We continue to hang out in Sint Maarten getting projects completed and watching weather. This week’s blog is going to mostly be a story in pictures. It is a Day in the Life on Galt when on anchor in Sint Maarten. Most everyday things are taken for granted when living on land or in the States. On a boat, even the easiest tasks are a challenge. I thought you might like to see a Day in the Life on Galt. So, as you can see, a day in the life takes a huge amount of organization and will power. There are some days we vote to just "be bums" but those days are rare in boat life. Too many 'bum' days mean a boat full of trash, a dinghy full of rain water and empty of gas, and boat projects that never get done. We love our days and would not trade them for life on land right now but just know.... the youtubers and reality tv shows that make it seem like all bikinis and relaxation are not 'reality' at all!
Other interesting facts for 2022. Google tracks me when I am on the move (not the best thing in the world but a fact of life!). I just received my end of year numbers for travel which I thought you might like: In 2022: Total miles traveled: 33,558 Countries visited: 27 Cities visited: 161 Places visited: 592 Food and drink places: 91 Flying miles: 24606
0 Comments
On our previous trips to the Simpson Bay Lagoon in Sint Maarten, we were here during The Stupid and then during the "off" season. High season in the Caribbean is from November - May. We have always heard tales of High Season's Past but have never experienced it first hand. Until now. We moved Galt over to the lagoon on Monday as planned and settled in quite nicely on anchor. All systems worked well which was a blessing after December's follies! To get into the lagoon, each boat must wait in the outer bay until the drawbridge opens. The bridge opens about 5 times a day for incoming boats. In the past, we would see a few fellow sailboats enter the lagoon or some local catamaran charters. We were definitely not prepared for this week! At each opening, Bill will yell, "Bridge opening! Get ready!" and the fun begins. The size of these private and charter yachts entering the lagoon are the size of small cruise ships! Bill grabs the binoculars and jots down the boat name and then we stalk them online to find out all about them. The largest one that came in this week was called Top 5 and was 200 feet long. It was a charter boat meaning that you could rent it as your own for a week. The cost......$500,000.00 A WEEK! The others ranged from a paltry $250,000.00 a week to $400,000.00 a week. It is insane! Some of the yachts are privately owned and those are really fun to stalk because we can see how the owner made his or her money. We especially love the rags to riches stories which is what most of them are.
Other than yacht stalking, we have been doing small projects on Galt and waiting on the Christmas winds to calm down. We have enjoyed eating at our favorite places and going to happy hour at the local bar. We also went and visited a new place called The Naked Pirate which was opened while we were in Europe. Nice owner and he played country music which was high on my list! Much better than Bob Marley for the nine millionth time! At some point this week, we will pull into one of the marinas for a couple of days in order to stock up on food and fuel prior to heading out to St. Bart's. We don't know if we'll get to go this week or not.....all depends on the weather. But, if the weather is not good, we will just stay put.....after all, we can't really beat hanging out with great food, fun places and amazing yachts! Happy New Year from Sint Maarten! And…..we are back on the water! I would like to say it was an easy task getting back on the water but alas, it was not. The beginning of the week involved waiting on the drip to stop and then the rest of the week was waiting for fiberglass and paint to dry. Finally, on Friday, we were ready to splash. The yard guys picked Galt up in the slings without issue and set him down in the water. The best news was NO leaks! The bad news….the starter batteries would not turn over the engine. So, we hooked up a battery charger and everyone went to lunch. After lunch, still no luck with the batteries. We knew we were under a time crunch because the barge for the fireworks had to be put in the water at 4pm Friday or no fireworks for Sint Maarten on New Year’s. And there sat Galt, hogging the travel lift. They could not just drop us in the water because without an engine, we would have crashed into the rocks. After another hour of charging batteries with no luck, one of the guys brought over another battery and jumped our battery. I am sure you are picturing jumper cables which would be the normal thing to picture in your head. But as with all things island, jumper cables would be far too logical. While Bill watched with much curiosity, one of the guys picked up the extra battery, turned it upside down and touched it directly onto our battery which sparked our battery to life causing the engine to start. Things you just never knew were a thing! So, after 6 hours of trying, Galt was alive and back in the water. We chugged our way over to the end of the marina dock and tucked away snugly for the weekend.
We spent the weekend getting all the dirt and sand from the yard off Galt and working on replacing bad batteries. One bright side to having all the extra repairs was that we earned a $500.00 gift certificate from Island Water World which is one of the marine stores here on the island. We knew we would buy a new battery with some of the certificate then the employee told us we had to spend all $500.00 at the same time. It was like Christmas all over again! New paint supplies, some knives, new fishing lures and of course, a new battery. We ended 2022 with an amazing firework show in the bay with our perfect seats from our deck. Thanks to the island guys’ ingenuity, the fireworks barge was able to be launched on time and the New Year celebration was saved! If you are ever wondering where a good place to spend New Year’s Eve might be, we highly recommend Sint Maarten. The boardwalk was alive with music and dancing and families having a wonderful time on the beach. A super way to start a new year! If all goes well in the morning, we will be moving Galt over to Simpson Bay lagoon, St. Maarten. We will enjoy our week eating at our favorite restaurants and throwing away all resolutions at my favorite bakery! Time to get back in the groove of boat life! Have a wonderful first week of 2023 and throw away those resolutions guilt-free! After pushing Island Time to its’ limits, we were finally ready to “splash” on Wednesday. We packed all our belongings that were in the Airbnb and made our way over to Galt. When we arrived, the guys were getting the straps onto Galt to haul him over to the water. They lifted him slowly and took away the blocks that had been holding him securely in place for 4 months. The painters were placing their last minute touches when I walked by and heard a hesitant, “Ma’am?” called to me. From the tone, I knew bad news was coming. I walked over to him and he pointed at the bottom of the boat and said, “You have a drip.” Considering Galt had been out of the water for 4 months, a drip seemed almost impossible. Quick summary, when we pulled Galt out of the water, he was placed on the blocks which hid a small hole/crack that had been on the bottom of the boat. Therefore, no water leak was noted by anyone and no water could drip out because the block held it inside the hull. So, the yard manager said, “Somebody go get Gold Tooth David.” A thin man with the largest gold front tooth I had ever seen showed up and cut a hole in the boat…right through our just completed paint job! Water came gushing out of the bottom of the boat. Not a good thing! So, now we wait for the hull to dry. Each day, Gold Tooth David comes and cuts away a little more fiberglass to check on the moisture. Luckily, Galt has a solid concrete hull so no structural damage should have occurred.
If you recall, since last year, we have had mystery water always in the bilge. Well, mystery finally solved and as water pours out the bottom of the boat, the bilge is finally dry! We are not sure when the hole in the keel occurred but we are guessing it has been there since our travels down the Intercoastal Waterway because we have not scraped bottom since that time. The hole (which was more of a slit) was less than half an inch in diameter but it sure did hold a lot of water! So now, Gold Tooth David meets us daily as we all stare at the drip. Bill has even begun to time the drips so that we might get a feeling of progress. “Drips are 3 seconds apart.” “Drip is at 4 seconds now!” I am guessing the timing of Christmas will be good for our mental health since the boatyard will be closed for the holiday. Not much we can do but wait so we were thankful our illegal Airbnb was still available! We do feel very grateful that we are in 80 degree sun versus the 9 degrees in Atlanta! We awoke this Christmas morning to church bells playing Joy to the World and then local dogs joined into the chorus. I will put this memory into my pocket for one of the best Christmas mornings! Merry Christmas to you all! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|