Anyway, on Saturday, we arrived in St. Maarten, considered the smallest oceanic island shared by two different nations. The population of about 78,000 inhabits the island which was divided by France and the Netherlands in 1648, 60% French and 40% Dutch.
We landed in the Dutch part of the island Sint Maarten (in the French area call Saint Martin), soon we have already taken a Water Taxi, but it is possible to reach the beach and the Philipsburg area on foot, as we did on the way back. We found the Philipsburg area super friendly and say it’s great for shopping (we saw several stores there, some of well-known brands and others not – but we only stayed in the same souvenirs).
Just next up is the beach, we chose to stay in the Great Bay area, which is right there, you can see from the ship (and go on foot too, since it is on the edge of Philipsburg). Everything convenient, bars, wifi and chairs at your disposal.
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| Diego showing the Dutch part in the south of the island and then up is the French part. |
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| Hard Rock Café St. Maarten and shops for all tastes… |
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| Lots of shops… |
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| Waiting for water taxi |
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| Great Bay |
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| Great Bay, our mermaid and the ship in the back |
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| Walk of approximately 30 minutes to the ship (I already advance that you do not see anything interesting after the beach ends) |
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| Brazil there too… |
St. Marteen ranked 3rd on our beach range on this trip. We find the beach beautiful (the sea), we find it super convenient (commerce, restaurants etc), but it is very busy and say, exudes less nature compared to some of the other beaches we visit.
This week I will post the last post of the Caribbean cruise series, when we return to San Juan and visit some forts dating back to before 1800. It will be the last, oops.. at last!
Previous posts from the CRUISE IN THE CARIBBEAN series you can access
here.
