available out of a plug in the wall, while we need to keep an eye on our batteries. It is hard explaining some of this to my 13 year old niece, who has her own room and her own computer at home.
It's a good thing they aren't staying on the boat. Not because we don't love them ,but because the shock to their systems would be too much.
What's that? Microwave popcorn? I'd love some!
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