2025 ST MAARTEN LAND VACATION

DAY 2: ISLANDS, BEACHES AND FLYING

Since we had went to bed so early last night I was awake by 4am and ready to start the day...only everyone else was still asleep...including the hubby. I would move around, shake the bed, turn the light in the bathroom on, drop something loud on the floor-oopsy, get within inches of his face. Nothing was working. I would get a slight move out of him...did he finally wake up? Nope. I felt like one of our dogs Bruno. One slight move and he jumps up anticipating you getting up only to find out you weren't. This vicious cycle continued until almost 5am and then FINALLY he opened his eyes to find me in his face starring at him. He jumped "What are you doing?" "Oh, just waiting for you to get up" 😁

The hubby started his pot of coffee and before getting one cup down I'm telling him I want to go for a walk on the beach. I get this blank stare with the remarks "Can I just have my coffee first?" I find solutions to every situation and my solution was "Just take your cup with you! Problem solved!" 😊

I managed to take a few pictures around the resort during our little adventure. "See! I'm accomplishing something on this morning walk" The resort had plenty of games to play and a lot of lounge chairs and umbrella's. We never had to fight for a place to sit during our stay which was nice.

You could always find iguana's lounging on the rocks in the sun and plenty of crabs that would run at the site of someone walking by.

They also had a restaurant here as well. We never went there for some reason so I can't comment on the food. (I believe the kids went there once and more on that later)

There were plenty of chairs around the pool area. We always managed to find some, even on a crowded pool day. They also had a swim up bar along with plenty of pool activities like movie nights, water aerobics and so on.

There were 2 large lagoon area's here and plenty of snorkeling as well. That was just up my alley and a pleasant surprise since I had no idea if there would be any snorkeling prior to coming here. They had kayaks and stand up paddle boarding. I'm not sure if it cost or not since we didn't use them but I did see a family go out toward the end of our stay. Otherwise, I never seen anyone using them.

The beach was pretty big and the sand was nice.

Right at the edge of the resort there was a dock. We would see kids jumping and flipping off it at times. They looked like they were having so much fun.

Moving past our resort and onto Kim Sha Beach... they had places you could rent small paddle boats with slides or if you've ever wanted to ride on a Jurassic flamingo, here's your chance.

We had made it over to Buccaneer's Beach Bar. We have been here several times in the past and had lunch on a cruise ship day. It used to be a small little place with a few area's to eat and then lounge chairs on the beach. I was shocked to see how big the place was now. It was really nice.

They had a cool looking bus they had converted into a ice cream place.

We decided to head back as this is the end of the beach. The kids were still sleeping and we decided to head out and find a grocery store to stock up. We always pick a place with a kitchen so that we can cook some of our meals and save money. It's not cheap feeding 4 people. Maybe some day when we are empty nesters we will take a vacation and just go out all the time instead of cooking.

I took out my MapsMe app and looked up my book marks and seen there was a grocery store about 9 minutes away. Now I'm here to tell you that 9 minutes means 9 minutes island time...which converts to about 20 minutes. Just saying...

We arrived at the small grocery store and started getting all the things we needed for a few days. They didn't have everything we were looking for but it would have to do. Now this island is like all the other islands in the Caribbean, they don't have grocery bags to put your food in like in the US. I had taken a large heavy duty bag, but of course, I had forgotten to grab it prior to leaving the resort. Oops! No worries, they always have some boxes laying around to use. We ended up spending $216.01 on this trip and at least it would get us started.

Once we made it back out to the car and I started to pull up directions back to the hotel, I would discover that I must have hit the wrong button for the grocery store I wanted to go to because it was actually around the corner. We decided to at least go check it out and Oh Em Gee! It was HUGE and had everything you could think of. Well, I now know where we will be going from here on out. I did find a few more things we needed and spent another $26.21 and then headed back to the resort. One thing I did want to mention is this store had grocery carts outside that you had to put a coin in it in order to use it. We have a small grocery store here at home (called Aldi's) that you have to do that. I wasn't sure what type of coin it took. A quarter like back home? US? Euro? No clue. We would just do a juggling act and hold everything in our arms during our trip this time.

