Jana on St. Barths

Our first stop on the trip was St. Barths, a French island only a few miles from St. Maarten. It was a good primary place for a number of reasons but the largest being its close proximity. It was a decent enough distance that it would take a few hours, four was

what it ended up being because of a lack of steady wind, giving everyone time to find their sea legs and get adjusted to the boat. Martin and Marketa left Czech around six months ago and have been traveling in France and then, more recently, the Caribbean. Their English is still very much a work in progress so for ease of communications and speed we made a subtle arrangement that they would be doing more of the interior work (cooking etc.) while Chris and I would be doing most of the sailing. As such, the sail to St. Barths gave me an opportunity to learn about Gypsy Cat and how she sails.

Shorty after we arrived and cleared customs we went to the place Jimmy Buffet famously sings about in his song “Cheese Burgers in Paradis” although if I am to be truthful, they weren’t all that wonderful. St. Barths is one of the most expensive islands in the Caribbean, the cheeseburgers were seven euro each and a soda four euro!

While we were eating we bumped in to one of Chris’s friends who he hadn’t seen in about two years. Jana works and lives on St. Barths year round and she opened up her heart and home for us. The following day when we arrived on shore

she was waiting for us in her Jeep to take us to her home. She lives in a private villa outside of town complete with a backyard

and swimming pool. She made an exquisite breakfast with fresh baguettes, special French cheeses, homemade jams, tea, coffee, and fresh orange juice. We spent a large portion of the day their relaxing and splashing in the pool. And of course, me being me, I fell in love with the cat who has adopted them. Jana’s parting gift to us was a leather bracelet for each of us made in front of our eyes.

I am always astounded by the generosity I have found while traveling. When I talked with Jana about it she brushed my thanks off by saying “When I start traveling again I am hoping others will treat me the way I have treated travelers.” She deserves all this and much more!

New Adventure

At 33ft long Gypsy Cat is a sailing catamaran perfect for the Caribbean. She is captained by Chris, one of the sailors who spends high season in St. Maarten. I have known Chris for most of the season and when my friend Tess told me about his upcoming delivery to the US it seemed like a perfect plan. In the days following turning down the job on the Mega Yacht I had no idea what I was going to do but one evening at Open Mic Night at Lagoonies, a local bar where many of the sailors hang out, I learned Chris would be delivering his catamaran up to Annapolis, Maryland. Tess was going to accompany him as well but in true Caribbean style plans change and she accepted another job.

So now I am officially First Mate on Gypsy Cat! Chris is our Captain and we have two Czech people with us as well, Martin and Marketa. The trip is expected to last around six weeks, the rough plan being to sail from St. Maarten to St. Barths, the British Virgin Islands, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas, then Maryland. What I am extremely excited about with this trip is that it will very much be a “Hey that island looks cool, lets go check it out!” or “The surfing and diving here is awesome, we should stay a few more days!” So, even though six weeks is our guessing point who knows how long it will be! Based on weather and adventure!

So this Saturday afternoon I will say goodbye to the island that has been my home for over a year. I must say I am definitely going to miss it! It has become my home and community. Many of the people here have become like a family to me. I have met the largest mix of people on this island; the strangest, most intelligent, most eccentric people I have in my life. But on to a new adventure for the summer and I will be back in the fall.

New Home :)

Gypsy Cat.

A New Chapter is Opened

I have been living and working on St. Maarten now for just over a year. Coming back in to low season was hard, almost all of my friends that I had made during high season left as their yachts make their journey across the ocean over to the Mediterranean (which is now in full swing of high season). The island is now taking a much needed breather from the chaos of the last six months. As things began to slow i began to think about my options. I love diving and everything that surrounds it but after a year I am beginning to get tired, not of diving but of the tourists. I have learned that common sense is not very common at all! Diving is my passion but by the end I really did feel like I was going to work, something that I never wanted to happen. So I have decided to take a break from diving, and from my island, for the summer.

My first thought was to turn to yachting, after all, most of my friends from this last season were "yachties". That was a plan short lived. I got an offer on a 156ft yacht that is heading down to Venezuela for hurricane season. It seemed like the perfect option! Starting salary $3000 a month, free room and board, free food etc etc. It was exceptionally good because they were willing to hire me with no experience and no STCW (a course that is mandatory in most of the yachting world). My job title: Stewardess. I was extremely excited about the opportunity and planned to do that for three months then travel. It was a wonderful plan, an incredible opportunity...that all came to a screeching halt at the end of my first day. I have always said that I could do anything for a year, I have recently been humbled and am now enjoying a delicious meal of my own words. I have to say I have a huge amount of respect for the work that a Stew does. Basically I was asked to clean the shower every time after it is used, toilettes three times a day, when serving a meal never look them in the eye, new toothbrush every day, if they try on five shirts and choose one rewash the other four and reiron them, iron boxers and swim shorts, don't speak unless spoken to etc etc etc. On my first day they had me polish a brass bowl for four hours with special rags and earbuds, turns out that bowl was for fruit in the CREW quarters. If you know me, even a little, you will be able to understand how I turned the job down. I was almost in tears at the end of the day realizing that I was going to be paid $3000 a month to kiss rich peoples asses and be a slave. Thanks, but no thanks.

By this time I felt I was running out of options. I no longer had my house on the beach so pretty much was couch surfing through whoever was still on island. I had quit my job and so no longer was making money so couldn't reason renting a new house. I had no plan, little money, no place to stay, and no job. And that was when Gypsy Cat found me...

seeing orange

about a month ago a good friend of mine, manon, flew me to holland. i was there for two weeks and had a wonderful time. manon is originally from holland but works on a mega yacht that during the summer is based out of st. maarten (hence how we met). her family is in lieden which is where we stayed for most of the time.

she toured me around on her scooter and we visited many of liedens historical places. it is a beautiful place.

after the first few days we took the train to amsterdam and stayed in a small hostel just off the main area. we were there for queens day and i have never seen so much orange!!! everyone had something orange on. it was a bit overwhelming going from my small caribbean island to a big city with SO many people (over 300 000 appeared in one square over the course of the day). there were times when i could hardly walk!! but the music was great and it was definitely a fun atmosphere to have experienced.

after the queens day weekend we toured around doing lots of different things. beaches (which were FREEZING), going to different festivals, and trying every kind of dutch food manon could think of to give me.

just before i left i was able to travel inland and up to the west end of holland to visit my friend yasmin. we met in st. maarten and had a lot of fun together, i was very said when she moved to holland so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to go and see

her. it was just like when she was in st. maarten, lots of laughter and silly pictures. we rode her bicycles everywhere and did lots of exploring. shes now living in a very small town so it was really nice to get out of the city and away from so many people.

overall an amazing trip and a nice chance to get off the island for a little while. it was strange to be back in "reality" and having everything running smoothly and working well. lots of fun, freezing cold (even though everone else was in shorts), good food, and good times!