Whew, we survived.

The big party season is over, (for at least three weeks or so) and Dyana & I have time torecuperate from all these late night festivities . The last one being the world famous Heineken Regatta. Months of preparations: literally thousands of hours in the making. And it all shows in the end. What a fantastic experience to be here when it happens.

Firstly, the marina's and lagoon fill with all sorts of craft. From the multi-million poundones who party every night; to the meager, (if that’s what I can call them), you know, the ones that normal sailing people buy costing between forty and fifty thousand. Then the sponsors, Heineken, turn up and start preparing Kim Sha beach, (which is about five minutes walk away from where we live), for the party of the year. The cranes arrivebringing and building the stage for the performers, and this year’s headliners will be 'The Commodores’ from Lionel Richie and the Commodores fame. Sounded brilliant. And to make it even better, it’s all totally free! Now what else can one say to that? Not only was there the party on the beach, but also a second big party at a complex just across the water from us called Port de Pleasance . And this was to kick it all off where the locals and sailors mingled together. Partied hard; had a BBQ and there were many shops selling the sponsors over priced apparel. I must say though, that it did look really good and was quite tempting. The music was loud..... and when I say loud, I mean ear shattering loud. We sat outside the enormous marquee well away from the loud speakers watching the revelers dancing inside, and it looked like lots of fun. So therewere also many activities going on outside as well. First came the angels; who were preaching about not drinking and driving. They might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the notice people were taking of their slogan. But they certainly made an impact. And then, would you believe it, they were followed nearly immediately by the Heineken girls. Ooo La La all dressed in tight skirts posing as air hostesses promoting the sponsors beer. Now what can you say about that? (Hope you like both the photos).

So as for the races themselves, we decided to take our little dinghy out to sea to where the start of the race was . Always the most exciting place to be. Fortunately the seas had calmed so it wasn’t too bad and out we headed through the Simpson Bay bridge into Simpson Bay proper. And there they were. Well over two hundred vessels of all types and sizes vying for those precious few seconds to beat their opponents to the start. Now for those of you who have never seen a yacht race, there is an imaginary starting line over which the yachts must not cross before the starter has sounded his horn, or whatever he happens to be using. The penalty for crossing the line is to do a three hundred and sixty degree turn.... in other words a circle while everyone else is getting away from you. Because we were in a small dinghy, it was impossible to follow the boats round the island, but the start was good enough. Hope you like the photos. Well, threedays of hard racing took the craft all over the area. Even to other islands such as Anguilla and back. The most important thing was that it all ran smoothly, and in layman’s terms, nobody got killed . And as far as the organisers were concerned, it ran just like clockwork. So next year, Dyana & I are going to see if we can become volunteers and do our bit. Sounds good to me!

And then on to the big party on Kim Sha Beach. Well.... absolutely thousands and thousands of people. All there to have a good time. Alcohol flowing... great music.....lots of dancing..... tents with food..... lots of freebies being given out by the sponsors.... what else could we ask for. The preceding bands were in the vernacular... just totally brilliant. And I must tell you that we have some excellent musicians on the island. And finally the headliners came on to much razzmatazz and hype from the DJ. The commodores arrived on stage to huge applause. There were still two members of the original band, and to be quite truthful, it showed. They were tired, lack the pizzazz of the other bands, and to be quite blunt about it, in comparison to the other local bands, they were sub standard... so ... we simply left. As far as we were concerned, life is too short to listen to rubbish. So having had a brilliant evening on the beach, walked home.

We were then asked to be in a TV documentary. Now, that’s something we’ve never been in. So this is what it’s all about. An American woman married a Canadian man and found a job on the island. So far nothing unusual about that, except an American TV
Company is doing a documentary on them moving from New York, to St Maarten. They moved on to our complex so we were asked to arrive at their door for a barbeque. All at 10:30 in the morning. And talk to them about how they chose this particular complex, and had they seen many other apartments, and how they were settling in etc etc etc..... So at the allotted time of 10:30 we rang the bell, expecting to see many other people. Silly me! I knew others had been asked, but of course, this is Island time. So Dyana & I were the only ones there and were filmed for at least half an hour with the new couple. And in the afternoon, the film crew used exactly where our apartment is on the lagoon to
showcase their final scene. We felt so proud. And, it’s going to be aired in a couple of months on the HG1 Chanel in America. And when we have more news of the show, we’ll let you know.