Orient Beach, St. Martin

Orient Beach is way across the bay from Green Cay where we picnicked one day.

 

         St. Martin has two sides: the Dutch side is largely in the south and the French side takes up the north. In the island’s European homelands it is common for women to sunbathe topless. So it is common to see European women who venture here topless on the beach. 

 

         In addition to topless sunbathing, Orient Bay also offers a clothing optional resort called Le Club Oriental to appease vacationers who want to sunbathe totally au naturel. And from what we’ve seen and heard nestled among the yellow umbrellas along this stretch of sand, it appears to mainly draw tourists from English speaking countries, such as the good old USA. 

Kon Tiki is one of the restaurants along the expansive beach.

Local vendors dress for maximum protection from the sun. 

              

    One cannot help but see every imaginable shape and size of physique slung over chaise loungers or strolling along the waters edge.  You’d have to close your eyes or constantly avert them and then you’d most likely tumble right into a nude stranger. (EW! Sacre Bleu!)  Some bodies were pleasant to behold, but many were not.  Picture, if you will, dimples that have dimples… acned backs and worse yet- butts… lots of sagging things like cheeks, breasts, biceps, tummies, abdomens, sacks… freckles that give the illusion of a faint tan… stretch marks on guys and gals…celluloid here, there, and everywhere…red blotches where SPF was missed… white stripes under flabby folds of skin… piercings in unmentionable places brazenly adorned with glitzy bling…creative tattoos or Mother Nature’s placement of spider veins… bear-like hairy bodies…or absolutely no body hair on both ladies and gents making them look like prepubescent boys and girls.

 

        

         Multiple signs are posted along this stretch of beach that warn:  NO PHOTOS !

     

         My sister often chides me for offering excuses for the strange things people do… Maybe these folks came here because they couldn’t find a bathing suit big enough to wear. We spied one senior-type wearing a floppy hat and a hernia truss who had propped himself up on a NO PHOTOS sign to rest.  It must be torture for these people to apply sunblock or maybe not, if they have some helping hands.  And perhaps they get some relief from their arthritic joints if they don’t have to fumble with buttons and zippers while dressing daily. (What do you think, Lee?)

This one's for my sister, Lee.

Adam & Eve Swim Suit Shop on the beach.

           

       One old guy looked a bit confused as he shuffled by.  He wore a wide-brimmed hat, wrap-around sunglasses, a long-sleeved shirt, and no pants.  I hope- no, I PRAY that by the time we are his age in his condition that we don’t remember where there is a beach like this to go to.

WAHOO ! ! !

Google Image

       We like to fish.  More to the point- we love to harvest FREE SEAFOOD anytime possible.  So we often troll when the conditions are right during a sail.  We fish off the boat at anchor, too, when the bay is clean looking and edible types are spotted below while we check the anchor.  We fish a lot and every now and then we actually get lucky.  I say “lucky” because that is really what it takes.

 

      For example, one recent evening in a pristine bay of St. John-USVI (where fishing using traditional methods are allowed) one fish hit hard on my bait and managed to eat it clean off without getting hooked.  So I tied on a bigger hook with bait and dropped it off the side.  Within a minute I felt a strong tug again, then it let go as I pulled up the line.  This time the whole hook was gone! (At this point, the Captain was snickering at me from the galley…) But I was not done fishing yet and I aimed to be CATCHING soon.  So I put a new hook on a steel leader. Ha! Let’s see what this fish does now!   Once again, he hit and I began to pull. “It’s a big one,” I called out to the Captain who came up on deck just as my line when limp. This time the hook was still on the line, but it was bent beyond repair.  I have no idea what kind of fish it was, but I put my handline and tackle box away after that.  No luck that night.  Fun, but no luck.

 

      Now we’re circumnavigating the relatively small island of St. Martin.  We had the poll out between anchorages the other day rigged with an oddly colored lure that we’d never caught anything on before.  And wouldn’t you know it- we got a good hit!  I grabbed the pole and began to tighten down the drag, but whatever was on the line kept pulling it out. I finally got it tight enough, but I couldn’t reel it in even a fraction of an inch. The Captain slowed the boat down, got the gaff, his gloves, and a bottle of rum.  I watched the surface of the water and waited for the fish to jump or something so we might identify it, but it didn’t. After a couple of minutes I was at last able to reel it in at a good steady rate and noticed that the fish was being dragged along the surface of the water. At that point, we could tell it wasn’t a mahi mahi because it was silvery-colored. Dan was ready with the gaff and rum (to subdue it by pouring some into its gills), but it had no fight left by the time we got it on deck, so no rum was spilled.  Its tail was a mangled mess and the last quarter of the body was ripped open by huge teeth marks.  We think a larger fish- probably a barracuda- attacked it and that was why I couldn’t reel it in at the beginning.

 

      This was the very first WAHOO that we ever caught and although we threw away a quarter of its length, we’ll still have seven great meals out of it.   

W A H O O ! ! !

 

Sort of Like Shopping in Kalamazoo

(Google Image)

   
       When I was little and a particularly rainy day occurred on a non-school day, my parents usually loaded us into the car and Dad drove us to Kalamazoo to go shopping.  You see, Dad was a farmer and he couldn’t do much in the field when it was too wet.  We always looked forward to going to Kalamazoo because, to us, it was the BIG CITY.  Not as big as Chicago, where many of our relatives lived, but Kalamazoo had huge department stores like Goldblatts, Woolworths, JC Penney's, and Sears Roebuck where you could buy anything you ever wanted! 
     The drive took about forty-five minutes on the two lanes of Red Arrow Highway, as it wound its way through small towns at crossroads along the route…Lawrence…Paw Paw…Oshtemo.  We knew we were almost there when one of us spotted what we called “the Nut House”, a narrow circular tower that jutted up out of the woods on the south side of the road.  To this day, I don’t know what that tower is, but it remains a landmark for me.
     By now I suppose you’re wondering where this story is going. 


     Well, it doesn’t rain often down here in the Caribbean, but when it does who would guess that the Captain’s favorite pass time is shopping online.  He’s not likely to order his First & Last Mate a new frock or stilettos or expensive baubles to wear with her swim suit “uniforms” as she carries out her daily duties.  No, the Captain is more likely to order the next best electronic marine gizmo, or replacement parts for the water maker, like pumps and filters or for the engine, like O-rings and more filters.  In short- he buys necessary things.  The Captain is a guy after all. (He recently calculated and e-filed our Federal Tax return, so maybe today he’s got a limit in mind.  Maybe.)   
     Now mind you, the First & Last Mate has indeed benefited from some of his shopping sprees.  For example, he sent for a compact washing machine on the occasion of my last birthday that is saving my precious hands from wringing, so that they can busy themselves in other useful ways.  Then for Christmas 2014, he ordered a new stove for the galley with 3 burners, an oven WITH a dial to regulate the temperature, AND a broiler!!  (Woo-hoo!) 


I'm thrilled to have a washing machine!

I never enjoyed cooking on board ES more!

        I washed and hung two loads of laundry this morning, but now it is a wee bit rainy.  And as I write this, the Captain is indeed online ordering a few things that will be shipped to our daughter Becky who coincidentally lives in Kalamazoo.  I’m flying home to Michigan soon to attend two special events:  our youngest granddaughter’s 5th birthday and our niece’s wedding. Guess what I’ll be bringing back with me when I return to Exit Strategy and my Captain in the USVI?
    
     It’s sort of like shopping in Kalamazoo.