Welcome to the Chronicles of
St Maarten
10/30/2006
Good morning! Welcome to St Maarten! Its another absolutely beautiful Caribbean day here in paradise! They are presicting a high of 87F with the chance of scattered showers (when isn't there the chance of scattered showers in the tropics?). We should be tying up in Phillipsburg any time now. We are screaming along at a hot 4 kts, so you know we are close! Here is the morning view: I have to encourage you all to make sure you read the second post for Tortola. Last night I went to upload the dispatch, and their computer system wouldn't put up the log on screen! So, whenever this one goes up, that will be there, as well. That is the problem with posting remotely -- you never know when the equipment will not be there to support you! We are going to be going into town for a little shopping, then off to the Lord Sheffield for lunch, and of course, a bit of snorkeling. I'll be back later with some pictures of our time in town and on the water! See you then! Keep Smiling!!!
1600 On every trip on a cruise ship, it seems that I have to have some small incident involving my camera gear, whether it be leaving something home, forgetting to account for some factor of the pictures, or just plain stupidity. This trip, it was just plain stupidity, and St Maarten is where it reared its ugly little head! But I am getting ahead of myself in the story.
This morning, we hooked up with Linda & Gayle to head into town to do a little shopping before heading out on our snorkeling adventure aboard the Lord Sheffield. We got on the water ferry that takes you for mthe cruise ship dock over to the two piers that are pretty much on either side of the shopping district in town. We got off at the main pier for downtown, pointing out to Linda and Gayle how the island had changed in the years we have been coming here. It really is a pretty island - the quintessential Caribbean island; swaying palm trees, lots of colorful little shops, and cobblestone streets.
Of course, arriving there at 8am means that we were there before much of anything opened. We walked the length of the downtown are, walked part way back, and sat down and had a smoothie. Then we headed back over to my favorite T-Shirt shop, the Last Mango in Paradise. Here I am with the girls: We poked around in there a bit - I didn't find much that I liked enough to get, and the girls had some jewelry shopping to do, so off we went. They headed over to Diamonds International, and I headed over to my second favorite store in the Caribbean - the Guavaberry Emporium, producers of some incredibly good rum (ask Michael or Calli about that stuff!). I chatted with the girl there, tasted a bunch of samples (remember, we are talking 9:15am here - and those who know me know how much I drink! I must be on vacation!), convinced some of the other people on the ship to try some samples, and saw what was new. Then I headed off to find the girls and see how much damage they had done.
It wasn't too bad when I showed up - I mean they only had what? 10 or 15 minutes at this point? This is what I arrived to: St Maarten, in my humble opinion, is the best place to come to shop for jewelry. Incredible selection, the people are friendly, and the prices are good. The only problem with it is that you had better have a basic idea of what things are worth, and what you are looking for, or you will buy too much for a price only little better than you could have gotten as a good deal back home. But when you know what you are looking for, this is the place to be. I like it better than St Thomas, because the shops are a bit nicer, close togther, and you don't get the feeling that you might get run over going from store to store.
Time was running short, so we headedback to the ship to get our gear and find the Lord Sheffield! On the water taxi back to the cruiseship pier, we ran into Lisa, Ahmet and their son from the Cruise Critic group. Here they are:
We got to the Lord Sheffield, got checked in, and met the Captain and crew. Robb, our Captain is originally from Canada. He's been here for a few years running the Sheffield. His first mate's name escapes me, but he has been here for a while, but is originally from Ghana, as is his younger brother, who has been working the ship for a bit over a month. Really good people - very attentive, very open, and they make sure your glass is full (yep, open bar, both on the way there, and back) and that you are having a good time.
The ship is beautiful. Its a 2 mast, square rigged Brigantine (only the forward mast is square rigged). She can make 10 knots, which is considered fast for the ship type, and we were making about 7 with just one sail unfurled.
The girls hung out on the Chick Deck (their term, not mine, nor one you will find in any nautical book!)
I got invited up there to have my picture taken with the chicks:
This picture was taken just before I took the helm, and drove the Lord Sheffield (I didn't crash or anything!): Now we get to the part I was talking about earlier. Yesterday, we had a rather long day of fun and frolicking in the deep blue sea. We got back to the ship, cleaned up, and headed off to dinner, then the show. I got back to the room and wrote my dispatch, then tried to post it (rather frustrating when you can't get the technology to work for you at midnite!). Went to bed, and got up early to write, post, and hit the island. You notice that at no time in that litany did you hear the words "charge the batteries of the cameras." That is because I didn't. And, of course, I decided not to take my SLR gear with me (all the pictures from today were taken with the Olympus waterproof point and shoot Jan from Piepul's Camera was kind enough to lend me), and just go with the underwater camera. Oops. Picked it up when we got to the lagoon we were going swimming in, and the battery was dead. But I am on vacation, so too bad. When Carol first reviewed the pictures from today, she was wondering why I stopped shooting! I had mentioned to her that the battery dies, but I really didn't let it upset me. I must be on vacation! As luck would have it, this was not the worst thing in the world, because the fish were not nearly as active here as they were yesterday at Norman Island. And the fish near the sea wall did not partiularly life Cheerios, like the fish yesterday did (I got some to try it, but they spit it out!). So it was pretty quiet. But there were these 10"-12" silver angel fish near the boat that liked the few Cheerios I had left. Then we climbed aboard, dried off, and the guys brought out platters of barbequed ribs and chicken. They tasted great! And when you were done, you threw the bones over the side. It turns out that Cheerios is not the only thing these angel fish liked to eat!!! The ride back was great. We were running against both the seas and the wind returning to port, so we ran sing the diesels. I rode for a good bit on the ver tip of the bow, about 20' past where the bow cuts into the water. As a result, I got one heck of an e-ticket ride, slamming thru the waves. I loved it! Then I laid down and took a little nap on the deck (okay, not much of one, since I was talking to people while laying there, and they brought a plate of fresh fruit and chocolate wafers for dessert, and every once in a while a wave would wash over the bow, and I would get wet - but it was very relaxing!). Once back, we took showers, cleaned the gear, and debated heading back into town. In reality, we didn't need to (didn't really need to get any souveniers for anyone - protests from my staff put aside), and we were tired - it was a full day. Carol is taking a nap as I write! Tonite is the "optional" third formal night onboard. I'll probably wear the suit I brought (there is still one more formal night that I will be wearing the tux for). I have no idea what the entertainment is going to be tonite, but we have great company, a beautiful ship, and good food to keep us sated. It doesn't get much better than this. I better get this uploaded before we need to get changed to meet Linda and Gayle for drinks before dinner. Amazing how easy some things become wonderful routines! I hope your Monday went well. Keep Smiling!!!
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All Images and Accounts of this Adventure are strictly the doings of the Author, and have Nothing to do with the Official Positions or Opinions of Timethief Photography, its affiliated divisions, or anyone associated with the company. If you have any issues with the accounts, how people or places are portrayed, or with any statements of fact, take it up with him! Of course, he'll probably be off on another adventure!
Copyright 2000-2006, Timethief Photography
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