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January 10th, Tuesday - Philipsburg, Sint
Maarten
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We have the day off from school today, after completing
our test lesson yesterday. At the end of every
twenty lessons, we have a day of review followed by a
day of tests. These days take a lot out of both
teacher and student, so we decided to have a "weekend
day" to recover. Both girls did very well,
although there are some areas that we need to work on.
Grammar, identifying simple and complex subjects and
predicates, and subject and object pronouns, is where
Cassie and I need to concentrate our efforts.
Juliana had a little trouble remembering which
prehistoric period, Mesozoic, Paleozoic or Cenozoic, man
appeared and which boasted dinosaurs. "Why don't
you know this stuff, mom?" she asks. As you might
have guessed, school is a learning experience for all of
us. Cassie's history lessons are full of names and
places that ring faint bells in my memory, which my
mother always said was like a sieve.
We
have been passing the days with school in the morning
and exploring town in the afternoons. We made the
6 mile trek from Simpson Bay to Philipsburg on Friday
afternoon, after a lazy day in town. We found a
great Mexican restaurant, Jimbo's, with a pool for the
girls and free wireless access for the adults. We
met our friends on Dragonfly, another Caribbean 1500
boat, for lunch and shared stories of how we had each
passed the last few months in the islands. They
bought their boat, a used Catana 411, only a few weeks
before making the trip down, so they have had a lot of
boat maintenance and repairs that have been occupying
them. One of their dagger boards broke on the trip
down and they are getting a new one made in Simpson Bay.
They are testing the waters on the cruising lifestyle.
Their plan is to go home after spending the winter here
and figure out whether to keep going, maybe sell the
house, maybe head to Europe. Cindy had a bit of a
rough time with the trip down from Virginia, and isn't
sure she is up for the much longer journey across the
Atlantic.
The wireless connections died, and it was getting late,
so we headed back to the boat. We hauled up the
anchor and motored over to Philipsburg, the capital of
Dutch Sint Maarten. We are still looking to
replace our primary computer and the cruising guide
boasts duty free electronics stores along the main drag
of the town. We made our way to shore as the sun
was setting. At first we were appalled to see all
the jewelry stores, high end clothing boutiques and
casinos. Unlike Simpson Bay, Philipsburg is a
cruise ship destination and there were two of them at
the dock when we pulled in. The formula is pretty
much the same as it was in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.
They arrive in the morning and disgorge their fleet of
shoppers, who descend upon these duty free "bargain"
centers with dollars to spend. It is wonderful for
the local economy and keeps many of these little island
countries thriving, but it changes the character of the
place dramatically. The shops were all beginning
to close up for the evening because, we realized, the
cruise ships with all their customers onboard, leave at
sundown. We started to look around a little
closer. Only the locals were left on the streets,
and it was Friday night to boot!
We
found our way to the town square, following the sounds
of drums, tambourines, and rhythmic singing. We
watched a troupe of dancers, ranging in age from 4 to
40, performing a sort of no-contact fighting dance.
They would kick and roll and swing their arms at each
other, ducking and dodging and rolling away from their
opponent. The girls were fascinated. As we
stood watching, a tall, distinguished looking man
approached. He offered up some information about
the group of dancers, who were performing a Brazilian
dance. The group was started by a Brazilian man
and his Mexican wife, who met at Harvard.
Beginning with only 12, the group has grown to over a
hundred participants. "Better than doing drugs,"
says our new friend. I was still anxious to see a
little of the Dutch character of the island, and I was
thinking that perhaps this man was of Dutch origin,
being tall and blonde and stocky, but it turns out he is
from Chicago. He was transferred down here in
August by "the bishop" and is the priest for one of the
four parishes that serve the 15,000 Roman Catholics in
Dutch Sint Maarten. We commented on the fact that
we hadn't seen many Dutch people around.
Apparently, many tourists wind up coming back to Sint
Maarten, or never leaving, from Canada, Eastern Europe
and Australia. They wind up in trouble with the
authorities, getting jobs and working without a work
permit. He has a Romanian living with him who he
rescued from jail for this offense. "So, you have
a work permit then?" "Actually, I don't.
They wouldn't dare mess with me." The process is
so long and involved that by the time the permit finally
came through, his one year stint would be over. It
certainly pays to have The Lord on your side!
We
rounded out the evening with dinner at Toloula Mangos,
only $50. Just as we were getting ready to head
back to the boat, a band started up right in front of
the restaurant on the beach. It was a French group
doing rock and roll covers. The boardwalk was
teaming with kids of all sizes and colors, bike riding,
rollerblading and just running around while parents
lounged nearby at the many sidewalk restaurants,
seemingly paying no attention to their wards. We
established firm boundaries for our kids, and let
them join the fun. They quickly made friends with
a young rollerblader, and set out with the gang.
It was great to see them finally making contact with
some local kids. It has proven harder than we
expected to integrate into the local scene. Most
of the anchorages in the Virgin Islands have been in
deserted coves with nothing other than a resort or
restaurant on shore. Although we haven't been able
to enjoy the water or go snorkeling over the last four
days, we have been taking advantage of the teaming city
at our feet.
Yesterday we went on an excursion to "Cost-U-Less" and
"Le Grande Marche." We found some great bargain
wines to fill the bilges and a great variety of food to
replenish the provisions. Actually, our stores are
holding out pretty well, but we had fun exploring the
isles of the Sam's Club style warehouse store and the
gourmet grocery store. We found Soy Milk for
Juliana, long-life heavy whipping cream, prosciutto,
French cheese, Fois Gras, basmati rice and hot fresh
baguette. We took the dollar bus from Philipsburg
and a private cab on the way back. Everyone we met
along the way was friendly and helpful. It was a
long day, but very successful.
Joe and Cassie went in to town this morning to find the
immigration office and check us out of the Dutch side.
We are heading around the island to Marigot Bay on the
French side. According to the cruising guide,
there is a market in Marigot on Wednesdays and we want
to see what that is all about. It also has great
beaches and swimming and we are ready for a little less
city and a little more beach. We are talking about
going to Saba next. We aren't sure how far south
our itinerary will take us, but it is comforting to know
that we can go as far or stay as close as we want.
Back in the days we were bareboat chartering in these
waters, we used to travel 200 miles in a week. Now
we have a month and we could conceivable go to Grenada
if we wanted to. There are many beautiful spots
between here and there, we look forward to sharing them
with you!
Cheers,
Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana
Next entry
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Many thanks to our
friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up
the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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