Written at 915pm, Friday, 31 August on Crown Princess at 17° 50.31′ N, 63° 37.19′ W
Today saw the port call at Sint Maarten. Although when we booked the cruise originally, I had hoped of satisfying a long time desire to do some plane spotting at Maho Beach (search at airliners.net for photos taken at St. Maarten, and you’ll understand why), and some general border/geo-geeking. However, my dear wife expressed a desire to do the dolphin encounter shore excursion.
It’s a decision I don’t regret (and not just because a storm blew through SXM at prime spotting hours).
Our excursion involved catching a ferry over to Anguilla. The ride to and from the facility was, to me, worth the price of admission. The ferry ride around St. Maarten and then across the channel to Anguilla was about 45 minutes long, in a (I’m guessing) 45 foot cruiser.
We sat in the uncovered back row of seats, and got a little wet from the spray. The “slight seas” of 1½-4 feet that seem like almost nothing on the 952 foot Crown Princess are much less trivial on the ferry.
The area right around the ferry dock was enough to leave us wondering at first if the excursion was the best idea. We had to proceed through an immigration building (complete with “no photography, no videorecording, and no bare backs” sign), into a settlement that seems half-destroyed and unrebuilt from a prior hurricane. And riding on the bus to the site was an experience, due to the narrow roads, tight turns, and left-hand driving. However, we were driven past a few very exclusive resorts and developments—presumably the rich and famous are being drawn to a hard-to-get to island with incredible beaches.
The dolphin encounter went well. True, there were folks that were disappointed that it wasn’t a true dolphin swim, and the souveneirs were a bit overpriced, but getting a picture and a dvd of my wife kissing a dolphin was worth it.
Besides, one thing I’ve noticed on the cruise is that cruisers complain an awful lot, to the point of annoyingness. True, if you’re going to pay to cruise, given the money involved it’s reasonable to expect perfection. However, I’m trying to relax, and I’m choosing to ignore some of the blemishes a few folks complain about.
We both fell in love with Anguilla. It’s not polished by any means, and it isn’t as hilly or lush as St. Maarten appeared to be, and it certainly is less dense. My wife said it reminded her of coastal Alabama and made her feel a little homesick.
At any rate, if we do ever win a big jackpot from Powerball, it’s not hard to imagne tweaking our plans to include getting a condo or something on Anguilla.
Leaving Anguilla included the experience of rather lax security (go through a metal detector and send bags through an X-ray; but be waved on if the metal detector complains), and the excursion operator asking if anyone had change for 2 $100 bills, since the Anguillan departure tax collectors no longer accept $100 bills due to counterfeiting issues.
Next stop: St. Thomas.