We are getting into the ease of life in St. Maarten. We are slowly but surely ticking off estimates for boat projects so we can decide what we want to work on this summer. Unfortunately, we had to add one item back to the list. We took our dinghy out for a day trip to run some errands and to get lunch. We noticed it was running a little rough but we optimistically kept going. After lunch, we climbed into the dinghy expecting an easy ride back to Galt. Bill tried to start the motor. Nothing. Again and again, he tried. He even threw out quite a few colorful words that usually work in difficult situations but to no avail. Our new dinghy motor was dead. Needless to say, we were not pleased. Picking up our all to familiar oars, we began to row against current back to the marina. Luckily, a tour boat group called “Rum Bums” was coming back in from their tour day and the guys kindly threw out a tow line. They dragged us over to the marina and we rowed the rest of the way to Galt. The next day, we had the marina dockhand take us and the motor back over to Shrimpy’s to test out his “warranty” he had given us last week. Sticking to his word, he had his mechanic repair the motor and it seems to have been a spark plug issue. Shrimpy swears it runs like a charm now. We will see when we pick up the poor little engine this week so stay tuned for more engine adventures.
Our main event of the week was going to the doctor to get some of our inoculations for our trip to Africa. We needed Hep A/B, Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Malaria pills. We walked into the doctor’s office with no appointment. The receptionist took our driver’s licenses and told us to have a seat. Not one piece of paperwork was given to us. Five minutes later, the receptionist told us to go into the doctor’s office. We sat down and discussed shots we needed. The doctor made his recommendations on the timeline for the shots. He wrote us prescriptions for the inoculations. He then said, “Go over to the pharmacy and get the inoculations that we are going to do first. Then, bring them back over here and we’ll do them”. He did not take our blood pressure or temperature or prod us in any way. He just listened to what we needed and made it so. We were out within 10 minutes. We made our way over to the pharmacy. The pharmacist reported that they had exactly two of all the shots we needed in stock. I told her we only need the Yellow Fever and the Hep A/B at this time but she recommended we go ahead and pay for them all. She would “put our name on them” and we could pick them up when we were ready. Easy enough! We headed back to the doctor’s office with shots in hand. The receptionist took us back to the exam room and proceeded to give us shots. She did not worry about wearing a gown, a mask, protective eyewear or gloves. She simply gave us a shot. It was very refreshing to not feel like we were walking incubators! She walked back behind the desk, I handed her the credit card and we were done! At least until we go back in a month for stage two of the shots. As far as side effects, I was expecting something horrible from the Yellow Fever shot but we did not have any side effects! In fact, it was 100% better than the Stupid vaccine! And for a reward, the doctor gave us a cute, yellow booklet that is an International Book of Vaccination. It looks like a passport but it has all of your vaccines in it. Much easier than calling the doctor in the States every time I needed that information! Overall, it was a very pleasant week, minus the rowing and the shots! This week, we will pick up the dinghy motor for round two and begin to prep Galt for haul out. I do need to take a moment to brag on my nephew, Joel. He took home the gold medal in the Georgia Special Olympics in swimming and this week, he will be competing in the USA Special Olympics in Orlando. He was flown to Orlando on a private jet yesterday so he is living the highlife….my sister had to drive…..such is the life of celebrity!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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