Hello Everyone!
We arrived in Sint Maartin (the Dutch side of St. Martin) yesterday morning at about 6:00 a.m. We decided to head here, as our salon was again drenched and we have to remedy the situation before heading south. The Dutch Dreamer just seemed to be drawn to Dutch waters, so here we are! We are at Bobby's Marina, reasonably priced, and handy, very close to everything. The best part is that Greg can work on the boat here. So yesterday we had to walk quite a ways to talk to customs people, to clear in. The lady was a complete bitch and that is putting it nicely. We had some lunch, and after being up all night travelling and bailing water, were quite exhausted to say the least. We headed back to the boat. Greg and the boys headed out to the marine store and I was rudely awakened from a deep sleep by customs officials. They wanted to confiscate our firearms as they felt they weren't well enough under lock and key. Well, I could hardly find the damn things, Greg has them stashed away in compartments under the mattress of our bed. Fortunately, Greg arrived back in the nick of time, and told them "No, my firearms are not leaving my boat". After much discussion,they decided that wasn't good enough, so instead they stuck them in our closet, in plain sight, with a customs bonding tag that screams, "Yes, there is something valuable in here, please steal it!!!!" After dealing with them, we wandered down the boardwalk, found a restaurant, had a few drinks and eats and then back to the boat for a good sleep.
First thing this am we had a visit from the Coast Guard. They wanted to inspect our boat and talk to Greg about the firearms. They were pretty much being complete jerks. It looked like a scene from the OK Corral Shootout, with the Coast Guard all spread out on the dock with their hands on their guns. The kids and I had to sit on the back seat while Greg took them through the boat. They inspected our passports like we were some kind of criminals. It's pretty ironic because we expected a lot of hassle in Puerto Rico and had absolutely none, and here, well, I figured we were all going to get tossed in the clink for goodness sake!
Anyhow, I guess we finally passed inspection. After many photos (including photos of our passports, Greg's firearms permit and the boat) they left. Greg managed to diffuse the situation, joking with them and telling them they are way too paranoid! The boys and I headed to a beach very close by and spent the day laying in the sun and swimming in water as warm as your bath. Greg stayed on the boat, pulled up all teak off the port side, and air chisselled the rust off the steel underneath. Found the source of the water leakage, the bolts were all rusted through, some were completely gone.
Tomorrow Greg will putty everything up, and paint it with rust bullet and we should be good to go. It would be such an absolute treat to travel without ANY FRIGGIN PROBLEMS!!!! Eventually, we know this will happen!
Right now, we are sitting in a restaurant/bar called the Greenhouse, sitting in the breeze enjoying happy hour cocktail and appies. We actually hosed Greg off on the dock before coming here, because he was even too dirty to get in the shower. We just gave him the shampoo and soap, and Dylan gave him a good hose down.The guys here at the marina have been great. I guess a few people complained about the noise from Greg's air chisel but they were really good about it. We are going to relax here, send this email, and wander down the boardwalk a bit. We might have to find a cart for Greg. He has been sampling the drink menu: firstly Bushwackers, then Painkillers, and now we are jon ust regular Cube Libres. Remember, that's two for one... and he had two margaritas before we left the boat. Oh well, the poor guy deserves some R & R, right?
We think we might be here until Monday. That's when the weather looks good, and hopefully out boat will be shipshape by then...
We will email again in a few days and send some pics... it is beautiful here, the beach today was white, white sand, the water turquoise, and the sky blue. What more could one ask for????? We have everything we need right here, and most importantly, each other.
Lots of love from the Dutch Dreamers
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