Now this is the kind of place that makes me want to explore the world! St Maarten is beautiful. It's the kind of place where a few hours just make you want to come back for more. We got a much better nights sleep last night, so we were well rested and ready to take on the day.

Our excursion today was a small personal watercraft, kind of like a jet ski but a bit more secure feeling. We followed our tour guides around which might sound boring but provided an amazing view of some of the beautiful homes and boats. We had been driven only through the Dutch side, so from the water we got to see a tiny bit of the French side.

Our guides brought us near the shore of a beach. It happened to be a nude beach but luckily we couldn't see anything from where we were. We all jumped out of the boats and swam to shore. I really booked it since I'm terrified of sharks. :) Once we got to shore I ditched the life jacket and put on my snorkelling gear. I felt a bit better about swimming in the water since I could see. I don't know why actually seeing a shark before I'm chomped to bits actually makes me feel better, but somehow I do feel better when I can see what's going on around me. Anyway, obviously I did not get eaten by sharks.

The snorkeling here wasn't impressive, but the views from the beach were. It was a lot of fun to swim around in the warm water. The group we were with were made up of a bunch of couples so we got to talk to a few of them. I got to drive the boat back which was a lot of fun. On the drive back to the cruise ship we opted to stop and look at some of the shopping. We got a bottle of white chocolate godiva liqueur cheap and have been enjoying it since we got home. We also had lunch in a restaurant there. I forget what it's called but it was the only one that accepted credit cards. The food was surprisingly good. Now that we've had a taste of St Maarten we've added it to our list of places we would like to go again.