We made it!! We sailed across the Atlantic!
On 19 Nov, after 22 days at sea, we set foot on the island of St.Martin… in the CARIBBEAN!!!

How did we get here? Well let’s back up a little bit… to Las Palmas.
We had arrived there (by ferry) from the island of Lanzarote. Looking to save some precious Euros and get a local perspective on things, we hooked up with Claudio, hospitalityclub.com member and a native of Las Palmas. He turned out to be a great host! Putting us up in his house and showing us the life of people from the ‘Canarias’. His friend Abel even gave us his car for a few days!! Thanks guys!

After locating the marina, we began our search for the boat that would take us across the Atlantic. It didn’t take long! While checking out the notice board at a local sailors bar, we bumped into Daan, a 22 year old Dutch guy that’s hitchhinking from Holland to Suriname in South America. He had just found a delivery captain that was transporting a boat from France to Miami (via St.Martin) and was looking for crew. It wasn’t exactly on the way to Brazil, but what the hell… A quick word with the captain (Pierre) and we had our ride. All we needed to do was buy ourselves some lifejackets and chip in for the food. All in all only 40 euros each!

The next day was a mad rush to get ready. Preparing the boat, checking equipment, buying supplies.. etc. Pierre was in a hurry and wanted to leave ASAP. Or so it seemed… because when it actually came time to set sail, he disappeared for a drink with the captain of a neighbouring boat and delayed our departure for half a day. Yes, our captain had a drinking problem! We would make two more stops for ’supplies’ (on Tenerife and La Gomera) before actually leaving the Canary Islands. To say we were a little worried about our unstable captain would be an understatement…

Unfortunately, once on our way the drinking continued. At midday he would be on his second or third glass of wine and by evening he was intolerable. Rambling on about something or other, followed by the occasional bout of unexplained behaviour. We were left questioning his sanity, which in the middle of the Atlantic is not what you want to be doing. Luckily the grog dried up after about a week and our captain returned to normal.

Heavy drinking aside, the ‘highlights’ of the trip were few and far between. It was pretty boring actually. We spent most of the time lounging around the boat - sunbathing, reading, eating and sleeping. With full auto-pilot and GPS navigation, at times the trip felt like a cruise. Our only responsibility as crew, was to get up at night for our 3-hour watch. To some it might sound like the perfect holiday, but three weeks was just a bit too much and we probably wouldn’t do it again. Even the weather didn’t spring any surprises. Though it was still hurricane season, we saw nothing but blue skies with only the occasional thunderstorm towards the end. The rain clouds were a welcome sight actually, because they brought a much needed shower and fresh water, something that is at a premium in the middle of the Atlantic. A person can go for days without food, but without water his time is limited.

St.Martin is ‘co-owned’ (ie. colonised) by France and the Netherlands. The north belongs to the French and the south to the Dutch. Ofiically it’s still Europe (so we didn’t need to even get our passports stamped in), but it definitely has an American/Caribbean influence. Like many of the Caribbean islands its main industry is tourism, so it can feel a little fake and boring. It does have one BIG attraction though. The airport! It’s runway starts virtually on the beach and the sight of aircraft landing a few meters over people’s heads is world famous. We spent two days chilling out at the adjacent bar complete with live band, an arrivals board listing the incoming aircraft and a live feed from tower radio. Very cool!!

So what’s next??
Well, given the fact that we’re in the neighbourhood, we’ve decided to drop in on Fidel Castro. Cuba will probably never be the same once he’s gone, so we want to check it out while he’s still around keeping out Ronald McDonald and his friends.
There are no direct flights from St.Martin to Havana, so we’ll stopover in Jamaica for a few days and check out Kingston, the home of Bob Marley. Yeah maan!!