2025 ST MAARTEN LAND VACATION

DAY 8: NOTHING BUT FLYING TODAY. WE WILL BE ENTERING THE FLY ZONE!

After one miserable night and thinking that I wouldn't see daylight today, I was finally able to lay down without too much discomfort and kept all bodily fluids in (I'm sure I had none left at this point) around 6am. It was now time for the hubby to get up and me get some rest hopefully. 🤞

I guess you could say I took a short nap and was up 3 hours later. I really wasn't sure how today was going to go or if it would be like every other day where I'm fine...until night after eating.

I think everyone had cereal for breakfast but I refused any and all food. Nope, I'm not chancing it. Not today.

Today was the 4th day again, which meant our room was getting cleaned with fresh linens and towels...thank goodness. After so many showers last night trying to relax my body and feel better, everything was soaked and not so tidy today is all I can say.

Alrighty, trip number 3 to Parrote Ville coming right up. We were grabbing cash, since that's all they would take, and hoping for the best.

As we headed out, we heard a bird in the tree in the parking lot. It was so cute and singing. Sakari said "This is a good sign. We are going to see birds today!"

Pulling up to Parotte Ville we could see they were open and yes, they were still accepting cash. 😆 So in we went.

Outside of where the birds are was a playground for the kids and a few tables to sit at.

It would cost us $60 to get in ($15/pp). We headed toward the entrance to the ginormous bird cage where everyone lives in harmony. As every place, you walk into an area and close the door behind you. Then they told us what to do and expect and that you could stay as long as you like. I probably should have ask for clarification "As long as I like? Or as long as Sakari likes?" Because they are two different likes. Just saying...

There was a board with all the different kinds of parrots there. So colorful. They would also hand us a cup on a stick full of bird feed to entice them to come to us. Sakari is the bird whisperer so she really didn't need the cup but took it anyhow. I had the thoughts of "spilling" mine on Karl's head just to watch the birds flock and him scream. (It has taken him 2 years to warm up to Sakari's bird...just saying...now he claims their "friends" so it shouldn't be a problem right?) 😁😂

There were so many birds and so many types of birds. I did not expect this at all. There was definitely triple what the board on the outside suggested.

Let the fun begin....he thinks he's a pro.

As soon as we walked in Sakari spotted an African Grey and she squealed with excitement. This is the bird she wanted to buy when we went to get hers but they want so much for them and she decided not to spend quite that much. She also instantly fell in love with Gizmo because he took to her right away and was loving and crawled right up on her shoulder, cuddled and went to sleep on her. She knew that was the bird for her.

Anyhow, there was a guy holding the African Grey so she would have to wait.

Sakari was over talking to one of the workers there and she was telling her that she had a bird back home, a Patagonian to be exact. The worker said she had never heard of it before. We tried to explain, they are somewhat big, are green with blue tipped feathers, a yellow underbody with bright orange. Nope, she still didn't know.

I guess not all birds like the food on a stick trick:

Yep, almost an hour later and the same guy is still holding the African Grey. Like dude, share! You've had enough time.

At one point I was on the opposite end of the cage than Sakari. I heard this sound. This very familiar sound. Sakari heard it too. We both met up and looked around and YES!! THEY HAVE A PATAGONIAN here somewhere. We would know that squawk anywhere. Well, we finally found them. There were two. I'm not sure how old they were but to me they looked younger than Sakari's "Gizmo". They didn't seem quite as bright as hers either. Sakari (and all of us really) tried to coax them down but they weren't having it. They wanted no part of being held or fed. We tried multiple times throughout our visit and they would usually just move away from you. Unlike Sakari's Gizmo who wants to smother you with love and kisses. Gizmo will even serenade you with songs and he sounds like an Opera Singer...no lie. He goes from "Laaaaaaaaa" as his voice goes up and down like an opera singer to "Gizmo" in his cute little voice. LOL He's so entertaining.

They really had some colorful birds here. So pretty!

Karl the bird whisperer today. He was telling Sakari he's the pro at this now after all the practice he's had with Gizmo.

Outside of the fence to the aviary there is a walkway and then another fence. This guy was looking for the escape route.

