The Wirie Crew Assembled in the Caribbean

On April 26^th 2010, Mark’s brother Tim and his wife Kristen were scheduled to land in St. Maarten at 2:15 pm. We had been looking forward to their visit for a couple of years and were excited it finally happened. The weather predictions were pretty good and we planned a six day vacation with talks about the business (Tim is our Wirie partner in the States), swimming, walks on beaches, relaxing and lots of sailing…

When Mark checked the status of the expected American Airlines flight, it appeared to be cancelled! A big thunderstorm in Miami, our visitors’ stopover, prevented all planes from landing and taking there. Our visitors’ whole trip was up in the air, literally and figuratively, and we could only hope for the best. It worked and they did arrive in St. Maarten the same day, with a five hour delay and without luggage! Waiting in line and filing the necessary forms took another two hours of their precious vacation time. Around 10 pm, Mark, Darwin and I welcomed Tim and Kristen aboard Irie.

Since we had to wait for the luggage to arrive, plans changed a bit for the first day of their holiday. Instead of leaving the lagoon in the morning and exploring Friar’s Bay and Happy Bay, Mark and Tim had their big business meeting and the girls went shopping in Marigot, the capital of St. Martin. By late afternoon, the guys tried to obtain the arrived luggage, which proved to be a painful and inefficient two hour process. This is the Caribbean! They made it back on Irie right in time to catch the last bridge opening of the day on the French side. We did succeed to anchor in Grand Case before the sun set. In the evening, we tried the local BBQ shacks (lolos) for dinner, something Mark and I came to like. Unfortunately, the over-cooked food, depletion of choices and unfriendly service made an end to that tradition.

On Wednesday, a short, pleasant sail brought us to Tintamarre, where a pod of sleeping dolphins drew our attention. This is the first time we noticed these wonderful animals being totally motionless, just floating under and above the surface. Free mooring balls in the anchorage made our stay easy and a swim to the beach rewarded us with remoteness and white sand. A path leads to the windward side of this deserted island, where the water was lukewarm, protected by the reefs. Snorkeling around the rocks was fair and tiresome because of a strong current. The water was as clear as the sky.

From Tintamarre we had a slow sail to Anse du Columbier in St. Barth. Since the plotted course was straight into the wind, we needed a few tacks and a lot of time to reach our destination. We had lunch underway and the last half hour we decided to motor. Once settled on a free mooring ball, we could enjoy the peaceful surroundings, beautiful water and many sea turtles grazing around our boat. The rest of the afternoon and evening was quietly spent in the anchorage with a nice meal and good company.

Friday had arrived and since we planned two nights in Columbier, we had a whole day to enjoy the area. Kristen preferred to check out St. Barth’s capital Gustavia, so the four of us and Darwin walked the hot, but pretty trail towards the small village of Flamands. There, a taxi could get arranged to drive us into the town center of Gustavia. Tim and Kristen went shopping, while Mark, Darwin and I hung out in the shade of a gazebo, where free internet is available and where we ran into Chris from Gypsy Cat. It’s a small world! For lunch, the Kiltys walked to Shell Beach, where a fancy and attractive outdoor restaurant is located. Tim and Kristen treated us to a wonderful lunch and Darwin got offered a bowl of fresh water. After a sweaty walk back to the dinghy, our guests snorkeled and enjoyed the clear water and interesting sea life. Just like the previous nights, we were all tired and spent by 9pm after a day full of activity and strong sun, so we turned in early again.

The following day, the alarm clock got us going. A quick breakfast and the sails went up for a last sail back to Simpson Bay Lagoon. The wind was very light, which made the trip slow but relaxing. We had to hurry a bit in the end to make the 11:30am Dutch bridge back into our oh-so-familiar lagoon. During the afternoon, Tim, Kristen and I took a bus into Philipsburg for more shopping. At night, the couple took us out to a seafood restaurant along the water. The food was delicious and a huge spoil for the two of us. A very enjoyable, tasty and stress free last night wrapped up our family and Wirie meeting in the Caribbean.

Cruising: An Extended Vacation?

How do the days on Irie look like, the last few weeks? Well, I would say “all but enjoyable”. If you don’t count the evenings. But, that’s why I wrote “days”…

It’s that time again, where being in one place too long and working from morning to evening, without taking any days off demands its toll. I suggest that the first person who even comes close to suggesting that we are on an extended holiday, better run (or swim) away, before I give him or her an earful, or worse!

We are making progress with our list of boat projects. All the stainless steel is cleaned, a blocked hose miraculously cleared itself, the fridge pump works all right again, our crappy sailbag is finally adjusted to the sail after lots of running back and forth, the rusted, grimy grill has new parts (and they all fit), the bad part of the anchor chain is replaced by rope (no money for a whole new chain), Mark fabricated a new snubber (line that connects the chain to the boat to prevent abrupt shocks), replacement blades for our crumbling wind generator blades arrived, and I can keep going on here for a while. A boat, however, is a boat and that means new problems have to show up.

