London: September 2007

Above: Meet our new (Caribbean) Guest Travel Correspondent, Razz Starman - "Hey Man! It's sooo cool to be writing about Ray - relaaax and enjoy your read" 

Welcome back to all of our regular Daily Explorer readers. Since our last issue, Ray has left the island of St. Maarten and has returned to London. Our new guest correspondent, Razz Starman (above) joined our team last week and reports on what Ray has been up to there. If you missed our last issue, you can read it now at: 610 Days on the Road to St Maarten

Some of you will know that Ray's choice to head for the Caribbean, having spent several months travelling around Australasia, was in part driven by a desire to visit his friend Dominique, who has lived there for about twenty years. "We met during 2006, when we both attended a ten day silent meditation retreat in a Buddhist Monastery in Thailand" Ray told me.

Above: Ray's friend Dominique is a resident of the island and has recently established a new massage business on the beach. She offers Shiatsu treatments and aromatherapy and hopes to attract many of the tourists who visit during the high season

Below: Dominique also works part time as an Instructor for 'Ocean Explorers', one of the island's Scuba Diving businesses. "They have a wireless network at the dive shop which I was able to use sometimes - it is one of the most exotic locations for surfing the net that I have come across so far" said Ray

It took Ray a few days to settle in and get his bearings on the island. "I am quite accustomed now to arriving in a new country without any local knowledge whatsoever, so the feeling of disorientation does not bother me as much as it used to" explained Ray.

Showing visitors around the island that has been her home for so many years is a pleasure for Dominique. "She really wanted to take me everywhere, so I was very fortunate" said Ray. "The island is relatively small so it is pretty easy to get around with a car" he added.

Above: Simpson Bay Beach, with Pelican Beach in the distance, where Ray was staying during his visit

Below: The spirit of the Caribbean is encapsulated by 'The Rhythm Boys', who play every Saturday at The Buccaneer Bar, near Pelican Beach. To see a short VIDEO CLIP, watch 'The Rhythm Boys at Pelican Beach'

Snapshots from St Maarten

Ray sent me a small selection of his photographs from St. Maarten for publication in this issue of The Daily Explorer:

Above: Simpson Bay Lagoon - occupying most of the southern half of the island (see map below), is the largest saltwater lagoon in the Caribbean and a great place for kayaking, as well as an important breeding ground for many marine species. The lagoon also has made it into the Guinness World Records as the site of the single largest marine disaster in history. In 1995, about 500 yachts took shelter there from Hurricane Luis. After the winds subsided, nearly all of them lay on the bottom of the lagoon. Some of the wrecks are still visible beneath the surface

Below: Located on the road from Pelican Bay to Philipsburg, this small bar is owned by an eccentric islander and it has become a tourist attraction in its own right

Above: Adjacent to the Bethel bar, Dominique takes a look at one of the many huge sites that have been earmarked for property development on the island. This one is called 'Indigo Bay' and you can see that the land is being cleared to make way for construction. "I saw very little in place in terms of environmental controls" said Ray. "The developers are rushing like mad to capitalise every square inch of the place - I hope they don't spoil it in the process" added our concerned traveller

Below: Philipsburg, capital of Dutch St Maarten and the place where all the huge cruise ships dock when they visit the island. "I heard that as many as 20,000 visitors a day can come ashore when there are a few ships in port, virtually doubling the population on the Dutch side" said Ray

Above: One enterprising businessman has created a bar/restaurant by the salt pond in Philipsburg, by converting the fuselage of this obsolete aircraft!

A couple of weeks after his arrival, Ray celebrated his 47th birthday. "It is my second birthday on the road and like the last one, was a very low key affair" said Ray. "Dominique gave me a lovely surprise by taking me in the car to a very chic place in the hills called the Loterie Farm" recalled Ray, "where we had a quiet drink together and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere" added our birthday boy.

Above: The Loterie Farm (the white building nestling amongst the trees) is one of the more chic and exclusive places to go in St Maarten for a quiet drink or meal

Below: Dominique climbs the steps to the bar, which has been tastefully converted from an old farmhouse

Above: Happy Birthday! - "I still haven't decided what I am going to do when I grow up" joked Ray

There are two major towns on the island - Philipsburg, which is the 'capital' on the Dutch side and Marigot, which is its French counterpart. "Dominique has a couple of friends who run a restaurant in Marigot, called Le Croissanterie" said Ray. "They bake superb French croissant and other delicacies on the premises, and serve American coffee which I absolutely love" he added. "It quickly became established as one of the preferred breakfast venues" said a very happy Ray.

