One Last Sunset

We enjoyed one last sunset on the ships deck as we were leaving St. Maarten. It was absolutely beautiful!









After the sunset, we headed to the dining room for one last amazing meal. Arabella had so much fun with our waiter, Hermman, they would hi-5 the whole time.





And the hostesses we sad when we said goodbye, they were so friendly and just loved Arabella.





After saying goodbye, we headed back to the cabin to pack up and put our bags outside our door so they could be picked up and then would be ready for us when we got off the boat in the morning. It is so sad to see all the bags lined up in the hallway and being loaded into the elevators. I sure don't envy the guys that get the job of hauling all this luggage!

Philipsburg, St Maarten

Fun Facts*

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.

Maho Beach a/k/a Airport Beach

Maho Beach a/k/a Airport Beach is St. Maarten had to be one of the best beaches that we went too! It had nothing to do with the beach amenities or the water. There was hardly any beach, there were no chairs or umbrellas to rent and you had to sit amongst rocks, although the water and sand was perfect. It had everything to do with this:




Yes, that is me standing in the water as the plane few over my head! It was such an amazing experience!

Basseterre, St. Kitts

Fun Facts*

Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean.

During the last Ice Age, the sea level was 200 feet (60m) lever and St. Kitts and Nevis were one island with St. Eustatius (also known as Statia) and Saba.

St. Kitts is AMAZING! I love this island and want to go back! St. Kitts is not as commercialized as some islands we visited, but it still had everything that I could want! We once again, headed to a beach, and I was loving every minute of the sun, sand and surf.





On the taxi ride to Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach, we learned about the island and some of the inhabitants...monkeys! To be exact, there are 90,000 monkeys on the island, that is 2 monkeys for every person on the island. So on the ride, we kept an eye out for them, but no luck in spotting any, we just ended up getting a flat tire...not the worst thing that could happen, it allowed me to grab some great pictures, but it did put a little dent in our beach time.





Jay and they other guys in the taxi with us, helped the driver change the flat and get us back on our way.





Once we got to the beach, I knew I was in love. Spice Mill at Cockleshell Beach is a beach bar/restaurant that also rents on chairs and umbrellas. For the most part, the beaches are very secluded and you had a perfect view of Nevis, St. Kitts sister island. There were two other bars/restaurants on the beach here, but it did not feel commercialized at all. Arabella and I spent time searching for large cockleshells, and sure enough, we found a ton of them. I even ended up bring home 4 (I had to carry the 2 largest ones in my carry on bag since they were so heavy). Don't worry, they are not for just me, Arabella and I picked 2 of them out for a few special people! At Cockleshell Beach, we were able to enjoy it and relax without being hounded to buy things. We ate lunch on the beach and I even enjoyed a "Ting with a Sting", a yummy local drink, Ting grapefruit soda with CSR, the local rum-like sugarcane liquor.











Right as we were leaving the beach, we spotted our first monkey. I was able to snap a picture before the monkey's owner saw me, since if he did, I would have had to pay for the picture!

Yes, that is a monkey sitting on Jay's head!



After the beach, we went back to the port to check out a few of the Duty Free Shops.
We looked at the liquor and ended up with a bottle of local rum that was recommended to us. But seriously, buying your alcohol in the Caribbean is the only way to go...check out some of these prices:

Not buying this Hennessy! You are reading that correctly, $2,250! The rest of the prices were amazing!





Then it was back to the ship to let the hard playing beach baby sleep before dinner.



I was lucky enough to watch the sun set from the ships deck while we were leaving St. Kitts before we went to dinner. It was a beautiful sunset!











*Fun Facts have been taken from the Carnival Fun Ashore Your Guide to Shore Excursions Book.