It's been far too long since I’ve sat down to write my
blog. And so much has been happening. So this particular blog is going to be
about interesting people we’ve been with and places we’ve been to.

Where to start. Hmmm! Yes! I suppose a good place to start would be when we were invited to salute a new warship, sent from the Netherlands to patrol our waters. We have so many Government people living in the Yacht Club and received the invitation to join them all early one morning.
Apparently the governor was also going to be there, so not to miss an opportunity, polished up our shoes and got out the glad rags. The location was the ancient (well relatively speaking old for here) Fort Amsterdam. One of the original fortifications built by the Dutch to defend the island a few hundred years ago. Now however, very little of the original structure still remains
though. We trudged up the little pathway to the Fort which overlooks the promontory on which is built a lovely resort called Divi Little Bay. (Well worth Googling to find out about it). The powers that be had set up a small marquee with attendant waiters and waitresses scurrying round preparing refreshments. About a mile out to sea was the new vessel slowly steaming
towards us. A red carpet, (more like a runner) was quickly rolled out as all the dignitaries began arriving in their black limos. Then came the guard of honour. A motley band of soldiers; all with rifles on their shoulders marching in some sort of procession along the single track. Taking up their positions were ordered to 'shoulder arms’ which they tried to do with as much military precisions as they could. In reality they had probably only done it once before in their military careers, so to everyone it seemed quite a shambolic manoeuvre.
But, as it is in the Caribbean, where there is simply no pomp and ceremony on our side of the island anyway, everyone was suitably impressed with the effort that was made.

So there we were standing shoulder to shoulder with the Governor and other dignitaries as the ship approached close to the shore. And as it passed, the governor took the 21 gun salute as it slowly steamed past. As if by magic, the sergeant, or whoever he was gave the order for the
riflemen to answer back. All took aim at an imaginary spot in the sky and with a loud crescendo returned the compliment. "Ah well," I thought, that was short and sweet. All of ten minutes. Was it worth it? Time for refreshments I suppose. NO! The little vessel had turned about and was coming back from the opposite direction. Again the Governor gave the salute as the ship fired yet another twenty one gun salvo. So after the riflemen had returned the salute yet again they marched of Indian file along the pathway and back to; I’d like to say Barracks, but I know they just do not exist on our side of the island. NOW it was time for refreshments and a chat. Yes. So the Governor & I had our photo taken together. Hope you like it. As an aside, I haven’t seen the little military vessel since that day. I wonder where it went.

It’s that time again for another of the island’s oddities. The very special annual ‘I Love My Ram,’ beauty competition. How weird is this. Where people bring their goats all tarted up to an annual beauty competition. And last year’s winner wore a gold coloured cardboard crown on his head as well. Can you believe it! And would you believe, it happened to
rain. And when it rains here, it really comes down. As my son Alex would say ‘in biblical proportions. Noah and the Ark style’. So all the good work of the owners was completely nullified. Everything looked quite bedraggled and dripping. Despite this though, nothing was going to spoil the jollity of the occasion. The loud music kept going.... the outdoor cooking over fires continued, and people even continued queuing for food and tee shirts. The unwilling goats were dragged up on stage and paraded round. I still don’t know what the judges are looking for, but they all sagely nod their heads as each ‘contestant’ passes by in front
of their table. And again, our Prime Minister Sarah was there, so we had to have another picture taken together. Hope you like it. Can you imagine this happening in Europe? No. Neither can I.

 

Now, for those of you who are Trekkie fans, this will come as a complete surprise. It Landed. Yes. I promise ... it did. And right here in St Maarten. The Starship Enterprise. All it needed was William Shatner to step off the bridge calling to ‘Bones, Uhuru, Scottie and Spock’, to make the ship safe. Well. A vessel has been built which looks really similar to this. It is solar powered and is circumnavigating the planet. (Much the same way as the Enterprise did out in space). She moored up in Marigot Bay and would not allow any sightseers aboard. So we hopped into the dinghy and went for what you might call, a nose around. And yes, it was big. Very big. With hundreds of solar panels on the roof; it only method of power for propulsion. I can’t tell you much more about it, because the following morning, she left our waters heading for the Americas. Hope you like the pictures.

 

Oh. And to finish with, I needed to buy a cable for our TV. It came in this packet, and I hope you can spot the deliberate spelling mistake. If you’re struggling, look for the word between 24K ... and plated.