Hello good people, fellow boaters, friends, family, and countryfolk around the world. We are taxed today with providing our first State of the Union, as per annual tradition.
The State of our Boat Union is currently quite strong. The strongest it’s been, I’d say. We have Starlink for internet, we have a grill for Paul’s carnivore cravings (8 chicken wings just this morning were sacrificed). We have a functional water maker that makes fresh water out of salt water using sunlight. Our dinghy is less powerful than we might have originally thought, but it still cruises at speeds of up to 13 knots (if we haven’t had a big lunch or “over provisioned” at the Carrefour). Fish-stick lives under our boat in near harmony with the small bait fish, and we live in near harmony with Princess Juliana Airport.
It is February, marking the 3rd month we’ve spent in Sint Maarten. I can’t say that all lessons have made their way through our thick skulls (we still frequently try to go shopping on Sundays), but we are becoming experts at some basic life skills we previously took for granted. We can swim in water where you can’t even see the bottom, because we have become braver and stronger (as Paul says, almost all of the sharks in the world live in your head). We know all the bartenders who work Soggy Dollar’s Happy Hour. We remember our reusable bags, and can park the dinghy without large discussion(s). When the wind blows strong and loud, we don’t panic. Instead, we just bring the drying in before the sheets fray.
But the state of this boat union is not all about the present, it is also about our strong future. Soon we will leave for St Barth’s, to sample the French champagne on a strictly scientific basis. After, we will have the leak in our engine repaired, in a timely manner ( 4 months after discovering it). We will spend March in the Virgin Islands, and later, we will spend hurricane season in the ABC’s. We will celebrate the actual union of our friends Jill and Bert in Mexico, and we will keep cruising, learning new skills and new lessons every day.
In other words, the State of Tintas and her crew has never been stronger. Fair winds and following seas to you and yours, afloat or ashore.
-Lindsay & Paul
TIBURON MARINO 