We headed back to the resort in our SUV which had barely any a/c in it. It was already getting hot out and you could tell. This SUV had very small vents in it and it just wasn't putting out much cold air. I hated it. Also, everything was touch screen with no knobs and it was a little difficult to figure out most of the time.

We arrived and the kids were finally up. Great! Just in time to help us put things away. I made us all some breakfast with eggs and toast and we all sat outside on the balcony to eat and watch the boats in the area. It was so pretty and looked like such a beautiful day.

I had been speaking to a dive shop, prior to coming, to schedule a dive with them to the sculpture park. I let him know yesterday that we had arrived. Communication was limited and I would find out this morning that it was his wife's birthday last night and we would plan a dive soon but he didn't give me an actual day.

After breakfast I gave the kids several options on what to do today. They picked Pinel Island. The last time we went to Pinel Island we did the kayaking over to it. I can still remember Kendra moaning and groaning about the trip and how tired she was. I had fun but then again, I like to be active. This time around we had decided to just take the ferry over instead. I had read reports prior to coming that sometimes the ferry wouldn't run due to the sargassum being in the bay where you catch it.

We packed our things and off we went. According to MapsMe, it was a 23 minute drive but we would end up running into a lot of traffic which of course made it a lot longer (make sure you add in more time for island time as well). Then of course, I managed to go a wrong way and we had to turn around and head back in the direction we could see where the ferry was.

There did seem to be a lot of sargassum in the area. We were hoping that the ferry was running. Man did it stink!

We found a parking spot and inquired where to go to get the tickets. Now Pinel Island is on the French side of the island and not everyone speaks English so we would have to ask a few people. We would find out that you pay a guy standing on the dock prior to getting into the ferry. It is $12/pp round trip. Or you could pay $10/pp one way...which didn't make any sense to me since you have to come back. The island isn't a place you can stay on and it only has 2 restaurants over there.

The ferry was obviously running today, which is merely just a boat, despite all the smelly sargassum at the dock.

It's a very short ride over to the island. According to my time stamp on my pictures it was exactly 6 minutes.

As mentioned before, there are 2 restaurants over on the island to pick from: Yellow Beach and Karibuni. Yellow Beach is the first place you come to and beside the dock. We decided to just plant ourselves there for the day. Chairs would be $35 for 2 and came with an umbrella. I don't spend much time on a lounger so it didn't really matter to me.

The kids took a look at the menu and decided it was time to start day drinking. They started out with Daiquiri's ($10.50 each) and headed to the water to cool off and look like true tourists enjoying the beach with a drink in hand.

Then they decided to try a Pina Colada ($12.50) and Mojito ($12.50). Karl tried his Mojito, did a few lip smacks and when I ask him if he liked it he totally tried to play it off and said "yes, it's not bad" but I would notice he really wasn't drinking it like he did the last. Ever heard of the term for a broken down car sitting in a garage being referred to as a "Garage Magnet?" Well this drink would become a disgusting hand magnet that never seemed to make it up to his lips. Yea, I could tell he didn't like it.

What better way to get over that drink but to order something else right? Up next was a Sex on the Beach ($10.50) and a BBC ($10.50). I think it was their goal to try every type of drink the place offered.

Taking a look around the area there's a restaurant area, in case you don't want to eat on the beach, and some wild animals in the area....including big foot.

They do have restrooms as well:

I decided I wanted to head out to see if there's any snorkeling in the area. Now last time we were here we really didn't find much snorkeling. I remember that people had said they had a snorkeling trail and you could either do it on your own or have someone take you. From what I was reading recently, they no longer have the "trail" and the signs they had in the water were now gone. But, I was going to check out what there was to see since I really didn't get to last time. I knew that it was toward the left of the dock.

Under the dock were a lot of little fishies. Like A LOT!

Once I made it under the dock and over to the other side I started exploring. I really wouldn't call it "good" snorkeling but there were things to see. I immediately noticed this Pink Tipped Anemone. Sakari and I first found some of these snorkeling in St Croix and they were so pretty and not your "normal" green anemone's you usually see.

There were plenty of Blue Stripped Grunts in the area.

There were some really big one's too. I'm not sure I have seen them this big before.

A Butterfly fish, Slippery Dick Wrasse and a Surgeon fish.

