My Mom Fell Out of the Dinghy on Day 1

Parental Invasion Part 1 of 2

So you may have noticed (and if not it’s totally fine, I take zero offence, even though my dad jokes are awesome and if you don’t like them you are lame)…we’ve not been blogging for the last couple weeks. I have not forgotten. Erin (my sister) reminds me daily despite the fact that she’s traipsing around Europe with her family at the moment (ok maybe not daily but she keeps a consistent flick on my ear).

Why is this? Blame my parents. We are on day 16 of 17 of the parental visit and during this time we’ve celebrated Christmas and two birthdays and have been trying to convince my parents that living on a sail boat is fun (hahaha).

When I last left you Greg and the kids were riding out the riots in St. Martin while I was makin’ bacon in Ottawa. And that was about 2.5 weeks ago. A lot has happened since then…Too much for one post so we are going to break it up into multiple stories. So this one? It’s about Phase 1 with the parents. Buckle up.

Mel and Crys are not sailors. They have been boaters from time to time (power boaters ahem ahem) and they have chartered with us twice and have been on Exodus (our previous boat) a couple times as well. But living on board for 17 nights on a boat that 5 people have settled into for 6 months is not the same. In most ways it’s better I think. It’s visiting someone’s home. Buuuuut in other ways it’s harder because it’s someone’s home with 1000 rules and mistakes have consequences that cost big bucks or big pain or both. I will start out by saying that we all survived, minimal injuries, and had a great time. Let’s focus on the first few days in St. Martin.

During my absence Greg and I planned out the priorities we needed to focus on / the things we were worried about while still in St Martin with Mom and Dad:

Mission #1 Get to Boat (safely)

Mission #2 Get on Boat (no joke)

Mission #3 Get Food (7 people remember)

Mission #4 Get Gas (propane obvs)

Mission #5 Get Out (it’s time for somewhere new)

Mission #1 “Get to Boat”

I met Mom and Dad at the airport after finishing my time in Ottawa and we took the same flight to St. Martin. I should mention that my Dad HATES flying. And doesn’t love chaos either (retired cop)…soooo welcome to St. Martin dad :S The airport at SXM was chaotic to say the least as on that day (Dec 14th) many roads were blocked on the French side and some travellers heading to Grand Case couldn’t get a cab to take them there at all…that would have been stressful. We were lucky and found a driver that was willing to try and get us to the ferry dock at Marigot where Greg was meeting us with the dinghy. The driver was pretty amped up and we drove by lots of recently-burned-piles-of-stuff but the roads were open (friggin yay). Greg and Grace were waiting for us at the dock and we proceeded to load the dinghy up to the waterline with people and bags.

Now don’t get me wrong. My parents got the memo and packed light with carry-ons only; but even so, the bags were a bit awkward and there was still enough luggage to fill the dinghy and also there was my stuff and don’t forget it was Christmas so I brought back more with me than I left with. Thank eff the crazy weather Greg had while I was away subsided and there was now minimal movement and gratefully little swell so we made it to Matriarch without swamping the dinghy. (Also friggin yay because mom brought 12 dozen cookies with her…yes you read that right)

Mission #1 accomplished.

Nothing says ‘cool’ like an airport selfie right in front of the escalators ;P

Goodbye snow and ice…it was nice for a brief moment but the sun calls me back…oh ya, and the kids. Oh ya, and husband :P

Mission #2 “Board Boat”

Boarding the boat…little more tricky. Attempt #1? Crys bailed into the drink. Well to be honest it was a half-bail with one foot on the boat, one in the sea and some other mystery body parts still on the dinghy.

It is pretty hard to board our boat from the dinghy when there is any chop if you aren’t used to it. The kids, Greg and I scamper up so quickly I forget how hard it is for others to manage…even when we are prepared for it to be hard for them. Greg and I were pretty nervous about Mom and Dad getting in and out of the dinghy and (rightly) thought it was the most difficult part of boat life. So when mom bailed on the first attempt (in what I thought were pretty calm conditions) we were a bit leery for the next 16 days.

Fortunately for all of us, they got better each time. (Like a little better, but still I will give it to them). And we got better giving instructions as well. Boarding the dinghy with 7 people requires a plan. First Greg or Liam, then girls, then Mom, next Dad and finally me. Mom and Dad, no, you can’t carry all your shit in with you when you board. Hands free baby. Drop the purse, focus on your job and then trust we’ll pass you the purse in a moment….I swear this was said each time. Dad mostly stored his stuff with Mom so he was one step ahead. Also, parents please board backing into the dinghy…yes yes I know it feels weird but if you fall it’s a much shorter distance then if you go in forward-style (i.e. if you fall on your face it’s better to fall 12” down vs. 5’ down and across several other people). There were a few heavy foot falls and a few “fall-to-sit” positioning but today is their last full day and I can confidently say they are (a little) better at this now then when they first arrived…though Greg and I still bark instructions and hold our breath each time. All I will say is this: strength and flexibility are KEY to boat living. You have to be more bendy then when you live on land or you will fall. Guaranteed.

Mission #2 accomplished.

