Is now the time?

Stardate: August 2018.  Andy and I have now traveled to Sint Maarten every year since 2010. Some years we were blessed enough to go twice.  Over these last 8+ years we have grown to love this island, its people, and its vibe more than we could have ever imagined was possible.  The island, her people, they all truly feel like family to me, shoot, even more so than some of my actual family 😂.  Over the last 8 years I’ve  developed friendships that transcend the surface and find their roots in my heart.  Deep, connected, dare I say, spiritual connections all with the love of our common ground, our island “home”, at its foundation.

Like so many who travel to SXM (airport call signal used by most in reference to the island in general), we found that each subsequent departure was heart and gut wrenching and each landing on the island felt like landing on our home turf.

Over the last 2 years I’ve had 2 health issues arise that shook me to the core; life is short.  Really short.  Like, wasn’t I 25 just yesterday, short.  No, that was 30 years ago 😱. After our July 9th departure from the island Andy and I are sitting in our living room discussing our future.  Also like many frequent travelers to SXM we vowed that a permanent move to the island was #1 on our bucket list, we just had to wait for all the stars to line up.

Our discussion went something like, “Our lease expires in September, do we want to renew, move, or what?”  We looked at each other and I think we both had the a-ha thought simultaneously, “Can we move to St. Maarten?”  What would it take??

How Did We Get “Here”?

Stardate: 2010.  We arrive via cruise ship on a new island destination for us, Sint Maarten, Netherland Antilles.  We knew absolutely nothing about this place but our immediate reaction as we glanced across Great Bay from our window was, “WOW, look at that water!”  Upon exiting the ship we immediately felt the “vibe”.  An energy, a feeling, aura, call it what you will, we were simultaneously drawn in and felt as though we were “home”.  An odd sensation, given we’d never been there before.  Knowing nothing of the island we walked around Philipsburg for a while then took a taxi over to Maho to watch the planes.

The drive to Maho was surreal.  Crossing the mountain first with the panoramic views to our left across Great Bay and the ship ported in the distance was soon followed by the “gasp” as we topped the hill and caught our first glimpse into Simpson Bay.  The causeway wasn’t there then.  Just a vast, wide open view that took our breath away.

After a full afternoon watching planes land at PJIA we taxied back to the ship, committed completely to revisiting this picturesque island that had an energy unlike anything we’d felt before or since.