After getting hauled out of the water in Philipsburg about a month ago, we assumed the engine problem was fixed. Well, not so much… Mark just discovered our saildrive oil is turning black again and nobody knows why or how to fix it. Research online (“black saildrive oil”), pointed Mark to one of my earlier blog posts, meaning it is a rare thing and nobody else writes about it! I obviously couldn’t give him the information he needed. The other engine that is giving us trouble is the one from the dinghy. It dies each time we slow down. Hopefully we can fix it or have an experienced opinion before it totally leaves us transportation-less.

Mark spends most of his day behind the computer, dealing with customer issues, credit card issues, you-name-it-issues and the business in the States. I’m not so sure how he will keep that up once we leave St. Maarten and are ready to cruise again. (Will we ever be totally ready to cruise and enjoy again, running a business from the boat?) Twice a week, we advertise The Wirie on displays in bars and about every other day one of us makes an announcement on the Cruiser’s Net (VHF channel 14) here in the area. This lead to most of our sales and we are happy to see all but three Wiries gone at this point.

Runs back and forth with Darwin, to the stores, to do laundry, to pick up packages, to get fuel and water, and to help people out, together with household chores, keep us busy the rest of the time. I worked another two shifts at Lagoonies and Mark managed to do a bit of consulting work. The busy days end, more than not, with a few friends, either in a cheap bar (Happy Hour at 5 pm), on Irie or on somebody else’s boat, sometimes with talented friends playing their instruments. Familiar faces have come and gone. St. Maarten is a focal point in the Eastern Caribbean.

Mark’s back never healed. The pain has gotten better over the months, but he learned to deal with it. Luck had it, that we ran into a pleasant guy we met in The Bahamas more than two years ago. His name is Tom and, he is currently cruising with his -my aged- girlfriend, Karmen. We hit it off and had a few nice evenings together. A particularly interesting fact about Karmen, is that she is an ex- chiropractor. And, out of the kindness of her heart, she assessed Mark’s back problems, gave him a “cracking” and some exercises to work on. Since she was in the right mood anyway, she decided to give me a quick surprise session as well, so now we are both “adjusted”!

A few other factors that play with our moods are weather and noise. After a very calm, hot winter season weather wise, the wind picked up for a few days. As with everything else, that’s good and bad: sailing is possible (in certain directions) and electricity gets created, but… every dinghy ride in the lagoon was a wet and salty one. The same is true for the bright sun: solar panels and laundry happy, my sweaty, achy body not so much. The noise factor fluctuated as well, because of the volcano in Iceland. Fewer planes screamed above and we were enjoying the relative peace! We need the VHF radio on to hear calls for Irie, but it is annoying as ever because of the busy ferry traffic to Anguilla and one of the French marinas using the same station as a calling station. Try writing a press release, or anything else for that matter, while the radio is constantly blearing at you.

I think I have about covered all the “living in the lagoon basics” now and feel better already! Tomorrow, Mark’s brother Tim and his wife Kristen brighten up our stay with their visit. We plan on having a vacation with them, doing what most cruisers do: sail, swim, snorkel, eat good food (well, we actually always do that), enjoy the Caribbean weather, a good book and walks on the beach and be happy. “All is Irie, mon!”

Speedy Haul-out or “on Vacation” in Philipsburg?

Irie had a little problem with one of her engines. Actually, Irie has a few problems with her engines, but this one became a bit more worrisome when the blue turned black saildrive oil also rose in level. This indicated one thing: salt water was coming in. The only way to deal with saildrive issues is… to haul the boat. Didn’t we just do that a few months ago in Grenada? Yep. We just had to do it again. Luckily, there is an affordable boat yard in St. Maarten and Irie snugly fits in its travel lift.

On the first day of spring (after a winter that never came), Irie and her crew left the lagoon, heading for Philipsburg. Mark and I felt a bit excited about finally leaving the nasty “pond”, albeit for the wrong reasons. The cleaner water in Great Bay invited us for a swim and the long boardwalk and wide beach called Darwin for a long walk. Even the chaos of the cruise ship passengers and ferries couldn’t spoil our fun of being in a relatively beautiful place again.

When Monday morning came around, we moved Irie towards the fairway at Bobby’s Marina. A heavy cross wind caused us problems to dock the boat and, with only one line attached to shore and a port engine that suddenly refused to work, Irie turned sideways, creating a bit of a panic. Luckily no substantial damage occurred and we managed to dock safely in the end. Once hauled out of the water, we noticed that the propeller of the port engine had come loose, the reason it didn’t work properly when engaged… An easy fix, especially on the hard.

