#60days A Week In Sint Maarten

My family and I have been in Sint Maarten for five days now and I have to say that I am loving it! The weather is perfect! It has been a solid 27 degrees and sunny every single day and that's the forecast for our remaining three days. I have woken up at 6:30am each day but it's not a bad thing; I just naturally wake up with the sun; I feel like that's the way it's supposed to be.

Some people may be wondering why I spelled it Sint Maarten instead of St. Martin. Well either one is correct. That is because the island is actually divided in half: the French side and the Dutch side. We are staying on the Dutch side.

The locals are very friendly and helpful, always smiling and laughing; they sure now how to keep the party going!

Yesterday, April 30th, was day one of their Grand Carnival Parade and it was tons of fun! The costumes, the music, the energy, the only thing I was sad about was that it only lasted about three hours! My Dad and I stopped a few of the players and took some photos with them. We learned that the winning "band" gets $10,000 USD. To my knowledge the band does not simply include the musicians but also all the people dressed up in costumes and dancing. The photo below only represents one of the many bands that were involved in this parade. Every 30 or so car lengths, a different band dressed in completely different costumes would come through followed by or preceded by a bus with musicians playing live music.

Ladies man? Hahahahahahaha. I stopped a couple of the carnival players to pose in a photo with me! :)

We are staying at the Royal Islander Hotel on Maho Beach; it's very pretty. The constant planes are a little distracting, however we've gotten used to it. Because the beach is so close to the runway, people like to stand up to the fence when a big jet is about to take off, and the force from the engine actually blows people off their feet and into the water. It's pretty funny to watch but pretty dangerous.

On Tuesday we visited "Baie Nettlé" on the French side of the island; it was very peaceful. You couldn't hear the planes and there weren't many people there. The waves were much more calm than those at Maho Beach, and there was a huge dock to jump/ dive off of into the water. The restaurant at Baie Nettlé was called Dreams and was nice, but VERY expensive. On the French side the currency is Euros not American Dollars and so while prices seemed only a little higher than normal, once you saw the Euros symbol after it, a little higher became A LOT higher (we spent $180 USD on lunch). Overall the experience was enjoyable. I'd definitely go back (if I had the money). 

Baie Nettlé at Sunset. About to jump off the dock!

Today (Thursday) we will be going to Orient Bay, aka the Nude Beach. Yeah... a nude beach with my parents... that's what I where I want to go... they better keep their clothes on! Haha wish me luck!

On Friday we've booked a trip to Saint Barthélemy or St. Bart's for short. It's an island even smaller than Sint Maarten, only 21 square kilometres. It's the island where all the celebrities are said to visit. Hopefully I see someone famous! Haha.

I will let you know how today and tomorrow go! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote for me (Maxwell Moulson) as the Island Connoisseur at http://vote.60daysinparadise.com ! :)

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