Catching up with mates...

At last! Ready for a new adventure! I could not wait to catch up again with my girl friends… all begins with Audrey in St Martin, after a few problems with the guy at the passport control who wanted to know the name of the boat and anchorage of Audrey’s sail boat… this fussy guy blocked my passport until I come back with the info provided by Audrey... they don’t joke on the dutch side : they searched all dominicans´ luggages, whereas I was just asked : ‘Do you have any drugs’: no suspiscion for the white girl talking english... well done guys, this is called racial discrimination!

Anyway, it is absolutely fantastic to catch up with my mates, and life shows us that sometimes, everything falls into place … we walk with all my luggage to the Sunset bar, located 10 mn from the airport (why don’t I run instead of kitesurf ???…) where I bump into Mel’s crew, my friend from NZ with whom I was supposed to catch up that night… here we go, they call her on the phone and she turns up later for an awesome night, and many drinks, followed by a chinese restaurant, before we realize Audrey’s captain disappeared with the dinghy’s keys… we take it easy, catch a taxi to Marigot bay, the french side where the boat is anchored, and here again, we get lucky… on a Sunday night, around midnight, after trying all docks of the Fort Louis Marina searching for someone to give us a lift to the boat, we finally meet a cuban guy who’s willing to help us and gives us a ride to the boat... well done guys! The morning after, I even manage to catch up with Rachel, my skipper from the crossing, and we board on the plane to Pointe a Pitre, after being called by the stewardess on the speakers as missing passengers (we were just shopping and taking it easy, thinking we had plenty of time!)... good fun… and first time this happens to both of us…
After talking to our neighbour on the plane, we decide to head to the marina to find a cheap hotel, allbeit a boat on which we could sleep, allbeit a boat sailing to les Saintes !…
You’ll tell me to stop dreaming…hell no, I’ll answer back, do everything you can so that your dreams come true, it does work! We finally find a local who takes us from the airport to the marina, and while Audrey is surfing in a pub on internet, I go walking the docks and bump into who???

My mate Jean Noel, from Capbreton, whom I had met in the Canary Islands and who had become a friend! The sail boat of his friend David stayed in St Martin as the engine broke down during the crossing, and Jean No came to Pointe a Pitre after meeting other friends in St Martin… everyone knows that friends of our friends are our friends... and here we are, both of us are hosted on Guy’s boat, Helios, a 46 ft, during 2 days as they are sailing later to where... what’s your guess ??? To les Saintes !!!

Of course, we celebrate our encounter by many rhums, among which a fantastic caipirinha made by Cristina, Guy’s brazilian partner, then we have a great dinner, and discover the day after a nice beach called Petit Havre where we meet our first iguanes.





The day after, after looking for the Catherine’s cat without any success, we manage to put the sails up to head to les Saintes. Catherine is the other boat sailing along with Helios, on which not less than 9 persons are staying... not bad for a 42ft !!! Once arrived in the bay of les Saintes, that I find really pretty at first sight, everybody gathers on Guy’s boat. We pick up my mate Berangere who was waiting for us on the dock, then we spend a crazy evening : many rhums, loud music, pizzas : we are 20 persons on Helios, after catching up with 2 other friends of Guy, whose boat is anchored next to his, and 2 friends of a guy who jumped on the Catherine at the very last moment in Pointe a Pitre !!! What a night!!!



As we began drinking at 2pm, without stopping, we end up being tired quite early and go to Berangere’s place to sleep, first in the dinghy, then on the scooter, after several trips to take everybody home...

My God, life is really beautiful and it’s awesome to catch up with one’s friends!!!