Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“You're welcome. I knew they had just got that big boat, and they asked me if I knew any-
more boat carpenters; Darleen here just mentioned your name.”
She sat demurely at the galley table, smiling her shy but brilliant smile. “You will have to
take your boat to Marigot Bay, you know?”
“Yes, I plan on going on Saturday.”
“If you need a hand I will be happy to help.”
“You know, I might just take you up on that offer. I'm single-handing, and an extra pair of
hands would be most welcome.”
Darleen was as good as her word, and on Saturday we hauled up sails on Déjà vu and
prepared to sail around to the French side of St. Maarten. We waved to her father as we
motored out of the moorings.
“I got the crewing job on Rubaiyat, you know!”
“No, I didn't know! Congratulations, when do you start?”
“Sometime next week too, and I will be living on-board looking after her like a caretaker
and getting her prepared every morning for chartering.”
“That's lucky! So you got a job and a place to live the same day.”
The sail took a few hours, and by late afternoon I had dropped two anchors in deep, blue
water in the lovely, protected waters of Marigot Bay. I looked about and saw Darleen's
charter boat, the Rubaiyat, moored a few hundred yards away. There were also several in-
ternational cruisers from all over the world as well as a host of French yachts. I immedi-
ately felt more relaxed and even smiled at the sight of a topless sailor. “Looks like things
don't change much in the French Caribbean!”
“No, and I heard they even have a nudist colony!” said Darleen grinning impishly.
“Hmm, I'll have to look into that,” I quipped. I looked at her surreptitiously and smiled
when she raised her eyebrows and declared, “you guys are all the same!”
She was young and naive. Coming from a staunch Afrikaans family, she most likely saw
nudism as unsavory and wicked. The predominant Afrikaans church of South Africa, the
Dutch Reformed Church, most certainly would have slammed such thoughts. I wondered
about Darleen: she appeared to be fairly open-minded, but her upbringing probably kept
her in check.
I settled Déjà vu, making sure that she was secure, and then rowed Darleen back to shore;
she caught a bus back to Philipsburg to her father's boat.
