Final Cruise Destination: Philipsburg, St. Maarten

January 13, 2014

Our fourth cruise destination was the nationally split island of St. Martin. St. Maarten? Sint Maartin? Spelled several ways, the island is governed half by France and half by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This island is another that relies heavily on tourism, so you can see that the port is a popular cruise destination. Many people on the island work for tourism companies such as land and boat tours, as well as excursions (jet ski rentals, speedboat rides, zip line adventures, etc.).

We docked next to another Royal Caribbean ship in the morning. It was a neat experience, walking up the dock in between two floating hotels. We took a closed bus tour around the island, and our tour guide navigated the narrow roads with ease. One of the first things he pointed out was the amount of casinos on the Dutch side. It is illegal to have casinos on the French side, so they all come over to gamble on the Dutch side. However, on the French side, there are topless and nude beaches, so some people will make the trip to the opposite side of the island for a more natural beach-going experience. He said to us, "If you go to the Dutch side, you lose your money, but if you go to the French side, you will lose your clothes. Either way, you lose something!"

We stopped at a lookout point about 30 minutes into our trip:

From here, you could see the coastline and the jewel-blue water.

This island was very religious and we saw several six-sided stars, biblical phrases, and mezuzot on the doorposts of businesses.

Driving over from the Dutch side, we passed this monument on the side of the road, welcoming us to the French side.

We had about 45 minutes to shop and walk around this shopping area. The thing we were most excited about buying was an authentic French croissant, from a bakery about 50 meters from where our bus was parked.

We found the boulangerie! I got this delicious chocolate cream-filled confection and we all shared a croissant. The butter dripping off our fingers made the experience delectable and authentic.

We passed this wrecked barge and I wanted very much to explore it.

On our way back from the French side, we crossed over the border to the Dutch side. This bridge is the shortest international bridge in the world: you can walk from the Kingdom of the Netherlands over to France, and vice versa.

This hill may not look like much, but our tour guide told us that it is where one of the Jurassic Park movies was filmed.

We came across another unexpected movie reference, Star Wars, on the shopping streets of Philipsburg. This place was run by the man who engineered the "Yoda" character in all the Star Wars movies. The two levels of this building were filled with movie memorabilia, signed photos from the set by the actors, and props from the movies.

On one of the side streets, Old Street, this car was sitting unused and decorated for the holiday season. It was on this street that I bought artisan coconut rum in a painted bottle.

When we finally made it to the beach, it looked like this:

It was so amazing to spend the last day of 2013 in the Caribbean water in 80 degree weather. We watched the jet skis and motorboats zoom by.

Finally, it was time to push off and head back home... The ropes were wound and covered and the horns were sounded.