Tag Archives: boat

Exploring Tall Ships in French Saint Martin

Saint Martin is an island with plenty to do! There are often fun activities to participate it, when you know how to find them. This weekend’s activity was a free tour of three tall ships in Galis Bay!

After Coach Tom told me about this excursion, I decided to take R and head over to Marigot to tour the ships. Ben couldn’t come because he had to study, but Dan, another med school spouse at American University of the Caribbean, joined us with his two girls.

The Ships

We got to tour three ships during our Sunday afternoon excursion. The first was a big, green pirate-looking vessel from Germany called Alexander von Humboldt II. The four-year-old was entirely convinced it was an actual pirate ship, although she made sure the rest of us understood that there’s no such thing as a real pirate anymore.

Living on a ship sounds rather restrictive, but I could actually envision surviving a long trip on this boat. The crew’s quarters below were pretty tiny, but it didn’t look too terrible. Plus, the view from the deck is fantastic– I could totally look at that every day. An unobstructed view the the ocean is just unbeatable. R, of course, is all about that ship life. He’s excited about a future in the Coast Guard. I think he’d do it even without the view. Of course, it doesn’t hurt…

The other two ships, Frederick Chopin and the Wylde Swan, were a bit smaller, but no less impressive. They also had more interesting steering wheels, which was all that mattered the the four-year-old.

The Wylde Swan also had a great kitchen area, and whatever they were cooking down in the galley smelled delicious.

The Wheels

The most important part of the entire tour, according to the four-year-old, was the steering wheel on each ship. I think she would have stayed there all day if her dad had let her!

Each wheel was a bit different. I was surprised that the wheels still looked like old-fashioned wooden wheels. I wonder if that is standard, or if most ships (even sailing ships) have more modern wheels.

I have to say that I was pretty thrilled to see the typical old wheels still in use! They have a distinctly nautical beauty about them.

Other Instruments

There were other interesting ship’s instruments, too, beside the wheels. The baby loved the compasses, which were pretty cool.

I really liked the ropes. There were so many of them! I’ve read a lot of books about ships, but I haven’t been on too many of them. I’m always surprised at how much rope holds the ships together.

I really wanted to climb up into the rigging. Of course, I didn’t (seriously) consider it. We estimated that I’d get about halfway up before somebody dragged me down. You know, they did say that we could go anywhere on the ship, and they never said the rigging was off limits…. ah, if only I didn’t have a reputation to worry about!

These are the kind of days when I wish I could stay here forever. I want to spend my whole life wandering around ships and looking at the view!

The island life is a wonderful life, and the sea is a glorious place to be! If my adventures have taken me to the deck of a ship in the Caribbean, where else will they take me? Only God knows. Too bad he’s not spilling the beans yet!

For now, I’m loving every moment of this Caribbean life. What a fun afternoon! Ships are pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to explore these ships for free!

 

 

 

 

How to Travel to Anguilla from Saint Martin

Across the sea from Saint Martin, a thin green line is visible on the horizon. This is Anguilla, Saint Martin’s closest neighbor. Today, I spent some time on the beach near Blowing Point Terminal on Anguilla enjoying the clear blue waters of the British West Indies. Here’s a bit about Anguilla and how to travel there from Saint Martin.

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About Angiulla

Anguilla is a very flat, very dry (for the tropics) island that is about the same size at Saint Martin. It’s a lot longer and narrower than Saint Martin, and it has only a fraction of its population. At 35 square miles, it only has about 15,000 residents.

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How to get there

To get to Anguilla from St. Martin, you have to take the ferry from Marigot, the capital of the French side. The first ferry leaves at 8:15 AM. It costs $5 at the gate for port tax and another $20 on the boat. I have often wondered what they do to you in you don’t have the $20. Throw you to the sharks? I’d rather not find out.

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Getting around

As soon as you step off the ferry, you’ll be bombarded by taxi drivers and rental agents. There is no public bus system on the island, so you’ll have to rent a car or take the taxi. A taxi to Shoal Bay Beach at the other end of Anguilla is about $18 per person. I believe a car rental is somewhere around $50-$100 per day. Taxi drivers really take care of their customers, by the way.

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What to do

To be honest, I’m not the expert on Anguilla. Here’s what I know, though. The best beach is Shoal Bay Beach. It’s a mile-long strip of white, powdery sand near a beautiful reef. There are other beaches, too, but it you have to pick one then stick with Shoal Bay. You can also charter a boat to Sandy Island or Prickly Pear Cay, a couple of Cays on the back side of Anguilla. If you decide to go to the capital, The Valley, you’ll find a few points of interest, like the museum and some local food.
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The cheapest trip ever

Sometimes, it’s just nice to get off Saint Martin and do something different. If you want a super cheap day in Anguilla, walk a few hundred yards from the ferry to the beach right beside the Blowing Point terminal. There’s a thin but beautiful strip of sand right there, and you can relax while the crystal-clear water laps at your feet. The view of Saint Martin is something I could look at all day. After all this time on SXM, seeing it from Anguilla is like looking at the earth from the moon.  Your total cost will be $53, and you can even get a snack– there’s a sea grape tree at the edge of the beach. The fruit is  ripe at the end of wet season. If your SXM visa is expiring and you need to get a new stamp, this is the way to go.

