Cruise day 6, ST. MAARTEN!

We left the ship and walked into a post card.

Turquoise blue water, white sail boats, calm island vibes.

This was the only stop where we had an intinerary.

Maho beach or bust.

The beach is across the road from the airport.

Planes literally fly right above your head to the point you

 think you can reach up and touch it.

I wanted to spend half the day there, then switch and go to Mullet Bay beach.

Another popular beach I discovered while researching.

I made sure we were ready to disembark right when we could.

No time to waste!

That helped us get on a van first and not have to wait.

We squeezed a lot of people into this sprinter!

Talk about small island. 

No highways.

It was a 30 minute drive through windy, one way roads.

I thought this shopping cart was so cute.

They parked and we had to walk in to get to the beach.

It used to have tons of sand.

Hurricane Irma ruined it.

Didn't matter to me, I was happy to be there!

Walking on the one way road to get to the water. 

Sunscreen couldn't get sprayed fast enough before
 kids started running into that gorgeous water!

Look how clear that water was.

Unreal.

We had the place to ourselves for a while.

Then the crowds started to come.

Didn't bother us!

Smaller cargo planes had flown over, which was cool.

We got sand blasted by a boeing 737 taking off.

 Our first jet plane was coming in hot!

This is not zoomed in.

It was the neatest experience!!

You can see that the airport was right across that dinky little street.

Poor Pam got taken out by a wave.

They sucked in and out pretty strongly!

She could NOT stand up!

The waves kept coming in and taking her back out to sea!

Lindi thought it was hilarious.

We brought snorkeling gear from home.

Such a smart move.

I'm glad somebody told us to do that.

 Beach braids!

Ya, these ladies were scrappy.

I can't remember how much they charged,
but they made a killing off of all of us!
Time to quit my day job, no joke.

Sadly, Lanes hair was long enough to braid.

I think she made $10 from him.

Yep, we are suckers.

Jake getting a nice foot rub!

the hair braid line up

Got a kick out of the bobbers, floating their worries away.

I floated my worries away, too!

I couldn't believe I was swimming in the Caribbean ocean.

Pinch me!

My goal was to eat lunch at the restaurant right on Maho beach.

Then get in the taxi and drive to Mullet Bay beach.

Something about island time and no rushing.

Lunch took longer than expected. 

We could have made it to Mullet Bay, but it would have cut it way to
close to the time we needed to be back on the ship. I wasn't willing to risk it.

But it was a fun eating experience.

From our table you could see the planes landing.
Not a postcard!

And taking off.

Back in the van we went to our home on water.

More views before leaving.

After getting ready for dinner we went to the balcony to watch the tug boats help
 taxi us back to the open waters.

Hello neighbors!

They took a picture of us.

We dropped the 10 and under kids off at the kids club so we could go see Columbus in the theater.
But first, round 2 of dessert at the Windjammer!

It was Mexican night at the buffet.
I walked past some quesadilla's

while getting dessert.

I had to sample it, duh.

The sample turned to a plate full!

I have never had a yummier quesadilla.
Not that I was starving by any means.

These boys.

Happy as clams sporting their braids, beads and puka shell necklaces.

Ready for the show to start!

Cruise performers are amazing!

Columbus was a story of Christopher's luckless distant cousin Marvin, 

on a madcap voyage to the Caribbean.

It totally exceeded our expectations.

It had innuendo 's that went over kids heads, like Shrek.

But they tied in pop culture and today's hit music that made it interesting for 

everyone. We loved it!