A Break From Food – St. Maarten & Panic Finally Over

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that Bev is gone so today I’d like to give you a look at where she is hanging out in the Caribbean for two weeks.  She and Pat are on the island of Saint Marten which is divided with one part belonging to France and the other to The Netherlands and is called Sint Maarten.

It is located about 100 miles east of the Virgin Islands and at the top of the Lessor Antilles group of islands and thanks to its large lagoon, it is home to many mega-yachts.  Wouldn't surprise to find some Russian oligarchs boats there.

With the war in Ukraine, Covid still around, and much of the country still experiencing winter weather I thought we could all benefit from these pics.

Sil, Pat, owns a time share on the Dutch side of the Island and she and Bev have gone every year but two (resort was being rebuilt from a hurricane) since she bought it.  The resort backs up to the entrance to the lagoon and I did a previous post of the twice daily boat parade when the draw bridge is opened to the lagoon. I would not be surprised to find Russian oligarchs boats hidden there. This is one of the big ones they saw named Okto.  Note the size of the people.

The yacht is 218 feet long and 34 feet wide with accommodations for 10 guests and 17 crew and the eight year old boat recently sold for $39 million – in case you were thinking you might want one.  You can also just rent it for $400,000/wk.

Here are more pics from their balcony.

And these are from the beach.

Hope you enjoyed this little break from reality.  This is a great place for hot weather (80’s) beach lovers to visit, but I would much rather be home with our beautiful, cooler spring weather. 

PANIC

Want to know the definition of panic. It's the feeling you have when you have lost your wallet containing credit cards, drivers license, ATM card, medical insurance cards, Covid vaccination card, Senior NPS Pass, a couple hundred dollars and several other not quite as important items.  I had only been one place with it that day and when I realized it was missing I went back not to find it, so I posted for a return reward.  Then I had to get a new drivers license and with impending surgery, new medical cards were critical.  

We looked all over the car and house but I thought it could still be in the house so I didn't cancel the credit cards but monitored them several times a day for a week then daily.  Since I had no charges to the cards, I began thinking it may well turn up in the house some day.  

This past Saturday, after nearly three weeks, painters were here to paint my garage which required moving everything from against the walls and when I went out to see how things were going one said "Hey we found a wallet over there" and I hugged the guy.  Oh what a relief it is. 

I had gotten out of the car with the wallet in my hand and laid it on my air compressor in the corner of the garage while I added some air to my tires.  I then went on into the house and forgot that I had stopped there when the lost wallet panic set in.  This old age, short term memory loss is hell but I'm confident I will be much more careful with my wallet and I'm rethinking what I want to always have with me.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

03/15-3/29/22 trip dates