Kokomo

The chart we'd been waiting 96 hours to pull out

LAND!!!!!!!

We made it!!!!!!  After 98 hours at sea, gail winds in excess of 44 mph, an unexpected Bahamas pit stop, minimal sleep, and 8 Dramamine tablets (that's my 'new' word...no one uses the word "pill" unless their referencing drugs, and not the legal kind) we made it to St. Maarten and Oh My God was this island a sight for sore eyes!  I’d been on watch since 2:45am but once the sun came up and I spotted land (mind you it takes about 2 hours to go 20 nautical miles and my 1^st land spotting was at 31km out) I couldn’t sit still and I DEFINITELY couldn’t sleep sooo I’ve been up for 23 hours so don’t mind me if this blog is a little “cracked out”.   So once we got within a mile radius I started recognizing my friends boats - Northern Star is here, Lady Sheridan (who was next to me at my 1st job Dayworking and was docked across from us in Atlantis), Mi Elise, among others and I got really excited!  Not only to see some familiar faces but to walk on LAND!  I just read an article about this 15-year-old South African who pulled into St. Maarten yesterday after 3 weeks at sea and my jaw about fell off my face – 21 days at sea, riding SOLO, kudos to her but she's gotta be out of her mind!  Anyway, after squeezing through the tightest bridge ever we pulled into Isle De Sol…a marina with over 50 sailboats and motor yachts (all our size or bigger).

St. Maarten- a picture can't do this island justice, pure beauty!

After we threw out the lines and docked up, the 1st thing I see is the crew bar and 10-20 yachties dressed in theme (wasn't ugly sweater, but a close 2nd) and I instantly felt at home :)   It's hard to describe this "community" but after witnessing it I can definitely understand the appeal of life at sea.  It's a carefree world with very little judgment...everyone is loves their "job" and is happy, healthy & down to have a good time.   Probably doesn't hurt that there's 100's of billions of dollars floating within a dock radius ;-)

Isle De sol

So my Captain's got us a crew car, and Nina, Zahraa and I have decided to dedicate tomorrow afternoon to touring the island and I'm definitely looking forward to that!   The owners and their guests come on board Wednesday so we won't have long to explore, but we're heading to St. Barts, Guadeloupe, Turks & Caicos, Barbuda, Antigua, and ending in St. Lucia where we'll be dropping them off (apparently St. Lucia is amazing so I'm excited to have time to play there).  As for the charter we we're hoping to get...caught wind today that Mi Elise picked up a charter for Jan 6-16 for 10 guests and I'm pretty sure that's the trip we were hoping to get (an extra 4K in each of our pockets) but se la vi, looks like we'll have more time to relax before heading back to FL :)

Well that's all I've got for now...23 hours up and I'm about ready to crash. 

xoxo,

mE