Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Delay in leaving ST. MARTIN

We told you yesterday that we would be leavening St. Martin on Wednesday (today) but because the wind is coming from the SE instead of the more typical East, we have decided to sit tight in Tintamare and leave tomorrow morning for Statia (short for Sint Eustatius). It will be much easier tomorrow to get there on the East wind that is predicted. So here we sit, watching the 'cattlemarans' come and go with the tourists. This morning at 10:00 am, we were reading and doing soduko puzzles when 5 giant
cats landed here and anchored all around us. Hundreds of people were suddenly in the water swimming, snorkelling and walking the beach. The whistles blew and they were ALL gone...just an hour after arriving!

Tiko Tiko is here now though, on its daily nude run from Orient Beach. It is a 46 foot catamaran of the same make as ours, but ours is a tiny 35 feet. Tiko Tiko is run by a couple who take their clients to the beach, set up umbrellas, provide them with drinks and snacks, floating devices to play on, while they return to the boat to cook a glorious meal. I can smell it now and believe me, it smells good! Shortly, they'll go get their people and feed them and return them back to the beach where
they'll be shown how to do the famous mud bath, which is to mix the clay mud with salt water and spread it over themselves to let dry in the sun. When they wash it off in the ocean they'll feel wonderfully exfoliated. They'll be here for most of the day. Tiko Tiko will return tomorrow and march through the same routine. The big 'cattlemarans' are filled with completely clothed people, so it's always interesting to see their reactions!

Anyway, it's time for me to hook up the Ham Radio to this computer and get this blog out before I get our lunch prepared.

Dawn (and Laurie)