2025 ST MAARTEN LAND VACATION

DAY 5: SHOPPING BEACHES AND BOOZE

Well today would probably be the last "good" day for us. They were predicting rain for the rest of our vacation. Thank you very much Erin. 😩

So I'm going to start this "new event" right here because it's an important part of the rest of my vacation. Last night was HORRIBLE! (If this is just TMI, skip this area...just saying) I woke in the middle of the night with explosive diarrhea...multiple times. It was hard to sleep for fear that it might happen again...and it would...over and over. I have no idea why or what was going on. But, it wasn't a good night. After giving up and deciding to just forego my sleep, I just decided to stay up.

As I sat out on the balcony waiting for everyone else that was sleeping peacefully to get up, I would notice this boat out in the water. It had been anchored in our little cove daily (as a lot of the boats were) and I zoomed in to see what it was. It happened to be the boat I was going to book with because on their website, they said it was a day sail with music and food AND....IT HAD A ROPE SWING! Now when we went to Aruba, we did the Pirate ship and Sakari said it was the absolute best time she'd ever had. Every time we vacation I always look to see if there's anything comparable and I had found this company prior to coming here. We were going to book for some time next week but with Erin coming, I didn't know if it would happen (and it didn't). Boo!

Every morning Mr Iggy and friends would be out on the rocks sunning.

After everyone decided they had an abundance amount of sleep and was getting up, I decided to make egg bagels for breakfast, in between bouts of trips to the bathroom of course. Yes, my dilemma was still going strong.

I tried to wait around to see if it was going to be possible to do another dive today...but never heard back from Daniel #1 (dive instructor) and we didn't really have time to waste. We wanted to make the most of our day since it could potentially be the "last" of our vacation.

Today's agenda would be heading to the Parrote Ville Sanctuary to see the birds. Sakari squealed with excitement. Then close by there is the ziplines and I knew I wanted to get a reaction out of Karl on this one. He did say it was another item on his bucket list and I really wanted to fulfill that. He just had no idea what he was asking for on this one though.

We headed out and over to the Phillipsburg area (although not located in town but out a ways). I don't remember how long it took us to get there but hey, we're on island time right? Once we arrived, we would find that it had a "closed" sign on the gate. There were people inside working and we inquired when they were opening. They told us with the hurricane coming, they were securing the birds and would not be open today. Bummer! Ok, well I guess we're going to the zipline and would just have to return here next week after Erin shows her ugly face...hopefully.

We drove over to Rainforest Adventures. As we were coming down the street Karl yells "Wait! Is that the zipline?" Yes Karl it is. He kept asking if I was joking. I mean there's no way someone in their right mind would come down that mountain on a string right? We pulled into the parking lot, his face covered in fear. We got out to also find that they were closed. They also had workers there that were securing everything and bringing the equipment down. They said they would open back up on Monday. Karl's reply "Well darn I really wanted to do that" and he breathed a sigh of relief. I assured him "No worries, we will come back before our trip is over". 😆

Well, what now? I guess since we were over around the Phillipsburg area we would head into town and walk around.

Cool looking palms made from palms along the way into town:

I knew there was supposed to be a lot of painted artwork on the buildings and Sakari is always game for some shopping. Karl always likes to buy his sister something when on vacation so it sounded like the perfect thing to do. That was until I got caught on the very small one way street of no return that I could seem to get out of. We drove and drove with no place to park or turn off until you get to the end of the area. But, eventually we would find a parking spot after getting out of this maze. Whew! I marked my parking spot on my phone and off we went to explore...in the heat. 🥵

There was definitely a lot of paintings on the buildings as we walked by. I love this.

I think Sakari's dream job would be to just paint on buildings all day...especially if there's birds involved.

I feel the need to just spin this and see where it points to for our next vacation. It looks like Anguilla is the closest at 17 miles.

Well this is cool!

I think someone forgot to change the batteries. It was definitely the wrong time.

We stopped at various places along the way. I was on a hunt to find a St Maarten magnet to add to my collection but I wanted one that was a diver. They are next to impossible to find.

