St. Maarten

We woke to a beautiful morning with clear skies and 80 degrees. We were docking on the Dutch side of this French/Dutch island. St. Maarten/St. Martin is the world’s smallest divided land mass – Dutch has 16 sq miles and the French has 21 sq miles. There is no obvious boundary between the sides other than a welcoming sign along the road. Columbus sighted St. Maarten in 1493 but it was only settled in 1631.

“Pretty St. Maarten shares familiar elements of paradise with other sophisticated Caribbean vacation spots.” No matter how pretty a place is, if their people are not welcoming, your image is jaded. We’ve been here several times and enjoyed it. This time, we had major hassles with taxi drivers on a price (always discuss before you get in), and decided not to use their services. If they have an attitude, I can have one too! We ended up using the water taxi to the beachfront of Philipsburg, passing several huge yachts with topless sunbathers clearly willing to be on display. Waded in the Caribbean Sea and enjoyed the beautiful colors of the water and seashells.

This area is for shopping; anything you can imagine is on sale, but especially jewelry.

Celebrity’s new ship, the Silhouette, was docked next to us. I was on it in November for 2 nights and just had four clients disembark from their 12 day cruise on Monday and they loved it! Stylish, elegant, classy – a destination itself instead of the islands it visits (although they can be nice also!).

Back onboard from our last port of call, Captain Roberts tooted the horn for the final farewell as set sail at 5PM. Dinner was good and the entertainment was Den and Bobbi West, Nashville musicians. We’re headed up to the Chocolate Extravaganza now!