Cruise: Day 4 (Part 2)

Day 4, Tuesday, September 30: Philipsburg, St. Maarten (Part 2)

After visiting That Yoda Guy, we were kind of done with the whole shopping thing, so we headed to Great Bay Beach. Tony wanted to go swimming, just to say he'd been swimming in St. Maarten. I just hung around the edge of the water and dipped my feet in. Oh, and took pictures (of course).



The sand on the beach was very coarse--it looked like oatmeal to me. There were also tons of shells, so I kept myself occupied by finding shells. Tony assisted me from the water, which means he found all the really big ones.





I took more pictures of the restaurants and shops along the beach.







It was late afternoon, and the sun was so pretty on the water.





We had to be back on the ship no later than 5:30, so we reluctantly packed up our things and headed back to the water taxi. This map of the island was laid into the ground near the water taxi pier.



By the time we got back into our room, the ship was already leaving. They are not at all kidding around when they tell you they want to leave by a certain time--and if you're not on the ship, too bad. They always reminded us about this in a half-joking way, saying things like, "You must be back on the ship by 5:30 and if you're not, I hope you have your camera with you so you can get a good picture of the ship as it sails away." Fortunately, I took this picture from the safety of our balcony.



We had to rush to get ready for dinner, but before we left, I took a moment to catch a couple pictures of the sunset. This was actually the first sunset we saw from our balcony, simply because we were usually at dinner when the sun set. After this, the sunset was on the opposite side of the ship (since we were now heading west instead of east--we went from Miami straight to St. Maarten, the farthest port, and then backtracked).



One last picture of the island as we sailed away...



Oh, and before I forget, here is a dress we bought for Ari in St. Maarten. I'm crossing my fingers that it will fit her next summer.



Dinner was awesome, as usual. I think the best thing about dinner on these nights we were in port was that we were all able to exchange stories about what we did on land. Tony and I didn't do any of the ship's organized excursions (since we didn't want to spend the extra money), but the other couples at our table did. Both of them did island tours, which included a trip to Orient Beach on the French side of the island. But even then, both of them had different experiences. While Kyle and Amy said they didn't see a whole lot of nudity, Steve and Freyja (who were at a different section of the beach) saw a lot. Their tales had us all rolling with laughter over dinner.

After dinner, I decided to go work out (the second, and last, time I did so) while Tony just wanted to chill in the jacuzzis. I agreed to meet him there after my workout. It took me a few minutes to find him--the jacuzzis that hung over the side of the boat were shut down, since they were in the area where the midnight buffet was being set up (more about that later). I found him in a jacuzzi near the main pool. We killed a couple hours switching back and forth from the jacuzzi to the regular pool. We also met and chatted with several really nice people. Everyone on the ship was so friendly--the staff as well as other passengers. We met one man (from Utah) who was there with his wife, 4 kids, plus a couple of their kids' friends/significant others. Which reminds me of a funny story... the previous night at dinner, when the waiters sang, there was one person with them dressed in a green T-shirt and jeans (rather than the typical waiter's uniform). We just assumed he was someone who worked back in the dishroom or something. Well, come to find out... it was this guy's son, who just decided to jump up from his table and join all the waiters. What a goof.

The midnight buffet was a big deal--it was an much as art show as it was a food show. They "opened" it around 11:15 just so people could view the displays and take pictures--the chefs went all out to make the food look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Observe...

The bread table (note the big loaf at the top, with the wine bottle in it)...



There were tons of ice sculptures...



Everything was made out of food--like this penguin, for example. And I'm pretty sure that statue-looking thing was made of food, too... though I'm not sure what...



You can't really tell, since the picture is so far away, but it's 2 guys carving an ice sculpture. It only took them 14 minutes to finish it.



This was one of my favorite displays--the fruit table.





Then, around 11:45, it was time to eat. We ran into Steve and Freyja, so the 4 of us found chairs on the pool deck and settled in with our food. They were having a big poolside party with live music...



And, later, a DJ. They had a dance floor in the middle of the pool, and several people joined the cruise staff for some organized dancing. When that was over, they left the floor open for anyone who wanted to dance.



We didn't dance--just lounged in our chairs, munching on our food. I think we stayed there until almost 1 AM.

And this was our towel animal of the night. Next to him is a daily paper they printed called the "Compass." Basically, it was a newsletter that told you all about the events for the day, told you the hours that all the areas of the ship were open, etc. A very useful thing to have.



Next entry... San Juan, Puerto Rico!