!!! DIVINA !!! Eastern Caribbean ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide

[gambee]

Soon Andre our CD come on the microphone and said we were all clear to get off the ship. So we headed downstairs into St. Maarten!

 

 

 

You can get your towels here, but keep in mind if you lose any of them you’re out of $30.

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

I started heading to our designated Bernard’s Tour assigned point. It is right next to the information center.

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

Don’t they look great?

 

 

 

This is the information center

 

 

We did the line and were told to wait for a little while. I think they were waiting for the rest of people to get there. So we went in front of the CELL company and sat there to wait. We would later go there and buy some internet time so we could catch up with our tech life.

 

 

[gambee]

 

Then the Mailman came by and got us. We got very lucky that the Mailman was our tour guide. If you go on trip advisor, you will notice that he comes highly recommended by pretty much everyone there. He told us to follow him and so we did, the bus parking lot was adjacent, it was just a short walk away.

 

 

 

 

Then he showed us to a bus and told us he would be right back with the rest of the group. The bus was on and the AC was blowing nice cool air. It was a good thing because it must of been 100 degrees that day in St. Maarten. I also went ahead and grabbed a bottle of water. I have read that they were included so I thought it was ok to grab one. It was so hot and we were all dehydrated by then :D.

 

Edited September 1, 2014 by gambee

[gambee]

We waited about 15 minutes in there. They were in elections and they had some political radio show, with a bunch of BS political debates. If you can’t tell, I hate politics :D :p

 

 

It was not a bad wait, we were comfortable in a cool environment, so it was all good. Soon enough the mailman came back with the rest of the group, it was a full bus, every spot was taken.

 

 

I will talk briefly about Bernard’s. I think by now they have a huge operation, I think i saw about 8 people there in the check in line all related to Bernard’s. We had a great time and the Mailman was absolutely fantastic, quite honestly, I cannot imagine any other way to see St. Maarten for the first time.

 

Soon enough, the tour was on the way. I did not take many pictures from the bus, because we all know how bad those pictures turn out. The weather that day was a bit lousy, but nothing that would damage our experience in St. Maarten.

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2014 by gambee

[gambee]

 

Sarah asked me to take notes on the drinks that are available on the tour. The offer sprite, diet coke, coke, water, their local beer, and the rum punch. Now here is the thing, they claim the punch does not run out, however, in our tour it did run out. So, just make sure that you get it early. The punch is strong and sweet as hell, but the truth is that between my uncle and I, we could put down a bottle of it EASY!!!! I think there were a total of 3 bottles, but I could be wrong.

 

You're supposed to sip it and not take it as a shot! The sipping thing did not work for us :D

 

 

 

[gambee]

So our first official spot was in a bay where you could get some amazing pictures. The exact name of the place? Ummmmmmmm, I have no clue, I have no notes and my memory is blank! All I know is that I got some amazing pictures there!

 

It was fabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

How gorgeous is this island?

 

 

I think I might enjoy this.

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

You can walk down and there is a gentleman there who has a bunch of sea urchins and such that you can grab. All he asks for is a tip, very nice fellow. Please be nice and tip him a dollar or two :). What comes around goes around.

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

I have been touching sea urchins for the longest time. But for some reason my uncle had never held one! That was news to me, I thought he me introduced to it!

 

So anyway, we all grabbed them :)

 

 

 

 

I did ask him if any of the specimens died on him and he kind of avoided the question. I was not a fan of that, it is very likely that they do not care much for the specimens there. But understand that he has to make a living. Kind of sad either way…

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

This map is available in the visitor information center.

 

 

The next non-official stop was to watch some iguanas on the side of the road. Apparently they are abundant in the island. They are are also claimed to taste like chicken, as the Mailman said, each country has their animal that is claimed to taste like chicken. I have never tasted iguana, well not that I am aware of at least, lol. Tried gator though :D

 

They used to stop in the iguana farm, but they are closed for renovations.

 

 

We kept on going and passed a very old Catholic church, I want to say that this was the first Catholic church in the island?

 

 

[gambee]

Here is my new waterproof wallet. Just to make sure the battery stays dry.

