Surprise!! Friends in St Martin!

As I have quickly dove into the chaos of life back on land, I’ve been slow to post about my time in Sint Maarten or my reflections on the trip as a whole… please forgive me. If you’re still following along, I still have some stories and ideas to share…

This post was written intermittently in airports and on planes while traveling home.

Two days on land in Sint Maarten. Wonderful.

I had the amazing luck of arriving on land while my very good friends Kayleigh and Julian were already here enjoying their honeymoon. I had the privilege of being one of Kayleigh’s bridesmaids at their wedding earlier this year in October. It was beautiful.

K+J had a car and having spent over a week here already, became our taxi drivers and local knowledge experts.

On Tuesday we went in search of some snorkeling. Thinking we could simply find some spots to cast off from the beach and see what we could see, we rented snorkel gear and headed out. Unfortunately, the first two locations were a bust for snorkeling. The wind was high, the water was cloudy, and at one of the spots the waves were so choppy we surely would have been drinking sea water by the gallon. In an unexpected bonus, our second stop, while a no-go for snorkeling, turned out to be an iguana paradise with other birds and turtles hanging around the little brackish pond. We took a great deal of joy in admiring their variety as they sunned on rocks, searching for iguanas in the trees, and watching the bigger ones size each other up territorially. We even saw one fall from a tree into the water and swim across. They are FAST, and they move like a snake in the water, the barbs along their bake and tail slithering just at the water’s surface before they dash out on land on the other side.

Our third snorkel attempt was a location Julian and Kayleigh had been already: Creole Rock. A protected reef off the coast of Grand Case, it’s well-known as the best snorkeling location on the island. After a quick lunch, a very nice speed boat took us out and we snorkeled for what felt like well-past our designated return time, the guide happy to let us return at our leisure. Highlights were lots of fish and a very scaredy octopus. Plus a cold drink on the boat after.

After spending so much time on top of the ocean, it was fun to get down underneath it and observe the life that calls it home. I did, however, notice that there were clear signs of coral that had deteriorated and in general, it felt somewhat more sparse than I expected. It made me wonder if this reef had once been dense with coral, now deteriorated by our warming climate…

Ice cream in Grand Case rounded out our daytime activities. In the evening, I met K+J for dinner at an anime-inspired sushi and ramen spot called Naruto. Fun atmosphere and excellent sushi. We headed nextdoor to the movie theater where we watched the new Wicked movie (Part 1??). The movie was excellent, the AC was very welcome.

Wednesday was equally busy. We spent much of the day on a zip line adventure. We took a chairlift up to the top of one of the 5 or 6 peaks in St Maarten. This zip line company is, as far as I can tell, one of the only things that’s built on the top of these peaks. Overall, they tend to be sparsely inhabited for the top two-thirds. We had a nice time and were able to grab a cool drink in the bar at the top.

Afterwards, we made a trek out to the airport. I recently learned that St Maarten’s Princess Juliana Airport is famous because the relatively short runway, of which there is only one for takeoffs and landings, starts immediately next to Maho beach. While we sat at a bar with drinks and snacks nearby, we watched (pretty stupid) tourists stand on the sand with towels over their heads, waiting for the departing plane’s jet-wash. As it begins to take off, sand picks up in big clouds and streams towards the ocean as the water-line is pushed back several yards with the force. People are pushed, tripped, and tumbled as they retreat back to the waterline away from the planes. A wild plane spotting experience I’m sure, but I found it very fun to just watch from afar with a Daiquiri in hand.

That evening consisted of pool time at K+J’s hotel and we basically had the whole beach-side pool to ourselves. A sunset graced our view. A pool with friends always makes me feel like a little kid. Tag, standing on each others shoulders, seeing how many flips you can do underwater before coming up for air… I’m convinced that if you’re in an empty pool and you aren’t pretending to breach like a whale you’re doing it wrong. A chlorine pool was an absolute joy for Jan and I after all the salt water. Getting out of the water and not feeling immediately sticky and like you need a shower? Wow. What a concept. Thank you modern chemicals.

I stocked up some snacks and shared some pretty incredible Thai food with K+J to wrap up my last evening.

This felt like the perfect amount of time in St Maarten to me. It was nice to have some time to relish in the tropical environment we’d spent all this time and effort to sail to. At the same time, after such a long trip, I feel ready to go home. Best of both worlds.

As I sit here in an airport, preparing for the last leg of my journey back to Portland, I’m eating a $6 sandwich I got from the French Bakery this morning. It’s a baguette with prosciutto and tomato and brie and it’s loaded with rocket. Yummy and what a good deal. As I wait for time to pass and my plane to arrive, what comes to mind is gratitude for wonderful friends.

I feel so grateful to Kayleigh and Julian for letting me crash a few days of their honeymoon. When we made landfall, K+J took the morning to try to spot us from the shore of their hotel. They even went in search of binoculars at different stores and scuba shops so they could better pick me out among all the people on all the different boats. Their excitement at my success in this crazy journey was so genuine and I was really touched. My friends are loving and generous and joyful. I feel so grateful to have them in my life, as well as the serendipity of randomly being on the same island as them at the same time. Time with Kayleigh and Julian, who I lived with during COVID but who I sadly do not live close to anymore, feels precious.

I also feel grateful for Jan. Jan’s sailing experience on this voyage was invaluable - I felt entirely confident in our success with him on board. I so appreciate the way that he included me in the decision making process, allowing me to grow my own skills and intuition with his guidance. Even more, I cherished my conversations with him. Learning from his life experiences and deepening our friendship over the course of many otherwise empty hours on board Nam Thanh. Jan has a beautiful ability to empathize with difficult emotions in the current moment while also providing gentle nudges towards new ways of thinking and being. I can’t tell you how lucky Connor and I are to have him in our lives.

If you’ll permit me one more post, I’d love to share with you my reflections on the trip overall - my takeaways from a month long journey at sea.

Thanks again to all of you - for being curious enough and/or caring enough to follow along.

E