We wanted to do a cruise on the Wind Surf, and stumbled into the New Year’s Eve cruise, just based on schedule limitations. The cruise itself started on December 29.
We were also “forced” to go to St. Maarten 4 days early because flights ended up being $1000 cheaper if we flew on Christmas day. So we happily extended our cruise to include 4 days in St. Maarten before the cruise. Peter and Joyce joined us the day before the cruise.
This journal has been divided into 3 parts:
- Part 1: Wind Surf Cruise 2018-2019 Part 1: St. Maarten (this page)
- Part 2: Wind Surf Cruise 2018-2019 Part 2: The Cruise
- Part 3: Wind Surf Cruise 2018-2019 Part 3: St. Maarten
Other pages for this cruise:
Monday, December 24 – leave Saskatoon
Leaving Scott in charge, we left Saskatoon late on Christmas Eve, flew to Calgary, and then Toronto, and finally St. Maarten. WestJet now has uncomfortable seats which don’t really recline… 🙁 Even though this was an overnight flight, none of us managed to get much sleep.
Tuesday, December 25 – arrive St. Maarten
We landed mid-afternoon. Pleasantly hot, and Sebastien and Stephanie of NextLevel car rental were on hand to greet us. Since NextLevel is not an official airport-approved rental agency, we had to complete our transaction off-site, which meant packing all of our bags and five of us in a Hyundai i10. Very tight.
GPS was configured and ready to go, so the drive to and UP the dramatic slope to Monta Vista was accomplished. To our delight, Monta Vista was perfect, and it quickly became obvious that a car was pretty much a necessity. Yes, that is the cruise ship terminal WAY below us. The view from on high continued to thrill us every day.
It turned out that pretty much everything was closed for Christmas day, including most restaurants. We wandered the dark streets, explored the Christmas lights and decorations, and finally found the Green House, which provided wonderful staff and a pretty good meal.
Edgar, the owner of Monta Vista, dropped by for a chat, and gave us lots of suggestions for to things to see and places to eat.
Wednesday, December 26 – St. Maarten
I drove down to the grocery store to pick up coffee and some milk. And then did it again with Sandy. After coffee in the apartment, we drove off towards Orient Bay. Keiran wanted breakfast, and we then discovered that McDonald’s in St. Maarten doesn’t do McCafe, nor coffee.
At Orient Bay, it was windy and lots of sea grass had been blown up on to the beach. Still lots of hurricane damage around.
We then continued driving towards Grand Case, stopping at the very fancy and very French “The Express by Bacchus” bakery enroute. Sad to say, no cappuccino at the time we visited, so we carried on to Grand Case, still looking for lunch.
Rainbow Cafe was fully booked, so we wandered into yet another very French establishment: Le Petite Table. Wonderful staff and wonderful food. Had a very relaxing and very expensive lunch.
For the evening, we drove into Phillipsburg, and once again, walked around in the dark, on the boardwalk and under the Xmas lights. Still nothing open. We eventually found Lizzy’s, which may or may not be the same as Lizzy’s Bar & Grill, which is supposed to be on the beach. Maybe it has been rebuilt and relocated? Anyways, wonderful staff, and decent food.
Thursday, December 27 – St. Maarten
This was to be our beach day. Sandy really wanted to lie on a beach and read, and I really wanted to use the snorkel gear that had taken up so much room in my suitcase.
At Maho Beach we joined the crowd watching planes landing. And getting blown around when larger planes took off. Since we wanted to eat, and Taco Macho included parking validation, it was the obvious place to eat. Excellent food, and we were able to watch the planes as well.
Next step was Mullet Bay, for lounging and snorkeling. This was the obvious place for snorkeling because a bunch of catamarans brought tourists to this very location just for the snorkeling.
The large traffic jam going through Simpson Bay led us to decide to take the north route, looping through Grand Case and Orient Bay. Ten minutes longer, but at least we would be moving and seeing stuff. McDonald’s with goats was the highlight.
We drove directly to Chesterfield’s for dinner. Great food and reasonable prices meant that we would visit Chesterfield’s many more times.
Friday, December 28 – St. Maarten
We woke up to driving rain and howling winds. The upstairs of our condo had several puddles where rain had been blown through the sliding glass doors. We watched the waves pounding into the little cove way below.
The drive to Lucky Stables had us believing that we had taken a wrong turn somewhere. After passing through the power station, we arrived. In the pouring rain. We scrambled out and under the shelters only to discover that everything was running way behind. No real problem for us, we had time to spare. The rain quit, and Sandy went searching for sea shells. And discovered a treasure trove of large conch shells, worn down into smooth, dramatic shapes. We kept at least 10. The time passed quickly.
Darrel met us, and we mounted up. I was a little saddened out how simple they had made the whole thing: special tables for us to stand on to get on to the horses. Too easy. But the horses were happy, and remarkably easy to direct, in spite of only having bridles, no bits. Which meant that the horse only did what you asked it to do if it felt like it. A nice slow ride up and around the rocky hill. Darrel was fun to have around, and kept up a continual chatter of facts and comments and opinions.
Then back down and into the water. This was the highlight. Horses didn’t seem to mind, and it was an adventure. When the water gets deep, the horses seem to bunny hop on their back legs. While we were in the water, the rain returned, and we were drenched anew. No problem.
We squeezed in a quick meal at Mark’s Place, then headed out to the airport to pick up Peter and Joyce. We dropped their bags off at L’Esperance, some quick grocery shopping, and then we showed off Monta Vista. And ate at Chesterfield’s, again.
Saturday, December 29 – St. Maarten
Woke up and looked down the street to see that Wind Surf had arrived. Really cool to see “Star Flyer”, “Wind Surf” and some other huge cruise ship all lined up.
Drove to L’Esperance to pick up PJLong for a drive around the island. We started with coffee and pastries at Zee Best Bakeshop. Went to Maho Beach and watched the planes. Deserted at this time of day, but parking was easy. Then to Mullet Bay and walk around beach. We continued north, through Grand Case, and once again, visited The Express by Bacchus, for cappucinno and some pastries. Very French. We paused at Orient Bay and watched a kite surfer somersaulting through the waves.
We then drove up the hill, gathered everyone together, and made two short trips to get everyone and all the luggage delivered to the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise ship terminal, where we ran into a few problems because I misunderstood the directions from the staff at the entrance gate. Apparently, they aren’t set up well for self-drive tourists who don’t know where they are going.
Next page is: Wind Surf Cruise 2018-2019 Part 2: The Cruise