DAY 22---PHILLIPSBURG, ST MAARTEN

 AS A REMINDER, FOR BETTER VIEWING OF MY PHOTOS CLICKING ON THEM WILL ENLARGE THEM.

       The ship was docked and cleared by 7:45 this morning.  Lots of sun and 83 degrees.

Background Info

        St Maarten is part of the Leeward islands in the northeast Caribbean Sea.  The island is divided about 60/40 by the countries of France and the Netherlands.  The larger part is French but the population is basically equal and total population of the island is 78,000.  We will be docking in Philipsburg which is on the Dutch side.  The island lies in the hurricane zone and in 2017 hurricane Emma caused significant damage to the tune of $3 billion.

        Tourism is the island’s main industry with around 1 million visitors annually.  85% of the workforce works in tourism.  The US dollar is accepted in most stores on the island.

 

LAST EVENING

                                     We are the NEW Boogey and Kasia in Stars Lounge.  LOL

            Yesterday I ordered this triple order of black mussels.  Rebecca just had one order.

                         They were sooooo good!  The miso glazed salmon was not very good.

                                                          His show was ok but not great.

TODAY

Sea Cloud II is docked next to us today.  It holds 96 passengers and has 5 decks.  Launched in 1999.

                                                 Long walk down the pier to town today.

                        Terminal area is not very close to town and a long walk to it from the ship.

                                                            I see 5 yachts here today.

                                            Container pier on the other side of our ship today.

                                                     Getting ready to bunker fuel today.

        Long walk from ship to where I was to meet my tour.  All these shops were closed because apparently our ship was not big enough (and only one cruise ship in port) for them to open.

                                         My tour was on this trolley that toured the downtown.

        Marcia and I sat on the last row of seats just as we did when we did this same tour back in February of 2022 when on the world cruise.  It was a pretty rough ride and did not do my back any good.

                                         In 1800's they mined salt and this is memorial to that.

                                   Besides the side of Marcia's head, there is a day care for kids.

                                                                     This is a school.

                     They let us off the trolley to do 30 minutes of shopping in downtown.

                  I found a pharmacy downtown.  Unfortunately, Z-pacs are prescription here.

                                                                        Nice beach

                                               Lots of bars and restaurants along the beach.

                                                    This dog is getting some beach time.

                                   We stopped at this Dutch cheese shop for about 30 minutes.

                                        

                                                              Interesting bottle of liquor.

We got back to the ship at 12:15.  After a quick trip to the suite to wash my hands we headed up for lunch in La Veranda.

                                                           Cake at lunch in La Veranda

        At 6:00 this evening there is a pre-dinner show with Ray and the production cast.  At 7:00 we are having dinner in Compass Rose with Nicki, the General Manager, Marcia and Jane.

    

                 At 9:00 Ray is doing some kind of St Patrick's Day thing up in Galileo's Lounge.

        We are sailing again at 6pm this evening for another short hop (183 miles) to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We will be docked there by 7am and everyone has to clear US Customs and Immigrations first thing.  That's great as we will not have to clear Friday during disembarkation.