St. Maarten/Day #9 (Sat; Mar 1)

St. Maarten. I learned from my homework online before we got there that there are two sides to this island. One side is Dutch and the other side is French. Not by choice, but we happened to stay on the Dutch side the entire time we were there. The Dutch side is spelled "St. Maarten" and the French side is "St. Martin". Kinda funny.

 Originally we were going to go to Orient Beach, because a friend of mine suggested it. But at the last minute we decided to go to Dawn Beach because there was snorkeling there and the taxi ride was cheaper since it was closer to the pier than Orient Beach.

 

Our taxi driver was a very nice lady. She told us she would come back and pick us up whenever we wanted to go back. So we arranged a time for her to come back and get us.

 

We got all set up with our beach chairs and umbrella. Read our books for a little bit, then decided to walk up the beach to check things out. Today was going to be another lazy day. With it being the last day we just wanted to relax. Started off the cruise with relaxing and wanted to end it that way.

 

The beach was not crowded at all. Which I loved. I had read and seen pictures beforehand that Orient Beach was a busy one. So I was glad we decided to go with this beach instead. It was nice not having to find a spot amongst the bodies on the sand.

 

 

After some relaxing we went out snorkeling. There was quite the reef out there. It was pretty cool.



 Kind of a fun picture out in the ocean.

 I thought this was a great shot that Jesse took of me. It looks so peaceful down there. I find it so cool that it can be that way while the surface is totally wavy. So much calmer below the surface. Too bad I can't hold my breath for very long.

 You want to know my favorite part about this picture? And you might find me silly, but it's Jesse's hand around my arm. It's that soft gentle touch that makes me feel safe when I'm with him. Just that small gesture shows love and affection to me and I like it.

The remaining time left, we read and soaked up the last drop of sun we could. When our taxi driver had returned I was bummed. The day had gone by too fast. 

 We did still have an hour or so left before we had to board the ship. So we asked her to take us to the downtown shopping center. We had some last minute shopping to be done.

 It was kind of a cute little "mall", so to speak.

 When we purchased everything that we needed, it was time to walk back to the pier. With a heavy heart we headed back for the last time.

 I seriously didn't want this vacation to end. We had connected on a whole new level. And we needed that. To get away from the everyday mundane day to day chores that cause us to become robots. Help us to break free from all of that and to become just "US" for that small moment of time. Me and him. To be spontaneous, adventurous and to have fun, made for the best vacation I have  EVER been on. Hopefully Jesse feels the same.

 That night all the servers in the dining room sang us a farewell song. Boo hoo. Is it really over?

 Left to right: Doug and Maureen Hess, Renaldo, Lloyd, Darko and us.

So sad saying goodbye. It seems you just get to know them and you have to bid them farewell. Luckily Maureen gave me her email, so we have been emailing back and forth since we have been home. It will be cool if we can keep it up.

St. Kitts/ Day #8 (Fri; Feb 28)

St. Kitts. Another day for exploring. When we got off the ship we found someone to rent a scooter from. The plan for the day was to drive around the entire island. Fun right? 

 We found the company just in the main little shopping area right off the ship. Once we paid they took Jesse (and two other guys) to the rental place. I had to stay behind to wait for him to come and get me. I guess there wasn't enough room in their car to take everyone. Only the drivers. So I patiently waited for my chariot to arrive. haha.

While Jesse drove, I sat on the back and did the navigating. Which really wasn't too hard since there was only one road to follow around the island. It's such a small island that if we didn't make any stops we could have driven the whole thing in in hour.

But we did make a few stops along the way. Rodney Manor was one of them. It was a short stop, but it was nice to get off the scooter and walk around the beautiful gardens they had there.

 Next we stopped at Brimstone Fortress. It was pretty cool. Not as cool as El Morro in San Juan, PR. But it was still neat to walk around it and check it out.

 We then drove for a ways before we made our next stop. And that was on the little skinny strip on tip of the island to get to this beach. Shipwreck (the white star on the map). We went there thinking there would be a shipwreck that we could snorkel by, but it was just a name.

