The last stop of our cruise was the island of St. Maarten. We decided to end our trip with the Carnival excursion “Top 10 of St. Maarten.” We met our tour guide on the ship at 9:30 am to walk out to our tour bus as a group. The tour takes you all the way around the island and lasts about five hours. I am so glad that we got to see the entire island, however if you are a frequent traveler and comfortable exploring on your own, St. Maarten is a great place to do that instead of doing a cruise excursion.
Welcome to Sint Maarten!The Beledere Roundabout is located on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten. There are three statues located in the center. The forward facing statue is Alec the Butcher, he had 42 children and was known for farming and selling fresh meat. The lady facing to the right is known as Lalie, she was known for providing fresh breads and pastries to those in need. She also provided shelter during disasters, such as, hurricanes. The statue facing the opposite direction is “Tata the bus Driver.” He is known for trasnporting students to and from school while keeping discipline on the bus. These three people were chosen because they impacted so many lives on the island of St. Maarten. While driving on the island, you will notice that there are no red lights, that is because every four-way stop is a roundabout.The island of St. Martin/St. Maarten is a 34 square mile island that is located 190 miles east of Puerto Rico. It is the smallest inhabited island divided between two countries. Seen at the top of the statue is the division date of 1648. The French side, known as Saint Martin, consists of 60% of the land, however there are only about 37,000 people that live on that side. The Dutch side, known as Sint Maarten, consists of 40% of the land with a population of about 41,000. In 1998, this statue was erected at the border of the two nations to celebrate 350 years of coexistence on such a small land mass.We started our journey in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the capital of the dutch side and within ten minutes of driving, we were on the french side of the island. The legend of how the border was decided is that a dutchman and a frenchman started walking at opposite ends until they met in the middle and that was the border between the two nations. The reason the French side is larger is because the dutchman like to drink gin. He drank a little too much and was slower at walking than the frenchman.Saint Martin was once known for it’s salt industry. Seen here, was one of the last working “salt ponds” on the island of Saint Martin. The island had slaves that would shovel and scrape the salt crystals, and this made St. Martin very valuable because they produced a good that was sold to traders in the Caribbean. The harvest season was about 7 months of the year and it was very hard work. Salt production stopped on the island on the Dutch side in 1949 and on the French side in 1967. St. Martin/St. Maarten now depends on tourism for their income.Paradise View Restaurant is located onto of a hill in Orient Bay on the French side. You can see Orient Beach from this restaurant, which one of the most famous beaches on St. Martin.This little bar is located right next to the Paradise Restaurant and it costs $1 for a shot of rum. She also has pet cats and if you do not buy a shot of rum it costs a $1 to pet or take photos of the cats. We were not going to miss trying the rum! The rum is so strong that it didn’t really have a taste, it was very similar to moonshine.The famous Orient Bay Beach. This was the view from the restaurant and bar.We stopped at a couple of beaches along the way. This was one of them located on the French Side.Once we reached Marigot the capital of Saint Martin, the French side, we got off the bus and had an hour to explore the town. This is one of the things we seen at the port of Marigot. On the island of St. Martin, the streets are very similar to the United States and they drive on the correct side of the road, in the correct seat. This was actually strange after driving on the opposite side of the street for a week.The famous I Love St. Martin sign that is seen everywhere! This one is located at the Marigot Market.The Marigot market square has a large gazebo and the globe. Seen here are locals playing music and dancing. It was nice to experience the culture of St. Martin.We ate at a local restaurant called Francis located near the Marigot Marketplace. On the French side, they accept Euros and US currency, therefore when paying ask to convert the amount into US currency.The pulled chicken platter at Francis Bar Restaurant. The food was delicious!After lunch, we headed to the famous Maho Beach where Sunset Bar and Grill is located. To many people, this bar is also known as “The Beach Bar.” Here, you can hang out and watch the planes land at Princess Juliana International Airport. The Airport and Bar are both located on the Dutch side of the island.Located right outside of Sunset Bar and Grill is a surf board with all the flight times listed for the day. This way you known what time the planes are going to land and take off. The transatlantic, larger planes usually land later in the afternoon.Seen here is a Delta plane taking off. It was amazing to see all the people hanging onto the fence waiting for the plane to take off. Then, when the plane turned on it’s engines we watched the people get blown off the fence!We were lucky enough to see two planes take off and three planes land. Here is AirFrance landing at Princess Juliana Airport.A view of Sunset bar and Grill, as well as, all the people waiting for the planes to fly 10 feet above their heads!
One of our last stops on the “Best of St. Maarten” tour was at the Carousel Gelateria Bar. Here you can ride a real Italian Carousel and eat Italian gelato! The Carousel hours are from 2pm-10:30pm daily and it is located on the Dutch side of the island at Simpson Bay.Seen here is the beautiful Italian carousel! Anyone can ride on it and as many times as you want because it is free to ride.Lil man riding on the carousel.Mom did not ride the carousel, but they wanted their picture taken together on one of the horses.After taking a ride on the carousel, we decided to grab some gelato. There are so many flavors to choose from, however we ended up with pineapple, birthday cake, and caramel. The gelato was so creamy but it is a little pricey. We bought three cups and a waffle cone and it was $22 in US currency.The very last stop on the tour was at Great Bay view point. When we were in St. Maarten in July, it had not rained in over six months and the island was in a severe drought. Therefore, nothing was green and lush and the views were not as beautiful as they normally are.At the end of the tour, you can elect to be dropped off at Front Street or back at the cruise ship, both located on the Dutch side. Since we had two hours left before we had to be back at the ship, we elected to be dropped off at Front Street. This is the main street in Philipsburg, and where all the shopping is located. In this photo, little miss wanted to pet the bear that is located right outside of the Guavaberry Emporium.Guavaberry is not only the drink of Christmas on the island of St. Maarten, it is the national liquor! It is made from fine oak aged rum, cane sugar, and wild Guavaberries that are found on the island.The Sint Maarten direction sign located on Front Street.The Yoda Guy is located on Front Street in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The exhibit is a nonprofit museum that is ran by Nick Maley. He is a movie-industry artist that was involved in the creation of Yoda. It is free to go in and walk around, the hours are Monday- Saturday 9:30am-5pm.As you make your way upstairs, there is memorabilia along the walls that you can stop and read. As soon as you enter upstairs, you see the yoda statue and behind the scenes photos from the Star Wars Movies.The walls are full of Star Wars photos, memorabilia, and movie scripts that are signed by some of the cast. This is a stop that I would highly recommend even if you are not a star wars fan.Seen in the photo is Nick Maley, the owner and one of the creators of Yoda. Chris is listening in on the conversation, the guy in red asked him what it was like to work with George Lucas. If you purchase a piece of memorabilia, he will sign it for you and get his photo made with you as well.The Philipsburg boardwalk.This is the beach right at the boardwalk. This is where alot of the tourist stay, you can rent two chairs, an umbrella, and get a few beers for about $20.Another view of the beach that is located at the Philipsburg boardwalk. You can see our cruise ship in the background as well.There are little side streets that connect Front Street and Back Street. As we were walking around on some of the side streets, we stopped at The Belgian Chocolate Box located on Old Street. They are open Monday-Saturday 8:30am-6pm. It was so delicious that out of the 16 pieces of chocolate that we bought, none of it made it back to the cruise ship.A beautiful photo of Front Street.We had so many wonderful experiences on the island of St. Maarten! It is a place that I would recommend to people to spend a week for vacation or a honeymoon. We were planning a return trip before we even got back on the cruise ship.
