It’s been four years since Andy and I arrived on St. Maarten with 4 big boxes of belongings and 2 really pissed off cats. They’d never traveled before, much less been cooped up in a carrier for 2 1/2 hours, lol!

This was, and continues to be, the best decision we’ve ever made. What would I define as the biggest reason? For us, the island is like one big Cheers bar. In the US life was so busy, everyone doing their own lives, it felt really superficial. We lived in a big neighborhood, knew our neighbors on either side of us by name only. We’d wave across the driveways occasionally but that was about it. Not surprisingly, the friends we’d met here over the years who we hung out with in the US before moving here were the exceptions. It’s impossible to put into words what the difference is. It’s truly a textbook example of, if you know, you know.

The island is so small that if you’re not around for a day or two your friends will start looking for you. It’s a feeling I cannot describe to go somewhere, grocery store, restaurants, bars, driving along the road, and you will see someone you know, guaranteed. Friends that have visited have witnessed this and laughingly said, “Wow, do you know everyone on the island?” It feels like that sometimes. 🥰

The biggest paradigm shift for me personally has been that island time is real. Here’s how to tell island time:

Early = completely unfathomable. On time = ridiculous, no one does this. 10-30 minutes late = on time. 31-60 minutes late = island time. And no one thinks anything of this.

I think the reason (mainly) for this is locals understand that there is no rhyme or reason to traffic on the island. Literally if an accident happens, a car stalls, anything, it can stop traffic for sometimes hours. Locals know if this happens the only reasonable answer is to seek the nearest bar, have a beverage, and wait it out. Invariably when you finally get to your destination an hour late and say, “Omg, the traffic in Simpson Bay!” The response will be, “No worries, I heard!” Because the island is so small someone (or several someones) will already have posted about the traffic in Simpson Bay lol. It’s done mostly so people know to “go around” be it via Union Road, or, if that’s backed up too, literally go all the way around the island. It’s a small island, lol.

Another shift, not as much for me, more so for Andy who spent most of his life in metropolises (Philadelphia & Denver), is the slow pace of life. This directly ties directly into island time, lol. People will literally stop traffic in both directions to carry on a conversation from their cars, lol. Big truck drivers will do this too. You get used to it 🤪. Living here has forced us to slow down. I genuinely believe that it’s better for our mental and physical health to not be so hopped up on the adrenaline fueled fast pace of US life. Having lived in small town America, yes, it’s even slower than that lol.

In four years we’ve seen a lot of changes personally. We’ve since lost both of our cats and they’re both buried on the island. They both have beautiful eternal views, one over Orient Bay, one over Simpson Bay. We’ve developed friendships unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. St. Maarten is not perfect. No place is. But for us, it’s as close to perfection as we think we’ll ever get. We love our home ❤️

When we first entertained the idea of moving here several friends who lived on the island told us, “You know, living here is different than visiting here.” I had no idea what they were talking about and in fact, thought to myself, “How different can it be?” LOL. After nearly 4 years of residing on St. Maarten the answer is, “Night and day different!”

Now I’m faced with another challenge, “How different is building here versus purchasing a prebuilt property?” After the honeymoon wore off of realizing we had this gorgeous piece of property we began the task of getting serious about what it was going to take to build on the site.

First, a mortgage. On the island banks will only allow you to have a mortgage until age 70. For us, that’s about 11 years. This means that payments would be sky high. So, instead of getting a mortgage we’ve decided to wait until next summer (of 2023) when we turn 59 1/2 and can begin to pull from the 401k without penalty. It feels better to our hearts to do it this way, so we’re not saddled with interest rates (which actually aren’t horrible here, roughly 5% at our last quote) and can build on our own timeline.

Next, after having several architects review the plans that came with the property, we know we’re essentially going to have to start from scratch. This is not a bad thing. We want this house to be 100% right and we’re blessed to know a few outstanding architects on the island. The basic design of the house will stay the same, we love the modern look. Instead, having an architect draw this up will insure that every detail will be in place. One example, while the original plans had a cistern, it did not include a way to connect it to the house 😞

Lastly, because we live our lives with the mantra, “make plans, don’t plan results”, we’ve also got the land on the market. If it sells before we build, it will financially be in our favor. If it doesn’t, we proceed with building and it’s no harm, no foul. We’re willing to trust the Universe to work out those details 😊 Onward and upward!

After talking with yet another builder/contractor on the island we now realize that if architect drawn plans were the equivalent of a Monte Blanc pen, ours would be in crayon…at best a #2 pencil lol! Apparently, our plans, that were drawn by the developer, who are engineers, bear no resemblance to architect drawn plans. Deep down I think we knew this, but it’s helpful to get confirmation.

In addition, the cost estimate given by the developer is, at best, high 5 figures off, and more likely, 6 figures off. So, armed with this information, we now understand we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and start over. Good news, bad news? Well, by starting over we can keep the existing plans we have but have them professionally done by an architect, expand on the existing plans, or scrap them altogether and start from scratch. The latter two choices will involve running them back through VROMI (the government entity that approves building plans), which will delay ground breaking by several more months. Currently we’re discussing all options. Thankfully we’re not in a huge hurry.

