(October 12th, 2022)
St. Maarten was supposed to be another excursion, but it was canceled the night before. We talked about scheduling something else, but in the end, we opted to find a beach and chill. It seemed like a day of relaxing would be just right.
We were up on time to depart. This is often the view we had in the morning, waiting in the hallway. I learned that I loved my sandals, running shorts, and a rash guard. That is my go to excursion outfit. It is comfy and ready for almost anything that might happen. Oh, and a hat. The hair is too thin to think it provides any sun cover for my scalp. So a hat is mandatory.
We got off the boat in St. Maarten and it was magical. I'm not kidding. It was like walking into some kind of fairyland because there were butterflies everywhere. Little ivory butterflies wherever you looked. I have no idea if it is an annual thing, or maybe they come for certain plants, or maybe it was mating season, but I thought it was so cool! Butterflies don't show up in pictures very well. They are just white spots that often blend in. But know that they were our constant friends.
We got tickets for a water taxi. The beach didn't seem that far away, but it was nice to get a shuttle right there.
The water was so pretty! It was teal blue and gorgeous. Water doesn't look like that in the Puget Sound where I grew up.
After getting off the ferry, we were right by the public beaches. They say public, but all the chairs are owned by different people. They pedal their services and offer to bring you drinks and food from the restaurants. They offered 4 chairs for $35. I stopped to take a picture of a map of St. Maarten and had to catch up.
A dog followed us as we left the ferry. Followed isn't the right word. He was almost leading us. We finally found a nice area and the guy there relented to our offer of 4 chairs for $20. Our dog seemed to like the idea and he came down to the water, took a dip and then settled under our chair. Maybe he was hoping for a handout? Either way, he was a fun little companion.
It was such a gorgeous day. We got in the water almost immediately. It was perfect! There were lots of shells. Tyler had goggles on and was diving under to find some, but most we found with our feet. I was pretty good at grabbing them with my toes and bringing them up. Tyler and I found lots this way. Jonny was amazed. He couldn't find anything. After some time, he finally found a large piece, and brought it up with his toes only to find that it was a chunk of cement. Don't quit the day job Jonny. We got a pretty good stash by the time we were done. We only took a few on the boat since I've been stopped before for having shells.
The shade was wonderful, the water was heavenly. Beth and I had books and sun and we were happy.
The boys were content for a bit, but they clearly don't know how to relax on vacation. Instead, they decided to go on walkabout. They hiked way down to one end of the cove, passed themselves off as resort guests and got through to a private area with a fort and lots of cool wildlife. Jonny was taking lots of cool pictures we'd never see again. He even took an awesome video of Tyler standing on a rock, looking off in the distance while a flurry of butterflies flew past him. You'll just have to imagine it.
Meanwhile, Beth and I were doing this.
The guys really found some awesome stuff. They crawled down a sketchy rope, right to the water and had a great time exploring.
They finally caught an Uber back to the beach just as we girls were getting ready to go. It was good timing. The day had gone quickly, but I think we were all satisfied with how we spent it. We got a couple shots on the pier before catching our ferry back to port.
Back on board, it was sad. Those butterflies which were everywhere also found their way on the ship because some of the decks are open. There were dead butterflies all along the deck where people had stepped on them, and then we found hoards of them along the window sills.
Once again Tyler was the only one on deck to watch as we sailed away. Sorry Tyler, but you do look good in your St. Maarten hat. (The boys got matching hats on the beach since Jonny needed one for the adventure.)
Towards evening, we wandered up above because Tyler said he found a mini golf place. The view was awesome from up there. We didn't have Beth, but we played a quick round. Tyler recorded us playing at one hole and that just happened to be where I got a hole in one!! It didn't help me though, Jonny still won. :)
It was also our anniversary. Pretty convenient to be on a cruise; instant celebration. At dinner, our wait staff sang to us. They said we had to kiss for the entire song and if we stopped, they would start over. Luckily, they didn't start over, but they did sing very slowly. Beth thought she was recording but only caught the tail end. That's probably best for everyone.
In the evening, we decided to order an excursion for the next day. St. Thomas was supposed to be our beach day, but we had just had a beach day in St. Maarten, so I was ready for an adventure. I chose our excursion and everyone agreed, so we were excited to see what the next day held.
I'm pretty sure this is a rabbit. Agreed?
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