Trip to St.Maarten/St.Martin - October 11-15, 2003
As a final semester trip, our friends decided to all go to St. Maarten together for the ultimate combination of Caribbean and Civilization. St. Maarten is one of the nicer islands in the Caribbean, located a few islands north of Dominica in the Windward Islands. St. Maarten/St. Martin is unique in that it is the smallest territory in the world to be shared by two sovereign nations -- the north (St. Martin) is French, while the south (St. Maarten) is Dutch. Our group (which included us, Dave and Natasha, Cat and Matt, Ansu, Margaret, Sean and Brad) headed for the Dutch side, choosing to stay at Great Bay Hotel just outside of the capital city of Philipsburg.
We actually had a chance to sample St. Maarten during our honeymoon cruise, but it had been nearly 4 years since we visited the island, and at the time, we only saw small parts of Philipsburg during a day stop on the trip. This second trip helped clarify some of our honeymoon memories, and introduced us to a much broader area of the island, including our first trip to the French half. The trip began on Oct. 11, when we all arrived at the Mellville Hall airport in Dominica before 7 a.m. By 4 p.m., we had all finally arrived in St. Maarten exhausted from the travels but ready to enjoy the island. After eating and freshening up, we played darts and hung out with the group. Pictured below: Brad, Dave and Kelly outside the airport; the main pool at Great Bay Hotel, Brad taking a look at the giant chess set; and the beach volleyball court at the hotel.
~Arriving in St. Maarten and Great Bay Hotel~
The second day on the island was a Sunday, and as most places are closed on Sundays in the Caribbean, we decided to spend the day hanging out at the beach. The hotel provided a full breakfast, and since food is a luxury item in Dominica, we took advantage of breakfast each morning. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel beach for swimming, sunbathing and volleyball. After lunch, we headed into Philipsburg for a walk and managed to find both McDonalds and Burger King. We relaxed back at the hotel and had a quiet night to ourselves. Pictured below: Great Bay; Ian and Kelly on the beach; Dave diving into the Caribbean Sea; Brad posing with his Rum trophy after winning at the crab races (only in the Caribbean!); the group walking into town; Kelly posing with Ronald McDonald and her Burger King food; Ian serving in beach volleyball; and the group at the Great Bay Hotel volleyball court.
~Great Bay~
Monday was a shopping day. We woke up early and all took a shuttle to Marigot on the French side, where shopping was okay but nothing spectacular. We did make it to the Haagen Das stand and a mall, but we didn't do most of our shopping until after lunch when we went into Philipsburg. Most of us ended up with new watches, and we found a Subway, where the employees probably thought we were insane, but it was seriously the best sub we had had in a while. After shopping, we all went out for a movie (another luxury not found in Dominica) and then dinner. Pictured below: a view of St. Martin from the taxi; Ian and Kelly sitting in Marigot waiting for stores to open; a Marigot street; Sean back at the hotel; Margi after getting her nose ring; the Ansu and Margaret Subway commercial; and Great Bay at Sunset.
~Marigot and Philipsburg~
Half the crew had to return home on Tuesday, but the other half couldn't get flights out until Wednesday. We were in the Wednesday group, so we took advantage of our extra day by booking a Catamaran Day Sail to Prickly Pear Island. It was a 2 hour sail one way from St. Maarten to the tiny island and its Marine Park, where we could enjoy snorkeling the many coral reefs and sunbathing on the sandy beaches. Lunch was served on the island before making the 2 hour trip back to St. Maarten. It was a beautiful trip and relaxing ride aboard The Bluebeard catamaran. We rounded off a nice trip by ordering a Philly Cheesesteak pizza from Domino's and relaxing at the hotel. Pictured below: the Heineken mast of our catamaran; Prickly Pear island from a distance; the boats parked on the island; Ian diving off our catamaran; and a view of our boat from the deck of the island restaurant.
~Prickly Pear Island Tour~
Wednesday was our long travel day back to Dominica, and the most interesting part of the day was the tiny plane we ended up taking from Antigua to Dominica. It was a DeHavilland Twin Otter, and we sat right behind the pilots with full view of the cockpit. They allowed pictures, so Ian was in heaven, snapping away at the pilot and scenery below. Although not the smallest plane in the world, it was a strange experience climbing aboard it while two big jets sat on the runway right beside it. We flew into Canefield Airport in Roseau, which was another experience all together, and then finally made our way back home. Pictured below: our little plane; a view from the cockpit before takeoff; and Dominica as viewed from the plane.
Overall, St. Maarten was a very nice Caribbean experience, with plenty to see and do. Shopping and food are much better on this island than some of the others, and the beaches were beautiful white sand. Although each island seems to have something different to offer, we could definitely see ourselves coming back for another visit here. For more on visiting St. Martin, visit the official website.
