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S/V POLYNESIA
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Text and Pictures © by Lisa Lindell
Sat. 2/5 - Arrive in St. Maarten to a hot sunny day, a far cry from the 10
degree snowy in Louisville. Caught a taxi to Morningstar Guest House in
Grand Case ($85/night). Clean & nice! Debbie & Rod Kendall, my cyber
friends from Washington came over & we went to dinner at a LoLo. Lobster,
grilled shrimp, curry rice: yum yum. Early to bed at 10:30pm. Sunday 2/6 - Spent the day in Phillipsburg having my hair braided (61
braids!!). Shopped a bit, sat a Reggae Bar waiting for the rest of our cyber
friends to arrive. Around 3:30ish everyone began arriving. We saw Dan
O'Loane first. It was good to see him again (we met last year on the YC).
Mon 2/7 - We awoke & discovered that we were surrounded by four foo-foo
ships! We know what's coming: lots of cannon fire & plenty of full moons.
We weren't disappointed. Breakfast was adequate & Capt Neil amusing during
storytime. Most of the pax went on the 12 Meter regatta. We're planning to
go deep sea fishing so we stayed on board ship to save money. As soon as we
set sail I ended up seasick so I didn't enjoy the evening. Seabands &
bonine were my dinner mates. Horse racing on top deck made me think I was on
a foo-foo ship.
Sat. 2/12 - When we got off the ship we wandered around Phillipsburg & shopped a bit. Went to Bobby's Marine to look at the boat yard. Very interesting. Took the cab back to Grand Case & our guest house. John & Debbie (from Pennsylvania) & Rod & Debbie + Steve & I went to a LoLo for dinner, then back to our suite for drinks. Final thoughts: You probably notice that I don't mention Capt Neil. The reason is: we saw very little of the good Captain. His fiancee was on board & he spent most of the time with her (as would be expected). We had no PPP night, no crab races, no boat races. After speaking w/some of the crew regarding the lack of certain activites, I was told that this particular passenger make-up didn't lend itself to these activites. Hmm, wonder what that means? I'd always wanted to sail on the "party ship"; now that I have, I don't have to wonder what it is like. We will sail on Yankee Clipper or Mandalay next year. And as for the Poly: ... been there/done that!!!
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Cyber friends: Bryan/Lynne Dawe, George/Nancy Carpenter, Marve & Aimee, Bad
Bunny, Chilliguy - it is wonderful!!! We board the Poly on the first launch.
I check-in w/Denise & Deborah then it's Partytime!!! Dinner was a buffet &
quite tasty. Steve turned in early (7p,) because he was a tad green around
the gills from too many Caribs the night before. I went up top for the
stow-away party. Band started out weak but after the bass player arrived
they ended up being pretty hot. Turned in at 10:30pm. (real party animal,
huh?) 
Tues 2/8 - Awoke in St. Kitts. Deathly ill! Deep sea fishing was cancelled
because the boat didn't show up! I took a meclezine for my queasiness &
ended up blotto for the entire day & evening. It was awful. I felt as if I
were having an out-of-body experience. Sick, sick, sick. Slept all day.
The Amazing Grace tied up with us tonite so we got to visit her for a dance
exhibition by some children from St. Kitts. It was great. Dinner was not
the tastiest. Shrimp scampi was dry. Steel band on deck after dinner. They
were wonderful. There was a "disco" party by the bar but I was so out of it
I slept. They sounded like they were having fun. 
Wed 2/9 - Fishing on Nevis!! I FEEL GOOD!! We went out & Dan got a huge
wahoo right away. Debbie Kendall got a tuna, I got a barracuda, Marsha got a
barracuda. We had a ball. Sunshine's was everything I thought it would be.
Killer Bees RULE!! Swam a little bit but the water was cloudy & not very
warm. 
Tonite we went back to the beach for a bar-b-que. It was ok. I don't
like ribs or not being able to see what I'm eating. Steve got a good KB buzz
& he made friends with Sunshine's nephew. He invited ALL of them to the
Kentucky Derby. I came back to the ship & went to sleep. Steve stayed on
the beach & finally came back in the last launch. Sails went up around
midnight to the sounds of Amazing Grace. Awesome!!! 
Thurs 2/10 - St. Barts! Lovely island & very chic. Some fantastic yachts
some costing over 50 million! We walked around town, I bought an outfit for
$10, ate at LeSelect (of course). The bar is very basic but the burger is
good. Went to the beach in the afternoon - St. Jean's beach is so cool.
The planes would land & take-off right next to us. After the beach we napped
until dinner. Skipped the wine/cheese party. After dinner there was a
jump-up at LeSelect. Popeye's band played. Very good band. NOTE: On this
trip there was a group from the midwest who are travelling together. They
had one or two couples in their group that were very rude & obnoxious to the
crew and other passengers. There was almost a fight in one of the launches
when these folks started to stand up while we were underway. At other times
some of their actions were very inappropriate & should have been done in
private. It caused several of us to take the next launch when we saw that
they were in the available launch.
Fri 2/11 - Last day. We set sail from St. Barts at 6am. Amazing Grace was
playing & it was wonderful. Sailed to Anguilla & had a beach day. Lazy! I
snorkeled but didn't see much. Tonite we took crew & pax photos. Then when
Amazing Grace was played & we set sail for St. Maarten it was very emotional.
Tears all around. Folk singer on board for our entertainment.
He was so-so. Wore a kilt so some of the women were crawling around the deck trying to get
a peek. (they did!). Raffel brought out the "best in some of the women"
tonite Captains dinner was good. They grilled our wahoo & fed the whole
ship. 