Above: The Royal Marina at Marigot, on the French side, provides the location for Le Croissanterie - and a great continental style breakfast with American coffee

Below: Dominique looks very happy as her friend brings her coffee, juice and her favourite home baked pain au raisin

Above: There are some wonderful examples of old style 'creole' houses in Marigot, which have that classic Caribbean look and feel

Below: Can you spot the spelling mistake in this picture? It was easy for Ray, as he had previously been in Sydney before coming to the island (see the clock - top right)

Above: A typical back street in Marigot - "When you get away from the tourist areas, to the places where ordinary island folk live and work, you get quite a different impression of the place, and it is not like you would imagine from the postcards" observed Ray

Below: Ray and Dominique head towards Fort St. Louis, on Marigot Hill, which is in the centre of the picture - "The island has an interesting history, having been shared between the Dutch and the French for over 300 years" said Ray

Above: Ray sits beneath the French flag, flying at Fort St.Louis and looks out over Marigot.....

Below: .... There is an excellent view of the market place and Simpson Bay Lagoon from the fort - "Every Wednesday and Saturday morning, one can find everything from coconuts, avocados, sweet potatoes and plenty of other tropical fruits & vegetables, all kinds of spices and fresh fish, fine batik wraps, local arts, crafts and paintings" Ray told me. The cannons are not actually fired these days!

Above: The views out to the Caribbean Sea from the fort are spectacular

Below: Ray familiarises himself with the local landmarks - "It is not too difficult to imagine Pirates landing here a couple of hundred years ago in their tall, wooden ships" said Ray

Above: Ray takes a look over central Marigot - "The town is growing rapidly as more and more people want to secure their own little piece of 'paradise' in the Caribbean" said Ray

Although there were a few things for Ray to see whilst on the island, he was intent on maintaining the discipline of his new fitness regime, which my fellow journalist wrote about in our last issue of The Daily Explorer. "I had really started to enjoy the three intensive personal training sessions I was having every week, looking forward to each one with great excitement and I realised it was one of the things in my life that I had really missed" recalled Ray.

Above: The local gym is run by a charming Dutch lady called Desiree Winkel, who is one of St Maarten's Women's Bodybuilding Champions - "Mark, my original trainer, had to change his plans and was no longer able to train me, so Desiree stepped in" explained Ray

Below: Desiree supervises Ray's work out - "She was brilliant and really pushed me, but in a very kind and gentle way" said Ray. "I would recommend her to anyone" added our buffed traveller

Aside from sight-seeing and fitness training, our solo traveller was investigating a number of ways to get involved in the life of the local community. "I really had no idea how long I would be staying on the island for, and thought that I might be around quite a while" said Ray. "I did not want to spend my time just hanging out, so thought about ways in which I could create a 'life' for myself here" added our adventurer.

Ray's first opportunity materialised in the form of a hike around the east coast of the island. "Dominique put me in touch with some friends who run a business called Tri Sports, which organises kayaking, cycling and hiking tours for visitors" recalled Ray. "They cater for the cruise ship passengers and they realised they might need an extra guide for the hiking groups as the busy season was approaching, so they asked me" added a very excited Ray. "It was the first time on my travels that I have created an opportunity to do some work and the people at Tri Sports were really wonderful" he told me.

Above: Juan Pablo (yellow shirt, right) leads the group of visitors from the cruise ship on the two and half hour, five kilometre hike as Ray watches and listens in order to familiarise himself with the points of interest on the route. The white building on the left is a derelict house which belonged to the late Benny Goodman - it was devastated by Hurricane Luis in 1995 and has been left in that state ever since

The second opportunity for Ray to integrate into the local scene came shortly afterwards, following a fairly audacious move on his part. "Some readers know that I was the recipient of a prestigious business award in England a couple of years ago" said Ray. "I thought there may be an opportunity to coach and support local business owners, so a 'press release' was rapidly circulated announcing my 'arrival' and year long 'Caribbean tour', thinking that one of the newspapers might contact me for more information and write a story about it" recalled Ray.

Much to his surprise, one of the daily papers printed the story in full the following day, prompting a couple of business owners to contact Ray to discuss their issues and concerns with him. "It was one of the most successful bits of 'kite flying' I have ever done and it did the trick very rapidly!" he said. "Maybe they are just short of interesting news stories here" he added cynically!

