If it's Wednesday, it must be St. Maarten

Arrived at St. Maarten bright and early....another gorgeous day...sunny, warm
This port is full of cruise boats today...Emerald Princess, Royal Caribbean Oasis, Carnival Dream (from Pt. Canaveral) and a couple of other foreign ships we were not familiar with...so there were over 14,000 people milling around....

I know that security is very high on cruise ships, but didn't realize they periodically have divers swim underneath the ships to check for whatever.....

Biggest cruise ship on the seas ....massive! too big for us....

This is Philipsburg, St. Maarten...only a 37 square mile island which is shared by 2 different nations, France and the Netherlands. The Southern half (16 sq miles) is ruled by the Dutch and the Northern (21 sq miles) is governed by the French.

French side....a beautiful shopping mall, very modern....

and of course, there was a beautiful Marina there also.

Guy wandered about drooling over the yachts and decided

he'd like this one for Christmas....

Not quite in our price range....but

I did find him one we could afford...

he passed it up.....

After a very, enjoyable tour, we took off our shoes

and enjoyed an adult beverage from our balcony....

still absorbing in the flavors of St. Maarten...