Such is life on my beautiful island. We’re going to see this through to fruition and wow, when done, what a celebration it’s going to be!!

So here’s where we are today. We were given a cost estimate by the developer of our subdivision (Almond Grove). A friend who is an architect took one look at it and advised it was grossly underprepared. Uh huh. We anticipated it being understated, cost-wise, as well. Their estimated cost seemed really low to us. So we started pricing out floors, doors, tiles, etc., so that we could present that to the developer for a final estimate. No worries so far, the cost is about what we anticipated.

So….in the meantime Andy decides to add up each line item for the estimate we were given by the developer. Lo and behold, despite it literally being a line item on the cost estimate, and despite it being part of the blueprints, their final cost estimate didn’t include the cost of the pool. Insert maniacal laugh here 😵‍💫😆. So, right off the bat, we’re 5 figures off budget 🤪🤪. Yeah, ok.

So, after we realized the enormous errors in the developer’s cost estimate, which I’ll add, the bank must have in order to begin construction loan talks, we emailed the developer that we would love to discuss correcting their estimate. They wrote back that they were essentially washing their hands of it, and “any contractor’s estimate would be within 10-15% of their final total”, which is literally laughable. So far, best we can tell, it’s off by at least 6 figures 🤪😜😵‍💫

The GOOD NEWS is, we ANTICIPATED this and because we had a budget in mind up front, we’re still well within that, yes, even with the missing pool cost 😂.

In the EVERYTHING FOR A REASON column, there is a REASON we didn’t jump into buying or building here for the 3 years we’ve been here. As a result of connections we’ve built, we have good friends advising us, we fully grasp island time, and best believe, when this is over, we’ll be experts as well 😝 “Caveat emptor” was absolutely started by some dude building a house in the Caribbean, I have zero doubt, lol. We’ll get through this, I know it. At this point laughter truly is the best medicine. Oh. And bananas foster martinis 😆

After meeting with architect friends on the island we realized our cost estimate from the developer was grossly underprepared. So now we begin the process of pricing out, line item by line item, each aspect of the house.

Yesterday we started with flooring, doors and tiles. On recommendation of a couple of island friends we started at https://www.facebook.com/modernhomesbv/ (Modern Homes). They were spot on. The owner made us feel immediately at home and helped us sort out our choices. He had enormous patience with us, as I am a perfectionist with things like this. Ultimately we ended up finding our floors, tiles for most walls, and all of our doors.

Just to say that we were not putting all of our eggs in one basket, we also stopped by both Ace and Kooeyman in search of the same items. In both cases we stayed in the tile/lighting areas for at least 20 minutes without even being approached once asking if we needed help. We took that as a sign that we chose well doing business with Modern Homes.

We also spent yesterday researching various appliances and their costs. Barring a mega sale in the US, we anticipate that they’ll be less expensive on the island.

It is a huge relief to now know that most of our internal decorating is known. This is quickly turning from an almost overwhelming task to a fun adventure, now that we are fully embracing the one day, one action at a time, paradigm.

Ok. Deeeeeeeeeeep breath……oohhhhmmmmm. We met with a friend who is an architect on the island and he offered a LOT of good pointers. Basically. Caveat emptor. Know who and what you’re dealing with and get specifics, essentially all the way down to the type of screws they’re using to put the sockets in. What kind of concrete. What kind of windows and doors. Deeeeeeeetails. A lot of them. Specific details.

Our friend pointed out that it’s soooo easy to bound up in the bubble of excitement of “yay, new house” that it’s really easy to miss huge details, let alone microscopic ones. He’s exactly right. We have to literally take this one minute at a time. Acceptance of this means accepting that the house may take a year, or two, or three. But it’s our dream house. It has to be perfect. Is the wait worth it? Absolutely. One hundred percent. Absolutely.

So, what our friend said makes perfect sense….but….also means that where we thought we were on step one, get financing, nope, we’re actually on step negative 20. A LOT more information is going to have to change hands between us and our developer/contractor before we’re even close to being ready to talk to the bank about financing.

Fortunately, this was not surprising to either of us. As I’ve posted before on Facebook, we knew and know that building on the island has exactly zero resemblance to building in the states. One day, one action at the time. We have a plan and the land. The house will come as it comes. Might be a year. Might be two. And that’s ok. Our current view and place doesn’t exactly suck 😉. Deep breath. And a martini 🍸 lol.

Where has the time gone?? Selling everything you own and moving to a foreign country is scary, no matter how much you think you know the country or love her people. Living in the Caribbean is 100% different than visiting the Caribbean, that is for sure!

St. Maarten has her own set of idiosyncrasies but we’ve learned to embrace them as part of the journey. When we first made this move we didn’t know if this would be a permanent change or not. We thought we’d give it a year then see how we felt.

Approximately 18 months after we moved here, a nasty virus we’ve come to loathe called Covid arrived around the world. We moved to our second location on the island, in Point Blanche on March 13, 2020. On March 18, 2020 the island went into a 3 week total lockdown. As in, you couldn’t even leave your house, lockdown. It was an absolutely horrific time on the island, and around the world, as we saw millions of people worldwide succumb to the virus.

