Marigot, St. Martin 3/15

We awoke to a lovely view of St. Martin. We are tendering on the French side of the island, in Marigot. Had room service again, so lovely. The omelet was fabulous and the carafe of coffee was nice and hot. John had cold smoked salmon, bagel and hard boiled eggs. Uck. But he likes it, lol.



Met Nikki & Darrel in the Cabaret Lounge, we were going on a shore excursion - a van tour of the island. Tendering was a little less traumatic this morning, as they sent us down in groups of 45. After we got off the tender, we were hustled into a van with 2 other couples, driven by Michel

What an interesting man - all full of talk/opinions, but very little information about the island lol. He's 66 and runs 3 days a week. He has many children (5 I think?) and had 2 before he got married because it's important to be sure before you get married (um, I think having children together is a much bigger commitment, lol). We drove past a place where they hold cock fighting (boo) and he explained the concept of 'auntie man' (Caribbean slang for homosexuals) and that Hurricane Luis from 1995 was known as Auntie Man because it came in from behind. OMG, we were in tears from laughing so much. He drove us to the Dutch side of the island, and we crossed the border
No security here, lol. We then drove into Phillipsburg, the port where all the large cruise ships dock. There were several in port, one was the Epic which I believe holds over 4000 people. We were told there was anywhere from 10,000 people to 16,000 people from cruise ships in town that day. Nikki thought I would hate it, because she knows I hate crowds - but for some reason I loved it! The boardwalk runs along the bay is wide, with the restaurants on one side and the beach on the other with the beach vendors trying to rent you chairs/umbrellas ... so much fun! And it's full of duty free shopping, although I wasn't interested in purchasing it was fun too look. We wandered around town for about an hour, taking lots of photos. I loved the small streets and architecture. We are definitely coming back here someday!



Since I've drank a gallon of Captain Morgans already, I had to have my picture taken with him! LOL Too soon it was time to leave, we met back at the van and the other 2 couples never showed. We waited about 30 minutes, I was worried about them but we couldn't wait any longer. We met them on ship later that night and they said that they never intended to come back with us, as they found the driver offensive. Sure would have been nice to have known that, and not wasted our limited shore time! The drive out of Phillipsburg was breathtaking, all that lovely turquoise water.We then stopped at another viewpoint before crossing back into the French side of the island, from here we could see Marigot. And I zoomed in so you can see our ship, unfortunately it's pretty distorted.
There is a beach near the airport where everyone goes because the planes fly right over you, it's apparently very cool. We didn't go, but met one couple who did, they said that the jet wash practically ripped their clothes off! Found this photo on the internet, so you can see what I'm talking about
On the way back to Marigot, Michel stopped his van in the middle of the road to pick a cashew fruit for us to see ... he went onto someone's property, picked the nut and some dog came after him, barking like mad. Crazy! LOL. However, I never knew that each cashew nut is from one piece for fruit - no wonder they are so expensive!

After getting back to Marigot, we wandered around the open-air market and shopped for souvenirs. I didn't buy anything, it seems like most things were cheap imports.


Then back to the ship for another late lunch by the pool grill - that is another small complaint I have about Azamara, buffet lunch ends at 2:30, and dinner doesn't start until 6pm so the grill is our only option if we are hungry between those hours. At least they have a salad bar of sorts at the grill, so we don't always have to get a burger!

We had intended to go back into Marigot for the evening, since we weren't leaving port until 11pm - but found out that they were having a Caribbean buffet on the pool deck, complete with a steel band! I didn't want to miss it, and I'm glad I didn't - the food was amazing. Several types of FRESH fish ... wahoo fish, mahi-mahi, red snapper, lobster ceviche. Coconut cake for dessert topped it all off. Such a lovely evening, eating al fresco with the breeze and view of Marigot. It did rain a bit, but that didn't dampen our fun!