Caribbean SNOW

My daughter was born in Australia but as soon as she got her passport at 2 months of age we left and by the time she was 4 months of age we had moved to the Caribbean, back to our boat.  Here she is learning to walk on the uneven deck.

Her first 7 years were a somewhat unique beginning.  We lived on our boat, and we house-sat for "land friends".  We sailed around the islands for some of it, and we lived the 9-5 life in St.Maarten for some of it.  Here is a photo of her in the car seat in the dinghy.

 During our years in St.Maarten I ran a chain of 16 gift shops by day, and ran West Indies Wear at night.  It was a busy time.  We occasionally escaped the madness of that "city" island and took The Edge ferry across to Saba.  One of my favorite islands in the Caribbean.  There is no white sandy beach here, but amazing hiking and diving.

 The scenery is spectacular, and because of the mountain its actually cooler than a lot of the other low lying Caribbean islands. 

 We would hike all the trails around the island and our little girl would be right there with us.  Sometimes she was carried by dad, which had a great mango picking advantage, because he is really tall.

We stayed at Juliana's Hotel in Saba - it has the most adorable traditional West Indian Cottages, and they carry West Indies Wear in their boutique.

Here I am chilling out in a sarong after our hiking and swimming.  Catching up on old emails, while the "exhausted from all the hiking 5 year old" SLEPT.

I remember one trip on The Edge Ferry, where we sat right up the front with the Captain.  My daughter chatted the whole way.  On the way to Saba we passed Diamond Rock, which is a steep pinnacle famous for its amazing diving, but above the water it is a spot for the sea birds to hang out on.  The rock is completely white, because its covered in bird poop.  My "island-girl" daughter had only heard about SNOW, never touched it, and as we didn't have a TV, she might not even have ever seen it.  She says in her loud 5 year old voice "IS THAT SNOW?????".  Well the Captain nearly died laughing, and he kept repeating "Caribbean Snow" for the rest of the journey.  It was the funniest thing he had ever heard!  Here is a photo of Captain Mikey, and you can click here to book your trip over on the ferry. 

Here is a photo of Diamond Rock.  You can see how white it is compared to the rock next to it.  Click on this photo to read more about the diving around this incredible pinnacle. 

Such an amazing island, a little off the beaten track but so worth the effort to catch the ferry over. A lovely slow pace, with hardly any traffic.  AND perhaps you will get to see Caribbean SNOW too !