Week 6 : Barbuda and St Marteen

Morris Bay, Antigua (on our way to Barbuda)

It’s like a Buddhist Monk Exercise;
 “How to let go of material possessions gracefully"

This is what we have been working on not by choice mind you, but by necessity as we have had a record breaking week in loosing things ! It started off with a big blow: the loss of our much beloved Paddle board the source of hours of fun for the kids and Meghan's new found independence (she had been using it as her way to get away on her own to explore nearby reefs), we were so upset when we woke up one morning and found that it was gone, even after frantically looking for it for an hour with no luck, it was most definitely gone ! It was a combination of errors which led to its premature release into the wild. Mark and I both assumed (incorrectly)  that the other had brought it in for the night and, of course, it was the ONE time when I had not used my trusty “bowline” knot to keep it attached to the boat, so we had to find our peace with it being gone! I’ll be honest; it took me a few days, but now we just wonder of what adventures our cherished friend will live on the big blue sea. Oh the places it will go! The creature it will meet !!! If ever you are vacationing in this part of the world and you see a yellow and grey inflatable paddle board roaming free or on a beach somewhere please let us know, as we would be happy to find out where it ended up!

Within a day of loosing the paddle board, and still dealing with the loss, we were faced with many other, albeit less substantial, material losses; A nail brush, a decorative pillows favourite blankets, a stick of deodorant, a favourite pair of shorts, etc...all went "missing". We think that these mysterious disappearances were mostly, if not all due to hurricane Matthew and the boredom of not having a paddle board to play on. When it got to be too much and we'd reached a breaking point, we just had to take a deep breath and realize that the universe was trying to teach us a lesson "Let it go! These are not the important things in your life!" Ok, okay, I know... I get it now ! Thanks Universe !

Beautiful beaches do help to put it all back into perspective however. First in Antigua, we anchored in Morris Bay, North of Jolly Harbour. We were the only ones there. The kids and MC enjoyed exploring the deserted beach. Meg even buried a treasure for us to find (more “Treasure Island” influences !) 

Then on to Antigua’s sister island; Barbuda. It is hard to describe the beauty of Barbuda without having you think that I must be exagerating or without sounding like a travel brochure, so let me speak plain : Described as being probably the most beautiful beach in the Caribbean and one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world, ”11 mile beach" in Low Bay really delivered ! The clearest, MOST blue water, perfectly white sand bottoms and not a soul in sight ! We only had to share the 11 miles of this beach with a lone pelican, and we did not mind at all!

Aurora, safely anchored in Low Bay

Ghost Ship returns! On on arrival in Barbuda we were somewhat amused to see that “Aurora*” was anchored nearby, phew, they made it ! Later on in the evening Mark had a chance to meet the owners ( at a beach bar) When he introduced himself and explained his role in  trying to rescue Aurora a few weeks ago, they were so grateful and said:  Well then you are NOT paying for beer tonight!” Luckily the anchorage in Barbuda seems to be much more solid, no more ghost ships in the night !

 

Barbuda sight seeing:While on Barbuda we rented a car and as we drove around, we encountered dozens of free roaming donkeys and sheep We also visited the “Highlands” , cliffs which stand about 110 feet high, yes it is a very flat island!) which we reached by climbing up through a cave !  What an adventure ! We also did a 1 1/2 h hike to see a great sink hole also known as Darby Cave....in which we were able to climb down to see a whole new little ecosystem! Above the sink hole was dry and desert like in the sink hole (which was about 75 feet deep) we found a cool and damp environment with many palm trees and other vegetation, quite a site !

The Highlands of Barbuda

Stalagtites

Inside the sink hole, Darby Cave, Barbuda

Darby Cave

Frigate Bird Sanctuary:We could not miss a chance to go and see these birds up close and personal. We have been admiring  the "Magnificent Frigates" since Dominica, so graceful in the air !  We heard about this sanctuary, which was featured in National Geographic, and hired Jerome for Codrington to take us there. He told us all about how the Frigate birds find mates (the male blowing up a large red pouch in his neck), and how the males took care of the egg. How the female does the fishing and feeding and how the males all leave after mating season to go to Central and South America (Huh, typical!). He told us how these birds, with very large wing span for their body mass, are excellent in the air, scooping up fish while in motion, but not so good on their feet. In fact, if they ever fall into the water they have a great deal of difficulty in getting back out, and may be stranded to the point of exhaustion. Jerome told is that it was not uncommon for two frigate birds to come to the rescue of a fallen comrade, picking them up and bringing them out of the water.How cool is that?! 

