Following our return to Marigot on Wednesday and a fabulous sleep on our new mattress, we suddenly started meeting people and have developed quite a little social life. Back in 2011 we met a couple from Montreal when we were on Buck Island at St. Croix. Amazingly, France & Gilles (Belle Brise) were anchored just a couple of boats ahead of us in Marigot Harbour, so it was definitely time to renew our acquaintance over cocktails and many stories. We also had the pleasure of meeting up agin with Paul and Sheryl Shard of
Distant Shores fame. They arrived Wednesday night after a four day passage from the Bahamas and had made it into Simpson Bay Lagoon where we stopped by for a little chat. And finally we met a Canadian-American couple, Joanne & Jean (Elli Blu) , who invited us over for drinks the same night we were meeting France & Gilles, so we postponed until Saturday night after Jim arrived and we all got together then.
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| Henry with Paul & Sheryl. |
Friday was another errand day down to Budget Marine where we resisted lunch at Lagoonies and then made our way back to the grocery store. Based on intel from Gilles we discovered a little inlet tucked away behind the boat yard with a gas station and a dinghy dock where we could tie up close to the grocery store. So much easier to pick up a good sized load of groceries rather than walking through town to the main ferry dock.
By skipping lunch at Lagoonies, we took advantage of the generosity of the Tourism Office where they were putting on a Christmas party full of local food, music and fun. The ladies were all dressed up in beautiful costumes and the food and drink quickly had us quite replete.
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| Johnny cake and dumplings with curry filling, and Guavaberry cordial. |
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| Dessert of fritters and coconut tart with mango punch |
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| The ladies if the tourism office. |
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| Dancing to the tropical Christmas tunes. |
Finally Saturday arrived and we put the finishing touches on cleaning up the boat ready for Jim's arrival. With his flight due in at 4:15 we made our way across the lagoon and locked up the dinghy just across the road from the airport. Although the flight landed on time, luggage services were a mess and it took an hour before Jim was able to make his way out to us. After hugs and kisses we whisked him away across the lagoon to Mowzer in time for dinner - quite the grand arrival.
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| Jim's room awaits his arrival. |
This morning a hike up around old Fort Louis was in order with views that quickly got Jim oriented to the lay of the land. We rewarded him for his hard effort with a visit to Sarafina's bakery where we feasted for lunch on fresh sandwiches and quiche, with pain chocolat for dessert.
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| Taking in the view across the harbour and the lagoon. |
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| I'm a pretty happy Mom! |
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| Up at the top of the fort. |
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| This little hawk sat quite well for him portrait. |
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| ... As did Henry. |
Our water tanks were running low and Marigot Harbour is not the best place to make water nor take a swim, so we headed back up the coast and spent the afternoon on a mooring ball at Roche Creole at the edge of Grand Case Bay. We filled up the tanks (well, almost full in two hours) and Jim got in a great first swim although with the winds blowing and the waves making their way around the rock, it was most definitely not a relaxing jaunt. And now we're back in Grand Case for the night.
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| Watching the planes land at Grand Case with the runway approach almost overhead. |