As I was just floating along slowly (because that's when you see the most) I noticed something green. It was bright green. It was moving. It would appear and then disappear. Something was in the rock and reaching out every so often. I had to know what it was! See the claw?

I waited around for awhile and out popped a Green Clinging Crab! I don't think I have ever seen one of these before either. This snorkeling trip is turning out to be quite interesting and I was only a few feet from the shore.

As I was watching him something else caught my eye on the rock next to it. It was moving right along quickly and would pop in and out of rocks. Yep, it was a Mantis Shrimp.

A Slippery Dick Wrasse was swimming by and he snatched a crab along the way. I watched him tear it apart and eat it. He still has part of it in his mouth.

More very large Grunts. They were really big in this area. The pictures don't begin to show the size of these things!

Here's the normal anemone's that you usually see when snorkeling:

A Red Sea Urchin. Do you know that they can live up to 100 years old?

Some dark Green Star Polyps:

I think this is a Black Sea Bass although it has super pouty big lips like a grouper so I'm not 100% sure. I know I've seen them in the past.

Then I spotted something really colorful and headed that way. I guess this is a Giant Anemone in a beautiful pinkish purple color. It was absolutely gorgeous! It was also ginormous! Like I don't think I have seen one quite this big before. It was over a very large rock and I really wished the pictures would show just how big it was.

A very large Bar Jack fish.

Another Pink Tipped Anemone

Well, I was done snorkeling for the day and headed back to tell Sakari what all I had seen, especially the "new" things and I showed her the pictures on my camera. She had stayed back with Karl and they had a few more drinks and some lunch while I was gone. They had now moved on to Margarita's ($12.50) and Mudslides ($12.50). They ordered a cheeseburger plate and split it for $20.50.

Here's the menu:

The hubby and I decided to have some Mudslides as well and also ordered a Combo du Grill for $26.50 and shared it. This consisted of ribs and chicken along with the best tasting potato's I think I've ever had. They had some kind of green stuff on them and they were so incredibly tasty! I wish I knew what the green stuff was.

What a beautiful day it was!

I decided to walk over to the other restaurant and take some pictures.

They had baskets of fresh Lobster over there in the water. I remember seeing this last time we were here.

It was a pretty hot day out so we spent a lot of time in the water lounging.

"Do you guys realize how big your bill is about to be? I'm pretty sure you've tried everything on the menu by now". Karl said he wanted them to try all the drinks so next time, they'd know what they like and what to order. I know what I like so I had another round of Mudslides.

We had been here pretty much all day and enjoyed ourselves. It was about time to get ready to head back and it was time for Karl to pay up his bill. He said it was over $300 but I would later find the receipt and it was 219.44€, which ended up being around $256.43 US. "I told you you'd get a sticker shock Karl". He claimed it was all worth it. Ok, well as long as you feel that way...thank goodness you were promoted at work and make the big bucks now. 🤪If you don't know, that's how him and Sakari met years ago. Another one of his nicknames is "Work Boy", which Sakari gave to him about 3 years ago when she'd come home talking about this cute boy at work with long wavy surfer hair she had a crush on.

I believe they said the last ferry back was around 4pm so I didn't want to wait for the crowd rush and we started packing up a little after 3pm. Of course I think everyone thought the same thing we did and it would be a packed boat on the way back.

Just a short video of Pinel Island at the beach:

We headed out in our not-so-cold-a/c SUV and since we were over on the French side we thought we'd head over to Orient Beach and check it out. We've only been here once, in 2010, and it was just the hubby and I that time. We knew from our previous experience that Orient is known for it's nudity and I had made Sakari aware of that prior to coming here. However, we didn't bother to tell Karl...just to see it we'd get a drop jaw reaction to it. So far, there were no nude bodies at Pinel Island (as there was last time we came).

On our way over to Orient, once again, I missed a turn. It did show we could go in another way and that way...well I wouldn't suggest it. But hey, we are adventurous so we are just going to roll with it. It would be a bumpy winding road that would go along the ocean water but you could only creep along very slowly if you didn't want whiplash. I kept saying "I think we should turn around" but the hubby kept encouraging me to track on.

