OUR NEW HOME IN THE CARIBBEAN

"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing, as messing around in boats" - Kenneth Grahame

We have a new home floating on water! We're all living in a space of 41ft, we don't have much privacy and much place for anything but we sleep to the sound of water lapping on the hulls, we watch the stars at night and wake up to beautiful sunrises and a warm breeze on the deck as we have our morning coffee.

Time is irrelevant, we go to sleep when we feel like it, we wake up when we're ready, no alarms, no rushing, no stress!

Talk about stress.....we left Tampa with 18 pieces of luggage. The poor guy who had the early Monday morning check-in shift at the airport was red in the face and so stressed by the time he was done with us. We were also stressed.....R10 000's worth of excess baggage!!! Shaun was also stressed when fetching us in his truck, all the luggage couldn't even fit on the back!

Shaun loading our luggage

Leaving Tampa

Anyway once that was all done, we had a lovely flight via San Juan to St Maarten and our visa's were all in order this time (just a little more stress when the porter charged us $36 to get our luggage to the shuttle and the shuttle cost $75). But that was the end of it.....our beautiful yacht was waiting for us at a mooring at Island Water World, our friend Carol had some beers and wine on ice and we had a toast to our new home.

Arriving on Katzenellenbogen

Carol with much appreciated beers on our arrival

Our broker, Tony and all our luggage 

Where will we put all our stuff?

We've been spending our days pottering around the yacht (okay, we're pottering, Stephen is grafting). Stephen is on a mission, and he won't relax until it's all done. He spent an entire day chipping rust off one of the tillers in the depth the hull, in the scorching heat. He spent another day running around the island looking for parts for our gas braai and another day installing the braai....ons gaan NOU braai!!
We're all pulling together and working as a family, Michaela has been stripping and sealing with Sikaflex, Tayne is in charge of the dinghy and I am deckhand, stewardess and chef....and I get to sleep  with the Captain!

"Ons gaan nou braai!"

Our brand new shiny braai

Stephen hard at work

Even mom gets to use her handyman skills

Michaela using her deckhand skills

Child labour

Stephen is quite happy getting on with his thing, so the kids and I leave him to it while we explore the island, swimming and snorkelling. The 3 of us had a beautiful day taking our little 5hp dinghy to look for surf 2 days ago. We packed the surfboard, our diving gear and some drinks and slowly, very slowly, made our way up to Grand Case. It took us over an hour to get there but the surf was just around the next corner and our slow little dinghy, with a straining little motor would never have made it. So we snorkelled off a beautiful island and were making our way back home when we spotted a beach bar in one of the bays. We anchored our dinghy off the surf, swam to the bar with hands above the head keeping money dry and had Mango Colada's on the beach. The sea was warm and clear and the brightest of turquoise, this is what it's all about!

A DAY OUT ON THE DINGHY

This isn't as easy as it looks!!!

AROUND AND ABOUT IN ST MAARTEN

Lunchtime

Is it Superman?

Halloween in St Maarten

Reggae Band on the Beach

The Daily Grind

Lined up at St Maarten Yacht Club

Our friends Carol and Greg on Shangri la, leaving St Maarten Bridge

Toes in the Water.....Ass in the Sand!!!

Main Street, Grand Case

Pizza Delivery by dinghy

Gym on the Deck

We took Katz out for her maiden sail yesterday. The previous owner, Robbie, came along to show us the ropes. We were all a little clumsy at first, but we soon got into it and Stephen handled her well, getting to grips with 2 motors and hoisting the sails. There is nothing nicer than when the motors are switched off and you feel the power of the wind in the sails.

Tayne up the mast

Stephen getting some maintenance done

The Captain at the helm at last

Robbie, the previous owner, showing us the ropes

We're very happy living the laid back island lifestyle, the pace is slow, we don't expect anything to happen in a hurry and the people are warm and friendly. We are now looking forward to the adventure of the open ocean and visiting the surrounding islands.