Royal Palms Anguilla

St. Barthelemy (or St Barths), a magical little island about 2 hours by boat from St. Maarten. Small houses, narrow streets, beautiful surrounding, baguettes, crystal clear water and great food... although it is quite pricey. As it is a French island, people speak French and it has a French touch. Many people go skinny dipping and most women are topless on the beaches.

The island had a bit ...

So our trip to St.Maarten/St.Martin is quickly coming to an end. We only had a few days left and contemplated taking a ferry to either St. Barth's or Anguilla. Unfortunately, neither of those came to fruition. Our newest travel partner was still adjusting to playing in sand and the thought of lugging all the things we would need to bring for a day excursion was taking the fun out of it. We failed to ...

... about. The Tidal Wave Beach Bar is a relaxed place to have something to eat. I had some fresh mahi mahi and salmon tartare for lunch. The food is a bit pricey, but convenient. Le Galion is great for adults too. If you would like to windsurf, do some paddle boating, or even kayak, just rent from Tropical Wave.

Having landed safely and now driving around in our tiny Hyundai Atos (not Smart Car tiny, but close enough) to the Westin Dawn Beach on the unpaved roads of St. Maarten, we noticed lots of construction going on. One thing to note, the maps provided by the rental car agencies are not well made and can be a bit confusing sometimes. If you’re heading to the Westin Dawn Beach, you can either cut through the interior of the island ...

The day began lazy and continued as the only agenda to be had was to tour the new buildings of the resort and make sure that the sand on the beach was still white! This however, had nothing to do with the greatest anticipation of the day… dinner at the French restaurant, La Frѐgate. Our anticipation got to all of us and we travelled the road to the restaurant only to find that we were :45 min. early. So off ...

... Cindy and Becky all hit mini-jackpots within the hour they were there and left considerably ahead ($100 total).

Riding the wave of good cheer the group made their way for sumptuous desserts and cappacino's at the beach bar - delicious!!! After a moonlit walk on the beach we ended the night dancing, singing and having a great time at Beau Beau's where Jeff even was spotted cutting a rug....a perfect ending to a perfect day.

... whatever else anybody wanted to do - just as it should be on vacation.
Everybody finished with the day with a sumptuous Caribbean buffet at Infinity. Jeff discovered plantains and loved them.
The group retired to the room for the night to blog about their day and share with their loved ones who we all wished were here. And so we sit at the end of the day looking out at the full moon over the water, and bid you good night.

We were at sea for a day before we reached the island of St. Maarten. The seas were choppy and the ship did get bounced around but not that much. The weather was warm and sitting on the deck enjoying the pool was where most passengers spent the day.

We arrived at St. Maarten and we were very excited about our day excursion. We were going to participate in a just-for-fun race on a 12 meter racing regatta. We were met by one of the crew members on the dock and we followed him ...

... you I had tons to share! I will stop for now on Anguilla, so that I'm not guilty of information overload! However, in our next issue, I will get into the fabulous beaches, (there are more than30!) and the UNBELIEVABLE dining opportunities! Trust me, there is a reason for the common t-shirt phrase on Anguilla which states, "Life's a beach, and then you dine"! Until next time, Happy Travels! Kelly Durham "The Caribbean Contessa" http://www.TheCaribbeanContessa.com

... either side freely. Though Dutch side is smaller in land area, it seems more prosperous. And almost all the cruise ships dock at the capital of the Dutch side: Philipsburg. I remember we had to take a smaller boat to Philipsburg 11 years ago because its port is not big enough for our giant ship to dock. Not anymore. This time Serenade of the Sea docks at the new terminal just east of Philispburg and there are many shops ...