Mission #3 “Get Food”

Next we really needed to re-up in the food department. I made a menu for Greg while I was gone - not because he can’t cook (cough cough he can’t) but more because I knew what we had and what could be done with it and he had enough to do without having to provision with the kids while I was gone. But the down side of this plan was that we knew when I arrived back to Matriarch with my parents we would have to make groceries a high priority. And of course we didn’t count on their being riots when we made this plan.

We weren’t sure if the food stores were open (many other shops were closed) and we weren’t sure if it was safe (we thought it would probably be ok but weren’t 100%) However; we talked to some locals and they discretely advised us that they understood the riot-y stuff wouldn’t really start up until late afternoon each day (maybe after people got off work?) so we busted over to the Super-U after an early morning hike up to Fort St. Louis on my parents first morning of vacation so we could miss most of the tension…actually more accurately we left mom and dad with the girls at a cafe in Marigot and Liam, Greg and I busted over to the Super-U so we could move a little faster. We got what we needed to feed 7 people for at least a few days and then got out quick. Honestly it was a weird vibe - people were tense, but others (mostly tourists) kind of didn’t really have a clue. I don’t mean that in a bad way - you could just tell they were in vacation mode and not really aware of the issues around them. No-judgment, we’ve been there I’m sure. We met the others at the cafe after buzzing quickly back to the boat to unload the baguettes, cheese, and other French food we indulged in (don’t worry Gma - we bought lots of kale too), slammed a cold beer and brought everyone back to Matriarch (riding low of course).

Mission #3 accomplished.

My Mom was pleased (as were the kids) to do the dishes each night….her neck tie is ummm…functional. It was hot and she was a bit sweaty…we called it her ‘sweat rag’ she called it her ‘pink cloth’….hahaha

Mission #4 “Get Gas”

This was a @*^&#*&#^ pain in the ass (yes I bleeped the first word and not the second…I like to keep you on your toes). Context: my parents arrived with me on Saturday, we got food / hiked on Sunday and now it’s Monday. The riots meant that the usual place cruisers fill their propane bottles (Island Water World) wasn’t open so we heard on the local Cruisers Net (like a radio call-in / information sharing thing for other sailors every morning at 7:30 on VHF channel 10) that the Island Water World on the Dutch side was able to take bottles and get them filled up same day if they were there by 9:30am. We had Christmas dinner and 2 birthdays coming up and I also had to cook for 7 and we weren’t comfortable with only 1 of 2 propane bottles full (the other ran out right before I left). So this meant that rather than leave today as we wanted to, we spent the day dropping off, then waiting for, then bringing back our filled propane bottle. This literally took 7 hours. To be fair to Island Water World they had a TON of bottles to fill since all of the cruisers on the French side where in the same boat as us (hahah pun). So ya, that was the day. While Greg, Liam and I did this job, Mom and Dad were with the girls on the boat. There were still some spontaneous explosions and smoke and we felt more comfortable with them hanging out together there and they were perfectly fine to chill for a bit. We came back in with a full gas bottle, bashing through some very big waves toward Matriarch feeling like we had what we needed to move on the next morning.

Mission #4 accomplished.

Mission #5 “Get Out”

We woke up Tuesday morning - side bar, apparently my parents slept amazing on the boat this whole trip, can not tell you what a relief that was for us to know - and decided the night before where we were going to go first. Anguilla! I LOVE THIS ISLAND. And I really thought my parents would too. Greg was a bit reluctant to go back to a place we’d been already (the big blue Caribbean beckoned him and I understand that) but he relented pretty easily because it really is a lovely place. So we made some coffee, ate some baguettes and sailed over to Anguilla for Miss Grace’s 7th birthday the next day. We had a nice reach to the island and then downwind around the North end of the island before furling everything in and anchoring in Road Bay. After awkwardly answering immigration’s question “why are you back here so soon” with “well sir I wanted to show my parents the island” and feeling like a 12 year old…we (successfully) got everyone off the boat and into the dinghy and headed to our favourite haunt on the island (Roy’s) for the best rum punch of my life (soooo strong and not too sweet), corn hole and TRIVIA NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! Capped off with a flash-mob of carol signers raising money for the local hospital. Also!!!??? Booyah! We WON trivia night and got $50 off our (fairly large) bill. Honestly it was such a freaking great day with my parents.

Mission #5 accomplished.

Welcome back to Roys!! How did we not discover this cocktail last time?????

Cornhole is the Harris Family’s basketball of the south….well not really but still very fun :P

Wednesday we woke up to our baby turning 7…we’ll let her tell you about that ;)

We were off to a good start…we had some great days planned and we’re looking forward to our time together…little did I know my mom was watching YouTube videos on quilting at night…will let you know what happened in my next post :S

Much love,

M

Note: We love St Martin (French) and Sint Maarten (Dutch). We were just ready to move on, in fact we were ready several days before we left but my travel and parents arrival had us there a bit longer….so leaving wasn’t riot-related but it was nice to get to a place that was a bit more peaceful. We hope the people of St. Martin get what they need to keep there land or at least get it’s value.