St Thomas/St Maartin
Our first stop on the cruise was St Thomas.
(Scroll down for St Maartin)
At St Thomas we just kinda got off the boat and wandered around. Some people said told us that there was a beach on the other side of the Island that we had to visit. So Away We Went. One note I'd like to make: I think there are Taxi Cartels on these Islands. It seems that all the taxi's charge the same price, go the same places and stop at the same stops (for pictures). It certainly seemed as though the price was not negotiable.
Here we have a nice picture of the boat at the harbor in St Thomas. We took this pic while on the drive to Megan's Beach, which is on the opposite side of the Island. I'm not sure the direction (east, west etc) as I got confused for which way is which on the first day and never did really got my bearings.
A pic of Kathy and I overlooking Megan's Beach (To prove we were really there)
Another pic without the melon heads in the way. If you look at the far side of the beach, that is where the next picture was taken. We ended up crawling over the rocks for about a third of the way toward that house down on the water. By the way, that was a really nice house.
Let me tell you, those rocks were as slick as snot.
Kathy at this bar on the beach. Believe it or not, about every beach we went to had at least one bar on it. Amazing.
So there we are, just enjoying our Mai Tai's at the bar, when this bird lands in the tree next to me. I think he had never seen a human before because he just sat there, staring at me. It kinda gave me the creeps, in an Alfred Hitchcock kinda way.
This damn bird just thought I was the most interesting thing around. This thing wasn't 2 feet from me. Just sitting there. Giving me the bug eye. Creepy.
Took this leaving the Island. The boat on the left with the black hull is mine. Kathy wanted the one on the right with the three story windows. I've got to remember to buy those lottery tickets.
St Maartin
Second stop, St Maartin.
This is another place that is no stranger to tourists getting off a boat. They had everything wired.
Here is where the boat was parked. And I thought that parallel parking my Pinto was a pain. Ours is on the right. From here we took a water taxi to the town (again with the cartel)
The water taxi dropped us off at this pier. The ride to town was cheap but I think they gouge us for the return ride.
We walked up and down these streets. This one was Front Street, that runs next to the beach. We took an alley away from the beach to, you guessed it, Back Street. You have to wonder where these people get their creativity.
This is the Catholic Church we went to in St Maartin. At least we walked by it and took its picture. That counts, doesn't it.
We started to see a pattern with these bars at the beach. This one was, appropriately named, the Black Pearl.