Day 4: St. Maarten

This was not the best island yet… L We rented our car early from Best Deals (yeah right!?). We got a Jeep Wrangler right off the boat. We got about halfway to our destination of Orient Beach (on the French side of the island), when we got the start of a flat tire. So, Jon flipped around & drove as fast as possible back to town, before it went totally flat. We called & a new Jeep was brought to us. So – we turned back on the road to make it to the beach. We got to LITERALLY the exact same spot, and got another flat on our “replacement” jeep. So, we had the Dave & Jon fix the flat while Amber & I soaked up some rays. After a little bit, all was well, and we finally got on the road & made it to Orient Beach. The beach was lovely – rather choppy water, but beautiful. Let me first note that apparently, clothing is optional at this beach… YIKES! Fortunately – most of the “nude” section was around a ways from where we were. Anyway, we rented jetskies and hit the water, Dave and I on one, and Jon & Amber on the other. Dave almost bucked me off several times because he was going too fast – ahhh! After the jetskies, we hit up parasailing… Dave & I went tandem… it was very fun! We saw several sea turtles from the above view, and fortunately, no sharks!

(Notice in this picture, that the color of the jeep is different than the first? This was our replacement rental after the first one got a flat) :(

After our water sports, we ate a delicious lunch on the beach. I had the grouper with yummy garlic potatoes and veggies. We left after lunch to head back to town (for fear that any more exploring would give us another flat tire!!). On route, we hit a yummy Patisserie/Boulangerie (Pastry shop/Bakery). I got to use a little bit of my French for the first time.. well, ever really. It was fun. We drove to Front & Back street in St. Martin and did some shopping. Overall – St. Martin has fun activities, but is a dirty place… pretty up in the hills, but the city was not very clean.

After returning to the ship, I went to a class in the ShipShape fitness center w/ Amber, and then got a workout in afterward – while Dave & Jon roamed the ship in search of a snack J. Before dinner, the ship was having an Art auction. It was SO cool – I enjoyed watching the start of it before we left to eat. At dinner – it was Italian night, which was a bunch of delicious food – Scallops and risotto for appetizer, Chicken Marsala & Tiramisu (of course). Our table-mates were with us tonight for the first time - a group of 6 from Norway. They were extremely friendly and pleasant to chat and dine with. We will see them again for our remaining dinners.