St Martin.
Moonshine
Sun 8 Apr 2007 21:37
St. Martin (Sint Maarten) is a tax free Island. A bottle of whiskey costs £4. The net result is that many cruise ships visit, and when they do, there is a feeding frenzy.
We arrived at St. Martin at about 7ish and anchored close into shore at Phillipsberg. Looking at the beachfront, there was a lovely row of multicoloured houses straight out of a dutch painting - every one of them different. The population could not have been more than 2 - 300 and most were still sleeping.
We had negotiated our way around 5 cruiseships to get here, all miandering slowly around waiting for their allotted time to dock.
By 7.30, all had docked, and about 10,000 passengers were being ferried to the centre of Phillipsberg. The shops opened and the frenzy began. We joined them and bought our duty free. At 4pm they were ferried back, and the town shut until the following morning.
We wanted to find a grocers, and were directed out of town to find one.
Having said that, it is a lovely place, with friendly people and miles of pure white beaches.
By walking only a hundred yards from the centre we found a local bar/restaurant, and had local food, typical Caribbean.
We went back to Phillipsbeg in the evening after the ships had left, and found a spotless town, with children playing in the vast open areas that in the day belonged to the tourists
We left the following day for the Virgin Islands.
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