St. Maarten highlights

It is hard to believe we were in St. Maarten for almost 3 weeks. We really enjoyed our stay and can see how people spend months on this island. The first week we were there we had squalls every few hours for 5 nights. We got really tired of the wind and the wet dingy rides. The great thing about being in the sheltered waters of the lagoon was that we were close to an awesome yoga studio, movie theatre and hair saloon - all things that I had really been missing. So, even though the weather was dreadful the first week, I still enjoyed all the luxuries of St. Maarten.

When we arrived in St. Maarten, Glenn did his usual survey of the island and found a local bike shop and they told him about an upcoming 5k-10k run. Jeff, Una and I walked the 5k and Glenn ran the 10k. The race ended at a beach where they provided fresh pastries and coffee, a beautiful setting and much tastier than the cold bagels we get after some of the Memphis runs. We decided to blow off projects for the day and go to one of St. Martin’s 32 beaches. Jeff led the way in his dinghy and we found Mullet Bay, a beautiful beach on the west side of the island. We had a blast watching the children body surf the waves.

The second week we had wonderful weather and decided to hit more of the beaches. Glenn and I walked to the Simpson bay beach just a few blocks from our boat. This was a great way to spend a few hours after running around doing boat projects.

One day Glenn and I really wanted a long hike and thought we could hike to Orientale sometimes called Orient beach. Well, the trails are not marked as well as they are in most of the French islands. Three hours later we were hot and tired and had been climbing killer hills to the top of Pic Paradise but we were no closer to finding our way down to Orient beach. We decided to head back to the boat and take a bus to the other side of the island another day. After all you go to Orient beach to people watch (if you know what I mean) so you really need the full day.

Small world… Glenn and I were having lunch in Marigot eating one our favorite, French style thin crust pizzas, I looked around and saw Jackie Fishman a Facing History Teacher from Charlotte. She and her husband were there on vacation. We had another small world connection about a week later. We received an email from our good friend and webmaster, Ken Hamric. He told us that his business partner and wife were in St. Martin on vacation. We left Wayne and Susie a message at their resort telling them that we would be at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club that evening. We arrived a little after 5:00 pm, we saw a man, we later learned was Wayne, waving his arms and standing next to a friend of ours from the boat Dreamtime. We hung out for a while then we decided to go eat at their favorite restaurant in Marigot. The next day Wayne and Susie brought a sack of fresh pastries to Crossroads where, over lunch we discussed our trip and their dreams. They had a car so they graciously offered to pick us up on Sunday and go to Grand Case for ribs before they caught their plane. We really enjoyed the food and company, Wayne stopped on the way back to view one of the prettiest coast beaches we have seen on our whole trip. (Cupecoy) The waves were spectacular!!! Thanks, Wayne and Susie for the island tour.


We were extremely excited to meet Ann Vanderhoof and her husband Steve. Ann is the author of one of our favorite cruising books, An Embarrassment of Mangoes. We have encouraged our families and friends to read this one as it gives a wonderful glimpse into the cruising life and so many of their experiences parallel our own. We had heard that Receta was in St. Martin, so when we saw their boat we dinghied over to introduce ourselves. We were leaving soon so we invited them and Dragonfly over for happy hour. Earlier in the day while doing laundry Ann was also doing hers so we really had a chance to get to know each other. Ann is also something of a gourmet, so the book is filled with yummy island recipes. That evening, we had them aboard Crossroads for appetizers and stories. They were impressed with Jann’s buffalo chicken dip and even asked us to email the recipe. In the photos, Ann is signing our copies of her book and she and Steve are looking at our post-Katrina pictures of old Crossroads and our marina in New Orleans. . If you have not read her book, it is a must read. She is also writing another one about Caribbean cuisine and culture.

We left the next day for an overnight sail to the BVI.

Michele