Eventually we would end up at Orient but I was not looking forward to heading back down this road to get out of here. We parked the car and headed between the beach bars and check out the beach. We would find that a lot of the places were closed and there was hardly anyone at the beach. The place was pretty much deserted as a matter of fact.

The waves were a little vigorous...just as I had remembered the last time we were there. Plus there was a lot of sargassum...and yes it smelled when you were near the water.

We walked down a little bit and did find a beach bar open with some chairs out by the water. We decided to stop and get a pop and some water. Pop on the island (just about everywhere) will cost around $3-4 for a can that will taste like someone shook it fiercely and sat it out in the sun for 3 months. That's how disgusting they taste. It would take me several days to discover that drinking Pepsi Zero would taste a whole lot better than drinking Diet Pepsi.

We sat at the restaurant for awhile and drank our drinks and started watching the jet skis and boats go by. Only Karl had discovered something else in front of us. Yes, it was a nude body, well at least the upper half. Sakari and I looked on to wait for his reaction. "Wait, you can do that here?"

We were watching a particular boat going by that was pulling parasailers above. Immediately Karl says "I want to do that! It's been on my bucket list". Well alrighty then, it's time to cross off something from your bucket list. Let's go down the beach and see where it's at.

We got back in the car and headed on down the dirt road to the "more popular" area. We walked out onto the beach and we found that we were at the right spot. Located right on the beach was a place called Fly Addiction Parasailing. We stopped to see what they were charging and was told $60/pp, which by the time they added the 15% fee would end up costing $140 for both of them.

I confirmed with Karl that he still wanted to do this because now's the time to back out if not.

All the paperwork was signed and they were ready to head out to the water. I wished Sakari "Good Luck" because Karl has an issue with puking each and every single vacation and he's prone to motion sickness so....

They put on their life jackets and headed out to the water to get on a jet ski to take them out to the boat.

What I didn't see or catch on video was something they would come back laughing about after their flight. Sakari said when Karl went to go from the jet ski to the boat he mis stepped and missed the boat and into the water he went. Karl said it was so hilarious. All I can say is I'm glad he wasn't hurt and squashed between the boat and the jet ski. But eventually they both made it on the boat.

Alright, moment of truth! Up, up and away they went.

Aww how cute! They were up there holding hands!

Every time we've been parasailing, we know they like to "dip" you in the water. This would be no exception. However, this ended up being a little more than a "dip". They went down. They remained down. They were drug in the water. They were twisting and turning. They said it was a blast but I was a little concerned. But as long as they reported having fun was all that mattered I guess.

Being pulled back into the boat:

Here they come back on the jet ski and I couldn't wait to get the report...especially to find out if Karl had any puking episodes. I know we are only on day 2 and there's still time but if there's ever a time...this would be it.

Well if these pictures don't paint the full picture I don't know what will.

Yep, bucket list checked now for Karl. ✅ Of course now after riding a jet ski, he has added that to his bucket list as well. Ok, enough firsts for the day. I don't want to send you into overload.

Here's a short 2 minute video of the kids parasailing...the ending is hilarious. You know when I said the kids REALLY got "dipped" I can guarantee you didn't picture this.

Time to head back to the resort only this time I found the easy way out...no dirt, no pot holes, no problem. Whew!

Once back at the resort we decided to make something quick and easy...pizza. HA! I laugh when I say "quick" because quick it was not! It took FOREVER for the oven to heat up to the degrees we needed. We had decided I would pop one in while the kids showered and changed and then they would eat and they would put another one in for the hubby and I and go shower. Well, by the time that it heated up we were all so hungry that we would all just have to share the first one and then shower during the second. So the thing this kitchen was missing...a pizza cutter.

We took our dinner out to the balcony and was watching everyone swimming in the pool. After eating, we decided we'd head down and do a little bit of swimming as well. The pool was all lit up and they pulled out a blow up screen and it was movie night with The Rock.

They even came around and passed out bags of popcorn. What a nice added touch!

It was time to head back to the room and then relax watching a little tv for awhile. I ended up getting hooked on watching AGT (America's Got Talent) and they were showing people from over the years and I remember seeing some of them in person when we were in Las Vegas. Then off to bed we went.