St. Maarten – A Fort, a Sales Pitch, and a Random Dinner Party

Our third day on St. Maarten was one of our beach days. We had a nice leisurely breakfast on our balcony, watching a Disney cruise boat make its way to Great Bay. Then, before most people were awake, we walked the 100 feet from our room to the beach and claimed a couple beach chairs.

The Disney Cruise passing Little Bay
It felt so good to layout in the sun and relax! If we started to get too warm from the sun, the water was the perfect temperature to cool us down without feeling cold. Dan and I both brought Christopher Moore books with us to read, and I am sure some of the sunbathers near us were wondering why we kept laughing – clearly, they were missing out on the fantastic wit and humor of Christopher Moore. :)

After lunch, we cleaned up and made our way down to the sales office. Many of you have probably sat through a timeshare sales pitch before, but this was Dan and I’s first. Our consultant was a funny, older gentleman who was building a house in Jamaica and constantly berating the French salesmen for their incompetence. LOL It was really amusing!

Throughout our pitch, Dan and I asked lots of questions so we would be more knowledgeable about the in’s and out’s of timeshares. Then, when the time came, we put our game faces on and gave good hardy “no thank you” responses about purchasing a timeshare. Let me pause and say that we are not against timeshares, we just do not want to have one at this time. The consultant was understanding (though his boss was a bit pushy), and after a little bit of time, we walked out of the office with $90 to spend toward our sailboat dinner cruise later in the week. :) Huzzah!

In the hours before dinner, Dan and I hiked up the big hill on the peninsula that divides Great Bay from Little Bay (where the resort is). The top of the hill is a historic site for Fort Amsterdam, a small fort and adjacent buildings from the 1800s. The view was gorgeous, and we had fun taking pictures with the cannons and other landmarks.

Fort Amsterdam

The cliffs at the end of the peninsula
For dinner, we decided to walk the hill into Phillipsburg and find a local restaurant. The boardwalk was very pretty at dusk, and while reading a dinner menu, we spotted the couple we had met on Happy Harold’s tour. Dan instantly stopped reading the menu, walked up to the couple’s table, and sat down in an empty chair. The couple (Gary and Becky) laughed and eagerly asked us to join them. (which Dan already had) lol With a round of Caribs (a Caribbean beer) in hand, all four of us chose to order the best curry shrimp that I have ever had. Seriously, I am drooling just thinking about it.

As we enjoyed our delicious dinner, we saw two other couples from Happy Harold’s tour walking down the boardwalk. By the time our plates were empty, our party had doubled, and we were all sharing tips of the best spots to visit around the island. It was a lovely evening of good conversation, yummy food, and great people!

Read about the other Parts of our St. Maarten trip: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7

St. Maarten - Making Friends on Happy Harold's Island Tour

The first time you go on a real vacation with your significant other, you are able to learn a LOT about each other. Even if you have been living under the same roof, there are new details that you can only learn when you are on vacation together. For me, I learned just how friendly my fiancé is.

I have always known that Dan was friendly; however, I did not learn the extent of this until our trip to St. Maarten. Because of my wonderful, accepting fiancé, we made friends with at least 30 people during our stay (no, I am not exaggerating). It was fantastic. What’s even more fun is that we got to hang out with some of them on multiple occasions, and I still keep in touch with a few of them on Facebook. :)

Monday:
One place where we met some of these wonderful people was at Happy Harold’s island tour. Now, most hotels and resorts offer island tours, but an old co-worker told me that the best tour on St. Maarten is Happy Harold’s. And it’s true!

Happy Harold is a mid-to-late sixty year old St. Maarten native. He has worked countless jobs around the island and currently makes a living as a taxi driver and tour guide. His tours are the best because he takes you on the “country” tour that includes a rum stop and the best BBQ restaurant. If you are ever in St. Maarten on a Monday, you have to go on Happy Harold’s tour! :)

Dan and I with Happy Harold
Traveling around the island with us were 13 other people who were staying at the Sea Palace hotel, a cozy hotel located right on the boardwalk in Philipsburg. We drove to dozens of locations around the island, taking in the sites, learning history and economy tips from Harold, and snapping TONS of pictures. Because it would take a book for me to describe all the places we saw, I will give you a picture tour:

Guana Bay

Hotel at Guana Bay that was destroyed by a hurricane

The view from Busby's Bar at Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay

Iguana on the side of the road

Stopping at Lolo's BBQ restaurant in Grand Case

An wonderful couple we made friends with

More friends that we made on the tour

Jump!

Dan and I on a dock at Grand Case

Cool sunken ship sitting in a hidden bay
After the tour was finished, Dan and I caught a cab to the Grand Marche, the biggest local grocery store. It was well stocked with everything you could need, and we spent a half an hour picking up breakfast and lunch supplies. I also had a lot of fun looking at all the Dutch food products and pointing out the exorbitant prices ($7 for a bag of chips!).

Dinner ended up being a stove top meal of fresh cooked plantains and spicy sausage. Yum! We munched happily on our balcony and sipped glasses of Guavaberry rum (locally made), while watching the sun set.

Dinner! Yum!!

Why is rum gone? Because Dan drank it all!

Beautiful sunset
Read about the other Parts of our St. Maarten trip: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7

St. Maarten - Traveling to the Caribbean

Recently, Dan and I took our first big vacation together. Although we have traveled before, it has always been for quick trips to visit family along the East Coast. That is why we decided to take some time for just the two of us and spend an entire week on beautiful St. Maarten!

Sunday (day 1):
Our flights down to St. Maarten were smooth and quick. When we stopped in Charlotte to change planes, I got really excited about the rocking chairs that were strategically positioned around the terminal. Seriously! There were rocking chairs in an airport. How cool is that?! A few hours after our second plane took off, we were looking down through the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean.

The beach that all planes fly over when they land!
Traveling from the airport to the resort was unexpectedly easy. When we told the taxi stand where we were headed, we had the good fortune to have a taxi already heading that way. We piled into the van, said “hi” to the driver, and met another couple who were heading toward the same resort. It didn’t take long for introductions to be made, and we learned that they were newlyweds from Detroit. Our drive to the hotel was filled with gorgeous views and chatting about wedding planning and all that it entails.

I was really excited when we pulled up to our resort, Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. Dan and I had seen pictures of the location online, but seeing it in person made it so much better! Divi Little Bay Beach Resort is situated on the little peninsula that separates Little Bay from Great Bay. It rests on the edges of a beautiful beach where its pale yellow walls and a red tile roofs catch the setting sun perfectly!

Now on one side of the resort, the rooms are tiered up and down the sides of a hill, while the other side of the resort is a more simple, two-story building. Our room was on the simple side of the resort, which gave us the most beautiful scenery to look at from our little balcony. (The water was less than 100 feet from our balcony. It was awesome!) The room itself was very comfortable for two people, a cozy suite on the second floor with a big bathroom and fully equipped kitchenette. The bed was huge compared to our bed at home, and it felt even bigger because there weren’t any dogs to take up the extra space. :) The only downside to the room was that the TV was rather old and the screen liked to fade in and out occasionally.

The view from our balcony
As soon as we had most of our bags unpacked and organized, Dan and I headed straight for a walk on the beach. Barefoot and glad to be out of the airport, we walked up and down the length of Little Bay. When we reached the end, we walked around the resort grounds to see what amenities were available. The resort had a bunch of little shops and two bar areas. We ate dinner at the bar closest to our room, enjoying complementary rum punches. Mmm…

Tequila shots with the newlyweds we met in the cab.
Read about the other Parts of our St. Maarten trip: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7