Up and off the ship by 8.45 as we have a tour booked today with Jo Junie Tours. I had done extensive research (as always) on this port and had tossed around several different ideas. One was to get local buses, only $2 a ride, or a tour of the island or just grab a taxi to Maho Beach.... in the end I decided it would be nice to see a bit of the island without the worry of "are we on the right bus" and "where should we get off" so chose a guided tour. I picked this particular tour after reading many Tripadvisor reviews so was pretty confident we would get back to the ship in plenty of time!

We found the meeting point without too much bother although we were wandering for a few minutes.... basically it was straight off the ship and walk a straight line til you see all the buses and tour guides, walking past the taxis etc on the right. Once on board, and yes we were the first there, we had to wait well past the meeting time for the rest of the group to turn up but eventually we were on our way. 

First sign that this was a good tour .... there was an esky full of drinks - rum punch, beer, softdrink and water - which we were told to help ourselves to... nice touch! We were taken to various spots for great photo ops, a stop to see iguanas, one stop with a local bloke that had various sea creatures we could hold and feel. These were amazing, feeling them squirm and move when you really never think about how they move and to tell you the truth I always thought touching sea anenomes wasn't possible.... I thought they were poisonous. Apparently some are and some aren't!! At this stop a couple of policemen rode in on bikes so of course Rodd had to go ask them if he could get a photo taken with them!

First real stop was for an hour at Orient Beach but as with yesterday we found it was choppy and not really a snorkeling beach and there were ominous looking grey clouds rolling in so we did the only sensible thing ..... found a bar!! Luckily there was a little grass shack bar right at the beach entrance so we pulled up a chair and ordered some Rum Punches and Stuffed Jalapenos. Before long those clouds had moved over and the rain started so we moved right in under cover to a table and within minutes it was pouring down and everyone on the beach was running for cover. It was, of course, just a tropical storm so only lasted about 10 minutes but by that time we'd finished our drinks and it was time to make our way back to the bus.  

Next stop was 45 mins in Marigot, the capitol of the French side of the island. There was a big market right where the bus pulled up so we wandered through there but decided not to buy anything until we were on our way back and continued out onto the streets into town. Somehow we ended up at a restaurant and ordered a pizza for lunch..... not quite sure where that plan came from but by the time we finally got our pizza and shoved it down as fast as possible it was time to be back at the bus so we never did end up buying anything at the market. I would have liked more time here as I feel we really didn't get to see anything of the town.

St Maarten/St Martin is a small island that is owned by 2 different countries, the Netherlands and France. They have 2 separate power stations, governments, school and health systems and even phone companies so ringing from one side to the other is actually classified as an international phone call!! Crazy!! 

The island had a thriving salt industry which unfortunately now is non existent but there is evidence of it still all over the place, Salt ponds and machinery mainly. The Dutch recognized the need to find another major income and about 20 years ago put all their efforts into growing a large tourism industry.... this side is very well equipped to deal with the number of tourists coming now and all the cruise ships dock at the amazingly large port. There was 6 or 7 ships in port the day we were there and they were all docked...no tendering! 

Last stop of the day was an hour or so at Maho Beach. You may not know the name but you would have seen clips online of the planes coming in low over the beach. It was very crowded here, well of course with so many ships in port it would be, but we managed to find a spot to drop our stuff and I even got in the water. We saw a few planes landing which was a very different experience but unforunately didn't see one take off. Someone told us that not long before we got there a jet had taken off (and not one of the really big ones) and people and bags went tumbling down the beach.... a few backpacks ended up in the bay.... I wish we'd seen that!!  

From there it was back to the cruise port for a bit of shopping before heading back on board. I think if we ever come back to St Maarten I'd just go to Maho Beach for the day but I am glad we did the tour, for $40 pp it was a great overall look at the Island with a lot of local knowledge thrown in.

That's about it for the day..... same old stuff at night and an early night cos we dock at 7am tomorrow for our final port.