Three Spinning Teacups: Day 7--St. Maarten

We weren’t really sure how Lily would handle back-to-back days of shore excursions, so we opted to do one on St. Thomas and just wing it for St. Maarten. That morning, we decided to try the buffet at Enchanted Garden for breakfast. Pretty much the same food, but much better tea and a much more relaxed atmosphere than Cabanas. It really is a must-do in the future.

During breakfast we got the announcement that the ship had been cleared for people to disembark. We grabbed our day supplies and headed off the ship—and into the wind. It was crazy windy on the dock, and we saw lots of people lose important things, including one guy having his driver’s license and Key to the World card blown away. Thankfully we were able to catch it for him, or he might have stayed stuck in St. Maarten!

We were on the Dutch side of the island, and since we didn’t want to rent a car or use a taxi service, we decided to walk it. To get from the dock to the main shopping district, we took a water taxi, however. They were incredibly friendly and mentioned how much they love tourists since tourism is really the only source of income for the island. Sailing on that little boat, it was amazing how blue the water was, but also how unnatural a shade of blue it looked. It was blue in the same way that antifreeze is green, but having that very unnatural color to it. It was also amazingly clear, and we could see large fish swimming around the docks.

Heeeeere fishy fishy fishy fishy!

Once we got past a certain point on the dock at the shopping district, vendors were all around, selling everything from clothes and bags that they carried on their person to people handing out fliers for the different stores around town. As long as you didn’t make eye contact, they pretty much left you alone. Another part of the tourism economy is the selling of beach chairs with a bucket of beer for the day. Needless to say, that’s not something we had interest in. Although the water out in the bay was amazingly beautiful, the beaches themselves were on par with what you’d find in the states. (Truth be told, I prefer the sand on Sanibel Island!)

We wandered down the beach side of the island for a while and then cut over to Front Street—one of the two shopping streets (the other being Back Street). We did some quick shopping in a couple stores that we wanted to see, buying some linens in one of the tablecloth stores and buying some jewelry in one of the jewelry stores. Because we were the only ship in port for that day, the merchants weren’t very enthusiastic about things, and let us browse. We bought a couple trinkets in Del Sol (a color changing merchandise location) and looked at the prices on bamboo sheets in a bamboo cloth store. Those were far more than you would pay in the states. By the time we got down to the other end of Front Street, Lily was a bit cranky and we had a bag full of stuff. A quick stop at the Guavaberry liqueur store, and then we opted to walk back to the ship on one of the back roads (but a main traveled road filled with other people who wanted to skip the water taxi). On the way, we bought some gouda and some rum cakes (which we found out later were VERY potent rum cakes!) and headed back on board.

We dropped everything off on the ship and then headed back to the water taxi and into town to try a restaurant called Taloula Mango. I had been really impressed with the menu when I saw it online, so we decided to try the “local flavor”. In particular, we wanted to try the gouda sticks (think mozzarella sticks, but with gouda). We ordered a grilled cheese for Lily and some local stew preparations (a mild curry for me and a creole dish for Erwin). Ironically, Lily didn’t touch her grilled cheese, but was content to eat the gouda sticks and the rice with my curry dish. The food was excellent, and we had a couple of great foo-foo drinks with the meal. One surprising thing was that the restaurant, although one that caters to kids with a decent kids’ menu, didn’t have milk. Thankfully we had brought some with us, and we all left quite full and happy. During the meal, as we were sitting outside, we did have a couple vendors come to the table to sell us things. A quick “no thanks” and they left, however.

Lily was looking pretty exhausted at that point. We had tried to get her to take a nap when we first got back to the ship, but she wasn’t going for it. Now that she was full, she was very sleepy, but she wanted to see the beach. We walked a bit on the shore, and then put her in the stroller to head along back to the ship. She protested mightily, but before we were on the water taxi, she was sound asleep. We got back aboard (getting lots of awwws about how cute she was being so dead-to-the-world tired) and put her into bed. We took it easy that afternoon playing Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad and being mellow.

Thankfully Lily woke up so that we could try and get some dinner into her before our reservation at the adults' only venue, Palo. We dropped Lily at Small World, dressed, and headed upstairs. We were there a few minutes early so we had some drinks in the Meridian lounge. I had a rum-based martini that was fantastic, and Erwin tempted fate with a drink largely based with balsamic vinegar. Way too strong for my taste, but I guess he enjoyed it!

Left: Balsamic Grande (Grey Goose Vodka, 5 Year
Balsamic, Vinegar, Fresh Muddled Strawberry)
Right: Chambord Mojito Martini (Bacardi Limon,
Chamboard, Fresh Muddled Lime and Mint Leaves)

Dinner at Palo (which is a $25 up charge per person from the regular dining rooms) was exceptional. We had great timing as we were able to watch the ship pull out of port during dinner. I got to try AquaPanna water for the water selection (yes, there is a water selection at no additional charge), and I see what all the fuss is about. That was probably the most tasty water I've ever had, which is odd because being really pure water, it didn't have a flavor per se...it was just uber refreshing.

The meal was wonderful, and of course we had to finish with the signature chocolate soufflé. That is happiness in a bowl, it is! Our server, Marianne, was simply delightful. It was well worth the price, and we'd gladly do it again. One of the great surprises for me was the wonderful flavor of the parmesan on the antipasto tray. I like cheese, and that was some really awesome cheese. It was nice to be able to do the adult thing for a night, and Lily had an exceptionally good time at the nursery.

By the time the meal was finishing up, I was starting to get a bit of a headache from sinus pressure. I hadn't brought any sort of cold medicines (except for Benedryl) on board because I didn't plan to get sick and figured I could get stuff on ship. After dinner, we hit the stores to try and find something for me (ala zyrtec), but no luck. I had forgotten that it is a controlled substance, so I probably could have gotten some if I had gone to the ship's sick bay, but I figured I'd just get something in port the next day. Needless to say, I did a lot of tossing and turning that night.

That evening was Pirate's night, but because we had been at Palo and had a very sleepy girl and I wasn't feeling my best, we went back to the room and I pretty much sacked out in bed. Erwin went topside to catch the fireworks show and videotaped it for me. In the future I'd love to do the pirate deck party...it sounded like it was a lot of fun. The fireworks really show what the ship's soundproofing is like, however. I couldn't hear the fireworks from our cabin. That's pretty impressive to say the least!

The next morning was St. Thomas and our first (and only) shore excursion. It is a fairly short trip from St. Maarten to St. Thomas, so the ship moved pretty slow all night, even though the weather was less than ideal the closer we got in to port. But that's a story for another post...