Cruising Day Eight

We arrived in port for 8 am this morning....Phillipsburg, St. Maarten! 

 

We pulled up along

side a P&O cruise ship that we later found out was doing an 85 day 'around the world' cruise.  Oh my!  Our ship looked quite massive next to theirs.

 

 We could already tell from the port that this was going to be a more 'civilized' island than the last.  Phew....we wanted to end the port of call experience on a relaxing and positive note.  We left the ship early and set off for the main part of town.  This area of the town was very nice and shiny....I could tell they wanted to impress the cruisers as soon as they got off ship.

 This shot is looking back from the above welcome sign.  As you can see we dwarf the P & O ship!

 As it was a bit early none of the little stands were open yet but this guava berry that is native to St Maarten intrigued me.  I knew that I would have to partake of it at some point.

 The walk to town was pretty and the taxi/tour operators were very mild and few.  Nice!  It was a 15 minute walk.

 Once we arrived in the main part of town I spotted the beach I knew we would enjoy for the afternoon. 

 We walked around and poked our nose into shops and this church.  It was as hot as blazes and we thought sitting down in the sanctuary might bring some relief but it was as hot as outside!

 It was nice to stop for a moment anyhow and reflect as the alter was prepared for Easter.

 There was a lady in the church that encouraged us to take photos and then encouraged us to stay for mass but that was 2 hours away so we politely declined.

 We were on the Dutch side of the island.  The top half is the French side.  That is where the famous nude Orient Beach was located.  We decided that the beach right in town was good enough for us.

 A cool money shop with lots of different currencies in the front window.

 The alleyways were quaint and there were shops and more shops!  Most selling similar stuff to the next one.  Again, high end luxury brands or cheap souveniers.

 It's very clean and well maintained here.

 At this point we were super hot and sweaty...it was just rolling down my chest!  We went back to the beach, rented chairs and an umbrella and planted ourselves there for the rest of the day.

We could even see our ship from our chairs!  There was a band playing behind us and it was so relaxing.

 We thought we had avoided the nude beach but there were ladies without tops here as well.  I never noticed them...interestingly enough it was always Keith that pointed them out to me!  Ha!

 It was perfect.  The water was really clean and refreshing and we spent lots of time hanging out in the ocean.  What was really nice was that for the entire cruise we did not talk about our jobs or the kids or anything to do with home.  We simply would chat about our travels and the people around us and anything else we could think of.  That to me is truly getting away. 
The sand was lovely and full of pretty seashells.  I collected a bunch to bring home for my collection.  We also had a nice chat with some gentlemen from the P & O cruise ship and they told us all about their cruise.

 

 These motorbikes came from our ship.  There was a group of about 25 riders that brought their bikes on and off ship at each port and went on bike tours.  I never knew there was such a thing!  At each port they had a police escort as well.  They caused quite a stir among the locals!

 So after we had enough beach time we headed back in a leisurely fashion to the ship.  We hadn't had lunch and were feeling a bit peckish.  This is not to be confused with real hunger!  We stopped to pick  up more sunscreen though as we had run out. 

 We took this picture for the kids but disappointed them by telling them we didn't go inside!

 

 Keith stopped here to buy aloe vera for our tender, burned areas. 

 

 

And so we found the guava berry hut on our way back and both had a huge frozen drink...with lots of rum.  It went down like a smoothie and let me tell you I was dizzy afterwards!  It was delicious.

 

So back on board we had 'tea' and then showered off all the sand (almost impossible) and sweat and sunscreen.  It was good to feel clean.  We hit the theatre for the 7 pm show which was something like a Cirque du Soleil production.  Incredible!  We were blown away.  The level of talent in the performers was first class.

 

For whatever reason that I cannot recall anymore, this was the only picture I took at dinner time. My appy was stuffed with spinach and feta and mushrooms.   

I think I was very sleepy.  Five ports in five days...it was a whirlwind.

Even though we had started sailing north after Barbados now it was official that we were going full steam ahead back to Florida.  Bittersweet but all good things do eventually come to and end.