I loved this cool sign that they had there.

Being in the sun constantly on the scooter we were hot and sunburned. So we took advantage of cooling off with a nice swim in the ocean.

 I have heard about black sanded beaches, but never before seen one in person. And here you go. Black sand. Jesse gathered some in a baggy to bring home. It's truly black. Crazy huh?

 This stop also had monkeys. Well they are all over the island, but we for sure saw them here. They would come down from the trees and munch on the sugar cane. It was pretty neat being that close to them.

 We were hungry so we ordered some nachos from the little shack/bar (whatever you want to call it). I loved the relaxed feel it had, how nice the people were and it being right by the beach. Very quaint.

  Oh and the nachos were very good.

Cool little collage I made on my phone. Probalbly my three favorite pictures from that day. I was actually very proud of the one of Jesse in the mirror. I took that while we were driving. Not too shabby huh? Then the bottom right one is a picture of the skinny strip of island we drove down. Crazy you could see the ocean on both sides of the island at once.

After the beach, we decided to drive to the very end of the island. So this is us at the very bottom part of the island. 

On our way back to drop the scooter off, we filled it up with gas. I was thrilled that we only had used $5 worth of gas.

 

During around the island, Jesse had mounted his GoPro camera onto the scooter to take a time laps video of the island as we were driving. See it in this picture?

 

 

 

The rental company drove us back to the main shopping area where we had started, after we dropped off the scooter. As we are looking around the shops, I asked Jesse if he had taken the GoPro off of the scooter. The look on his face was full of panic. I knew instantly he forgot to. Oh no. What now? We don't have a way of calling these people and we had to get back on the ship in 30 minutes.

 

Luckily we had their number and a guy in the jewelry store offered to call him. So Jesse was able to get ahold of them. Thankfully they were about to bring another group of people back to the shopping area as well, so the guy said he would bring the camera back to us. Phew.

 

We were very grateful to them for bringing it back to us. And I was very grateful that I thought about it before it was too late. That would have been terrible if we remembered when we were back on the ship. Oh can you imagine? I know Heavenly Father was watching out for us that day. Thank goodness for Him. And thank goodness I listened.

 

Other than the little scare at the end of the day... It was just perfect. We had the greatest time. Riding a scooter around the island was the best way to explore the island. We had passed several tour buses that were filled with people to see the island. That' just not us. We like to get out there and take a few risks and be adventurous. Again, so glad we both love doing that. It makes for a great team. I love Him!

St. Lucia/Day #7 (Thurs; Feb 27)

This is one of the islands I was the most excited about. I found through my investigation online that St. Lucia had two Pitons we could go hike. There were options to hire a bus to come and pick us up from the pier. But once I found out the price I knew we could do it for cheaper. So after a lot of searching I was able to find us a rental car. I liked the idea of us getting there ourselves and not being stuck with other people. We like to do our own thing. Then we could go as fast or as slow as we wanted.

 

When we got off the ship we had a taxi drive us over to the nearby airport where the rental car was suppose to be. When we arrived we couldn't see the rental company "Thrifty" anywhere. I started to worry.

 

There were other rental car companies, just not Thrifty. So we talked to the lady at the information desk and she said she would call the number that was on our confirmation paper I had printed out and brought along with us. She tried several times, but it just kept ringing. The lady told us to just hang out and wait and see if they call back or she could try again.

 

GAAA, I was feeling frantic. I knew we had along drive ahead of us and a long hike. There wasn't time to just wait. But we did. 15 minutes goes by. Still nothing. They call again. Still nothing. 30 minutes goes by and we finally hear that they were on their way and they would be 20 minutes before they would be there. Ok, ok. At least we knew we had a car. So that was good. But HURRY UP!

 

We had on our confirmation that we would pick it up at 8am. Now we are picking it up by 9am. Not cool. Also, I think it's silly that they should tell us to pick the car up at the airport when they don't even have a desk there. Apparently it's else where on the island and they bring it to you. K, that can be great and all, but not when we are crunched for time.

