St. Marteen...Dutch, French, Naked Sunbathers, and Sheep!

We ported in St. Marteen the next morning after spending an amazing day in St. Thomas . My mom wanted to do a guided tour of the island that took you to the French side of the island (we ported on the Dutch side). Since we had not up to this point been able to spend a day all together in port it sounded like the perfect thing that we all could do. The port was not as impressive as St. Thomas but it was still beautiful. Out of the whole trip this was the only day where we had some random sprinkles of rain and some cloud cover but it was still very warm.

So we loaded up early in the morning on the bus and took off for our tour......

St. Marteen is split between the two countries of Holland and France. You port on the Dutch side because it is to shallow to port on the French side. The first thing I noticed was cactus's all over the hills.....it looked more like the landscape you get in the Mediterranean.

The Dutch side (our ship in the distance)

 Another cruise ship coming in for the day

The french side of the island...and where we were headed to do some shopping.

A man with a message for all the tourist...see America is not the only place with Jesus freaks!

Border to the French side

Our destination approaching

The bus dropped us off in the French Quarter. It has lots of high end shopping,restaurants, hotels but it also had open market (comparable to a flea/farmers market) where locals sell their art, jewelry, clothes, and other things. We spent some time here and picked up a few things.

I think most people know St. Marteen for this beach.......which is right by this area...

 

Nothing like a Boeing jet landing right over you while you drink your Mai Tai.

And St Marteen is known for this beach...a lot of people naked...who should not be naked!

So after our shopping and sight seeing the bus took us on the rest of the tour of the island. We learned they have lots of dingos on the island, no snakes but a mongoose problem. Dutch children start school at 3 and all kids are eligible for scholarships for college. Locals usually have a long life expectancy, I assume low stress is the key factor in that......mmmmm....the tour guide talked a lot so I think I will just keep showing some pics.....

The most heavily patrolled border I have ever seen.....not...but we did have to stop for.....

sheep to cross the road...aha....felt like I was back in Idaho!

We made it back to the ship by early afternoon and had a bite to eat at the ship and then did some shopping at the mall located outside the port area

We ported out around 5 that evening...that was our last port, we were headed for home....2 days at sea

So even though this was our last port I feel with all vacations I need to share my observations of fellow travelers, my thoughts on cruising, things that we shared as a family along the way in our travels....all these things need to be shared still and that deserves a post of its own. I also need to share our final night and morning on the ship which ended with my mom in an ambulance in Miami...that deserves a post of its own also. 

Traveling with us...well it is always an adventure!