Day 5 landed us at St. Maarten. It was an absolutely gorgeous day!! We had an excursion planned and needed to meet them at 10:30.....but since we docked at 7am, Bob and I decided to get up a little early and head on into town beforehand. We discovered that my very cute bright pink flip-flops (thank you, Beth!!) were not good for walking any distance in humidity. By the time we got back to meet our excursion group, I had a blister. Thankfully we were early, so we were able to go back on board and switch them out....and to grab the back-up camera since my battery finally died.
Ah yes, there were 2 boats docked. Ours is the one on the left. Yes, it really is HUGE!!!!
Just for fun!!
The dock's shopping area at St. Maarten. About a half-mile walk lands you in town....
Unfortunately the storm had hit the island the day before and the water was pretty cloudy and also very choppy on the south side -- where we were supposed to go snorkeling. So we were offered a choice -- take the boat ride and just go swimming, or take a refund. We all took the refund.
Paul and Mindy had bought a book about all the islands, so they thought said if we wanted we could maybe all go together (there were 9 of us) and try to get a taxi out to a different beach or two. At first no one wanted to take us since we wanted to go a ways away from the dock (over to the french side of the island), but once they realized how many of us there were, they got us a van and off we went! It was a bit of a drive through lots of traffic, but our driver was great, and Bob did an amazing job of asking her questions to keep her talking. We FINALLY got to the first beach and walked down to see it:
Unfortunately the storm had hit the island the day before and the water was pretty cloudy and also very choppy on the south side -- where we were supposed to go snorkeling. So we were offered a choice -- take the boat ride and just go swimming, or take a refund. We all took the refund.
Paul and Mindy had bought a book about all the islands, so they thought said if we wanted we could maybe all go together (there were 9 of us) and try to get a taxi out to a different beach or two. At first no one wanted to take us since we wanted to go a ways away from the dock (over to the french side of the island), but once they realized how many of us there were, they got us a van and off we went! It was a bit of a drive through lots of traffic, but our driver was great, and Bob did an amazing job of asking her questions to keep her talking. We FINALLY got to the first beach and walked down to see it:
It was beautiful! But it also was VERY rocky on the shoreline and the waves were breaking on the rocks. Another problem was that there were NO amenities.....no drinks, no food, no bathrooms. So we piled back into the van.....and silently wondered if we'd made a mistake....
And then we got to Baie Rouge! SOOOOOO incredibly beautiful and absolutely perfect!!! It had a little shack of a bar with a grill, the sand was incredibly smooth and the water, oh, the water was gorgeous!!! Here's Mindy heading down to take pictures of everyone else already in the water!
....and Paul heading out to go snorkeling over by the rocks...
Mindy again....but that group in the water IS our group this time!!!
The little 'restaurant'.....it was a little more permanent than a lean-to, with a grill! The food was phenomenal!!! Best chicken skewers EVER!!!!
...and who could possibly forget the drinks? These fabulous people introduces us to the Guavaberry rum that is only made on St. Maarten. I needed mine blended (wow, was it strong straight!) and that's when we noticed the power supply for the blender....yup, that's a car battery, folks!
Our whole group for the day with our driver!! She took us to a little shop to pick up some of the yummy guavaberry rum.....
Another pretty alley-way......
We stopped along the boardwalk before walking back to the ship, and a man was inviting people to try to play the steel drums. Elise gave it a try!
Then Bob gave it a try.....apparently it's MUCH harder than it looks and is almost nothing like playing the drums.....
Happy couple on the boardwalk....our boat is the HUGE one on the left in the background....
Awww.....we're being cute again....
Hands down, this was the BEST day of the entire vacation!!! And THANK YOU to Paul and Mindy for getting us there!!!!
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