FINALLY!! The guy released the African Grey...but what did he do? He lifted his arm for it to fly away and fly away it did...up to the ceiling along the fence. Geesh! But we did notice they had 2 others up there as well. They just weren't coming down. I had a feeling that we would not be leaving this place until she got to hold at least one of them.

There was a very large tortoise on the outside of the aviary and along the walkway.

Then finally, finally, finally one of the African Grey's flew down. The hubby went over to coax it down and after awhile it decided to get on his food on a stick. Sakari hadn't noticed yet and he walked over to her. She finally gets to hold her African Grey and she was so happy.

She held if for a pretty long time. These birds are so smart with a very high vocabulary. The worked did say they talked and I heard it say "hello" once but Sakari did say it was talking to her some.

However....these Blue Indian Ringneck parakeets came over (and they were a pair) and they would talk to each other. Sakari's heart melted. They would kiss each other and give her a kiss. They would whistle, say hello, thank you, I love you, come here, how are you, among other things. They were absolutely adorable.

Then there was the bluish purple parrot. He was mean. He wouldn't leave us alone. We always watched out for him. We'd walk over to the other side of the aviary and he would come along too. He would get in your hair and tangle himself up. Then one of us would have to attempt to get him out. He got onto the top of Karl's head and Sakari finally got him out and was holding him and he bit her. Like really bit her and she was bleeding a lot. Here he has ahold of her finger right when it happened.

Meanwhile these guys were still in the same place and still refusing to come down.

Here's a video of our day there playing with the birds. The two Ringneck birds at the end are absolutely adorable!

We didn't last much longer after the bird bite and it was time to go. The staff cleaned up her finger and bandaged it for her and off we went onto the next adventure. Hey Karl, remember that zipline off the side of the mountain? Yep, we're going and just so you know...I'm giving you the heads up so that you can start worrying now and praying. 😁

It was a short drive over to Rainforest Adventures and yes, they were open today! We're doing this. Man that mountain looks massive! This little adventure would cost us $436 for 4 people. They gave us our wrist bands and we had to walk up a hill to catch the 4 person ski lift to the top of the mountain. You can purchase tickets just to ride up. It's called the Sky Explorer.

So off we went. Sakari and I looked at each other and we could read each others minds. Yep, we were going to mess with Karl on the way up. He had no idea what was coming his way. 😁

At least there was a breeze on the way up. It felt good. On the way up we started playing "What if...and would you be able to survive if the line snapped?" The look on Karl's face. Sakari and I were really messing with him.

They also had another ride you could do where you bob sled down the mountain. We didn't see anyone doing it but I bet it would be fun.

The view was incredible.

Almost to the top! Lift your feet up before you get to the platform.

After getting off the ski lift, they told us to run over and get on the other ski lift and go on up. Wait, there's another one? We are going even higher!

We finally made it to the top and now there were stairs to climb. I didn't know I was going to be getting a work out today. Where's the elevator?

We stuck around down below for awhile taking pictures. There were several different decks up there, all with wonderful views. It gave you a lot of time to think about what was about to happen...right Karl?

I told Karl to take a family picture of us. I had thought about updating our family Caribbean picture on my website but I didn't realize he was so far back and it wasn't exactly the angle I was looking for.

Then he yells "Hold up, I need one more" and then jumps in the picture.

Ok, time for some climbing. We still needed to make it to the tippy top.

Ok guys hold up. I need to take some more pictures up here. Honestly, I just needed to rest. My foot was yelling "What are you doing to me???"

Ok, we have arrived! Just a little about the zip line: It is the steepest zip line in the world and drops 1050 feet in elevation over 2800 feet. If you're gonna do this, you might as well go big right Karl? You had this on your bucket list. I bet you didn't realize it would be like this. They also had a bar up there. I'm really shocked Karl didn't stop for a drink to calm his nerves. Although he hasn't puked yet on this trip so now might be the time.

They had 4 zip lines but was only running 2 at a time. I guess we would split up. They had said you were not allowed to bring your camera or GoPro. We could take them up there for pictures but not as we were ziplining. They did say that they would video it and we could purchase the video of course.

It was time to gear up and by gear up I mean this...

We decided to let the kids go first. At least that way I could get some type of video of them.

