Sometimes, Karen and I imagine an existence where we rent an apartment overseas in one of any number of desirable locations. Somewhere where we can settle into a place, maybe for a month, not as much as a local resident but more than a tourist. We would walk to the local bakery, stop at our favorite produce stand, and experience the comings and goings of people different from us, in a different land, full of unusual scents and scenery. Sand would be nice too! A trip to Rome or Lisbon or Hong Kong is, without a doubt, a life-expanding experience. But to live there for a month? Now that would be life altering. Unless you are a digital nomad, these are musings that are limited to the retiree crowd. But, hey, a dream is an indispensable first step.
We have been able to see a lot of variety as we’ve sailed Sea Rose around Europe and the Caribbean. But we rarely stop for more than a day or two at a time. Many years ago, as we sailed through the Caribbean with our kids onboard Thalia, we sailed right on by Martinique, as we understood it was hard to visit unless you spoke French. Well, this time was different! As we sailed into Le Marin, on the southern end of Martinique, after a two day passage north from Bequia, we had planned a 2-3 week stay to have a new solar arch installed on the stern of Sea Rose. But, as we reported previously, things took a turn down into Complicated Canyon as we grappled with a damaged skeg from a fish line that wrapped around our propellor shaft. A month previously, we had scheduled our solar arch installation with InoxAlu. Technicians here in Le Marin are heavily sought after and it can be a long wait to get on their schedule. If we kept the boat out of the water for the prop skeg repair, we would miss our solar arch window. Alas, we decided to have the mechanic put our propellor and shaft back together so that we could launch and gently motor over to the dock at InoxAlu for a week of work on the solar arch and then we would return to the shipyard. The company we found to do the fiberglass repair of the prop skeg was booked out to mid-January as it was, so our ‘resident’ status in Le Marin was quickly turning into a reality, our poor French skills be damned!
Continue reading “Superpower, Ep. 225”
