St. maarten (12/8 – 12/23)

The non-existent tradewinds continued and our trip from St. Barths to St. Martin turned into a motorboat ride. Great for charging the batteries, but not much fun from a sailing point of view.

Our time in St. Maarten was going to be busy. St. Maarten is a duty-free port and has turned itself into a central source of all things boating. There are two large high-quality marine chandleries inside the lagoon, marine electrical and electronics shops, engine dealers, and especially interesting for us a high-quality rigging company that I could trust to fix the kink in our boom which we picked up on the way to Bermuda!

And then there was the biggest advantage for us. A major airport with flights to the US, and the ability to bring in any equipment needed for the boat without incurring tax or duty!!

We anchored just off the beach in one of our favorite spots on the Dutch side and got busy!

Job number one, get the boom fixed. FKG Rigging was great. We took the dinghy into the dock and made an appointment to bring the boat to their dock in 2 days. They were encouraging and felt they could get the repair done quickly. My fingers were crossed, as we were hoping to spend Christmas in the BVI.

Next was a trip to California to pick up the new electronics package that I had ordered for the boat, and a chance to spend a week with friends and family. I was especially excited to see our grandson Parker and deliver his Christmas present a bit early!!!

The electronics purchase was driven by the fact that for the first time in 21 years, our autopilot had failed on the way from Bermuda to Antigua. Being offshore for days and needing to hand steer reminds you about just how valuable the autopilot is. It was time. In fact, it was past time.

I flew home on the 14th (see takeoff) and returned on the 21st. 

While home I managed to organize and attend a Commerce One reunion dinner with six of the folks I used to work with. I also met up with a crowd of college friends to watch Cal lose its bowl game and spent the bulk of my time with our kids and extended family. A short but great trip!

Especially Parker!!

When I landed back in St. Maarten, I rolled two suitcases full of new electronics through customs, out the front door, and into a cab. No tax, no duty, and no hassle. I have to wonder what the security folks thought when they x-rayed my bags!

The next morning it was another trip into the lagoon to pick up the repaired boom. I can’t say enough about the job that FKG Rigging did for us. The boom looks great and they delivered on a repair that exceeded my expectations while coming in under their estimated price!!

We went in later that day to check out and the customs and immigration folks that accept payment and issue your departure paperwork were off due to Christmas. What?? How do they pull off closing their offices as a huge number of folks are arriving via commercial airlines, private jets, and boats? (Superyachts were busy picking up owners and charter guests in St. Martin and then immediately heading back to St. Barths!)

Anyway, long story short, we had to take a cab the next morning to the cargo/container port on the other side of the island to check out.