Above: The Today newspaper picked up on the story of Ray's arrival, which happened round about the same time as Hurricane Dean was gaining momentum over the Atlantic Ocean

Below: The article as it appeared on page three of the paper - "I never imagined I would appear on page three of any newspaper, let alone this one" joked Ray. The article reads: "Having spent 25 years advising senior executives in Europe, Mr. Martin wants to find out more about the issues people are facing in organizations in the Caribbean.  He wants to learn about the management and leadership problems that people in commercial business and public services encounter. He also wishes to establish how ‘Best Practice’knowledge from other countries canbeusedtothe benefit of Caribbean communities"

As a result of the article and a subsequent meeting with a local business owner, it is possible that Ray might return in a professional capacity at a later date. "I had a very interesting and productive meeting and there are some clear signs that business people here could really benefit from receiving professional help to improve what they are doing" he told me. "We are going to establish how many people may be interested and look at ways we can provide them with support in an economically viable way" he added.

On the social scene, Ray was enjoying meeting a variety of interesting people. "It is one of the things that I am very grateful to Dominique for" said Ray. "She made such an effort on my behalf to introduce me to a lot of her friends, which was great for me" added our appreciative traveller.

Above: Dominique introduced Ray to Val, an ex-pat who teaches Yoga - "We went to Val's for dinner, so the least I could do was help her with a couple of things on her computer" said Ray. Since this picture was taken, Val has returned to the UK after 17 years of living abroad, so we wish her the best of luck there!

Below: Dominique's daughter, Lisa (left) also celebrated her birthday while Ray was in St. Maarten - "Lisa invited me to join a small group of friends in an Italian restaurant for her dinner party" said Ray, "which was lovely, although when they went off clubbing afterwards, I slipped away quietly!"

For those of you that read Carrie Bean's last issue of The Daily Explorer (610 Days on the road to St. Maarten), you may be aware that Ray has been reflecting quite deeply about his life on the road, and he continued with this theme when I spoke to him a couple of days prior to his departure.

"Below the surface of my everyday life, I feel like I am also on a journey to come to terms with some of the fundamental issues of being a human being, including the nature of creativity, love and compassion, and am absorbing information about these things wherever I go" explained Ray. "I have been reading a wonderful book called "Start Where You Are", by Pema Chodron, which is about awakening one's heart and learning how to be more compassionate towards people you meet, especially those you do not easily get along with" said Ray.

Above: Ray reads his book about compassionate living and reflects on the nature of his own relationships - "When things are not going so well between me and someone else, I am starting to realise that this is potentially one of my greatest opportunities to learn more about myself" he told me

I sensed that all was not right between Ray and Dominique and decided to ask him about the situation. "Its true, Razz - that's very perceptive" was his reply. "When we first met nearly 18 months ago, there was definitely a connection. And when she invited me here, I think it's fair to say that we both wanted to find out how we would gel, and see if there was the potential for creating a relationship" he disclosed. "Having spent a few weeks around each other, it was fairly obvious that we were not well suited to each other's way of living, which is a bit of a disappointment, but that's life" he added. "Once this became clear, I felt it was time to leave the island" said Ray.

Although things were slightly awkward between them, Dominique wanted Ray to share one of her passions before he left, and very generously organised a scuba dive for him on his last day on the island. "I am so glad she did - it was brilliant" he said.

Above: Despite their personal differences, Dominique wanted Ray to leave the island with fond memories of the Caribbean, and organised a scuba dive for him on his last day

Below: Dominique talks to each of the divers (left) as they prepare their gear for the diving trip. "She has completed over 10,000 dives and is so experienced - she once took Matthew McConaughey on a dive (right), so I was very lucky to be in such good hands"

Above: Ray got into some 'deep water' with Dominique - the Caribbean Ocean! "The dive was a thrilling experience and a great way to sign off" said our aquatic explorer

Editors Note: As Editor of Ray's online journal, my main task is to make sure that all of you are kept up to date with his ongoing journey as he travels around the world. As you can see from the title of our latest issue, Ray is temporarily in London, having spent over 650 days on the road since leaving the UK in November 2005. So far, he has visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Australia & New Zealand and St. Maarten. We will keep you posted as we get more information about his future plans.

If anyone would like to make contact with Ray whilst he is in London, send an email to: thedailyexplorer@gmail.com

MOZZIE BYTE

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