 

She finally arrives and we are thrilled to be on our way.

Just to give you an idea of how far we had to drive. We started at the top green star (George Charles Airport) to the bottom star (Gros Piton). If the road would have been a straight shot there it would probably take 15 minutes to get there. But because it was such a windy road with several hairpin turns, it took us an hour and 45 minutes to get there.

Along the way we saw banana trees. I thought it was cool.

Driving on the left side of the road. If you'll also notice the picture of us in the car, Jesse is on the right side and I'm on the left. It felt strange having everything backwards. Every time Jesse went to turn on his blinker, he would turn on the windshield wipers instead. After awhile we would just laugh about it because without fail he would do it. Even right after we would talk about it. We are such creatures of habit.

We knew we were getting closer when the pitons were in the distance. Aren't they wonderful? So amazing. I couldn't wait to get to the top of it.

As we are getting closer we see this man in the middle of the road signaling for us to slow down but doesn't get out of the way, so Jesse has to come to a complete stop. This guy is an older guy and he comes to the window, so Jesse rolls his window down. From what I remember the guy asked us where we were going. So we told them we were driving to the Pitons. Before we know it he proceeds to open the back door and climb in all the while saying "I'll show you where to go" and "I don't want any money".

I'm thinking to myself "Oh what a nice man". During the drive he is asking us where we are from, telling us about his mom and grandma and his kids. Then he starts to tell us that he wants us to help out his kids with a cricket ball and that he'll go home and tell his kids that two Americans helped them out today.  Honestly the way he was talking I had no idea what he meant.

It wasn't until we get to the road that leads to Gros Piton that he starts telling us he wants us to help his kids out with 2 cricket balls that I realize he's trying to get money out of us. Jesse asks him "How much?" and he said "$40".

What? No freaking way am I paying this dude $40 for two cricket balls, even if he did drive five minutes with us to show us where to go. But he was being so sneaky about "not wanting any money". Paaa-lease!

I told him no. So then he's trying to talk me down to one ball for $20. Sheesh. Just imagine a man in your back seat pretty much not willing to get out of the car until you pay him. Gall. At this point I gave him the $20. Then he finally got out of the car, but as he was leaving he was saying "I don't want to cause no trouble".

You're joking right? You just caused a whole heap of trouble Mr. I totally got worked over for $20. It all happened so fast we almost didn't realize until after how sly he really was being right fro the beginning. I was so BUGGED! Taking advantage of tourists who would gladly take directions from a local.

Probably five minutes before that all happened, Jesse and I were commenting that all the people in St Lucia that we have encountered all seemed really helpful and nice. Haha. Then that man happened.

We finally arrive at the base of Gros Piton. Once we parked we were greeted with the workers from there. They showed us to the desk and we paid our fee to hike. Part of the fee included a guide. His name was Cameron and he was 20 years old. We told him that we had to be back to the cruise ship by 4:30.

So we go started right away. He told us that he was going to keep a stead pace for us so we could make it to the top in good time.

The trail started out like a normal trail you would see in Utah, just steeper. But the further we got to the top it become steeper and rockier. There were times when my short legs were extended fully to step up some of the rocks and steps.

As we are hiking with Cameron we got to know about him and what he does. I learned that he hikes Gros Piton 1-4 times a day because of his job, and that he lives at the base of the mountain. So this hike for him is nothing. The first half of it he had his hands in his pockets. I also learned that the record time to get to the top of the mountain was 38 minutes. I think he said his fastest was about 58 minutes and the slowest he had ever done it with a group was about 10 hours. So quite the drastic difference.

He typically just hikes at the speed of the people he's guiding up the mountain. But since we had a dead line to be back to the ship, he got to set the speed. I learned after awhile that he really enjoyed pushing us. And I loved the challenge. So we were a great fit. I was proud to see that my fitness came into play that day. I could keep up with Cameron not a problem. Granted I was breathing pretty hard while Cameron wasn't. Jesse and I were dripping in sweat while Cameron hardly had any. I couldn't believe it. This trail wasn't for beginners and he was climbing like it was nothing.