From the moment Irie arrived at her spot in the yard, Mark and I got to work. We were committed to spend as little time as possible in the hot, dusty and grimy boatyard. Darwin was placed in the shade with a blanket and a bowl of water and he was extremely well behaved. While he rested and stayed put, the humans in our little family scraped barnacles, fixed the prop, disassembled the sail drive, sanded some areas where the paint didn’t hold up and painted them, cleaned the waterline, filled the tank, sun showers and jerrycans with water, waxed a few spots, flushed the fridge hoses, equalized the batteries and cleaned Irie’s deck and cockpit.

In the meantime, a Yanmar mechanic picked up our saildrive and managed –with some effort and time-to replace the worn gaskets. We were ready with all the chores on our list by noon on Tuesday, but had to wait another couple of hours in the dust (this is the Caribbean!) before we got “splashed” again. Out and back in the water in less than 30 hours and for less than $ 1000! Not bad…

That afternoon, we treated ourselves to some peace in the anchorage, a swim to remove all the dust and another long walk with Darwin. Philipsburg has its charm and we were happy to enjoy some of it, too tired to make it back to the lagoon the same day anyway. That was the plan for Wednesday morning. We returned to our usual spot off Explorer Island and got back to The Wirie business. Our “being out of touch” for three days, prompted people to inquire about our getaway and ask us how we enjoyed our “short vacation”. In a way, we did enjoy it, actually!

St. Maarten: Our Mad House for a Few Months

Roaring planes, wake creating dive boats, plowing ferries, passing tenders of all sizes, buzzing jet skis resembling annoying mosquitoes and groups of sailing dinghies make up our surroundings in Simpson Bay Lagoon, St. Maarten. The contrast with previous islands –especially Barbuda – couldn’t be bigger. This is going to be our home and office for a few months and even though getting back here was somewhat of a shock, we knew what to expect. Just like last year, we anchored off Explorer Island, one of the quieter places in the lagoon and far away from all needed facilities. But, there is a little beach on the island and that’s where most of our daily trips lead to, thanks to Darwin.

Mark and I are here to work - to “replenish the cruising kitty” - and we took that task seriously from the moment we arrived. Instead of spending an hour or two a day on our Wirie business in the States, Mark now spends most of his day behind the computer, communicating with Tim, researching ideas and products, advertising, improving the website, understanding the competition, reacting to unethical, untrue statements on forums and message boards, communicating with journalists and providing customer support. The list goes on. Nobody said running a business was easy, let alone from a boat in the Caribbean.

I found a temporary job in a fun bar called Lagoonies for three 7-8 hour shifts a week. Never before was I a bar tender and if anyone would have asked if I’d ever do it, the answer would have been “no”. The person running the bar is Ellie, a friend of ours from last year. Another friend, Christine from Gypsy Cat, started working there before our arrival and one thing lead to another… I like to try new things and although the pay was low, it was an interesting experience and mostly enjoyable, depending on the customers. Last Saturday, after six weeks, I decided to quit for reasons that will become clear in a bit.

The main motivation for our extended time here is The Wirie. At this time of the year, a lot of sailboats stop in St. Maarten. We started building, advertising and selling our marine WiFi device again and it is still successful. We actually met a few sailors that bought our unit online from the States. Now they can hang out with fellow cruisers that obtained The Wirie from Irie in the past and exchange WiFi information or convince new and prospective owners of The Wirie’s capabilities. A big chunk of our days go to ordering parts, retrieving packages from the airport, manufacturing Wiries, communicating with retailers about wrong deliveries (and trying to figure out how to get the right parts here as soon as possible without losing too many sales, spending plenty of money for extra shipping in the process) and talking about our product.

Of course the daily errands can’t fall behind, we need to get and haul water, fuel and groceries from shore to Irie and, ideally, Darwin leaves the boat three times a day. Sharing one dinghy in a big area like the lagoon and each having our own commitments makes things a bit more challenging, especially when I had the night shifts. Add plenty of boat projects and quite a few unexplainable problems to the mix and you start to understand why our life has become stressful once again. As a matter of fact one of the engine problems calls for another haul-out in Philipsburg. Annoying and expensive, especially since we spent enough time in the boat yard in Grenada, less than five months ago. The idea for Irie was to not leave the water for two years…

The bright part of the story is the presence of people we know. Over the last month, time and schedule permitting, there were many evenings we enjoyed the company of our “Luperon friends” Ed and Emily from Nini and Dave from Tatia. Our Israeli friends Tania and Oren from Renata already left again, but Angie – Darwin’s best friend – is still here for a bit. I even went to Ladies Night (free drinks for the ladies!) again with even more tiredness as a result.

All the work and chores add up and it became impossible for me to combine my different jobs (I forgot to mention I want to write more and sold another article), so choices had to be made. It also would be nice to do something fun once in a while or hang out with Mark and Darwin, but that has less priority for now. Not healthy, nor good, I know, but when life is hectic and demanding and our personalities consist of being responsible, genuine and nice, it is hard to change things around. But, I made some time to finally write this blog, so the future is looking brighter already!