Today we docked in St. Marten. I couldn't believe it - waking up morning after morning to beautiful ports with the same crystal blue water. After growing up in Galveston with murky, green water and small dots of oil on the surface, I am still excited by the thought of seeing my toes in the ocean.
Tim had great plans for adventure today. He was my travel guide. He read about every single island before we left - he knew what restaurants we should try, which beaches were the best and safest, and other noteworthy sights throughout the whole trip. I, on the other hand, had to ready the house and schedule for grandparents! I really wanted the whole "taking care of 4 children" deal to be as easy as possible and that takes A LOT of organization. I'm sure you can understand my need to take a tour book with me rather than reading it ahead of time. We are such a good pair - he reads and I organize.
So, back to the adventure. Since the cars drive on the same side of the road as we do in the United States, today was our opportunity to rent a car and explore. I am sorry to say, this is the only picture of our day in the blue jeep. Here is a glimpse of Tim as we traversed the very narrow streets of the island (just picture me beside him in my bikini and shorts). You would think we were 20 again! Don't you love the "10 and 2" position and the clenched jaw!
After hopping in the jeep and figuring out the right direction, we headed out to begin our circle around the island. Our first goal was to find some of the less crowded beaches. The roads wind around the coastline and in between the small towns there are various beaches. It is rather difficult to find access to many of them, but we did find that Rouge Baie was easy to see. We parked in the small lot and ventured out with towels. Unfortunately, there were several men at the entrance trying to convince us to rent beach chairs from them. There were also some bikini-clad models in the middle of a photo shoot. Once we walked out onto the beach, it really was secluded. We were early, so it may have filled up, but for our purpose, it was perfect!
The water was rather rough. The waves were breaking violently, but once you got past the break, it was much better. This might shock you, but I did have one grand purpose for this beach. I had to strip down real quick, run to the water, swim for 5 minutes and hop back out as fast as I could. Time is ticking away and I have to check things off of my "40" list! Oh yes I did!!! YAHOO! (I was not alone in this venture I'll let you know).
We didn't read the sign until we were driving off - oops!!
Back on the road again, we wandered on around to Orient Bay. We spent 3 hours on Bikini Beach. This is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world. It really was beautiful. We walked the length of the beach, beginning with chairs and fully clad swimmers, and ending with a beach full of nude bathers. We cut that walk short - too much information for me!
Once we'd had enough sun, we jumped back in the jeep and drove back to the port. St. Marten wasn't my favorite although the ride in the jeep was fun. I'll just record it as our most adventurous day!
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