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As much as I enjoy Anguilla, I’m always happy to go back to my home sweet home. Looking at Saint Martin from afar reminds me how beautiful the island is and how much I love it. From Anguilla, all you can see of Saint Martin is how “the chains of mountains green variously in sunlight sheen.”  It’s an alluring sight that calls me home. O! I love thy paradise, nature’s beauty very nice.

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Welland Canal Locks

Locks are cool! Our little league team has spent a good amount of time discussing canal locks during homework time over the past few months. So we were pretty excited to see a real one in action. During our team trip to Ontario, we stopped by the St. Catherine’s Museum and Welland Canal Center. Here’s a quick account from Lewis, a teen on our team. 

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We went to the Welland Canal.

“We saw the locks in action.” -Theo, 14

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We went to the museum.

“I saw some of the classic weapons of World War I.” -Adonis, 12

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There was so much to see and do at the museum, including St. Catherines’ history and the Harriet Tubman story. Of course, the most interesting display for the kids was a lacrosse game.

Then we saw a boat and the water drained.

“It takes 45 minutes to move up and down and its really amazing to see it up close.” -Tre, 14

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We watched as the lock slowly drained. The crew carefully steered the ship as she sank lower and lower into the narrow canal. Finally, the doors of the lock opened and the boat floated out into the next level of the canal.

Subscribe (right sidebar) for more articles from these kids from Sint Maarten! They love it when you read their writing. 

Read Tre’s article on camping

Read Theo’s article on Safari Niagara

Read Tristan’s article on Harriet Tubman

Read Adonis’ article on the Ontario Science Centre

Read Skijlaar’s article on Niagara Falls fireworks and magic

Read Big King’s article on Niagara Falls and the Maid of the Mist boat ride

Niagara Falls

Who can describe the utter majesty of Niagara Falls? Even the rows of noisy tourist shops can’t take away from nature’s beauty. Above the sounds of traffic and humanity’s masses, one can hear the thundering of the falls before they catch a first glimpse. When the Player Development team from Sint Maarten visited Niagara Falls, 14-year-old Big King was very impressed. 

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I woke up at 6 am. I was so excited to go to Niagara Falls.

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We waited to get on the boat for hours.

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 “I get close. It was beautiful.” -Puppy, age 6

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We went under the fall!

“We went close to the falls.” -Little King, age 11

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We all loved it and got wet a lot.

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When I take off my coat, only my sleeve was wet.

“I stood in the front for a better view and to get wet from the waterfall. The Niagara Falls was beautiful in person.” -Theo, age 14

Niagara Falls were pretty incredible! We all enjoyed our experience on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Zack, another teen in our group, made an awesome video of the ride with his Go-pro. Click here to watch it. 

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Read Tre’s article on camping

Read Theo’s article on Safari Niagara

Read Tristan’s article on Harriet Tubman

Read Adonis’ article on the Ontario Science Centre

105 Boats

One hundred five. That’s how many boats I could see from the balcony this morning as contestants from the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta began their race around the island.

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The Regatta is a huge deal for us islanders. It’s the biggest event of the month! Traffic has been backed up for days, and the Cupecoy folk can hardly get to the other side of the island. Earlier this week, Stacey and I tried to get to Philipsburg for our volunteer tutor job, but after almost an hour and only three miles, we gave up and went home. It doesn’t help that the only way from the “arm” of the island to the main part of the island is across one of two bridges, both of which are up for hours a day to let regatta boats in or out of the lagoon.

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Despite the traffic, it’s pretty exciting. Many people from Ben’s school are planning to charter a boat and go watch tomorrow’s big race on the water. I’ll be watching from the cliffs, or maybe even paddle out on my surf board for a bit.

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I caught sight of the race-ready boats this morning while taking the pups to the beach. By the time I got home, the sailboats were full speed ahead, and I had a chance to watch for a while from the balcony. If I didn’t have a lot to get done today, I would have stayed out all morning!

 

 

This boat, Phaedo 3, won this morning’s race by circumnavigating the island in a record-breaking 1 hour, 19 minutes and 59 seconds. When I saw it, I was sure it had a motor. It was flying along! I love this photo–the sun’s reflection makes the boat look like a starship of the future.

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Tomorrow will be another day of wind and water! I can’t wait to spend the afternoon with Ben and friends at the water’s edge.

