The weather turned windy and we chugged
along at a good pace all through the night with a fair amount of sway
and a whole lot of creaks and groans from the ship herself. We
arrived here at St. Maarten around 10:00 am, and they had at least
60% of us off the ship (those who wanted) before 10:40 – great turn
around time. Our initial plans was an excursion to Orient Beach,
complete with lunch and rum punch. The excursion leader, however,
explained the wind on that beach was 20-30 MPH and it would not be
safe to get in the water; sand would be blowing in our faces. We,
of course, changed our mind, got a refund and headed off to shop
The island here is governed half by the
French and half by the Dutch. The French call it Sint Maarten and
the Dutch, Saint Martin. There's a lovely coast line, nested at
the base of tree filled hills, the people are very friendly (which is
not necessarily customary among the islands ), English is the
language, and as with any tourist area, the liquor flows. The major
difference here is the shopping experience. Whereas most US tourist
areas are filled with T-Shirt and Curio shops, here you have upscale
jewelry and linens.
We took a water taxi into town and
spent a good 5 hours browsing the shops, eating some lunch and
several stops for drinks and rest. The doctor changed my drug
mixture two weeks ago and although I'm getting around much better, I
have to take things in 30 minute stints.
Every year, I purchase a pair of
Swavorski Crystal earrings; this year it is hoops, along with linens.
Beau found his favorite cologne, Joop, which is no longer available
in the states.
As I go along through the day, I took a
variety of pictures to share moments of interest (mine), but, I've
not yet the camera under control and I took videos instead. When we
get back home, I'll have to learn how to pull individual shots out of
a video and update this post. Until then …..
thanks for dropping by,
Lorrie
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