We came across a store and the owners were so nice. He was trying hard to make a sell but not in a pushy way. So you might ask "How's that?" Well, he offered us FREE DRINKS!! Pulled them right out of the fridge and they were ice cold. I told the hubby "Now we HAVE to buy something here!" Sakari ended up getting a St Maarten hoodie. I ended up with another rash guard shirt that has all the islands on it. Karl got another rash guard saying "St Maarten". We were happy with our purchases and enjoyed the a/c while we were there too.

Then we were off to do some more shopping. Sakari found a store with a 2 piece dress outfit she had been looking for in white. She wanted one that had a long dress. She asked to try it on and they told her "Not the white one, it can get dirty. Try a blue one on." Nope, you can't try on a different color than what you're wanting. It's not going to give you the picture you want to see. I had to tell them if she couldn't try on the white one, we would go on down the street to find a place that would. They decided not to lose the deal and let her. However, the one she tried on had some thread unraveling and I refused to purchase it that way. They were unable to find another in white. But again, they were not about to miss out on a sale. They called someone and another store brought one right over. Sale completed! Karl bought his sister and sweat shirt and off we went again.

When I had posted where we were one of my friends of many years that I worked with (the one that actually got me into cruising again back in 2010) comes to St Maarten often and told me about one of their favorite spots to stop at. I swear she said it was a little ice cream shop called Juggies Place. She told me to find it and look for the sticker they put up there last time they were here. So, we were on a wild goose chase and I couldn't find any goose's if that tells you anything.

We headed out to the boardwalk area and took a look at the beach. It was so hot outside that I kinda wished we had our bathing suits on because I would have definitely hung out there for awhile. Whew it's hot!

The beach looked pretty and the sand was soft. This is probably where a bunch of cruisers hang out on port days. This would be Great Bay Beach. We did check into staying at one of the hotels here along the boardwalk. Although the beach was nice, I'm glad we didn't stay here. The places were over top of the shops and the parking would have been a nightmare!

Every place we stopped at did not know of an ice cream place and did not know of the place we told them. I was really confused. Then FINALLY someone said right down there on the beach. Well, they were wrong. Another person told us to go over one street and down. But, we had already walked that entire street and didn't see it.

We decided to just head back to the car. Along the street we had already went down, we spot a sign. This place was back in the cut and had there not been a sign, I don't know how anyone could find it.

This place claims to be the "Smallest Bar in the World". Wait what? A bar? I thought this was an ice cream place. I'm so confused. They weren't kidding when they said small. It was more like a hole in the wall booth built into a building. They actually sit outside at a chair and had a few tables. That looks like alcohol to me. I ask about the ice cream and got a blank stare. "No, no ice cream. We have milkshakes but not made out of milk". Now I'm really confused. I guess my friend was referring to alcohol. That was the last thing we needed on this hot day without being able to get in the water. Plus, I still had to drive "home". I wasn't sure which sticker my friend was referring to so I just took a random picture of them to show her we were there.

When I got back to the hotel, she would tell me which sticker is hers (Bee North)

We located the car with my personal GPS (the hubby) and we were off again.

We headed back to the resort in our next to no a/c vehicle and decided to put our bathing suits on and find some new beaches to go to. We usually like to hit all the beaches we can to have that experience and take pictures of course.

I knew I wanted to go to "the next beach over from Friars" because Daniel #2 (Rhino Riders) told us it was a great beach, secluded, had really cheap food and we would love it. However, I didn't recall what the name of the beach was. So, that was the plan.

Along the way we spotted a unique Audi Q2. We don't have these here in the US and I had to take a picture and send to my boys back home. We are Audi "freaks" and we all have multiple (including my sons and daughters) and I knew they would love this. I think St Maarten had more Audi's on it than our entire large city at home.

We headed toward Grand Case. I had no idea if this was the beach or not. It was over an hour drive with all the traffic on island time (it was supposed to be a 16 minute trip). HOWEVER...we finally discovered on this trip the reason we were not getting much air was because it had been on the defrost setting this entire time. All these darn touch screen buttons....ahhh, finally ice cold a/c! Living the life now.

