During Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, he named it "Isla de San Martin" after Saint Martin of Tours.
After some initial conflict, the French and the Dutch realized that neither would yield easily. Preferring to avoid and all-out war, they signed the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which divided the island in two.
I love St. Marrten!! And we only saw a very small part of the island. We did not ever get to the French side so that will be our excuse to go back! Jay even commented that he would like to go back.
Our last stop on the cruise did not disappoint. The weather was once again perfect and we had a great time.
We decided to take a taxi to Maho Beach a/k/a Airport Beach since this was one place that I did not want to miss. I figured that Jay might also be OK with one last stop at the beach since the planes landing and taking off might give him some amusement since he was way over visiting the beach again. Airport Beach is one of the few places in the world where you can view aircraft in their flightpath just outside the end of the runway. Since so many people come here to watch the airplanes over the beach, daily arrivals and departure timetables are displayed on a board in most bars and restaurants on the beach. Sunset Beach Bar and Grill has a speaker on its outside deck that broadcasts the radio transmissions between pilots and the airport's control tower.
After the beach, we headed back to Philipsburg to check out the shopping, and boy was there shopping! There were so many jewelry stores that I couldn't believe it. I loved window shopping and looking at all the sparkly jewels and watches. I fell in love with this pink watch and Jay even let me go into the Cartier store to try on the Trinity ring that I have been looking at for years. I even found the Longchamp bag that I have been searching for and snatched it up since the price was right and there was no tax!
After some shopping, we went to the Belgian Chocolate Box where Jay and Arabella tried out some local chocolates. They were very yummy! After that, we went to the Guavaberry Emporium. Guavaberry is the legendary folk liqueur of St. Maarten. It was first made here centuries ago in private homes. It became an integral part of local culture & tradition. Guavaberry is St. Maarten's national liqueur. It is made from fine oak aged rum, cane sugar & wild St Maarten Guavaberries. The fruit is found high in the warm hills in the centre of the island. They are rare. They are not at all like guavas. The aged liqueur has a woody, fruity, spicy, bitter-sweet flavour all of its own. The name "Guavaberry" is of Caribbean Amer-Indian origin. And it is so good! Our last stop before taking the water taxi back to the boat was to "That Yoda Guy @ Planet Paradise". Here we met the creator of Yoda from Star Wars fame. Jay enjoyed seeing Darth Vader, Yoda, a Storm Trooper and other movie memorabillia. It was also fun to meet Nick Maley and see his work.
*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.
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