 

 

Then we got to the nudist beach resort, well to the front gate at least. He made a couple of fun jokes. If I recall correctly something along the lines, if the airlines lost the baggage, they had nothing to worry about. I am not a good joke teller, so please don t judge him, lol :D

 

 

 

Then he drove a little more and he showed us the entrance to the nudist beach. He said that if there were any kids on the bus he could not do that part of the tour.

 

I took a few pictures, please note the picture is Cropped :D. I especially love the contrast of the picture showed on the billboard and the one of the gentleman there. He was very proud of being there, Mailman told us that he was a local and knew specifically that everyone was taking pictures of him there. But yeah, that is the beach that you want to go if you want to be nude.

 

 

[gambee]

He told us how to get to the nude beach and kept on driving to the safe beach :D. If I recall correctly the entire beach was nude, but due to complaints from tourist with children it was changed to 25% nude and 75 % non-nudist.

 

So he dropped us off in the safe area and told us to meet there in 2 hours. They had a few art and craft stores. Oh, lol, this is Orient Beach, I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

We rented two lounges and an umbrella. It was $20 for the day. It was a bit unfortunate that we only lasted there for a few hours, they were so comfy.

 

 

The weather was really questionable.

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

My uncle and I decided to go for a little walk, while mom and aunt stayed and relaxed. Well, it was not that little, it was actually rather long. I think deep inside my uncle wanted to get to the nudist beach ;), but it was a very long walk.

 

 

He did not look very friendly!

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

The weather was really bad at that time! And it was about to get much worse! The good thing is that is that the rain only lasted about 4 minutes :D, maybe less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

Like I said most beach resorts rent 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20, some include 2 drinks with it, not ours.

 

 

I am telling you, I could spend the entire day there. I think I will have a really hard time deciding what to do next time I visit St. Maarten!

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

I have never tried kite boarding, but my cousin in Colombia is pretty experienced at it. I think I might give it a try one day. I have to find a partner that is interested in all these types of extreme sports to get back out there.

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

There are plenty of restaurants in that area.

 

 

 

 

Orient Beach has everything that you would need in a Beach, and I mean EVERYTHING!!!!!

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

The weather started getting really bad and we agreed to head back to our meeting place. Plus, I was starting to get tired and I just wanted to relax in the lounger and sleep. For some reason I did a lot of sleeping in this cruise, I think it might have to do with taking all those summer classes and everything that have happened this year. I find myself being very tired, hopefully it will pass soon.

 

We got back to mom and they all went looking for a restroom and some shops. I took ownership of one of the lounges and just relaxed there.

 

 

Pretty soon the rain hit us and it was a storm, by the time I was getting ready to run for shelter, the rain quit! It was that fast!

 

[gambee]

Here is my uncle getting hit by a wave!

 

 

But of course he cleaned his shoes and then placed them on top of my sandals, tstk tsk, tsk. Lol. Then again my sandals were pretty dirty in the first place.

 

 

 

 

I pretty much passed out on that lounger. I could have stayed there the entire day, no question about it!

 

 

 

The stop at Orient beach is about 2 hours. Oh by the way this was tour #2 of Bernards, I believe we paid $45 per person. While the tour was fantastic, and it was the perfect way to spend our first time in St. Maarten. I think that next time I will head to one beach and stay there the entire day. Figuring out which beach will be the hard thing to do.

 

[helen haywood]

Gambee, I am another fan of yours and love the illustration mode of your pictures! They show how talented a composer you are and appeal to the whimsy in all of us. Don't change a thing; your personal instincts are, as always, spot on!

[gambee]

My alarm went off, and that meant that I had to wake up and head to the bus.

 

 

 

My family was in the bus already, when I boarded I took 3 shots of punch. I remember the Mailman telling us that it was not supposed to be like shots, but hey I am on vacation. Everyone on the bus was staring at me, plus add to that the beer and 2 more shots that I took to my uncle. Then you wonder why we ran out of punch during this shore excursion :D.

 

 

 

[gambee]

Our next stop was in the French capital, Marigot. It was about a 20 minute ride there. It might be faster if the weather was not that bad.

 

 

 

Personally I wanted to go to a local restaurant suggested by the Mailman, but my family wanted to get their passports stamped with the French stamp and the wanted to go to Sarafina’s. So yeah, I was outnumbered. After a little pouting I agreed to go their way :D.