After our Les Voiles celebration, we had to headed back up to St. Maarten to see a man about a chain.  Matt ordered 100 meters of G50 stainless, small link to replace our 100 meters of G3 galvanized (that is only 3 years old but has several spots that missed the galvanization process).  He found the new chain in London for 1/3 the price which was a bargain even when you include shipping.  We had hoped it would arrive before 15 April, but there was a mix up with the multiple transport people and somehow it never made the boat from MIA to SXM.  So, we decided to make the best of this tip by provisioning and running some errands.

First, we had to offload our extra PVC sheets that we didn’t use from the ceiling project.  We kept several pieces of PVC for other projects, but still had (3) 4′ x 8′ pieces and lots of scraps taking up half of the port side cabin. So we loaded them into the dinghy, sprawled across the sheets from bow to stern to prevent them from blowing overboard, and took off to Marigot (from Simpson Bay).  It is a pretty far dinghy ride, and in the wind, with these huge sheets it took us even longer.  All our muscles were tight and cramping by the time we pulled up to Custom Fit Marine.  We could not find the original fellow who was interested in taking them, but one of his partners took a look and decided to keep them – good thing as there was no chance in hell we were going to take them back to the boat.

We quickly left before he could change his mind and headed to PDP marina where our friends Contrary Mary were birthed to return some tools that we had borrowed for our ceiling project.  After a short visit, we headed up the hill to Carrefore for our first grocery run.  Loaded down with several bags, we walked the 1/3 mile back to the dinghy and headed to the boat to unload.  Round II, we grabbed our dolly and headed back to shore and up the hill.  Matt diverted to Island Water World in search of a water pump part for our friends on El Gato while I headed to Ace Mart to pick up some rugs.  We met at the top of the hill and walked to Divico (think Costco or Smart and Final) and picked up water, cold beverages, snack items, and some toiletries.  We dumped everything in the dinghy and had a well deserved beverage at Lagoonies.  Matt headed to Electec to grab some cable for our new security camera and to Budget to find the part that was not at Island Water World while I stood guard of our goodies.  I quickly got bored and decided to swing up to Tropical Sail Loft as they were ordering some material for me (Sunbrella and Phifertex).  I checked in, got some samples, and headed back to my post.  Matt returned and we both headed up to Prime (another Costco type place with different options) and picked up some beer and ribs in large quantities!!!  Back to the dinghy and then the boat to unload all of our treasure.  After a short rest, and some emails with El Gato, we headed back for round III.  We stopped at Customs/Immigration to drop trash (not there but close to it) and to clear out of SXM.  As Matt was checking out, I walked to town to get some diet gingerale at the Green store, swung into Booze it Up to check out pricing on vodka and rum, and hit the pharmacy to get Advil (they don’t sell medicine of any type in the grocery store on island, you have to go to a pharmacy even for basic things as ibuprofen.

Matt and I were meeting at the IGY dinghy dock and as I walked up with my 4 boxes of diet gingerale and advil, I noticed Matt was talking up Anna!  I love that we keep running into our cohorts.  Steve and Kat (his new crew) showed up shortly after. We couldn’t stay long as we had to hit Island Water World to get the part for El Gato and then have a quick toddy with Contrary Mary.  Well, it had been awhile since we had caught up, and one drink turned into two.  Without much food in us, it quickly turned silly so we headed back to the boat for some chow and rest before our journey to Antigua.

Gone are the days you could drive to each place, lots of walking, loading, and lugging heavy items from the store to our dinghy – but this is a small price to pay to live in paradise. Luckily, St. Maarten is a great place to provision, reasonable prices, lots of variety, and plenty of options.