St. Maarten/St. Martin: Feb. 16, 2011
St. Maarten is the Dutch side of the island. St. Martin is the French side of the island. We were fortunate enough to visit both sides of the island thanks to taking the Orient Beach Bash excursion in the afternoon. Our ship docked in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, so we took a water taxi into town and spent the morning walking the streets and boardwalk of Philipsburg.
As soon as our water taxi left the dock, our guide turned up the tunes and we all sang along to “I Can See Clearly Now.”
Just a block back from the beach is a good-sized shopping district. I wasn’t much into shopping, but I heard it was a great place to buy duty-free jewelry and handbags. There was even a talk given the day before arriving in port about where to shop in Philipsburg.
I couldn’t get over how turquoise-blue the water is!
After walking around Philipsburg, we went back to the ship for lunch and then set off for our excursion to the French side of the island and an afternoon at Orient Beach. Our excursion also included all-you-can-drink rum punch! Orient Beach is a “clothing optional” beach. We opted to keep our clothes on and, fortunately, so did MOST everyone else. Orient Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, so the waves were pretty rough, but it was still a beautiful beach. 
On the way back to our ship, we were greeted with the sounds of steel drum music! What trip to the Caribbean would be complete without it?
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