After a wonderful summer in Alaska, I had an invitation to spend the last 9 days of August on St Maarten in the Caribbean . I joined a travel friend to scuba dive, snorkel and tour the island. We landed Friday afternoon on Aug 21 and left the morning of Sunday, Aug 30. I had chosen to stay on the Dutch side of the island not far from the airport and right on the ocean. The location on Simpson Bay at the Flamingo Beach Resort turned out to be perfect, as it was on the lee or downwind side of the island, with protected, wonderful calm beaches and much less wind. The warm waters were nearly as warm as the waters I experienced in Fiji this past January.
The lst day there we just rested up from the trip and enjoyed the sun. We snorkeled along the coast in front of the resort. Then we learned that tropical storm Danny was approaching from the east and our Tuesday diving had been cancelled. Sunday we walked about 15 minutes to catch the unique, (flag it down) island bus service for a ride over the divide into the Dutch capital , Philipsburg. That is the largest town on the island and the shopping, tourist, and cruise ship port. It has wonderful narrow streets, lovely duty free shops, many nice restaurants, and an immense , wide , beautiful beach. It was a delightful sunny, very warm day, and then we caught the bus back to near our resort.
The tropical storm Danny turned and swung to the south of St Maarten. Monday pm and Tuesday, we just had some wind, showers and some clouds. Wed we found out that a second bigger tropical storm, Erica, was to hit the island on Thursday and all would be locked down. So on Wed we signed up for an all day tour and lunch trip that circled the island, including the French northern half of the island. It was great to see the whole island. We stopped on one of the famous beaches on the French side (St. Martin ) where we watched many kite wind surfing off one of the most famous and most windy beaches, Orient Bay Beach. Then it was across the end of the island to the little town of Grand Case, where our diving shop was located (Octopus Dive). We then came down the opposite side of the island to Marigot, the French capital and largest town on the French side. We had lunch there and enjoyed the very different architecture on the French side. The old French Ft Luis (1789) perches above the waterfront on a rocky point. Finally we came to Maho Beach where the big jet liners land directly above you just a short distance across the highway from where you are on the beach. Then it was back to our resort, where we rode out the storm that night and all day Thursday.
Friday, we again enjoyed the beach, made a 2nd trip into Philipsburg, and relaxed. Finally, Saturday morning I rented a car in order to drive up the French side to Octopus Dive Shop in Grand Case in order to get in a two tank dive the final morning we were there. It was still very windy, but they went out anyway and went out around the island out to a small island and marine reserve off the north end of the island. It was very rough and some aboard got seasick. However, I did get to dive in what they called the Japanese Gardens at a depth of 40 to 60 feet and see lots of fish and beautiful corals. It was wild getting back aboard the boat in the seas. Then we returned to take shelter behind a tall rock or small island near our origin, where we had a nice sheltered 2nd dive behind the island. I saw lobster, a small octopus, and lots of nice fish and again many beautiful corals.
Sadly, Sunday am I had to fly back to Miami and on home, while my friend headed for Paris and Europe . The weather for the coming week was now predicted to be sunny and wonderful, but our experience with the two storms shows the risks of travel in the Caribbean in the late summer or fall. However, it was yet another wonderful new place for me to add to my many, many travel trips over the globe..
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| 1st night and happy hour at pool by beach |
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| view from our hotel room above beach |
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| The view walking from resort to minimarket and nearest island bus |
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| View on divide looking down into Philipsburg |
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| Beautiful beach side walk along ocean front in Philipsburg |
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| looking out to huge Philipsburg beach from our noon sidewalk cafe stop |
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| another view from a late afternoon beach side beer stop |
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| The narrow, charming shopping pedestrian street just back from the beach |
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| The start of the harbor at the far end of the Philipsburg beach front |
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| I walked out onto the white powder like huge Philipsburg beach |
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| Standing on the border between Dutch and French sides, marked only by the flags |
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| The border monument |
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| The Kontiki Beach at the end of the huge Orient Bay Beach |
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| The lovely, but windy Orient Bay Beach |
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| Kite/wind surfing off the Orient Bay Beach |
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| The slots between the stacked containers were homes for lots of iguanas |
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| Looking down into the French Capital, Marigot, heading back south towards the Dutch half |
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| The attractive waterfront of Marigot, with the historic old Fort Luis on the rocky point |
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| The main plaza and shopping mall building in center of Marigot |
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| Enjoying the ocean front of Marigot |
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| A big jet landing just over the heads of those along the Maho Beach |
