Henrietta II Adventures

Well, hurricane season in Aruba somehow turned into a full-time position at the International School of Aruba for me and a part-time position and internship for Sam. We both accomplished our goals – letters of recommendation and experience. We made plans to head north to the DR, up through Turks & Caicos, and finally to Florida, where permits and the like are not issues. We assembled a crew consisting of three of my close Dutch friends for the first leg to the DR – the rest would be day trips that Sam and I could handle on our own. But while working at ISA, we got to know someone who accepted a position as head of school at an international school in Sint Maarten. And it just so happened that he needed a college counselor and “right-hand man” (or, in this case, woman). We were flown to Sint Maarten, toured the school, and signed contracts in a whirlwind of a week. Sint Maarten is the boating capital of the northern Caribbean. You can see St. Barts, Saba, and Anguilla on a

1 week tour? Try 1 month and then some. We flew Jeff out from San Diego on April 4th thinking we would leave Aruba a few days later and arrive in SXM in three days.  As you know things didn't work out so well. Anyway, we had some unpleasant seas coming from Bonaire. Also, about 24 hours into the voyage we discovered that one of our fuel filters was clogged (basically our engine was starting to fail). We had to make a decision. Turn of the engine at sea or turn back to Bonaire. After some slight whimpers (me), Jeff explained we could push forward. we all agreed. The weather had said 5 feet at 5 seconds. I think it was more like 10 feet at 1 second. Just a sloppy, slappy mess. Dogs and couches sliding all over the boat. Eventually, we had to make a decision to turn off the engine so Jeff could change the filter. We did a drill. I got all the life jackets, put them on the dogs and tried not to throw up in my mouth. We ended up waiting another day. Then it was time. It took