Caribbean Journal

• Mar 18 - 19, 2005
• Mar 20, 2005
• Mar 21 - 23, 2005
• Mar 24, 2005
• Mar 25, 2005
• Mar 26, 2005

The following are journal entries I made on my recent Caribbean cruise. No names have been changed to protect the guilty. I'm somewhat dishy in here, so be warned. I love you guys! I really do! Also, these words do not speak factual truth, nor do they even approach belief. This stuff probably happened, but maybe it didn't. One final disclaimer, the appearance of any name in this journal does not reflect on that person's sexuality or interior design sense. Furthermore, significant issues of human rights are discussed here. If you think gay people should be able to march naked through the streets of Nevis, well, read on.

Fort Louis above the Marigot harbor

March 18, 2005

Bon Jour! I spent the day at the beach: Orient. I went with some guys that I met here in the hotel yesterday, Richard, Bill, and Tim. I've met Richard somewhere before, but I'm not sure where.

The beach was very nice and clothing optional. I got a little color, but not too bad. SPF 50 is kind of magical. Some of the guys on the cruise are staying at the resort that is on the beach.

I'm staying at the Beach Plaza, which is a very nice hotel. I met Tim last night, and he and I went out together for dinner. He's from San Francisco (by way of South Dakota). I'm expecting my roommate from Atlanta sometime this afternoon. I had some difficulty checking into my room, because the reservation was mistakenly put under his name, and I had forgotten his name.

Tim and I went to le Brasserie de le Gare for dinner. We had a cute waiter who didn't know English, and neither of us speak French. Consequently, I had carpaccio instead of gaspacho. It was very good, even if it was served on iceberg lettuce. The table was excellent for people watching. We saw many fellow cruisers passing by while we ate dinner.

March 19, 2005

Sunburned Toes

I burned my toes yesterday at Orient Beach.

Here I am sitting in a deck chair looking at the ocean. The water is a beautiful turquoise blue. I spent the last couple of hours walking around Marigot (Saint Martin). It has (what I think is) a very European feel. Take the scale of Washington, DC and divide it by two-thirds. Narrow sidewalks swarm with all kinds of tourists. Most of them are from Europe. Occasionally, I hear snatches of English. I turn to look and see obese Americans talking loudly so that they will be understood. They don't even enunciate particularly well. It gives me that same feeling I had in the Netherlands of feeling very isolated. Everyone is speaking French, although all of the shopkeepers speak very good English, too, with a few exceptions.

A couple of the cruisers have remarked how third-world Saint Martin seems. Actually, if anything, it's probably second-world. It has its patches of pretty abject poverty, but it isn't so pervasive as it was in Grenada. There are lots of very small cars, and everyone drives like a bat out of hell. It's good practice for learning how drive on the Beltway.

Our hotel, the Beach Plaza, is very nice. It's right on the ocean in Marigot, the largest town on the French side of the island. I haven't really seen the Dutch side - you fly into Princess Juliana Airpost, but that's really all I've seen. Some of the guys said that the Dutch side is much poorer than the French side. An interesting study in contrasts, when you are in Saint Martin, you are in France and the European Union. When you are in Sint Maarten, you are in the Caribbean in the Netherland Antillies, a fact that many of the locals on the French side resent, because they cannot work in Sint Maarten, but the people of Sint Maarten are free to work in Saint Martin. And I thought US immigration laws were weird.

Dinner in Grand Case: Richard, Bill, Happy, Tim, Gary, and Jim

The great restaurants appear to be in Grand Case, which is a few miles up the road from Marigot. Just a word, you can't really get by here without a car so the parking is impossible, although most of the cars are very tiny. Diahatsus are very popular here. Back to the food. Eating here has a lot more variety than Grenada, and prices are tourist-driven. God, I love market economies! The exchange rate is killing me, and everything is expensive. But I don't care, 'cause I'm on vacation. The flip side is, I had a profiterole for dessert last night, which makes up for a lot. I went out with Richard, Bill, Tim, Gary, and Jim from the cruise. We had a wonderful meal in Grand Case. I'm not a foodie like some people, but I'm always excited about new things I've never eaten before. I had a delicious seafood stew, some wine, and the above-mentioned profiterole. I'm not losing any weight on this vacation.

I've been making a conscious effort since getting here to remember people's names. Carl and David are repeats from last year. They've been rooming with Marcus(?) here at the hotel. He's from New Zealand, and quite the sleepy head. Craig, the cruise director, has two cute helpers with him. Julian is the DJ, and Rafael is Craig's SO. He's from Venezuela. I believe he's going to be a nautical ornament on the ship, but I might be mistaken. Aaaiiiiyy, Craig is a crafty one! I wish all helpers were so cute! The pre-board banquet is this evening.

My roommate here at the hotel finally arrived. He missed his original flight, and flew in today. When I arrived at the hotel, the hotel had no record of my reservation. The mystery was solved when the hotel staff found me booked under my roommate's reservation, which was kinda weird because I booked the hotel long before my roommate. Alarm bells should have gone off in my head, but they didn't, because I'm blonde, and I'm on vacation. My roommate here is Lee. He's from Atlanta. Nice guy - hope I get into his pants....

