Sant Maarten/ Saint Martin

We have arrived safely in Saint Martin by sailing boat. The boat is owned and skippered by our new friend Marc. This time we even went on watch for most of the night, allowing Marc to sleep and getting us in a day earlier than otherwise. We also helped by cleaning the boat ready for his next (paying)

guests. We are biding our time in St. Martin until Saturday, when we will catch the 'Star Flyer' across the Atlantic. This island is unique because it is the smallest island in the world that is split between 2 nationalities. One half is an overseas territory of France and the other half is an autonomous part of the Netherlands. We had a hike along the small stone wall that separates the 2 halves. We have done a couple of hikes and visited some beaches. Steve was also pleased to encounter a museum run by a guy who has done lots of film special effects, including for 'Star Wars'!

Farming in Tortola

We're now reaching the end of our 2 weeks in Tortola. We've had good fun and learnt lots. We have weeded (and put the weeds in to the liquid compost tank as pictured), planted crops and harvested crops. We even got the chance to help our host, Aragorn, to sell the produce at a couple of local farmer's markets. In between all this, we've had a chance to explore the island a bit and to play in the sea! Today we are meeting up with one of Aragorn's friends who is kindly going to take us on his boat to St.  Martin.

On to Tortola

We have now left Puerto Rico.  We were lucky enough to get a ride on a cargo ship that steams between Puerto Rico and st. Thomas in the U.S. virgin islands. The shipping company is owned by friends of Mel's sister and we were able to make the 7 hour journey in the ships galley. We arrived into st.  Thomas at first light as evidenced by the photo below, which has the ship in the background. From st. Thomas we had breakfast and then caught the first ferry to Tortola. Once here, our good luck continued and we m

et up with an inspiring figure called Aragorn (named after the Tolkien character) who our good friend Charlotte once met. He runs an organic farm in the hills and has room for us to stay here.  The view from the farm is in the last photo. We are helping out on the farm until the 20th March when we already have another boat to St.  Martin. More news about what we're doing on the farm and on Tortola next time.