Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Awaking suddenly, I was surprised to see bright sunlight flooding into the cabin. Somebody
was rapping on the hull outside calling out, “Déjà vu, ahoy there, anybody home? Yo, Déjà
vu?”
“Hello, yes, I'm coming; hold on a second,” I replied, scrambling for my shorts.
Stumbling out into the cockpit, blinking in the bright sunlight, I saw a face I recognized
and a few I did not sitting in an inflatable dinghy.
“Good God, Tam! What a nice surprise. So you obviously made it here?”
“Yes, that we did. I thought I recognized Déjà vu. Are you alone? I thought you had crew
in Cape Town?”
I had met Tam in Cape Town and was aware that she and her elderly husband, Steve, would
be sailing into St. Maarten on their way to New Zealand. I had not met her husband but
was impressed with Tam. She was a very good-looking woman with bushy, blonde hair,
striking, blue eyes, a ready smile, and a voluptuous figure, accentuated now by her strain-
ing crocheted bikini. She was a capable and accomplished sailor with an eye for the lads
and a lot of mischief in her smile.
“We saw you come in yesterday morning; you looked like you were alone. You must be
exhausted?”
“Oh God, I was! I was single-handed from Martinique where my crew bailed on me.”
“You poor guy, couldn't you find crew in Martinique? There must have been lots of willing
young girls?” she smiled.
“No, actually, I wasn't looking to be honest; I wanted to do it alone to prove something.”
“Well, did you?”
“Oh yes! It's exhausting!” I chuckled.
The other two young men in the rubber boat were introduced as Rob and Graham; both
were sailors on a large multihull, charter boat. Both were well tanned and muscular. It
seemed Tam had not wasted much time finding some admirers. I asked them about customs
and other questions about the town - places to shop, what the locals were like and so forth.
“We're all going to Sam's Bar later on this evening. Please join us; we have lots to catch
up on. It's in town where everyone goes at night; you can't miss it.”
I was pleased to have found someone I knew so soon and looked forward to the evening's
rendezvous.
