Who would wear that?; Dana Walks Through Restaurant in Bikini; Crew of Madness joins Mud People Tribe

Who would wear that? I am sure that you have asked yourself that question from time to time when you receive the Victoria's Secret catalog and there is a breezy satin blouse cut down to the navel, or an impossibly low bikini.

Well, we now know the answer: French women on vacation. That is who would wear that. Possibly French women, on vacation or not.

It is really rather nice to observe, and because it is prevalent, it does not seem overly suggestive or self-conscious.

And it affects your fashion outlook. While she was here, Dana walked through a restaurant in nothing but a bikini. Yep, it's true. No wrap, no self consciousness, just walked right through.

I suppose this was not just the result of the fashions. Three times we walked down the beach following a 50 something year old "naturalist" wearing nothing but a satchel over his privates. Ridiculous. As I have said before the nudity is pervasive, and I decided to give Dana the shock treatment when she got here and take her right to Orient Bay.

When you sail into Orient Bay as Dana and I did, you have to land your dinghy on the extreme south end of the beach. This means that you have to pass through the naturalist beach to get to the semi-clothed beach. There is a sign prohibiting cameras on the beach. As If. I didn't really need to see this in the first place, much less remember it. None the less, it does affect your standards. When we went ashore, I predicted that the shear modesty wrap that Dana carried with her to conceal her bikini would not be needed for long, once she saw French women wearing the same shear wrap with no bathing suit underneath things would seem different. She thought not. SoI have to say that I enjoyed pointing out to her that she had just walked through a restaurant without the wrap, just the bikini. "Hmm, I guess I did..."

After Orient Beach, we went on to Tintamar, an uninhabited island off of the uninhibited coast. Tintamar is known for its fine beach, reef, and mud baths. That's right, just like in the salon, you can smear yourself with fine clay, let it dry on you, and wash it off in the sea. It is what society
people do. Plus, when we asked the owner of the restaurant on Orient Bay about the practice she said: "wey (OUI), you must do eeet, you rub mud on your self unteeel you look like a big sheeet, and then wash it away" I really do not think I misunderstood her. With an description like that, how could you pass it up?

Once on Tintamar, we followed a couple from St Barts along the shore, since we did not know what the clay looked like. They led us to a place beyond the end of the sandy beach, where the fossilized coral that formed the island met the sea abruptly. Climbing just a few meters above the surf on a ledge, we found layers of a very fine, dense hard clay for the taking. Well the
taking was not all that simple, we had to go back to the boat for a hammer and a bucket to make up some mud out of what was essentially yellow brick. We laughed a lot applying the mud (See photos). It really felt like we were victims of a hoax. It was not all that pleasant; kind of sandy. But after it dried, it did feel great coming off. It really felt silky smooth, and your
skin felt clean and smooth even right after getting out of salt water. Emily asked Dana later whether she had used it on her hair (she had not). "ees majeek" We are having a ball. More later. Off to live music now.

Madness turns to piracy- Now we have three dinghys, and a slave!

We were on our way back from Tintamar, when we encountered a mariner in distress in a large dingy. We approached under the guise of being helpful. As we approached I yelled "jew na parlay paw Fransay, parlay vew Anglay?"

"On Pew"

I turned to first officer Dornbusch and said "what?", to which she replied "I don't know, but he did not say yes". She cleverly yelled to him in English "Do you submit to our command and surrender your vessel to us?" while gesticulating in such a way as to make him think we were offering him a tow to shore.

"Wey"

Score! Madness has a great dinghy now (it is called "Method", so that we can claim that there is a method to our Madness). We didn't really need this booty, but his dinghy was very large and
had a 30 HP motor that might simply be out of gas. Plus it had a manservant!
(See picture)

It turns out that this kind of deception is not strictly legal, so we had to let him go; But not before we forced him to scrub the topsides and fetch us water from shore. I am happy to be rid of him since Dana seemed to be overly appreciative of his trim physique, anyway.

ttyl

Happy Birthday

 

 

Happy Birthday Walt. 

 

 

Are you taking the day off for your Birthday?  Going anywhere special?

 

 

Ray

 

Emily, Achilles, and Stan; Mele; Gabriel and Matthew

Here are some pictures of my new friends in St Martin. You will see pictures of Stan, Achilles and Emily of Zen It restaurant, as well as a picture of the view from my private table.

