Refitting, repairing and removing

We have been in Sint Maarten for a week now. We figured we would be here for about a week because we had to have our furling system replaced, but also wanted to pick up some appliances from the French side of this island that would work on our French built boat. Our boat runs on 230V and 50Hz power instead of the 120V/240V and 60Hz power that we see in our homes in Canada and much of the US. Therefore, buying appliances for our boats means ordering them from Europe, or buying them in Europe. Luckily, the French side of this island, Saint Martin, sells appliances because this part of the island used to run on the European power. We rented a car for a couple days and drove to the French side to buy our appliances. We bought a washer/dryer unit! So far we have been using laundry services, which are surprisingly easy and inexpensive, but still a hassle to carry large loads of laundry to the laundry mats and wait to do the laundry only once a week. We also bought ourselves a TV. We have been using tablets for entertainment but we don’t like the kids looking at such small screens. And finally, we also bought a new electric convection oven and induction stove top that will run with the solar panels we bought.

We are so excited to add solar power to our boat. It is quite common on boats now a days. Using solar power helps get us ‘off the grid’ and ensure we have power without having to be as careful about how much of our diesel we are using. Not to mention, if we have more electric power, we can upgrade appliances, including the the stove and oven, and move away from propane (which is a hassle because the tanks are different all over the world). All of this is particularly important when making longer passages, like crossing the Atlantic. There are many different types of solar panels. We have elected to put our solar panels on our hard top (covering our cockpit area). However, because we also like to have easy access to our boom, we have decided to go with panels that are flexible and can handle us walking on them. These are more expensive then hard ones. A lot more expensive. So we are putting the flexible ones near the boom and buying the hard ones for the areas further out. Having all this solar power, means we need better batteries. Those are the batteries that Kevin is building and had to have driven down to the US. His parents are meeting us in Florida to pass them off to us. Our current batteries are on their last legs, as they already don’t last very long before needing recharging. We will connnect some of the solar panels here in Sint Maarten, but the rest will be connnected when we get to Florida and have the new batteries.

We are also so excited to be on this island because it offers us more options! The first night we went grocery shopping and had a hard time not over filling our small fridge because they had so many of the foods we are use to. The boat shops also offer a wider range of parts (in the engine shop around the corner from where we had our furling system put in, the transmission part we waited so long for in Carriacou, was sitting on the floor!). We decided to stay in the marina here instead of at anchor in the lagoon so we could have our fridge repair and because our grey water pumps stopped working (also it is a lot easier to move appliances onto your boat when it is at a marina instead of at anchor). Unfortunately, we have been told our fridge is not worth repairing here. We have been recommended to repair it in the US. So until then, we hope to top up the refrigerant and then at least use the freezer section so that we can use our electric cooler as a second fridge. Fortunately, Kevin was able to repair, or patch up, our grey water pump. Turns out the programmable relay array that runs the pumps had a short circuit in it and was smoking. So Kevin has ordered a replacement and in the meantime has wired in some manual switches for the pumps until that part arrives (to be delivered to us in the US).

We also took the opportunity, while here, to have our sails repaired and inspected. The bead that feeds our jib into the furling system was torn up by the broken furling system and needed a repair. We asked the sailmakers to examine our gennaker for any repairs needed, but luckily it was looking good (the one thing that didn’t have anything wrong with it). The last exciting purchases we made here were dozens of storage bins! It is time to organize our stuff!

Renting the car, also provided us with the opportunity to explore the island. We took 2 days to drive around. Our marina is in Cole Bay/Simpson Bay. Over the ‘hump’ to the south is the main town of Philipsburg, where all the cruise ships come to port. In Cole Bay is where all the private boats visit, including some megayachts. This area seems to cater to vacationers as it has a row of restaurants and some shops between nice hotels and resorts. May and June is a quieter time for visitors though, so the beaches and resturants weren’t too busy, but they look like they are built to accomodate more. Just north of Simpsons Bay is the French side and it’s main town, Marigot. This is where we bought our appliances. We drove around Marigot and went up to Fort Louis. This 18th centry fort was mostly ruins but hosted a great panoramic view of the west side of the island. The next day we circumnavigated the island, stopping in Grand Case and Philipsburg, to walk along the beach front streets and boardwalk. This island is so fascinating to me. These waterfront streets and boardwalks were built up for tourists with expensive shops and fancy french restaurants, but there was so much poverty behind it. These streets were like facades, for the cruiseship patrons. If you were on a cruise and did the designated tours or streets right off the port then you would get such a different impression of the island than what it really is. A few streets behind the facades are run down homes and buisnesses that still have a lot of repair work to do after hurricane Irma ravaged the island in 2017. It also seems that there is so much more caribbean culture on the island than the tourist locations suggest. Driving around the island we still saw goats, donkeys and chickens in the streets! There are some lovely hikes to do to go up to the top of the hills around the cities. But, uncharacteristically for us, we didn’t hike (Kevin was too eager to get back to boatwork) but instead drove and stopped at monuments and forts.

Now two months into boat life, the kids are getting more comfortable being around the boat and marinas, and starting to play with kids from other boats. And, with a more populated area, Kevin is making friends and getting advise from all the other more seasoned sailors. There is even a boat exactly like ours in the slot behind us in the marina, so Kevin is getting ideas how we can improve our boat from those that have already done it!

Finally, Simon had his cast removed! So, I didn’t update the story of Simon’s arm since the initial hospital visit. After the first hospital visit in Carriacou, he went back 2 days later to have an x-ray. The x-ray was done and the emergency physician there looked at it and thought it wasn’t broken, but stated that an official x-ray report wouldn’t be available until the radiologist on Grenada read it. So I was instructed to call back 3 days later to get the official report. They removed his initial back slab at that time. However, Simon complained that it still hurt and I thought I had seen something on x-ray so I put a backslab back on myself. With delays in the report and long weekends, I didn’t get the report until 2 weeks after the x-ray was done! Only to find out, that yes, there was a small minimally displaced fracture in his distal radius and it involved his growth plate and so needed a full cast for 4 weeks. So, back to the hospital we went for a 3rd time to have a full cast put on. Four weeks later, here in Sint Maarten, I arranged for him to see a surgeon in follow-up and to have the cast removed. The plaster cast that was put on in Carriacou, needed many repair jobs. Plaster is very tough to keep dry and functional on a 8 year old in a tropical beach island. Poor Simon missed many good opportunities to swim. The surgeon looked at the x-ray report and photo of the x-ray on my phone and said to remove the cast and see how things go. If any problems then see him, or somebody like him on another island, in follow-up. Simon was so excited to have his arm back. It is smellier (not sure he properly washed his hands at all for the last 4+ weeks), paler, and slightly skinnier/weaker than before, but otherwise seems to be in working order!

We have three more days here to tidy up our purchases, put our headsail back on, and then set off for the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico!