Saturday at St. Maarten's 2-26-11

Last Day...

I actually got up to see the sunrise .

Is it just me?
But this shoreline view reminded me of Greece...

We had an outing planned for the afternoon so in the morningwe walked to the beach about a mile away. I thought this beach was as nice as Magen's bay,
And less crowded.They had chairs for rent all along the way.

We opted to forgo the $1o rental fee for chairs and used our towels to sit right by the end of this pier.

The water was lovely. Warm, blue and with a bit of a drop off about6 feet out
as you can see by how short I look in the water only a few feet from shore.
This island seemed to have all the things one would expect to see in a tropical place.
Lots of colorful things along the boardwalk.

Even the names of the establishments were colorful.

A few historical artifacts. Several cultures were represented.
This is where we had our "French" all fresh fruit smoothie. Served by this cuter heavily accented French woman. A little wildlife.
Some weird looking stuff.

That actually comes from the trees.

And is used to make these lovely little faux ivory souvenirs .
Some gorgeous local stone.

???
Some rather cryptic signage.

Bumps? Hills? Mountains?

Stop the bumps, hills, mountains.

Abduct a child?

Just what are we filtering? Parking? Stopping?

You tell me what you think this means!

It all works together to create a little.... But, all in all

St. Maarten IS a friendly island.

It seems like it is a little more dry from the vegetation on the hillsides.
But there are some lovely plants. with some unusual characteristics. And some really cool blooms.

In the afternoon we set out for our last "adventure... which involved water....and wet suits.
This is Paul from the U.K. complete with a delightful British accent.
We became very close in a short period of time.
Because...
The outing Chuck had booked for us was a scuba experience.
Let me just say up front that I wasn't exactly keen on the idea.
Chuck is scuba certified and has a lot of hours experience.
He used to own his own tank and did a fair amount of cold water diving...
YIKES!
I, on the other hand, am a less than proficient swimmer
and the thought of going well below the surface
while relying on my ability to swim and breathe through my mouth is...
well, terrifying.
I was counting on some thorough preparation and instruction.
Not so much.
As we jounced across the harbor to the dive area Paul was using a little flip chart
explaining the physics of underwater weight and lung compression, how to let air in and out of various gizmos on the tank, how to get water out of the mask, how to breathe through the mouth, how to go down, how to go up...
...and all I could think was...
"I'm supposed to jump into the water, go under and breathe?!?!?"

The next thing I knew I was strapped into all the paraphernalia standing on the end of the boat flippers pointing out while Paul, Chuck and the guy on the boat kept telling me to
"Hang onto your mask, your belt, stick your leg out,
look at the horizon and step into the water."

The said it over, and over, and over.

And I kept thinking...
I'm gonna die, I can't do this,
I'm gonna die...I can't do this...
Yeah...
It was getting a little awkward and embarrassing.
I thought, "Chuck paid a lot of money for this... I can at least go into the water and
get out of the way so the other people on the boat can get out...

I FINALLY stepped off.
Went under and came up in a full blown panic attack.
I probably used up half my tank of oxygen in the first minute in the water.
Paul was very kind and supportive telling me how great I was doing,
and assuring me I could indeed do it... (Do I look reassured?!?)
He was holding my hand and got me out a little ways from the boat and convinced me to just "try" putting just my face in the water and breathe through the mouthpiece.

Remember Star Wars and the Darth Vader breathing?Well multiple that by about a gazillion and that was me.

Rather than bore with the blow by blow details...
let me just say that Paul was a genius at allaying fears and persuasion...
I DID go under water for about 40 minutes.
I DID hold Paul's hand in a death grip the entire time-
Letting go only for the brief time when he got Chuck and I to stand on the ocean floor for a photo.
(I call this shot "Scuba Gothic" )

I also held a spiny "spider looking' thing in the palm of my hand - all the while clutching Paul's.

I am VERY proud of the fact that I actually DID do it. Most likely there will not be a repeat performance
- unless Paul is there to hold my hand.

All in all it was an AMAZING day, trip, adventure...

I wouldn't mind going to St. Maarten's again soon...
Here are a few final photos from the trip...
Chuck's FAVORITE dessert Chocolate melting cake with a side (or two) of ice cream.

A creamy custard dessert I loved.
Typical breakfast fare... omelet made to order, fresh fruit,
yogurt and oatmeal.. Yeah, we suffered quite a bit.

Our waiters...

Kay from Indonesia with Chuck.

Sunni and I.
Those guys work 7 days a week for months on end to send money home to family.
They are unfailingly cheerful and hardworking.

This was the last of the towel animals...(I think I liked the frog best...)
but created by another hardworking guy from foreign shores.

Look how excited Chuck was for the trip to end - already mourning the loss of the melting chocolate cake...
Last shot from the ship in the port at San Juan...

End of the longest post EVER!