Magnificent Frigate Bird, Colony, Barbuda

Pink Shells, Barbuda

"Official" is a relative term here in Barbuda

Donkeys on the road in Barbuda

Goat hides drying in the sun

A boy and his horses

Night Sail: We left at 9:30 pm on Saturday night from Barbuda to sail to St Martin, an 80 NM trek. We decided to try a night sail to get everyone accustomed to the crossings overnight, as they are sure to become more frequent and for longer periods of time... soon. (We are planning on sailing directly from the Virgin Islands all the way to the Grenadines the first week of June). We had quiet winds and no change in direction, so it went well, although no one slept very well, which is to be expected on the first night : it takes some getting used to. Mark took the first and longest shift, while MC took over for the 3:00-6:00 am watch. It is lovely to see the transformation from the absolute darkness to the early morning light. When it was light and the stars disappeared again for another day, MC realised that we had picked up a hitchhiker sometime in the night: a bird--We are not sure what type it was yet- sitting on our outboard. He stayed until 7am before flying away again in the sunlight. 

St Martin & St Marteen

We thought we’d arrive in St Marteen by mid morning, but because of the weak winds, we didn’t anchor in Simpson Bay until 2:30 pm, just in time to Captain Mark to clear us in to customs and immigration before it closed and us all going onshore for dinner !  

St Martin is also known as St Maarten because it is both Dutch and French. Each nation occupying about half of the island. We are on the Dutch side, as this is where the goods and services we are looking for are. It has been a scheduled stop for Captain Mark for over a year now..as he planned on buying our life raft and many other essentials here because they have an excellent chandlery and prices.

We have been here for a day now, and so far St Maarten has been a very happy place for us! We definitely feel like we are back in western civilization, giving us a little break from all the exotic and "out of the way" places we have been to.  Provisioning is cheap and it seems that we can find everything we need and more, including an inflatable paddle board (!!!) which turns out, is an essential in our family !

Simpson Bay is a pleasant anchorage, we are very near a few resorts. The kids and MC visited a floating playground today after school.....and as an added bonus, the large international airport’s airstrip ends right on the beach near the bay where we are anchored, which is great for Meg’s science unit on flight, she gets to observe jumbo jets as they land and take off, right beside us !

Matthew's "setting the table" program

Food, food beautiful food ! 

My eyes actually bulged right out of my head ( I actually felt the optic nerve stretching!) when we walked in to the grocery store today. They have EVERYTHING !!!  MORE than everything, things I had never seen, a grocery store from HEAVEN ! I was trying to control my impulse to start running down the ailes pilling stuff into my cart frantically. I only did this in my minds eye, I had to FOCUS & stay on task (and on budget), “what did I need for dinner tonight ?” But still, a part of me wanted to load up and fill a train of shopping carts and find a way to store it all on board, somehow.

Once we got over the initial shock of the abundance and choices before us, we started to have fun, every now and then an exclamation : "Oh my Goodness they have Boursin Cheese” !  “ Look  ! Apple Pie !” while Meghan was busy reading aloud the 20 odd types of Oreo cookies they had in stock, I was salivating in the cheese and crackers section !!!  We walked by the deli and Meg says to me “ Smell that meat !” It was like we had not eaten in a month ! The selection was overwhelming but with some measure of discipline, we walked out with only our two backpacks filled but determined to be back soon to stock up !!!  I realise that we have come full circle: from the beginning of this blog celebrating the freedom of being free of material things, to becoming an voracious consumer in St Marteen, what can I say? A girl's gotta eat, and feed her family !

The floating playground in Simpson Bay, St Marteen