While the world still wrestles with the ongoing effects of the virus, life on St. Maarten carries on. Two days ago we sat in reflection that it had been exactly 3 years since we arrived on her shores as permanent residents. We used the down time during Covid to obtain our permanent residency on the island. I feel I am now an expert in that process, and if you have any questions, please reach out.

Approximately three months ago we decided that we love this island, and after having made a few trips back to the US in those 3 years, came to inexorable conclusion that this is where we want to spend the rest of our lives. To that end, we began the process of looking for land. Ultimately we wanted to build, though thought we could settle for just the right pre-built property. Our hearts were truly set on building though. As this was going to be our dream home, we wanted it to be truly ours.

Our realtor http://www.facebook.com/woutoverbeek has been with us since our previous move and he is easily the best on the island! Shortly after enlisting his assistance we saw a property in Almond Grove in Cole Bay for sale. Through a few trials and tribulations to see this to fruition we finally closed on the property yesterday, September 30, 2021, almost 3 years to the day from arriving from the US to make the island our home.

Please join me as we continue this process of constructing the new home. We *hope* to break ground around the middle to end of November 2021 but we also have completely adopted the concept of “island time”. This will happen as it happens 😊. It’s ok, we’re not going anywhere!!

Living in the United States one takes for granted that when you turn on the faucet water is actually going to flow from the spigot. In Sint Maarten that is not always the case. Occasionally GEBE will issue a notice saying they’re going to turn off the water to do maintenance. They even give you a time frame. So you shower, do your laundry, prepare. Then the water doesn’t go off 🤪😂. Later that week you turn your kitchen faucet on to wash dishes and nothing. The water is off! Occasionally you can discover why the water is off by checking GEBE’s Facebook page. But not always. Take my advice, if you move here make sure you have liters and liters of water stored. This happens a lot.

And don’t think moving to the French side will save you. A few months ago they overloaded their water system with bromate. Three months later, you still cannot drink the water on the French side at all.

You learn to adapt and expect that things are not going to be the way you remember or expect. And I wouldn’t change it for the world!!

If you’ve followed the blog for very long you know my love of St. Maarten, her land, her people, and #onelove. I have to share another story with you about #onelove. I hope it will touch your heart as it did mine.

There is a beautiful lady on the island who paints from her heart. Every piece she posts goes straight to my heart. You can feel the love she pours into every single one. They each speak to me in different ways. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about one piece in particular and I noted I would love to hang it in my apartment. Sadly, she told me the piece was already taken. What she didn’t tell me was that she went home and painted an entirely new piece just for me.

She presented this piece to me last night with the following inscription. It is painted on reclaimed wood from Irma. There are literally no words I can formulate to describe how much this touched my heart. Now tears of love flow from my eyes as God reminds me again that I am home. Claudette Alexander, I love you. I will treasure this for the rest of my life. Thank you.

St. Maarten’s nickname is “The Friendly Island”. It’s on our license plates and just about every souvenir you can find. It’s not just a “kitschy” saying to sell merchandise. It’s the truth. I’ve posted several examples of it here and another from yesterday; I posted an SOS on FB because my car battery was dead and I had several errands that needed to be run. Within 5 minutes of posting the SOS, I had 5 people message me. By an hour, several more. Through the course of the day I’m fairly sure everyone I know on the island had messaged me to make sure I was ok. This. This is why the decision to move to St. Maarten was an easy one. We are family here. You’re pretty much only one degree of separation from the entire population of the island. We look out for each other. We love each other. And we genuinely care about each other’s well being.

“What’s so special about that? I have that in my hometown!” I hear you say. Here’s the thing, if you know Andy and me you know we’re nomads. We loathe being in one place for very long. Since we’ve been married, our move to St. Maarten was number 7 in 15 years. It’s worse than being a military wife but I LOVE it, lol! As a result, we have no roots or connection to any one place. We’d wave at our neighbors, smile, but ask me what my neighbor’s husband’s name was in Charlotte. After 2 years living next door to them, I had no idea. I’d see him occasionally out in the garden and wave. Same with the neighbors on the other side. I knew their daughter’s name was Vanessa, that’s about it. Life was just too busy in the states. Too impersonal. No one really made any kind of effort to befriend you. We always seemed to have something to do, somewhere to be. Each kept to their own.

On our first visit to the island we knew we were in a completely different environment. Locals and visitors alike were very friendly, actively sought out conversation and were genuinely interested in getting to know you. There was no judgement about who you are; rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, no one cares. No one cares how you dress or what you drive. Despite the fact that we only traveled to St. Maarten for 7-10 days each year, we had more friends (locals and visitors) on the island than we had in the states. We only saw these folks a week a year but knew them better than the people we’d lived next door to for 2 years. For us, the sense of family, of genuinely loving and caring about their fellow human beings is what drew us back. It’s the foundation of our decision to move here. If you’ve spent any amount of time on St. Maarten you fully understand #sxmstrong #oneloveoneisland and why we are known as #thefriendlyisland. It’s not hyperbole. It’s how we live.