Alrighty, reading to Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo and off they went. Karl was immediately screaming and yelling "omg, no, no, no." 😁😂

Sakari with her hands up in the air while Karl hangs on for dear life....still screaming.

It is so far down there that you couldn't even see them anymore when they got closer to the bottom. They went from being a tiny spec to disintegrated. Hopefully Karl has not passed out. He's now too far for me to hear.

Then it was our turn. I couldn't wait. I love things like this. Then off we went...flying like an Eagle. Woo Hoo!

After the ride, no one ever even mentioned anything about the pictures or video. I would later get something in my email stating we could purchase the ski lift video for $10 or the zip line down for $20. It give you a "free preview" of the video. This free preview shows only that 1 person (so like my video would only have me and not the hubby on it and of course the same for Sakari and Karl) and I will say the video quality and placement looked terrible. I believe it catches you at the top being released down, then maybe from a side view and then arriving at the bottom platform. I can't believe this preview would be convincing enough for anyone to purchase it. You couldn't really see anyone except take off for a brief moment and the the lens from the side is completely blurred. The preview at the end showed grass. LOL I decided not to purchase any of them after seeing that.

Here's our video for this adventure and what an adventure it was!

Karl had worked up an appetite, what's new right, so it's time to eat. Prior to coming to St Maarten I did a search to see what fast food places they had available there. Smash Burger was one of them so we headed back to the resort to get my gift card (since I had purchased several different ones prior to coming). We knew there was a Smash Burger over by Maho Beach and that's where we were headed.

Now they do have a parking garage down the street from Maho Beach. It is free for the first 30 minutes or $1 an hour. We parked and walked across the street to Smash Burger.

I remember this street well. We walked this street from Mullet Bay Beach over to Maho with my kids and Kendra's fiancé managed to get my son Kolin so drunk he couldn't walk by the end of the trip. Yep, I took a picture of the area and sent it to Kolin and he immediately knew where I was. Ahhh, memories. 🤣

We ordered our food and I handed the girl behind the counter my gift card. She looked puzzled. She had no idea what this plastic thing was. Obviously they did not accept them. Darnit.

Here's the menu:

Yep, they're pretty darn expensive for a cheeseburger meal but what isn't here right?

It was smoldering hot there because it was not enclosed. At least they had a fan to circulate the hot air from outside to the inside. Ugh

I found this place pretty interesting. You could eat here, they had alcohol here and you can get your vapes or cigarettes here as well. It's a one stop shop. 🤔They even had some novelties (shirts, hats and such).

At least I can say the food was definitely good. Now I have a gift card that I'll have to see if we can use back home. Hopefully we have one.

It was later in the day but since we were at Maho, we might as well walk over to the beach to see if we can spot any decent bigger planes coming in.

Well, it definitely looked a little different than the last time I was here. Most of the sand was washed away from the hurricane and it was not really swimmable...not that it was the greatest place to swim when there is sand...just saying. I made my own memories once here back in 2010...more on that later.

Yep, I remember Driftwood...the place where it all started with my son and Kendra's fiancé. It has definitely grown since we were there. I remember it being a little shack at the side of the road last time we were here.

We kinda sat in a safe spot on the wall beside the road and waited...and waited...and waited. No planes were coming in. They did have 2 big planes leave and 1 small one. Sakari would tell Karl about her last experience here, getting blown away, sand in hair, cut up and crying. Yep, bad mom moment but how was I to know?

The danger zone...

After awhile of sitting in the heat and no planes, Sakari gives me the eyes looking over top the glasses with an eyebrow raised look and I knew it was time to go. I know this look really well so we headed back to the parking garage.

Parking would cost us $2 and we headed back to the resort where we would shower and just hang out on the balcony for the rest of the night. At least I didn't have to make dinner since we ate so late. Snacks and chips it is. Winning!

Sakari did her thing and had to draw her bird since it was a bird day:

I ended up falling asleep somewhat early. I just couldn't go on after only having 3 hours of sleep the night before. However, don't you worry...I did wake up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. That meant another shower for me and some Melatonin. Yep, that did the trick.

I would find out the following day that I wasn't the only one that couldn't sleep. The kids snuck out and went down to the pool bar and had a few chocolate martini's and some lava cake. Midnight snack they called it.