We slept in until 8:30 or so, then wandered down to the cafe for the
continental breakfast that was included with the room. The breakfast
consisted of croissants, bread, coffee, and juice, with the option of ordering
more off the menu if you wanted. Lana loves fruit, so we ordered an $8
assorted fruit plate that included mango, passion fruit, pineapple, grapefruit,
oranges, and more. Delicious!
We had rented a cell phone before we left from Pack Light Vacation Rentals. We had reserved it far enough in advance to get the number before we left, so that we could give the number to family and Lana's office, but for some reason, we did not get the number in time, so had to email it back home. Craig met us at the hotel and delivered the phone, incoming calls were free and outgoing calls were cheaper than using land lines. It was nice to have it.
After breakfast, I rented a Toyota Corolla from Edwardo, a native of the Dominica Republic who desperately wants to come to the States. We talked a bit about the job market on St. Marten. He said that jobs were hard to come by, and that he made $900 per month, had $400/month rent, and was raising a son. He spoke four languages, and I told him that if he could get into the country, he would have no problem getting work with those language skills! The car was a 4 door, automatic with air. We drove around and took in the sights, sticking close to the coast. We rode down Orient and Dawn beaches, and took a badly rutted little road over the hills around Oyster Pond. We headed back to the room around noon and ate leftovers and snacks for lunch, then hit the beach. The hotel has beach chairs and umbrellas available for guests, as well as floats, sea kayaks, and pedal boats. The weather was PERFECT...calm seas, a light breeze, a fluffy white clouds against a perfect blue sky. Raising our little blue flag would bring out a pair of mango daiquiris post-hast. It was hard to beat! We laid out and swam for a few hours, then headed in. Earlier in the day a guy at the water sports desk had suggested that we do a sunset dinner cruise on a sailing catamaran anchored off the hotel. It was a 4.5 hour trip, dinner, drinks, dessert, and sailing, for $65/person. He assured us that the food was excellent. We decided that it was worth a try, and signed up.
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6PM found us on a small dock on the hotel property, chatting with the 7 other people who would be joining us for the evening. There was a retired couple from Texas, a couple from the California wine country, and a group of three ladies, two sisters and a daughter/niece. They were all originally from Trinidad, the two older ladies now lived in Virginia Beach, and Tamika, the daughter/niece, was a 6th grade teacher in Queens, New York. We chatted as a tiny inflatable boat putted up to the the dock. At the tiller was Holgar, our German host, along his wife Britta and their 6-year old son Marcel. It took two trips and some carefully-placed steps to dingy all of us out to Stargazer, a beautiful 38-foot Fountaine Pajot cat. Holgar gave us a quick briefing, weighed anchor, and we sailed off into the sunset, westward toward Anguilla, while Britta served beer and rum punch. Most of us migrated up to the bow, where there was plenty of room for us to stretch out, talk, and make pictures. It is amazing how a crowd of strangers, together in unfamiliar surroundings, can get along like they have been lifelong friends. We talked and laughed and told stories and had a fabulous time. After the sun was down, Holgar turned the boat around and headed back to Friar's Bay, just south of the hotel, where we would anchor for dinner. As we headed back in the fading light, Marcel came forward to entertain us by hanging upside-down from the rigging. He has lived on the boat since he was one, and was as nimble as a cat. We anchored up and Britta called us to dinner back in the cockpit, where we sat around a table just big enough for the 9 of us. Dinner was a chicken dish with a kind of a pesto that had ground peanuts in it. It was wonderful. Britta served banana flambé for dessert, with Marcel cutting the lights just as Holgar ignited the rum. In all, we had a wonderful evening, well worth the money.
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As we talked after dinner, Tamika mentioned that she had heard about a beach party in town, so we headed there with Dave and Sue (the California couple) after we got back to shore. The party was in the back of a cafe situated right on the shore. The cafe had kind of a "backyard" that was now crowded with people, tiki-torches, a DJ, and a bar. A small group danced in the sand in front of the DJ, but most were socializing. I had forgotten how much the Europeans smoked! The crowd was mostly 20-somethings, mostly French. All the seats were taken, so the girls staked out a piece of sand by the water while Dave and I hit the bar for drinks. We talked by the waterside until some guys cleared the area to make room for some fire-eaters, who put on a show that lasted about 15 minutes. By the time they were done, the crowd had thinned, it was around midnight, and we were ready for bed, so we headed back to the hotel.