Once we arrived to the area, parking was very scarce. We parked, hauled our beach stuff out and headed over a few blocks toward the beach. It was somewhat of a walk too! Then once we made it to the beach I would discover I left my phone, hanging on the dash, in the car (used as our GPS). UGH! This was not a good sign at all. We HAD to go back. It was right there in the open and baking in the sun. We walked back, grabbed the phone, then headed back to the beach again. My legs were burning and it was HOT!

I have to say, I wasn't too impressed with this place. It was packed! Beach chairs were lined up right against each other and it just didn't make me feel too comfortable there. There wasn't any natural shade either so you are pretty much forced to rent a chair/umbrella.

We searched for the "cheap" place to eat but there were NO cheap places there. As a matter of fact they were all pretty darn expensive and the one thing I hate about technology these days is they want you to scan their menu. Well, I don't have service in St Maarten so there's that. Either provide me with an actual menu or I'll go on down the road...and that's exactly what we did...kept walking.

At this point I was tired, hot and hungry and this is not a good mixture. We decided this just wasn't the place for us and we were going to head back to the car and find another place. Karl said his food at Friars was really good and he definitely wouldn't mind going back there for lunch.

Along the way back to the car we spotted this...I have no words. Yes this is grass. Do you think they water it daily?

We followed my MapsMe and it took us down a very bumpy dirt road with craters everywhere but we finally found it. Yes the area looks different from the road. I think I like coming here by boat instead...just saying. We parked on a gravel hill and I almost didn't want to take my foot off the brake.

We found a table with an umbrella and took a look at the menu.

This would be our spot and view for lunch:

While we were waiting on our food to come, I decided to take a dip in the ocean to cool off. No one was interested in joining me so I didn't stay out long.

Our food has arrived. The hubby had the cheeseburger and fries ($16):

Karl had the Chicken Curry meal:

Sakari and I decided we wanted the Jerk Chicken Kabob with rice and salad meal ($19):

Now that was not a chicken kabob of any sort. It was a few pieces of chicken pulled off and put on the plate. It tasted like chicken fingers with no "jerk" to it. There was some type of sauce (I assume maybe the jerk?) and it tasted like cinnamon. It came with a small salad but not enough dressing on it and 1 plantain. Sakari and I ate it, but would never order that again. We were there for 1 hour and 26 minutes just for our food. Ehh Karl, I'm not sure if it was the best place to go but our bellies were full at least.

It was time to head out. Backing up to the road on the hill in the gravel became quite the challenge. Then the actual road leading out wasn't big enough to fit 2 vehicles and we were within inches from a wall. I patiently waited for the oncoming traffic to go by and I had a lady a few cars down (heading our direction) yelling and cussing at me to move and go! Well like go where???? What happened to the "friendly" people of St Maarten? Friendly she was not! Of course I had to deliberately stop as she passed by me calling me a few choice words as I glared at her and then managed to smirk out a smile and wave..."Hey girl heeeeyyyyy!"

And just like that we have left the French side (Saint Martin) and back to the Dutch side (Sint Maarten).

Traffic was horrible on the way back to the resort and usually at a dead stop. However, we managed to take a short cut around the airport bridge area and we managed to get back fairly quickly.

So parking, remember the very small, not enough room to park spaces? I did learn that if we went down to the area that is a turn and comes up into the entrance of the hotel, then back into a spot, it gave me a lot more room to get into a spot. It didn't help with only having inches on the side of the car to get out, but at least backing into the spot was easier. I took this picture from a video I did on my phone and tried to make it big so that you could see just how bad the parking is. Then you get someone that's either right on the line or an inch over (like the red jeep below) and they've effectively eliminated any parking beside them. I got lucky a few times and was able to park beside a motorcycle. That gave us plenty of room.

We got back just in time to watch the bridge open up and boats going over into the marina preparing for the storm and getting out of the ocean side area...which included our little bay at the resort.

We decided to just hang out at the hotel for the rest of the day. Sakari didn't even want to go down to the beach or pool or anything. Who took my daughter and what have you done with her???? She said she just wanted to people watch from the balcony. There were probably more people on the beach today than we have ever seen since being here. Maybe since it was Friday they were all just arriving? They picked a bad time to come. Just look at our little bay now...all the boats were gone and in the marina now. This place is usually full of boats.

