Latte Lover
<font color=green> in charge of the credit cards a
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2003
- Messages
- 1,335
Tuesday 25th October 2011
This was, without a doubt, my favourite day of the whole holiday!
Today we stopped at St Maarten.
The Magic
Joh had found and organised a fab tour for us all to go on. It was with Bernards Tours, which I think a fellow Dis-er had recommended. We shared a mini-bus with 2 other groups a young couple and a family, and our chauffeur, who was very informative and fun, took us all around the Island, both French and Dutch sides. One of our fellow passengers was given the task of handing out drinks from the large cooler. There was a reward for him if he managed to persuade us to drink the whole lot. We all gamely helped ourselves to as many drinks as we could manage, including a very strong rum punch, but our driver kept filling up the cooler at every stop!
Our first stop was a small farm where we petted iguanas. There were dozens of them and they were extremely tame.
We made another stop for photos and shell and sea-creature viewing.
Next stop was the wonderful Orient Beach.
The mini-bus parked at the beach and we then noticed the Nude Beach was just in front of us. Tony couldnt resist having a good look and declared his eyes would never be the same again. Serves him right for looking.
As the day had started out cloudy and drizzly, I had worn jeans and was starting to boil as the weather was now very hot and sunny. I also hadnt bothered to bring my swimwear and Ellie didnt have hers either, so we went off to the little market-style shops at the back of the beach and bought a light cotton dress for me and a bikini for Ellie. In fact we neednt have gone anywhere as the traders constantly walk up and down the beach trying to sell these anyway. We were probably asked at least 20 times if we would like a towel/bikini/dress etc. The traders were all lovely, smiley people though and I didnt feel I was being hassled at all.
Daniel builds The Sphinx in the sand:
We had a lovely couple of hours here. We hired loungers, swam in the beautiful warm sea and sampled delicious Guava cocktails.
We left the beach around 12 and journeyed to our next stop, a little town with a colourful market selling bright clothes, jewellery and fragrant spices.
We only had 45 minutes here and, to our annoyance, some of our party were very late getting back to the mini-bus (they werent even hurrying either just ambling along. Grr ). Our driver was concerned that we would not have enough time for our next stop, which was the one we were all especially looking forward to Maho beach. Finally the missing group climbed into the mini-bus. How dare you be so late. If we miss the planes at Maho Beach, I will never forgive you! I yelled at them. I didnt, of course. But I would have done if I was a much braver person. Instead they got the benefit of my best glare and we set off.
Continued in Part 2
This was, without a doubt, my favourite day of the whole holiday!
Today we stopped at St Maarten.
The Magic
Joh had found and organised a fab tour for us all to go on. It was with Bernards Tours, which I think a fellow Dis-er had recommended. We shared a mini-bus with 2 other groups a young couple and a family, and our chauffeur, who was very informative and fun, took us all around the Island, both French and Dutch sides. One of our fellow passengers was given the task of handing out drinks from the large cooler. There was a reward for him if he managed to persuade us to drink the whole lot. We all gamely helped ourselves to as many drinks as we could manage, including a very strong rum punch, but our driver kept filling up the cooler at every stop!
Our first stop was a small farm where we petted iguanas. There were dozens of them and they were extremely tame.
We made another stop for photos and shell and sea-creature viewing.
Next stop was the wonderful Orient Beach.
The mini-bus parked at the beach and we then noticed the Nude Beach was just in front of us. Tony couldnt resist having a good look and declared his eyes would never be the same again. Serves him right for looking.
As the day had started out cloudy and drizzly, I had worn jeans and was starting to boil as the weather was now very hot and sunny. I also hadnt bothered to bring my swimwear and Ellie didnt have hers either, so we went off to the little market-style shops at the back of the beach and bought a light cotton dress for me and a bikini for Ellie. In fact we neednt have gone anywhere as the traders constantly walk up and down the beach trying to sell these anyway. We were probably asked at least 20 times if we would like a towel/bikini/dress etc. The traders were all lovely, smiley people though and I didnt feel I was being hassled at all.
Daniel builds The Sphinx in the sand:
We had a lovely couple of hours here. We hired loungers, swam in the beautiful warm sea and sampled delicious Guava cocktails.
We left the beach around 12 and journeyed to our next stop, a little town with a colourful market selling bright clothes, jewellery and fragrant spices.
We only had 45 minutes here and, to our annoyance, some of our party were very late getting back to the mini-bus (they werent even hurrying either just ambling along. Grr ). Our driver was concerned that we would not have enough time for our next stop, which was the one we were all especially looking forward to Maho beach. Finally the missing group climbed into the mini-bus. How dare you be so late. If we miss the planes at Maho Beach, I will never forgive you! I yelled at them. I didnt, of course. But I would have done if I was a much braver person. Instead they got the benefit of my best glare and we set off.
Continued in Part 2
)
