Sint Maarten/Saint Martin
Caribbean Escape 2004
Certain times in your life you just need to get away, 2004 was one of those times. I had just gone through a major team change, a long year, and a new bosses boss that made life miserable for everyone. Nothing helps your state of mind better than Sun and Sand.
The Sun and Sand would have to wait just a little bit though. Since we were flying through Montreal, we decided to visit an old friend of Norine's before continuing on to the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin. The island goes by two names because of the fact that half of the 87 km² island is Dutch, and half of the island is French. St Martin/Maarten is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 300 km (186 miles) east of Puerto Rico.
Sint Maarten/Saint Martin
We would be staying at the Great Bay Beach Resort and Casino, just outside Philipsburg, the capital of Netherland Antilles. The Dutch side, is known for its festive nightlife, beaches, jewelry, exotic drinks made with native rum-based guavaberry liquors, and a lot of casinos. The panorama below is the view from our room, nice sandy beach, Caribbean blue waters, and all you can eat.
It is very strange to me after being to mexican resorts, to see empty beaches. The Grand Bay beach has lots of room for us to plunk ourselves anywhere, and plunking is what we would do for most of this trip. Some trips you explore, some trips you relax... this trip wouldn't involve much exploring. I would read 3 books, and the extent of exertion was cool down swims, and the walk to the bar for another Pina Colada or Bahama Mama. A couple beach dogs would keep us company.
The beach dogs didn't even flinch as low flying planes come in to land at the nearby airport. It's a little intimidating to see a 747 passing what seems like a few feet above your head, and the shadows interfere with the tanning. I won't even tell you about the noise levels.
After a few lounge days we decided to catch the bus and go check out the french side of the island.
We wound our way around the wild areas of the island, and stop in Marigot, the capital of Saint Martin on the French side of the island. The border crossing was a simple sign and a post.
Saint Martin, the French side, is known more for its nude beaches, clothes, and shopping. There is no casinos on the French side, but lots of high end shops. Fort Louis sits above the town, a reminder of the Pirate days of the Caribbean, and the many battles for ownership of the island.
Polar opposite to the high end shops is the public market area, a colourful collection of local crafts and touristy trinkets. All these temporary booths are setup on a cram-packed harbour full of sail boats, most of them starting their travels through the chain of Caribbean Islands. We did a little shopping, more window shopping than anything at the high end shops, and after a rather expensive lunch, decided to be back at our resort for the all-inclusive dinner (seems free).
Anguilla
After one day of adventure, the itch to explore got us, and we found a catamaran trip to the nearby island of Anguilla, a British territory of the Antilles chain. It is a small island only 16 miles long by 3 miles wide (at it's widest point), and is famous for it's coral reefs.
As we make our way from the marina to Shoal Bay, signs of previous hurricanes are along the shores, with shipwrecks and flattened palm trees. We start to wonder what we're in for.
When we get off the bus and walk out to the beach of Shoal Bay, we are blown away. Never before have we seen sand so white, and never before had we felt sand so soft... icing sugar is coarse in comparison to this beach. The water is warmer than a bath-tub, and the Caribbean blue is several shades lighter with the white sands below. A short swim out from the beach and we are surrounded by hundreds of fish on the protective coral reef.
TYPICAL TRAVEL INJURY
It seems to be a common occurrence for me to have some form of injury when we travel. Shortly after the picture below was taken, we were getting ready to leave, and I walked right into a beach umbrella and proceeded to have one of the tangs/ribs/stickey-out-bits go right into my eye socket, deep into my eye socket, could have lost my eye... but just ended up with a nice black eye and a permanent freckle on my lower eye lid. I recommend against anyone else trying to do that.
After an amazing day at Anguilla, we head back to our own island of St Maarten, and our own beach (which didn't suck), we swore that we would go back for a vacation to Anguilla one day.
After another morning spent in the sun, we walked to the marina area, to see what was there.
We checked out the shops, toured a rum shop where they made guavaberry rum. We sampled some different flavours, picked up a bottle to take home and had a nice seafood lunch, before heading back to our beach to spend some time relaxing before another buffet dinner.
Across the bay we see the cruise ships coming in, and worried that our empty beaches would be populated with... gasp... tourists! But it never happened, so we enjoyed a day at the beach, wrapped up with a little casino time, and enjoyed a Reggae band... "No Woman, don't cry".
After another beautiful sunny day, the sun comes down on our last night in St. Martin/ St. Maarten, from our room we see that our beach dogs are still in the sand looking for handouts.
From the white sand of St. Maarten, to the white snow of Montreal, we have another brief stopover in Quebec to visit our friends, we make a wintery visit to Cabana Sucre, a historic town outside Montreal that gives a glimpse of the life at the turn of the century, when horse drawn carts and frozen buckets collecting Maple Syrup were the norm. Frozen maple syrup on a stick, mmmmm.
The next morning we head back home to the real world, where overtime and grouchy bosses would wrap up what would turn out to be one of the worst years of my life. At least we had a beautiful week of soft sand beaches and Caribbean blue waters to get ready for it.