Venus Flytrap of the Caribbean

We're still here in St. Martin - but really truly we do have plans to leave at some point. We'd planned to leave a few times, but the winds.... the swells.... the easy living..... have kept us firmly anchored. Hearing that we haven't budged from our spot in the lagoon, our friend George on s/v Sophie said via email "Of course you're still in St. Martin, it's the Venus fly trap of the Caribbean." Well said George, well said. 

We wander ashore fairly often and have found a few new spots we love for sitting and connecting with the outside world. Layla's, facing Marigot is our first pick for wifi connections. There are cats and dogs wandering around, cushy chairs facing the beach, a playground for all the wild kids whose parents come to relax here and the wifi connection is great. What's not to love?

Our view at Layla's - our favorite spot for wifi.

Layla's 

This little group was washing back and forth at the water's edge where we pulled the dingy up to go ashore.

We wander around town when we go in to run errands, get gas for the dinghy, go to the market or visit with friends. There are always things that catch my eye....

Wall art (even the doors and windows are painted on) in Marigot

Escale des Iles is a gallery right in Marigot with a good showing of local artists

No, I did not buy one of these, but it did catch my eye. 

There were a few weeks of really high winds that have backed off a bit, but squalls have been coming through lately and we've been happy to see them. They fill our water tanks and clean off the boat. Here's our neighbor's boat, Absaroque, during and just after a squall the other day.

And a nice double rainbow as the squall move on....

Having some time on our hands, we've been playing too... I got a bunch of Dremel drill bits at the marine flea market here and tried my hand at drilling seaglass, stones and whatever else I could get my hands on.

We played in the galley - I made spring rolls...

 Skip baked bread...

Transferring the risen loaf to the baking pan

It was also (waaaaaaaaaay past) time for a haircut! This is one time a photo is worth a thousand words. Make that two photos.... 

While I had the scissors out, I worked on our Saba flag. Like I said - we really do intend to leave here at some point and we'd like to see Saba which is about 25 miles from here. 

Though a bunch of our friends have moved on (we miss you s/v Chill!) we've made a lot of friends here, including Ed and Elizabeth and their puppy Luna on Skylark. She's a sweetheart of a dog and though the rules and regs regarding where you can take a dog in the islands make it tricky to travel with her, we can see why they wouldn't have it any other way. They headed off to meet up with family visiting in the Virgins but we really hope to see them again farther south if they turn around and come back this way.

Luna hangs out in the companionway on Skylark

Though we haven't traveled by boat much in the past few weeks, we'll be traveling by plane soon - back to the states to tend to some things that need tending to in person. It'll be a quick trip but we're hoping some family might come to see us while we're in Rhode Island. Hint hint.....

And of course we can't overlook the biggest even of the year that happened early this week.... no, not the inauguration (that I watched on my Ipod while Skip skypes....) 

My mini view of the inauguration!

It was my niece Carly's 16th birthday!!! Happy birthday Carly! I can't believe you're sixteen years old. Cripes. I'm glad your party was a big hit and I'm even more glad that your mom didn't make all your friends listen to the story of the day you were born!