Day 173, Year 6 Saba to St. Martin
Date: Friday, April 15, 2011
Weather: Partly Sunny Morning; Stormy Afternoon
Latitude: 18 04.149 N
Longitude: 063 05.527 W
Location: Marigot Bay, St. Martin
We left Saba very early this morning and had a nice gentle sail for the first couple of hours, but then turned on the engine and motor sailed the rest of way. We arrived here by noon and Mark, Steve, and Jeanie headed to shore. Mark was going to try and find a chiropractor I could see in the afternoon and Steve and Jeanie went along to see the town. Unfortunately, we forgot that Marigot is very French and everything closes at noon until at least 2:30 pm. So they found a little café and had cold drinks to pass the time. This was the Banana Café and they found it a great place for people watching.
While they were gone, the weather in the anchorage changed drastically. The winds switched to come from the North blowing directly into Marigot Bay and they built to 35 knots. Windbird was hobby horsing along with all of the other boats in the anchorage-except for the ones that broke anchor. I had to stay on watch in the cockpit and when Mark called on the VHF and I told him what was going on, he was really surprised. He said the weather in town was calm and they had not had the deluge of rain that I had out in the anchorage. At 2:30, Mark, Steve, and Jeanie were waiting for the Digicel store to open so Mark could top up his phone to make calls to doctors. Our son-in-law Jed had emailed him the names and numbers of three possibilities and also reminded me to take Ibuprophen. I did that as soon as we received his morning email, and that made a tremendous difference within an hour. Thanks, Jed! But back to the Digicel store–the young woman in the shop was so nice and she made the calls for him and found a Osteopathe on the waterfront in Marigot that could see me at 6:30 pm. She then walked them to the doctor’s location so they would know exactly how to find it. In the meantime, they called and I told them to not try and return to Windbird until things settled down. The waves in the anchorage were huge and I knew they would get absolutely soaked returning. They waited for a break in the weather and got back here around 4 pm, a little wet, but certainly not as soaked as they could have been. Because the weather was so unsettled, Steve and Jeanie hung out on Windbird while Mark took me to shore for my appointment.
The good news is that Dr. Gerald Joseph is quite competent in both osteopathic manipulation and acupuncture. I’m not as good as new, nor as good as I would be if I had been able to see the chiropractor back home, but I can now stand up straight and the pain is virtually gone. We will probably hang around here until Monday so I can see how I am doing. If things are improving with my back, we will leave. If they are not, I will call Dr. Joseph and go in for another treatment. I told him I was hoping for a miracle as we will be with our children and grandchildren in just seven days. Here’s hoping.
