Sunday / Monday - Off we go!
Our journey began with a perfectly timed trip to Leeds Bradford, where we arrived with just moments to spare to the check in desk. "You're cutting it a bit fine lads" said the check in guy, in a disinterested drawl, before seeming unbothered by the long snaking security queue.
We needn't have worried, however, as Leeds have installed the new scanners that don't involve you decanting your liquids and devices, so it was straight through without havig explain why I was carrying specialist batteries (for BoatNet - more about this later)!
We were soon on our Embraer KLM CitiHopper flight to the bustling Schiphol Airport, were we landed to an unpleasant -4C temperature, and a 15 minute bus ride to the terminal! Inside, and a starbucks coffee and WiFi top up allowed us to prepare for the beefier flight to SXM.
KLM were predictably excellent across the next 10 hours or so, getting us in efficiently to nice seats, with a good selection of films and music, sitting next to a nice Dutch couple, grandparents to Mona, a 2 and a half year old behind with parents, who needed lots of entertainment!
My turn at entertainment included using my Surface Pro as a table for her to paint various picture in purple exclusively!
We cruised down to SXM Juliana Airport, landing a few minutes late on the 8.5 hour flight, the wall of Caribbean heat welcoming us along with the dozens of Caribbean airline workers who were all very welcoming!
We had to negotiate a few touch screen devices that register your arrival, no human interaction, other than the techno-dinosaurs who needed their hands holding!
Soon, we were back out in the Caribbean afternoon sun, and met Tony, our taxi driver, who recommended we wait for Colin, Katie, Tim and Suzanne, as their flight was ahead of schedule, giving us time to bask for a while!
All 6 finally united for the holiday, we set off with Tony to Hotel Fantastic, sited in the medical neighbourhood of Marigot on the French side of St Martin.
Saint Martin island, as it happens, is the smallest island in the world which is split ownership between two nations, The Netherlands and France, the northern side is Sint Maarten and the southern is Saint Martin.
We checked in, and quickly reconvened to head out for dinner. We walked 20 minutes down to the marina, and had a little prospective walk along the marina to see if our boat was ready yet for tomorrow, talking our way though the security point. Alas the boat isn't ready yet, so we will have to wait until our actual pickup time tomorrow!
We headed to Rosemary's, the oldest lolo in St Martin, since 1976. Lolos are traditional Caribbean restaurants centred around typical BBQ creole and seafood. Rosemary's doesn't use milk, egg or nuts, so had a good set of options for me! Seems Creole is the best sort of food for my allergies!
Ordering beer felt like an age, we wondered at one point if she was fermenting the hops herself, but when it eventually arrived the first sips were definitely welcome!
We enjoyed a mixture of Carib skewers, Goat Curry, Tuna and traditional sides like "Rice n peas"!
We wandered back to the hotel and deliberately didn't calculate the time our bodies were expecting, but heads hit the pillow within seconds!
Tomorrow we collect the boat, exiting! Also off to take some perilously close pictures of some planes!
