November 12, 2015

Back to back ground days.  We sailed the night and awake to the sound of the bow thrusters gently rotating the ship which backs into the pier effortlessly.  Good Morning to the Dutch side of St. Maarten.  A quick bite and we are off for a renegade tour with Bernard Tours.  A small group of 12 plus the driver DJ quickly gather and drive away to see the sights and sounds of both the Dutch and French portions of St Maarten.

The first impressions are that this is a much larger place than St Thomas.  21 square miles of French territory and 16 square miles of Dutch influence make one interesting place.

Our first stops are to visit the wild life.  No real wildlife like sea creatures and Iguanas.  Nice to see how careful they are about preserving their surroundings.  Sea urchins, sea spiders, big hermit crabs are carefully displayed.  Iguanas are scurrying around for grapes and veggies and photo ops.

Then we stop for a couple of hours of beach time and a rum punch or two…ok several.  Nothing like a beach on the French side to keep you from snoozing.  Everyone loves the sights and sounds and sights and sights.  Our stop, even though, two hours on the clock, races by and we are back hearing and learning about life here.  Just yesterday was St Maarten’s Day here which is the celebration of the settling of the war between France and the Dutch over who rules here.  In 1648 they decided the war wasn’t worth it and agreed to a walk off.  A Dutch representative and a Frenchman lined up back to back and headed out if separate directions.  Whatever land they walked along was their territory.

Why the difference in the sizes of territory?  The Dutch man carried Gin, the Frenchman carried Wine.  I’d bet on wine any day.

Lunch was on the French side so off the a French pastry shop.  Nice.  I quick market stop and then to the most famous spot on the island.  The beach underneath the airport runway.  Planes landing fly just above the heads of those on the beach and sometimes blow people down.  Bigger plane bigger splash as we saw even small prop planes sending caps into the sea.  Crowds of folks wait for the big jets and a bar there even post the inbound flight schedule (which is never right….remember it is island time)

Back to the ship in time to catch a beautiful sunset before a visit to one of the ship’s specialty restaurants, The Crown Grill.  Nice steak, great wine, and good friends but this time with more than a few stories to tell.

The ship fires up the engines (electric of course) and smoothly leaves the dock headed north this time.  Next stop Port Everglades over a 1,000 nautical miles away.

Sunset in St. Maarten