Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles 18 02.5N 063 05.66W
Our dear friends, NeMar and Tom Noulles, decided to extend a trip they were making to Miami Beach, Florida and spend a few days with us in Sint Maarten. We met them late on a Monday evening at the Princess Juliana airport on the last flight that day, got a taxi to the dinghy dock, and got them and their bags safely aboard. What fun is was hearing about what they'd been doing since we saw them last in August 2009.
Next day, we started off with a tour of the harbor by dinghy, and stopped off at the Simpson Bay Marina, where we had a delicious lunch at Zee Best - croissants, crepes, yummy! We caught one of the local buses and went over the hill to Phillipsburg, where we spent the afternoon at the beach - us and a few thousand others who had arrived by cruise ship. There were colorful umbrellas and chair, we swam, and NeMar and I were also 
able to walk along the beach. There were a number of vendors on the beach - clothes 
like sun-dresses and T-shirts, and one lady was offering aloe vera massages. Tom tried it first, and decided it was so good that NeMar had to have a massage too.
After another bus-ride back to Simpson Bay, we stopped at Le Gourmet Marché for a few provisions before returning to Lady. After swim-platform 
showers, NeMar helped me (or did I help her?) fix a delicious dinner of snapper with mango salsa topping, green salad with roasted peppers, garlicky bread. A wonderful meal - how great to have a professional chef on board!
Wednesday we rented a car to tour the island. We were amazed to see a fine golf course, with once-beautiful homes around it that were ALL now falling down and in terrible repair. We later learned that the properties had been very badly damaged by hurricane Linda in 1995, and that the property ownership repair responsibilities had been in dispute since then. We stopped in Marigot and enjoyed seeing the farmers' market offerings of 
lobsters and other fish, fruits, vegetables and spices. Lots of different aromas. We purchased a few items from some of the regular market stalls - they offer lots of clothes - T-shirts for $5 each, three for $10, dresses, bags, jewelry - some of coral, others in silver, banana leaf, or larimar from the Dominican Republic, all sorts of St. Martin souvenirs, art, mahogany and teak bowls, pestles and mortars and other wooden 
wares. It's a very entertaining place to while away an hour or so. We continued our tour around the island, and stopped on the east coast near Orient Bay to watch kite-surfers, enjoying the strong winds and rollers, but did not get to the naturist beach. Lunch was at Captain Oliver's in Oyster Pond. That evening we enjoyed dinner ashore at Skip Jack's, where Tom and NeMar were able to devour a giant lobster.
Thursday was their last full day with us. We returned the car, and then rode the dinghy out through the cut, under the Dutch Simpson Bay Bridge out to the bay, and beached the dinghy near Karakter Beach club. We swam, walked, collected shells, had a delicious lunch and got lots more sun. That night Tom and NeMar treated us to a wonderful sushi dinner at Bamboo Bernie's in Maho Bay. They spent their last night at a local hotel, as their flight out was scheduled for 8:15 Friday morning, and we thought that it 
might just be too difficult to get to the flight on time from the boat.
This was lovely visit. Charlie was pleased to have good friends with us for his latest birthday. We can't wait for them to come back and see another island with us.
Thanks for such a great time, NeMar and Tom! We're SO glad you came!
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