We flew out to Sint Maarten on Friday ready for our 14 day tour. We spent the first night on land at The Flamingo Beach Resort in Simpson Bay (except Tracy who flew on Saturday). We all managed to get up fairly early Saturday morning (given that we were all still on Pacific Time) but the taxi was slow to arrive and there was a surprising amount of traffic between Simpson Bay and Oyster Pond (Moorings base). Consequently David and Jimi were late to the captain's meeting. Fortunately, the woman running the meeting was good natured about it and went back over most of the material we had missed.
She thought our overall trip itinerary would work and had a number of comments about where we should anchor, what areas to avoid, where to get water, etc. While David and Jimi were stuck in the meeting, the rest of the families found breakfast at a nice place named Captain Oliver's, and a pool for the kids to swim in (though it was never quite clear whether the pool was intended to be reserved for hotel guests...). The pool opened into the restaurant with a glass wall which made the kids look like dolphins in a zoo exhibit.
The Moorings gave us a boat called “Retirement Fun”. It didn't take very long for our boat to be ready, but they didn't have any kayaks to rent us this year. To get out of the Mooring's there was a tricky reef, so the Mooring's staff helped us get out. David and Jimi forgot to clear out of customs on the French side of the island and didn't remember until we were past Molly Beday rock ('Molly Beday' appears to be an Anglicization of the French 'Mal Aborder' which roughly translates as 'bad deal'). After a radio discussion with the Moorings we decided to go back – which ended up costing us an hour or two. We finally got to Simpson Bay around 5pm. It was a nice calm anchorage, so everyone could adjust to staying on the boat. Jimi and the girls investigated the hotels around the bay looking for a good place to pick up Tracy. We decided that he best meeting spot would be at Ciao – a little bar and restaurant at the Pelican resort. We sent a text message to Tracy's cell phone which she was successfully able to retrieve on landing. All was good except her plane was early, and she got to the restaurant before us and didn't know if she was at the right place. We found each other pretty quickly though, had a rum punch, and headed back to the boat. Quiche for dinner. Tracy complained that the boat was moving.
We flew out to Sint Maarten on Friday ready for our 14 day tour. We spent the first night on land at The Flamingo Beach Resort in Simpson Bay (except Tracy who flew on Saturday). We all managed to get up fairly early Saturday morning (given that we were all still on Pacific Time) but the taxi was slow to arrive and there was a surprising amount of traffic between Simpson Bay and Oyster Pond (Moorings base). Consequently David and Jimi were late to the captain's meeting. Fortunately, the woman running the meeting was good natured about it and went back over most of the material we had missed. 
She thought our overall trip itinerary would work and had a number of comments about where we should anchor, what areas to avoid, where to get water, etc. While David and Jimi were stuck in the meeting, the rest of the families found breakfast at a nice place named Captain Oliver's, and a pool for the kids to swim in (though it was never quite clear whether the pool was intended to be reserved for hotel guests...). The pool opened into the restaurant with a glass wall which made the kids look like dolphins in a zoo exhibit. 
The Moorings gave us a boat called “Retirement Fun”. It didn't take very long for our boat to be ready, but they didn't have any kayaks to rent us this year. To get out of the Mooring's there was a tricky reef, so the Mooring's staff helped us get out. David and Jimi forgot to clear out of customs on the French side of the island and didn't remember until we were past Molly Beday rock ('Molly Beday' appears to be an Anglicization of the French 'Mal Aborder' which roughly translates as 'bad deal'). After a radio discussion with the Moorings we decided to go back – which ended up costing us an hour or two. We finally got to Simpson Bay around 5pm. It was a nice calm anchorage, so everyone could adjust to staying on the boat. Jimi and the girls investigated the hotels around the bay looking for a good place to pick up Tracy. We decided that he best meeting spot would be at Ciao – a little bar and restaurant at the Pelican resort. We sent a text message to Tracy's cell phone which she was successfully able to retrieve on landing. All was good except her plane was early, and she got to the restaurant before us and didn't know if she was at the right place. We found each other pretty quickly though, had a rum punch, and headed back to the boat. Quiche for dinner. Tracy complained that the boat was moving.
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