Harmony of the Seas Day 4 Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin?
djholloway50, Feb 2020
St Maarten Shore Excursion: Maho Beach and Orient Bay Sightseeing
We were happy to see others waiting.
I was able to call the tour provider, Twin Island Excursions, to advise of our arrival at St Maarten. They were aware of the Harmony arrival times and told us the tour will be waiting for us to arrive. We actually docked a bit early, and Tom and I sprinted off the ship to the meeting location. It is 86 dripping degrees, a slight drizzle just letting up as we ran down the gangway. We hurried up the pier, past the diamond and liquor shops out to the street. We were happy to see others waiting. We found our tour driver who introduced himself as Duce. After the running, we had to sit down and wait for the slower cruisers. Sometimes life is like that, hurry up-then wait! Walking around the puddles, trying not to start the day with wet sand in my shoes, we boarded the van. We drive through Phillipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of the island. I’m not impressed, it doesn’t present itself as somewhere I’d like to return to. The city is dirty, messy, hot & humid, and this is January. Our first stop is the Oyster Bay Resort, a beautiful turquoise painted resort around what use to be a bay full of oysters. Today, it’s a bay of abandon boats. Duce tells us that when hurricane Irma did a dead-on hit of the island, so many boats, homes and resorts were damaged. When the owners of the boats collected on their insurance, they just left the boats were they were on moved on. I’m thinking they should at least sink the boats — it could eventually become a good snorkel spot?
As we cross into the French side of the Island, Duce explains a bit of the history of the island, and how the Dutch and French decided to share the island rather than fight about it. Today, there are two of everything here, school systems, utilities, housing systems, languages, even two different names for the island. Persons born and living on the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) carry Netherlands Antilles passports, while the French side (Saint-Martin), issues French passports and conducts its business in a more European manner.
We are stopping at Orient Beach, where it’s raining as we arrive. There are a few nudist resorts here, and part of the beach is clothing optional. Tom and I head for a cafe, he for a cup of hot tea and a flute of Prosecco for me. Soon the sun is shining and we head to the beach for some photos. Duce has a cooler of soda, beer, and homemade rum punch he calls “Duce Juice’. He makes it the same way I do, mango, pineapple, passion fruit and lots of rum. Next, we head to Marigot, still on the French side. Here, we walk around a flea market as I’m looking for a pharmacy. Tom is getting sicker, and I’m out of Mucinex. He stubbornly says “I’m not going in”…..as I head up to the pharmacy counter. The very handsome french pharmacist asks about his symptoms and gives me a box of liquid packets. I’d like to have spent more time with him, just looking into his blue eyes made me think he could cure Tom’s cold! Back on the van, more rum punch, and we’re off to the Dutch side again. We passed Princess Juliana International Airport and arrive at Maho Beach. This is why I booked this excursion. The airport has one of the shortest runways in the Caribbean. The airplanes make their approach directly above the beach. The planes are so low, I think you could wave to the pilot. There are many great videos of aircraft landings on youtube. My friends Karen and Donny were here recently and got a great video…I’m going to try to do the same.
American Airlines Aircraft landing over Maho Beach
The beach isn’t very wide, and today it’s completely full. (There are 6 cruise ships docked in St. Maarten today.) We find a spot on the sand, and I lay on my back trying to film the incoming planes. I was a little too close to the water, however, and got completely drenched by an incoming wave. Drenched, full of sand, I was laughing as Tom helped me back up.
Working hard to get some videos (moments before I got soaked)
More rum punch and we were back on our way through Simpson Bay. This area I’d return to, the beach, the hotels, and many restaurants offer lots to do. Just taking a walk to look at the incredible yachts docked here would be fun. Simpson Bay use to be the capital of the Dutch side, but since it tends to flood, business was moved to Phillipsburg.
My impression of the island overall is better now that I’ve seen it all. I understand that a lot of the mess I see was caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017. So many derelict boats just floating in the water? Houses just abandoned? I guess it’s the American in me that expects this should be at least in the process of being cleaned up – but I don’t see any work being done. The only construction I see on the island is the resort hotel being built next to the Casino on Maho Beach.
For photos and video go to TheHolloWAYtoTravel.com
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