2-8-2005   St. Maarten:

Our first port was St. Maarten. It has the world record for being the smallest island in the world to host two nations---Sint Maarten on the Dutch side and St. Martin on the French side.  It is a 37 sq mile island that features all the charm of the Caribbean.  

We did a ship excursion around the island

 Our tour stopped on at the French capital of Marigot for a couple hours.

 There our excursion also took us on a glass bottom boat trip. I wasn't too impressed with the glass bottom boat part

 heading down the pier to our boat

 the water wasn't all that clear and the only thing we really saw was the few colorless fish by the scuba diver feeding them.

 Now I know where Santa goes after a busy holiday season!

 After our boat ride, we had about an hour to roam around.  There was a shopping mall right there, so we walked through it quickly.

 Back on the bus and back to the Dutch side of the island.

View of Marigot from Fort Louis

 More of Marigot

 We got off the tour bus by the boardwalk in Philipsburg. 

 walking along the boardwalk

 beautiful area

 The beach and water here is beautiful! 

 Lots of interesting looking buildings near the beach, too.

 There is a boat ferry that runs from Philipsburg to the port, but it's only about a mile walk back, so Dad and I elected to walk.  It was an interesting walk.  At one point it looked like we were walking past an old boat graveyard.  Made for some fun photos of rusted metal parts.

Back at the port and the port shops. 

I was rather impressed with this island. There were lots of hills and beautiful beaches.