Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Day 4

Today has been fabulous! I was so excited for our excursion today that I could hardly wait to get off the ship. We enjoyed eating our breakfast and watching the Island of St Maarten as we sailed to port. It is so beautiful! Soon enough we were docked and we made our way down to deck 1 and we began our next adventure. We knew that Crew would love to see how big the ships are so we made sure to snap a lot of pictures.
We meandered through the shops, enjoyed a little bit of rain, saw a rainbow, and walked about 15 minutes to the Chesterfield Marina. As we were walking we saw people using ATV's on the roads and I had the thought that I would love living in a place like St Maarten.

After a little bit of asking we found Captain Mike relaxing in the restaurant, on the docks, with some friends. We arrived a little early and we were able to sit on the docks and enjoy the beautiful scenery while snuggling up and sharing our thoughts.

Soon enough everyone else arrived and we were ready to head out into open waters. We first explored the marina's on the dutch side. We learned that the owner of a major company wanted to be able to park his beautiful yacht here. But, it was too big for the bridge. He paid for St Thomas to build a new bridge and it was only a foot or two wider. I guess he only has a few inches on each side to be able to navigate it through, and it looks like (big chunks of concrete missing and scraped up wood) not all captains have very good aim through the passage. It only opens three times a day and if you want it opened at another time you have to pay $1000.

The french side was much more quaint and more local looking with houses and restaurants right on the waters edge.

As we were learning the history of the Island we were told that these ships can anchor here for free and they will come and stay here for a few months before moving onto their next adventure.

This is about the time that our excursion was kicked up a notch. We went on a 15 ride through open sea on a slightly stormy and windy day. It was thrilling to plow up and over the waves and as the ship would come down we would get sprayed. Even though the waves were large, the speed boat was very smooth. We were all soaking wet after crossing to our first snorkeling location.
Abe and I struggled for a little bit as we adjusted to snorkeling. Abe has a fear of drowning and I just had to get the mechanics of breathing down. The water was gorgeous! It was hard to believe something was 30 feet down when the water was so clear. Abe and I couldn't agree on how large the turtle was that we saw because the depth perception was very hard to determine.

After some snorkeling we made our way up to the beach. Abe went up a little on the beach and came back to tell me what he found. We both went back and watched a bunch of huge hermit crabs walking around. There were so many I was afraid I might accidentally step on one.

The sand had beautiful color and seemed to be made up of broken sea shells.

After one of the younger boys in our group was able to get on top of his sea sickness a little we loaded up for our next destination. Lunch! It is a separate small island on the french side. There is only a restaurant on the island and the last boat, to take people off the island, leaves at 5:00 pm when the whole island shuts down.

We were all a little cold and wet at this point. All of us were very excited to try and dry our things off a little and eat some warm food. This was bar far the coldest part of the day.

We had genuine, french made, ratatouille! It was delicious. As were the ribs and chicken. But the shining star was the pina colada. Oh my! It was heavenly!! There was a dash of cinnamon on top that surprised, and complimented everything!

After lunch we walked around the island a little bit. It was somewhat painful since we had left our shoes on captain Mike's boat, but it was beautiful!

We then went to our next destination. We were snorkeling right next to a nature preserve that is part of Anguilla. We were told that we could not go on the island whatsoever or we would be paying a very, very hefty fine.

The snorkeling here was much easier. We saw a lot of fish and sea urchins. Captain Mike laughingly told us that we could try and pick up the sea urchins but it would be quite painful. After seeing their seriously long stingers (?) I understood why.

I accidentally snapped this picture. But, it portrays the water fabulously and gives a good reference (for me) to where we were at.

Abe and I may have had some fun goofing around in the water as we were swimming back to our boat. I felt like a little kid discovering something new with our underwater camera. 

We got back on our boat just as it started to rain. I looked behind us and we began trying to out run the storm.

Donald Trumps new, 70 million dollar, home.

Our last swim was along the coast of some of the most expensive places to stay. I didn't full understand why because the beach was very steep and small, the waves crashed very hard, and the pull of the tide made it somewhat difficult to swim. 

After a quick trip past some expensive hotels, a nudist beach, and some local men fishing, we were able to watch a few airplanes land. The huge planes are so close it was crazy. When the largest airplane came in Captain mike took us as close to the beach as he could, so we could see the spectacular landing. We sped off and went very, very fast. Even though we were fast I doubt we were going the 90 mph he said his boat could go. Either way it was exhilarating! I loved this excursion and felt it was worth ever stinkin' penny!

We scored some free wifi and chatted with Crew and my Mom for a little bit on facetime. Crew was hilarious and only wanted to talk about his birthday. As soon as he had said what he wanted he was done talking with us. He couldn't get rid of us fast enough. My Mom then suggested we try and call again another day when Sawyer was awake since he seemed to miss us a little. Crew definitely didn't miss us and is having a wonderful time and Grandma and Grandpa's.

Tonight, as always, dinner was very tasty. I love being fed so well and then heading out to more fun. We did our nightly walk around the ship, added in some late night shuffle board, relaxed, and tried our best to stay up for the Love and Marriage show at 10 pm. It was hilarious! I was laughing more than I wasn't laughing. They had a newlywed couple (10 days), a couple married 58 years, and two other couple in between. It was great fun and I am glad we stayed up to see it. But, I will also say this family show was enough "adult" for me and I am glad we didn't attend any of the "adult" activities.