On Monday, we sent some new photos to the web page www.sailastarte.com. You can see them on the photo page. Unfortunately we lost our internet connection before they all got captioned - so you can see the stuff - (including a picture of the goat on the hill, Nina!) and we'll caption at the next opportunity.
We went in search of a new "back-up" outboard. Looking for a small 2 horse/2 stroke engine that's light and will get us to and from docks in an emergency. Because St.Martin is a duty free island - the deals can sometimes be pretty good. Unfortunately - after lots of dinghy stops and hikes to various places - there seems to be a small dinghy shortage on the island. There are two large marine stores and many smaller ones that we checked out. Plus dealers for Yamaha, Suzuki, Mercury and some off brands. We also were in search of a large lock to lock up the dinghy. This sent us in other directions - but we proudly found all the stores we were looking for. We went to the Dutch side as well as the French side of the island to search.
Stopped in the lagoon and saw our friends on Inspiration Lady and decided to join them for a trip to the other side of the island via public busses on Tuesday. Headed back to Astarte just in time before the heavy rain started. It was a squally night - Michael stayed up much of it checking the anchor and the other boats anchored nearby.
On Tuesday morning, we met Jackie and Gary from Inspiration Lady (at that chocolate croissant place) then caught a bus to the Dutch side. Its $2 per person each way - not a bad price as it's pretty far. We then roamed along the waterfront. There were no cruise ships in (it's not season according to our new friends Al and Troy who have a beer stand and Rastafarian souvenir shop on the beachfront.) Beers were a buck - so we had to stop - plus they had comfy chairs and they were filled with great information about the island. Michael and Gary also proceeded to hit every store (and there are lots of stores) that sold computers. Gary was looking for one of those small laptops and the prices seemed pretty great. So Michael and Gary would work over the sellers… (Michael's thinking having one on the boat is also a good idea - much lighter to take to shore for internet cafes.) Anyway - they got he price down (along with lots of extras thrown in) - now they just have to decide if one or both of them really want it! But it was fun to have a mission.
We ate lunch at a great small local establishment - food was good, service was fun. Then walked some more and then caught a bus back to Marigot. Saw a lot and enjoyed the day with Gary and Jackie.
We got back in time to get stuck in a pretty heavy rainstorm. But made it back to the boat a little wet and tired - but all is good.
Happy Cinco de Mayo (an excuse to have Mexican food and beer!)
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