For those of you who can't play videos, it was the Jurassic Park theme song and this was our view from the balcony...
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| I'm sorry, how could I see this and NOT thing of dinosaurs!? SO SUE ME. Actually, please don't. I dont have any money. |
Today our excursion was at 8 am. So Sam and I had to get up RUHL EARLY in order to make it to the dock on time. Somehow, we got ourselves together with plenty of time to spare. So we went to the buffet to grab breakfast.
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| Blueberry pancakes with eggs, bacon, and sausage. I AM GOING TO DIE A GLUTTON ON THIS SHIP AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT. |
The ship docked relatively quickly. We were able to make our way to the pier without any huge crowds or other impediments. This was probably due to the fact that it was so early in the morning. On a neighboring pier, we saw one of the largest ships afloat in the world.
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| Oasis of the Seas... it has a boardwalk and a central park in the center of the ship. It's height, width, and length undeniably dwarfs our Norwegian Gem. |
St. Martin is an extremely popular destination in the Caribbean for cruise ships. We heard rumors that this day they were expecting at least five massive cruise ships. At least 2,000 people on each ship... so around 10,000 people were visiting the island today. 10,000... annoying... tourists... on one little island... I wanted to have a panic attack. But gosh, the weather was just so nice... and there wasn't a cloud in the sky... I just wasn't able to let it get to me. I was too excited!
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| So Sam and I took pictures of each other taking pictures on the dock. |
The pier had this strange street set up. It was as if it were a long road and each ship were office buildings. Take out the lifeboats, and this doesn't look all that different from Park Avenue in Manhattan...
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| BUT THEY WAS SHIPS. |
We met our tour group at the meeting point, and soon we were led to a large bus at the end of the pier. There were only about a dozen of us, which made me happy. Larger tour groups mean more of chance of idiots getting lost, and less access to information. It's also less intimate. Our bus driver was hilarious and extremely friendly. St. Martin/St. Maarten was divided into two sides. The Dutch side, where our ship was docked, and the French side. Our tour took us directly from the pier over to the French side of the island. Although the two sides belong to two different countries, the residents all work together toward a common goal. They share the same water and electrical supply. They have no real need for borders and passports. The difference between the two sides was superficial. Our first stop was a local rum shop. The company was named Ma Doudou (pronounced mah doodoo).
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| Unforunate sounding name in English, but man... the rum... OH MY GOD... |
What made this company special was that it didn't produce or distill its own rum. All of its rum was imported. However, they used local ingredients to FLAVOR the rum. Their choices of flavored rum was seemingly endless.
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| The company representative gave us free tastings of their most popular rum flavors. |
The first sample was their most popular. It was flavored with real local bananas and vanilla beans.
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| It was so sweet and delicious, I could actually pour this over pancakes. Or make an excellent alcoholic creme brulee? |
Our next sampling was blue. I am always suspicious of drinks that are blue...
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| Turns out it was flavored with coconut and blue curacao. |
I was so happy to be getting such delicious free booze so early in the morning that I forced Sam to take a picture of me.
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| Before the drunk sets in and I look like a fool. |
But then he wanted a picture of himself... begrudgingly, I obliged.
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| Ugh. Get a grip. |
The shop had a wide range of flavors, all of them locally produced. Sam purchased a guava berry flavored rum (with real guava berries in it), and I stuck with the banana vanilla rum. They also had chocolate rum, coffee rum, mango rum... it was unbelievable how many flavors they had. Once everyone purchased their own body weight in rum, we boarded the bus. Our next stop was a local perfume factory down the street.
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| Walking into it was... overwhelming... the smell... I thought I was going to die. |
The couple who owned and operated it were from Minnesota. They came to the island to produce their own brand of fragrances. They had products available for both men and women. At a certain point, it became difficult to tell the difference between all the smells. So they placed little cups of coffee beans on the display tables as well. This supposedly would help reset your sense of smell, (there is no conclusive evidence that that technique actually works. But hey, it was nice to smell something other than perfume and cologne for a bit). We received a lecture and a quick demonstration on what goes in to making perfumes. I'd tell you the specifics, but they'd have to kill me. Soon it was time to return to the bus. Our driver then took us to a road near the beach that had at least a dozen restaurants lined up next to each other. He finally dropped us off at an establishment with a spectacular view of the beach.
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| Utter perfection. |
Here, we received a quick and informative cooking demonstration from the head chef of the restaurant!
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| He was very charming and also an excellent chef. Definitely something to write home about. |
He and a volunteer from our group cooked us fresh shrimp in a sweet and sour sauce.
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| A little sample. Can I have all of it now, please? |
Then they cooked Bananas Foster. Good LORD. THAT WAS SO GOOD.
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| My first time having Bananas Foster from scratch. Gotta say, it could be my new favorite dessert. |
After the cooking demonstration, we got free mini-cocktails. We had about an hour to kill before the bus returned to take us back to the ship. So Sam and I took a short walk along the beach.
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| Crystal clear water on a perfect day. GET OUTTA THE SHOT OLD LADY I DON'T NEED YOU TO REMIND ME WHAT I'M GOING TO BECOME IN FIVE YEARS. |
A family who recognized us from the game show offered to take a photo of us. We were in such a good mood, we couldn't refuse.
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| I wish I sucked my tummy in a little more... |
Thankfully, Sam and I had the forethought to bring bathing suits. So we quickly changed into them and went for a swim. It was impossible not to. Too soon, the bus arrived, and we boarded it to go back to the Gem.
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| We saw magnificent views of the sea from the bus. |
We got to the port around midday. There were about six cruise ships docked at this time, and tons of people walking around the cute little fake village next to the pier. The village comprised mostly of kitschy bars and souvenir shops. Suddenly, I spotted a store that was PERFECT FOR ME!!!
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| Macarons! Coffee, chocolate, and passion fruit. HOLY JEEBUS. They was soo gooodd. |
From the shop we could see four of the six massive ships all moored to one pier.
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| It's like a city of cruise ships. |
We stopped by the room and saw that the room steward made us a little friend!
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| A decapitated squid, I presume? |
But the tentacles kinda took on a life of their own...
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| Now... what does that look like to you? One word. Badonkadonk... |
Since it was early in the afternoon, we still had the whole day ahead of us. It was so strange to have had such an adventure and still be able to do so much more. But Sam and I were tired. So we went to the pool deck and relaxed. Or... rather, tried to relax. There was a concert playing that was... extraordinarily loud...
But I didn't mind it too much. Pretty soon, I was grooving along to it myself!
Once the sun went down, we watched some TV, I read some of my book, and we had a light dinner. Then we stopped by one of the bars on the top deck for a nightcap. From here, I saw a chorus of people dancing stupidly.
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| Heh, fools dancing to the YMCA. Gimme a break. I had a video but it broke the website. |
We decided to turn in early in order to get enough rest for St. Thomas. For THAT, I assure you, we would need ALL of our strength!
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