I love this picture of Jesse. This was at the half way mark with a great view of the other Piton. Petite Piton.

Just to give you an idea of the steepness of this trail. This is about 3/4 of the way up. The last 1/4 was all rocks and we were hawling butt on that section. Cameron had a time in his head that he wanted us to get to the top. So he pushed us hard through the last part. So no time for pictures. I loved how competitive he was. We passed several people on our way up and if they started to catch up when we were taking resting breaks he would say "Lets get going' or "They aren't going to pass us'. Haha this kid was a child after my own heart.

The beauty of a hard hike is the reward at the end. What a view. Looking out over the ocean and over the island. Just breath taking. Cameron got us to the top in an hour and 13 minutes. He was very pleased with us. And I was too.

Gros Piton is 2,619 feet tall and Petite Piton is 2,461 feet tall. We had hiked Gros Piton with 2200 vertical feet climb. Incredible. The whole time I was thinking how blessed I am to have a husband who is just as willing as I am to conquer this mountain. I love that we can go on vacation together and be adventurous and explore the island together. I'm so grateful to have him and our health/fitness to be able to experience things like this together!

Our decent was rough on the knees but we made it down in 40 minutes. It gave us plenty of time to get back to the ship. Cameron was such a great guide. By the end I felt like we were good friends. We told him if for some reason he finds himself in Utah he is welcome to come stay with us. We loved spending the day with him as our guide.

 We dropped our car off at the airport and had about an hour to walk back and do some slight shopping for our magnet.

That night for dinner we dressed up again. Maureen and Doug were happy to see we made it to dinner. The night before they asked us what we were doing in St Lucia, and when we told them I think they thought we were crazy. I guess we are a little bit, but it made for an amazing experience!

I truly hit the jack pot with this one. He is the greatest!

Barbados/Day #6 (Wed; Feb 26)

Jesse and I aren't ones to do tours through the cruise ship. So before we left I did a lot of homework about each island we would be stopping at. And for the island of Barbados I found great reviews about a Catamaran Company that could take us snorkeling amongst shipwrecks and sea turtles.

 

When we got off the ship we found the information desk with very friendly workers. I talked to one of the guys about the company, El Tigre, that we wanted to go with. He called them for us and arranged for them to come to the pier and pick us up. 

The driver brought us to the dock where their catamaran was waiting for us. We paid and climbed aboard. There was the option of a 3 hour or 5 hour tour. With how much time we had to be on the island we chose the 5 hour one.

I had never been on a catamaran before so I was really excited for this tour. Not only to be on a catamaran, but to experience snorkeling over a shipwreck and to see turtles.

They took us to the shipwrecks first. I was only expecting to see one, but I was surprised that there was three. The first one had thousands of fish around it. Pretty cool.

 It was neat that they weren't as deep as I thought they would be. So we really could dive down and check it out. I'm not nearly as good at is as Jesse is. He can go really deep and hold his breath for a long time. I struggle with equalizing my ears. So only after a few seconds I want to come back to the surface.

Everyone got back on the catamaran and they took us over to the area that was suppose to have turtles. We only saw one and had just a short time with her before she swam away. I was like a little kid swimming after her. So badly did I want more time. I got in trouble though for doing that and had to back off. 

Jesse was able to swim closer to her and touch her shell. So COOL!!!!

By this point is was time to drop the 3 hour tour people off at the beach, while the remainder 5 hour tour group to have lunch on the catamaran. Which if you are wondering was very delicious. While we were just anchored we jumped in the ocean again and swam around. Jesse got some cool footage of a starfish bigger than his hand and an eel he found inside a rock.

Then they put the sails up and we sailed around for the next hour or so. We made friends with the people we were sitting at the front with. There was a couple with a little boy who were German. So that was fun for Jesse to talk a little German with them.

The 5 hours went by way too fast. When we made it back to the dock they had a bus ready to take us to the pier, but we decided to walk back ourselves. There was still time before we had to be back on the ship. And we wanted to do some shopping.