Catamaran

St Maartens

St Maartens


St Maartens is a 37 square mile Caribbean Island, the North half of the island is French and the south is Dutch. The capital of the Dutch side is Philipsburg which heavily more populated. Marigot is the capital of the French side. It's famous for shopping, yacht races and clothing optional beaches. The island is famous for it's runaway at the Princess Juilana International Airport which lands planes 20 feet from Maho Beach. 

 On the day we arrived at St Maartens, four cruise boats arrived at the port at the same time which made the island very busy. 
St Maartens
As we headed on to the island, we had a tour booked but that wasn't until 1:30pm, it was only about 9:30am. We wondered around, looking at what was available, there were many people trying to sell us tours but you just had to be strict and say no. We decided on a taxi into Philipsburg. Well, it was a disaster. There were so many people waiting, Americans are not very good at waiting. We were stood in a queue, made it to the front and explained to the staff that there was 4 of us, a taxi would appear, the staff would tell us to get into the taxi and all the Americas pushed infront and therefore didn't get in the taxi. We must have waited 20 minutes in a a very hot heat. I could feel my feet burning. 
Waiting For Taxi
In the end, we followed the actions of the Americans and pushed in and got in a taxi. We looked at the market and saw lots of little shops, which all were selling the same sort of thing, tourist items such as bags covered in St Maartens, keyrings, hats, jewellery etc. 
Market Stalls
We then stopped in a bar/restaurant 'Pirates in Paradise', it was a good bar, because we sat looking out the window and looking at the beach. It was a good place to stop, there was free Wi-Fi, where we contacted friends and checked our emails. My parents tried a few cocktails, while watching some people head out on a Segway Tour, looking very nervous.       
Outside Pirates in Paradise Bar
The View From The Bar

At 1pm, we headed back to the port, where we waited to catch our catamaran snorkel trip. We walked to the catamaran, where we took off our shoes and sat on the boat. We sailed into the sea, the water was very blue. 
After 30 minutes or so, we arrived at a cove, where we received our snorkelling gear and headed into the sea. We snorkelled for about 1 hour before, we took off our snorkelling gear and just swam in the sea. It was a lovely sea, very clear, not too cold. I just found that there weren't many different types of fish. 







Once back on the boat, there were a few sandwiches and crackers for us to have as we headed back to the port. This was a lovely day out and would definitely recommend visiting. 
Have you ever visited St Maartens? What did you think? What places would you recommend visiting?

xxx




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