Philipsburg, St. Marten - April 25, 2014

Yesterday Philipsburg had six cruise ships in port, today, one, us, incredible. Could this port handle six ships docked, yes, easily, yes, this is an amazing Caribbean destination spot, did I say amazing again, yes, I just can't help myself, this is a paradise destination like I have never seen before. Everything is here, boardwalks, beaches, beach chairs with umbrellas, sand, sand and more sand and then there is the beautiful Caribbean Sea - the temperature of the water, well perfect. BTW - no tourist gouging here, at least what I saw and experienced, two lounge chairs by the water with one umbrella, $10.00 US, for the day - for another $10 US gives you five beers. We had lunch at a great little recommended spot, your entree included your choice of drink, great, the waitress/owner gave us another dozen prawns because we liked the first batch so much - Its no problem she says, we just want to make you happy. St. Marten did all that and more. Shopping here is also incredible, Jan is pictured here with a lady who runs a most interesting jewelry shop, the next picture describes the jewelry along with an e-mail address, worth looking up, real cool stuff.

Our day started with six of us heading off to Oyster Pond, a snorkel site. Our taxi driver's name was the Virgin Mary, she was cute and wonderful, $12 US a head roundtrip for a 30 minute ride to this seaside resort where she waited the 2 and half hours while we frolicked in the water - a great spot. Water taxi into town for lunch and some retail therapy back by 4:15 for the sail away party - all drinks covered by HAL, great fun with the steel drum band playing for a couple hours as we sailed away. A great day ended with us having an excellent dinner in the Pinnacle Restaurant on board. Pictured here making our Caesar Salad is our Dazy, you may recall last cruise she was a server in the Lido Buffet restaurant, she has been promoted and is doing a fantastic job.

Oh yes some fast facts on this paradise island. St. Martin/Sint Maarten, at only 37 sq. miles is the smallest island mass in the world divided by two governments. Having been abandoned by the Spanish in the mid 17th century, the French and the Dutch moved onto the island at about the same time and, after some conflict, decided to split the island in two, French side and a Dutch side. No there is not a border crossing just a sign noting that you are now on the French or Dutch side, the real different we have been told is that on the French side you have the nude beaches while on the Dutch side there are only the topless beaches. So yah, no conflicts here as you would have a hard time concealing your weapon.

Two days at sea now as the World Cruise wraps up and almost the entire ship, guests and crew turnover, should be a fun few days...