Off in the distance you could see the rain coming our way. The people at the beach could have cared less. It did not stop their fun or swimming.

Karl decided to be our weather reporter and started giving weather details:

"Hello, this is Karl your storm team meteorologist coming to you from St Maarten where hurricane Erin is predicted to pass by this beautiful island in the next day or two. Hurricane Erin has been working out and has developed quite a bit of muscles recently and has become a category 5 hurricane which is predicted to pass sometime around tomorrow bringing rain, high winds and storm surges to the area. As you can tell, the vacationers here at the resort are planning on making the most of their Friday night. More updates to come as this fierce storm continues toward our island"

Rain still headed our way...

And then the cloud Gods opened up the sky and here come the torrential downpour...and there went our weatherman back inside.

Once the rain passed by we were presented with the most beautiful sunset of this trip!

This is one of my favorites yet...

As we were all sitting on the balcony again, Karl said "I'm hungry. What are we going to eat for dinner? Or was what we ate at the beach considered lunch and dinner?" Oh geesh, this kid!

We kept hearing a bunch of music playing from down below. They were playing my all time favorite tunes...80's music. I was belting out some type of tune that would pierce even our husky's ears that would turn into a pack of howling back home...but I was enjoying the music. Then I noticed the music was actually coming from down the beach and Buccaneer's. "Wait, we should go over there. They sound like they're having a blast and we can eat dinn...." I didn't even finish my sentence and Karl was already inside putting on his shoes. Alrighty then, I guess we're taking a walk down the beach.

We're seeing lights and the music is getting louder!

We found a seat and it was right by the DJ. Yes, they had a live DJ tonight. He was really good too! I was in my element now! Bring on the drinks! 😁 Oh and food because that's what we came for.

The menu:

We started the night off with a mudslide, BBC, pina colada and another mudslide. Yummy!

I ordered a Cheeseburger with mushrooms and blue cheese with fries ($18 + $4 for the extras), another BBC and a water...just in case there was a delay in between getting drinks. 😉

Both the hubby and Sakari ordered the Nacho Plate ($17/each)

Karl had the jerk chicken meal with rice. Yea he was excited. He's found his new favorite food here:

Yep, you could say we were having a blast...time for round three I think?

The staff was busy trying to light the tribal firepit and was really struggling. Karl decided to go out to help him. It was a little windy out and Karl thought by blocking the wind with his paper thin body would help. It ended up taking an army of men to get it to light but it eventually did.

There was an area in front of the DJ and a group of guys were out there dancing. One of them was the life of the party and would pull anyone up to dance that he could...young and old, it didn't matter. He knew the words to every song played. He attempted to get Karl and Sakari out....and eventually it happened. Sakari said this guy reminded her of someone her brother Kolin would hang out with. He was goofy and constantly smiling and so energetic. Sakari tried to get the DJ to play the Cupid Shuffle and can you believe he had never heard of it???? Who doesn't know what the Cupid Shuffle is? So she told him to play a boy band song (we were hoping for a little NSYNC Bye Bye Bye since the kids had learned that dance on the cruise ship but it didn't happen). They ended up playing Backstreet Boys "I Want it That Way"

The fire was really blazing now!

Another round of BBC, daiquiri, White Claw and another BBC...man they were good.

The drink menu:

They have a heart that lights up at night. We had seen this heart on our morning walk the other day. I remembered to tell Sakari about it. They grabbed their drinks and we headed over for some pictures.

After all this dancing, Sakari was getting tired and sleepy. We knew it was time to head back. Our bill ended up being $188.60 plus 15% service charge. Well, that was definitely a "night out".

Before leaving we ask our waitress if they would be having a "Hurricane Discount Night" tomorrow night because if so, we'd be showing up! She laughed at us and said they would probably be open but no Hurricane Discount Night. Darnit. A girl can try right?

The tribal fire was dying down. It was good while it lasted.

We stumbled back to the room, no really we were fine...just full of jokes and laughter along the way...and headed straight to bed where I would have multiple episodes of continued diarrhea throughout the night. What the heck is wrong with me?