Honeymoon Pt IV - St.Maarten

On Thursday, we stopped in St.Maarten. John & I got off of the ship, hoping to get a non-shuttle cab so we could ask the driver to take us around the island and show us the different areas, etc.

Well, no such luck. When you get off of the boat, there are a TON of cabs, but they all seem to be through the same company and they load you up with several other people going someplace similar to you. We decided that since we were going to be getting in a shuttle, we'd go to the beach and try for a little cab later. We chose to go to Mullet Beach- I had never been there, and the "guides" were directing everyone to go to the Orient Beach, telling them it was the most popular. I had been to the Orient Beach before- it was super crowded... annnnd half of it is the nude beach..

Our cab dropped us off at the beach and it was a good choice! There was hardly anyone there- huge stretches of beach with no one on them.


I was a little grossed out because there was a ton of little (and some big!) fish in the water. Blech. SO, I did a lot of this:

and this:
Not too shabby, eh?

While I was doing that, John was doing this:

The sun was super hot- while it was out. We had several little spurts of rain, and it poured for about 5 minutes and then the sun came right back out. When it rained, or the sun went behind the clouds, it was super cool though :(

Next to the beach, there were a bunch of rocks & we decided to hike through them while we were there.

Looking back at the beach.

Moi.

After awhile of the weather going back & forth, we decided to walk back to a town that our shuttle passed through on the way to the beach. We went about a half mile, hoping that we remembered the correct way back!

We ate lunch at a little cafe that had the "best barbecue on St.Maarten". I got bbq shrimp & ribs- they were pretty good!

After we ate, we walked farther to the first beach that our shuttle had dropped people off at- the Airport Beach. The planes fly maybe a couple hundred feet above you- there is about 20' of beach, the road (maybe 10' wide) and then the runway- it is sick. At the beach, we FINALLY found a regular cab.

Our driver was willing to drive the long way back to the port- around the entire island. She drove us the rest of the way through the Dutch side (where the port is) and around the French side. She told us about her kids and living in St.Maarten and it was just super cool. At one point, she pulled over and let us take some pictures.

Check out those multi-colored roofs!
This is by the Orient Beach that was so popular.

Rainbow.

After the ride (an hour and a half or two hours), she dropped us off at a store that she told us would be cheaper for souvenirs than down by the port. Sweet. I got some awesome wooden wind chimes- I love wooden wind chimes. After we finished there, we walked back to the port, through Philipsburg.

Our boat, and another, from the beach next to the port.