Marigot Cemetery

The cemetery is right in the middle of town. All of the graves are in above-ground crypts. The cemetery is rundown, but also quietly beautiful. I walked through it a couple of times. Many of the graves had interesting offerings or adornments on top of the crypt.

So, I miss the boys at home. I stopped by an Internet Cafe and sent them an email. It feels a little weird traveling by myself. On the other hand, this cruise is something I really wanted to do. And I'm very happy to be right here, right now. I'm having lunch at La Croissanterie. It's basically a greasy spoon. Ron will be thrilled to know that virtually every item on the menu has cheese in it. Shades of Holland!

While at the hotel, I rant into yet another cruiser, George. He was on the boat last year. I found him last year to be a little creepy - he talks a lot, lots of MGMC mannerisms, although he lives in New York. I'm going to try to keep an open mind, but our initial conversation was not promising. He told me about a a statue he had purchsed in the market of a man perched on a giant penis, sucking it. He plans to put it on his coffee table. He told me he has a collection. How interesting. George also admitted that he'd never met a t-shirt that he didn't fall in love with. On Saint Martin, he's in paradise.

Marigot Marina

I can see the marina from my hotel room. It's in the center of town. Marigot is built out on a neck of land, one side a lagoon and the other the ocean. The marina is on the lagoon side.

I'm having a delicious salad for lunch - paysanne on the menu. It consists of fried potatoes, croutons, bacon, tomatoes, and chopped eggs on a bed of lettuce. It's kind of like a fusion of a BLT and potato salad. It's worth checking out when you get here. The Saint Martin experience so far has been like being in a middle European country (Slovakia, maybe) with palm trees and reggae. Then there are the quaint touches of homoerotic statues at the local outdoor market - although I did see meat for sale at the market in Groningen, so maybe the worlds aren't that far apart.

Well, this little lunch foray was delightful, indeed. La Croissanterie staff are now engaged in a game of dominoes. I'm the only one in the cafe. My waiter is filling up the sugar packet holders. Well, now he's taking a cigarette, and I've finished my ice cream. He's a little rough around the edges, maybe even menacing in a very nice way. He's French, working stiff, with a very quick grin, short, slender, dark, wiry, glasses, Mediterranean look. I'm sure if I thought about it, I could conjure up a porn fantasy. I really am that shallow. Now, I'm beginning to empathize with George.

I sat and talked with Craig's cuties, Julian and Rafael. Had a chance to talk with Mark from the UK. I managed to check in for the cruise without mishap. Sometimes, I surprise myself. I've already met Lisa the activities mate, and Destin, the cruise photographer. You sign your life away - passage agreement, credit card slip, bar card (!). I also signed up for the "Regatta" race tomorrow. Well, I wanted to sail, didn't I?

I've gotten in the habit of coming down to the bar every evening for a Presidente. It's an excellent Dominican pilsener, a lot like me: spicy, light, and fruity. It doesn't get much better than that. I have the secret hots for Christophe, the bartender. I'm sitting in the hotel's grand salon, which is open to the outside. A cool brezze blows in and waves march up a very short beach. The hotel has a pool and a short quay. I could jump into the ocean from where I sit.

I'm in the room with the blue towel. Why don't you come up and see me sometime?

When I got back from lunch, I vegged out in the room for a couple of hours. I napped some (after a shower) then read a little. At lunch, watching the world go by, I wondered what it would be like to live on this island. I think on an island, I'd feel exceedingly constrained. I would want to get off of it. But I really enjoy visiting this island. I can't imagine living in a place that is circumnavigated by 32 miles of narrow road and has awful traffic jams! I can't imagine living in a place that I couldn't easily get away from. Even in Idaho I could leave. I think this island paradise would soon become my humid, sticky, prison. Of course, I could always surf the Internet. Or stuff notes into liquor bottles and toss them out to sea. I think the reason is, on land, I can literally walk away, and I couldn't do that here. You can look across the water and see Anquilla, but if I had to swim there, I'd be stuck.

At the pool, I ran into Peter. He was on the cruise last year. He remembers me, but obviously, I'd forgotten him. He told me I was quite taken with his shorts. He brought them again this year. I hope I remember! Peter is quite a distinguished looking guy. I'm already making a list of people to hit on.

After check-in we finally had the banquet. It was a disappointment, considering the kinds of meals I'd been eating here on the island. Tim is always amazed that the red wine is served chilled. It's amusing to see his astonished reaction to this situation, and it never fails to get a reaction. I've been hanging out some with Tim. He's a South Dakota transplant to San Francisco. Why would a gay man ever leave South Dakota?

So the name thing: Will's partner's name is Norm (but I've forgotten who Norm is...), Jim is Gary's partner. Doug and Steve are traveling together. Sam is a newbie from Down Under. Mike is (another) Steve's roommate. Mike's hot. Lee, my roommate here at the hotel, finally hooked up with me after the banquet. We went out for some coffee, and ran into a parade. We were the only white guys, and it is true that white guys can't dance. Later Lee and I repaired to our room to get better acquainted.