Also attached are a cople of snapshots that include Gabriel and Matthew, local (awesome)kiters who are arguably the most attractive men that I haveever met in person. They really are very welcoming, and quick to share their knowledge. One is a dentist and the other is an engineer; both live here full time. I think I get some cool factor by association. I mentioned having met them to Emily who said that they are "too much knowing how good looking they are". It is a small island.

Kiting with them was great, but the wind is dying and not likely to come back until after the weekend. I am carving turns much moree fluidly now, and have been practicing line tension jumps. These result in 3-4 feet of air, not the 20 feet that you may have seen at the beach. I am also getting much better in the breaking surf right at the sand.

I don't have a picture of Mele, who I met on the bus this evening. Born in Morocco, he lived in Paris, Florida, Atlanta and a few other places. He has been in St Martin for about 3 months. He is here trying to forget his old life and ex wife. In the time it took to ride from Marigot to Grand Case, he told me about the nasty separation and his experience with the US legal system. He told me that his wife had a prior hitory of domestic violence and when whe went after him, the system was biased enough that he was the one who had to leave his home and child. He says he is quite content to be here without real estate or car working as a butler in a very fancy villa because he is beyond the reach of his ex wife and the legal system. I imagine that there are plenty of people her running away from something.

Magical place

I am sitting at my usual table at Zen It doing my email, when I look up to see the most perfectly formed rainbow I have ever seen. The colors are in vivid contrast to the blue sky and clouds in the backround, and I think made more intense by the turquoise water below. Both ends are clealy visible, and so close, only about 2 kilometers away (oh, I guess that would be about 1.2
miles to you ;-)

I wish my camera were with me, but it is on the boat, under the rainbow.

It is gone already, but for the memory.

Better now than this morning

Today was a day of transitions. You know - hockey stop, toeside carve, pop
turns.

I put in two long sessions and absolutely hammered my legs again. I think
they will recover enough so that I can go out again and progress some more
tomorrow. I came off of the water pumped after the first session knowing
that it was, without a doubt, the best kiting I have done. I almost wanted
another scar to commemorate the event.

I have a scar on my left shin that reminds me of the first day I managed to
return to the spot I left from. When you first start, you tend to get pushed
downwind, and have to do the walk of shame to return to your stuff on the
beach. On this particular day, I got a small gash on my left shin in some
kind of fall, but pressed on because I knew I could make it back. Whenever I
notice it I smile; like a tatoo, a permanent reminder of a temporary
feeling.

Today I recounted that story to new acquaintences. They are the captain and
crew of a Swan 60-something foot long sailboat, and kiters all. I told the
captian that I was glad for the scar; that if it had been an option on the
customer satisfaction survey after the ride: "Scar/No Scar" I would have
selected "Scar". I am hoping that a relationship develops with this crew, it
would be nice to have some conversations with folks for whom English is
primary.

Speaking of getting maimed, I had near misses with two sea turtles today. I
am ripping along with marginal control when up pops the head of a sea
turtle. He/she was about two feet across the back. I don't think this is how
it is supposed to happen. I think the encounter with a sea turtle is
supposed to be peaceful and serene. Well, the turtle chose the "No Scar"
option and dove immediately, so I did not have to try my first intentional
jump.

Tomorrow I try my first intentional jump. Not today.

ttyl

Kiting St Martin

Managed to get in three sessions yesterday at Orient Beach in about 15 kts - which is just enough to kite. Today through Weds is supposed to be 18-20, which for me is ideal. The local kiters are very cool about visitors, even those like me with limited skills. Some of the kiters are awesome jumpers in light air, with great acrobatics. I hope to get some pointers over time.

I just spent most of this morning planning the next few weeks and coordinating with those coming to visit, so I am anxious to get kiting again.

Last night I went to hear live music at Calmos Café and ran into the crew from Krill, the Belgian, German, French boat I first made contact with here. I had a pleasant evening in their company, and got some literature recommendations from Bernard. Micheal and Ursula are pleasant enough to be around, except for their insistence on generalizing averything remotely American. "That is Sooo American". Yeah, I know. I'm American. It is a weird fascination that may expain why the German boats mostly stick to themselves.

I am determined to ignore it.

Bernard is an ex-hippie. No. Bernard is still a hippie minus the hair. He has no fixed address right now, but has a Volkswagen van back in Marseille that he will return to after Christmas. He seems to be very well read, and very passionate about literature and philosophy.

The band was French, and did French renditions of songs like "Sunny side of the Street", "My way" and other Sinatra/swank/Vegas type songs.

Inexplicable but quaint, kind of like the Jerry Lewis thing.

ttyl