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“Well, it’s not far down to paradise, at least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility…
Sailing, takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be…
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free…”
~ Christopher Cross

Two Girls Downtown

Sand and sun, tanzanite, johnny cakes and chapels. Downtown Philipsburg is as eclectic and international as you could ask. Philipsburg is the capitol of Dutch Sint Maarten, and its narrow streets hold a mixture of history and modern trends. Alyssa and I took an afternoon to explore this mix of past and present.

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Visitors to Sint Maarten often arrive by cruise ship. The first thing these tourists see is the Boardwalk, which is a sunny strip of sidewalk that borders Great Bay beach.

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Philipsburg was founded by a Dutch Navy captain named John Philips in 1763. Until the 1950’s, this area was relatively quiet, as far as tourism goes. At one time, it contained Sint Maarten’s only port, and saw just a handful of large boats each year. Later, as the island’s tourist industry expanded after World War II, bigger piers were built to accommodate cruise ships. It became one of the Caribbean’s busiest ports, and today thousands of vacationers stream off the gangways each week.

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The Saint Martin of Tours Catholic Church is located on the Boardwalk. The St. Martin of Tours Parish is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year! The church was named after the island’s own namesake, a 4th-century bishop whose feast day is November 11. When Christopher Columbus “discovered” Saint Martin on November 11, 1493, he named the island in honor of Saint Martin’s feat day. Naturally, the island’s  first Catholic church was also named after this saint.

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The Boardwalk holds many lovely surprises, like the reggae band we found and the little open-air restaurant where we stopped for icees.

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Iced drinks are the perfect refreshment on a warm February day in the tropics.

 

 

For many, the Sint Maarten experience stops here, on the edge of the aquamarine bay with a beach chair and a bottle of Heineken. But there’s so much more to downtown than just the boardwalk! Take a quick stroll down any one of the alleys leading to Front Street, and you’ll enter a whole new layer of the tourism district.

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Front Street is a wonderful place to shop if you’re not into paying sales tax and don’t mind dropping a good bit of cash of fancy goods. It’s also a good place to get a snack from local street cart vendors.

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Apparently, it’s also the perfect street for walking your pet iguana.

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The man who photobombed this picture was a pretty good salesperson. He caught our attention by jumping into this shot, and then managed to convince us to sample his wares. The face cream was nice, but neither of us were willing to pay $120 for it!

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The Sint Maarten courthouse is the most recognizable building on the island. It’s even featured on the country’s flag. It was built in 1793 and still serves as the courthouse.

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Front street is also home to a beautiful Methodist church. We stopped to take a look inside. This building was the first Methodist church on Sint Maarten. It was built in 1851, about century after the Methodist denomination was introduced to the West Indies by Nathaniel Green.

Beyond Front Street is (you guessed it) Back Street. There are many paths to Back Street, but my favorite is Old Street.

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Old Street isn’t really that much different from the rest of downtown, but it does have a certain charm about it. Maybe it’s the 50’s-era car permanently parked in the middle of the walkway, maybe it’s the big blue castle at the end of the street.

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My personal favorite place on Old Street is the art gallery. The family who owns it came here recently from Holland. The wife creates beautiful and unique art for her gallery and teaches art classes on the weekends. Her husband has a windsurf business at Le Galion Bay. His most recent work of art, he told me, is a crayon drawing of Winnie-The-Pooh.

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Back Street is for the locals. The prices here are significantly lower than those on Front Street, and you can find anything from Nike shoes to a washing machine in the stores. The look of Back Street is unique– huge stores sell appliances, old Dutch homes buzz with modern life, and local art covers the walls.

Cannegieter Street, or Third Street, as some people call it, comes next. Every day that a cruise ship docks at the port, Philipsburg Market is open. Dozens of vendors sell their goods along both sides of the road. Shoppers can buy all kinds of islandy things here. The crocheted cover-ups are my favorite.

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Pondfill Road comes last. This street is part of the main road that travels the perimeter of the island. Pondfill also runs along the Salt Pond, where slaves used to harvest salt for their masters. Salt slavery on Sint Maarten began in the 17th century. In 1848, slavery was abolished on the French side of the island, and subsequently Dutch slaves began to escape across the border for their freedom. Because of this, Dutch slave masters released their slaves and began to pay them wages for their work in 1848, although it would be 15 years before emancipation was officially legislated. There is now a monument to the salt slaves in the center of the round-a-bout on Pondfill Road. I took the picture below on Sint Maarten’s Day, when paraders marched down Pondfill dressed as salt pickers.

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As you can see, downtown Philipsburg is more than a place to tan or shop. It is the center of Sint Maarten’s history. There is so much to do and see here, but you have to go beyond the tourist district to see it all! Wherever you are, get out and go exploring. Happy adventures!

 

Some photos courtesy of Alyssa Fry. Visit her blog at ColorMeYellow.net