17th January
Today we docked at our first Caribbean Island, St. Maarten, which is one of the Windward Islands. St. Maarten covers 37 square miles and has a “dual personality”, with the smaller, more developed southern side belonging to the Dutch (St. Maarten) and the northern part belonging to the French (St. Martin). The island is best known for its sheltered beaches and shopping. The ship docked at Philipsburg, which is the largest town on the island, in the Dutch half. Today there were three ships docked, the South Seas Navigator, one of the Costa Cruise liners and us.
This morning we were supposed to go on an excursion Sea and See, but unfortunately it was cancelled at the very last moment, after we had hung around for about 30 minutes. This was because of visibility and the fact that we wouldn’t see much in our semi-submersible craft.
However, we went along to the mini bus hire and were able to join six other people on a guided tour of the island. On this tour we visited many parts of the island which included Marigot, a charming market town in the French section. Here we stopped for morning coffee and patisserie (sorry about spelling) see photo of us seated round a table with our driver. The patisserie was absolutely first class and the coffee was not bad either. After a wet walk around the local market we boarded our taxi and continued our trip around the island via Grande Case Bay and stopped at Bay Orientale, which was conveniently next to the nudist beach. Geoffrey says that unfortunately due to the weather no one was out on the beach. However, he stripped off his shoes and went paddling in the warm sea.
We again continued our trip back into the Dutch half of the island to Philipsburg, where we got off the mini bus and walked around the shopping area, where Doreen was in her element, looking in all the jewellery shops which were there in abundance. After two hours wandering around town dodging the rain showers, we made our way rather sodden back to our ship for a lovely cup of tea.
A slightly disappointing day mainly because of the weather. No one told us we were in the middle of the rainy season!!!!!! We do not think we have been the island at its best, perhaps next time the sun will be shining. We are just sailing out of port at 5.30pm and would you believe it the skies are getting bluer and bluer and the sun is shining. It’s just not fair.
The captain has just been on the tannoy apologising for the bad weather and has promised us a good day tomorrow in St. Lucia. He also says he will postpone our departure from St. Lucia from 5.00pm until 10.00pm, so we will be able to have an evening doing the town.
Today we docked at our first Caribbean Island, St. Maarten, which is one of the Windward Islands. St. Maarten covers 37 square miles and has a “dual personality”, with the smaller, more developed southern side belonging to the Dutch (St. Maarten) and the northern part belonging to the French (St. Martin). The island is best known for its sheltered beaches and shopping. The ship docked at Philipsburg, which is the largest town on the island, in the Dutch half. Today there were three ships docked, the South Seas Navigator, one of the Costa Cruise liners and us.
This morning we were supposed to go on an excursion Sea and See, but unfortunately it was cancelled at the very last moment, after we had hung around for about 30 minutes. This was because of visibility and the fact that we wouldn’t see much in our semi-submersible craft.
However, we went along to the mini bus hire and were able to join six other people on a guided tour of the island. On this tour we visited many parts of the island which included Marigot, a charming market town in the French section. Here we stopped for morning coffee and patisserie (sorry about spelling) see photo of us seated round a table with our driver. The patisserie was absolutely first class and the coffee was not bad either. After a wet walk around the local market we boarded our taxi and continued our trip around the island via Grande Case Bay and stopped at Bay Orientale, which was conveniently next to the nudist beach. Geoffrey says that unfortunately due to the weather no one was out on the beach. However, he stripped off his shoes and went paddling in the warm sea.
We again continued our trip back into the Dutch half of the island to Philipsburg, where we got off the mini bus and walked around the shopping area, where Doreen was in her element, looking in all the jewellery shops which were there in abundance. After two hours wandering around town dodging the rain showers, we made our way rather sodden back to our ship for a lovely cup of tea.
A slightly disappointing day mainly because of the weather. No one told us we were in the middle of the rainy season!!!!!! We do not think we have been the island at its best, perhaps next time the sun will be shining. We are just sailing out of port at 5.30pm and would you believe it the skies are getting bluer and bluer and the sun is shining. It’s just not fair.
The captain has just been on the tannoy apologising for the bad weather and has promised us a good day tomorrow in St. Lucia. He also says he will postpone our departure from St. Lucia from 5.00pm until 10.00pm, so we will be able to have an evening doing the town.
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