Don't Dream Just Go: St Maarten & Antigua

St Maarten & Antigua

We visited the Dutch half of St. Maarten, and really, only a small part of the island within a 20 minute walk of the cruise port. There is a lovely beach with the typical, clear turquoise water of the Caribbean.

We walked down to the end, past all the huts, shops and beach chairs and found a spot that was more secluded.

Here is Cassio diving into the ocean. Notice how close he is to the shoreline. The water became quite deep very quickly.

The sand of this beach was not so much sand as pulverized shells that really clung to everything, to the point that even when we got to Europe, Cassio was finding bits of this shell/sand in his pockets!

The oleander was as fragrant as it was beautiful. We hiked up the road to survey the bay from above. The view was magnificent.

Here the lizards were much more skittish than those of Cartegena. We saw quite a number, but they would quickly escape into the underbrush as soon as they noticed us. This guy above, looks a bit like he is ordering a drink at a bar.

The town was quite small and really set up for tourists, and appears, nothing else. This is a lovely fountain shaded by palms between the main street and the beach.

A lot of the Caribbean islands are set up for jewelry sales. There are chain stores like Diamonds International that do their best to encourage you to part with your money in exchange for some shiny, precious bauble. For people who want to buy diamonds etc., it can be a good deal. Cassio has a friend who went on a trip with her fiance, they bought a big diamond ring and that plus the whole trip was still more cost effective than buying the ring in Toronto!

This picture above, is our fourth stop on our trip. It is the quiet island of Antigua. It contrasted greatly to St. Maarten. Though there is definitely a set up for tourists, it is a place with a thriving life all its own.

A short walk from the cruise terminal and you are in the heart of downtown. We had researched and hopped a local bus (#22) from the bus terminal, to take us to some remote beaches further away from town.

One of the things I was struck by in Antigua was how clean and orderly everything was. There is no great wealth and the places are simple and older, but it appeared to me that great care was taken by people to maintain the homes and property. In the bus, which was more of a large minivan, the people were exceptionally quiet and respectful. People were smiling, helpful and polite.

Wow! We had the bus stop at Darkwood Beach which was completely deserted. This pic above was of the second of 4 beaches we had to decided to walk to. (all in all, about 7km that day...Darkwood, Ffrye's, Coco and Jolly Harbour) The following photos are from Ffrye's Beach. This has to have been one of the most tranquil and magical places I have ever been. We had the entire place to ourselves except for the occasional sighting of a sailboat and the set of steps to the left of the photo led up to a hillside mansion that was under construction, so you would hear the occasional whirring of power tools. But really, I didn't notice. All I could see and feel was the serenity of this lovely, lovely beach.