We snuck into the harbor of Philipsburg, on
the Dutch side to St Maarten the smallest island to be ruled by two
countries. On the French side it’s
spelled Saint Martin.
Since today was to be a beach day and we only
had between 8:30AM and 4:30PM, the Girls daily work out was suspended in favor
of an early breakfast for TE7 at mini bites.
After quick trips back to cabins to get
whatever they forgot for a day at the beach, they headed to the gangway and off
to find a way to the public beach.
The water shuttle stand answered that
question and for $8 pp round trip they headed to the shuttle dock with their
yellow wrist band for the 7 minute ride.
Once on land, they were immediately hustled by
a lively young lady who promised them 2 beach chairs, one umbrella and 5 beers
for $35 or just 2 chairs and an umbrella for $25. “OK” says Lenny trying to
haggle with her all the way to the beach.
As they passed the chair/umbrella stand, a
young man hails Chucky with:
“2 chairs 1 umbrella, $20”.
Quickly stopping Lenny, who was still
haggling for a cheaper price – closer to the water, Chucky introduces him to
his Newest, Bestest Beach Chair Friend. Where in Lenny says “Adios” to Miss $35
combo who now starts a fight with Chucky’s N.B.B.C.F for snagging her customers. Chucky resolves it, taking the blame for
finding the cheaper deal and Miss $35 combo huffs off back to the pier.
With lounges, umbrellas, and a $10 bucket of
beer on the way, TE7 settles in for what would be a wonderful day in the shade,
sun, quiet cool waters and delightful ambiance of the Public Beach of
Philipsburg.
With restaurants and bars as far as the eye could
see, they were likin’ it bunches when the father of two adorable and very
precocious young boys comes back from somewhere with some outrageous smelling
BBQ ribs and chicken.
And after several Frosty Fruity Concoctions, [FFC] buckets of beer, etc., TE7 are now super
hungry from the smell of the BBQ Stuff, and pretty soon Lydia, Mark and Chucky were
dispatched to bring back heaping platters [ok, over stuffed styro boxes] of some
of the best beach side BBQ ribs, chicken and super tasty conch fritters they
had had in many a beach day. [Or maybe they were just hungry]
Of course as luck would have it, our hearty
trio got to the restaurant just as the lone waitress was putting in several
table and take-out orders ahead of them and they waited for what seemed an
eternity [ok, nearly an hour] to ransom the grub and be on their way back to
the rest of the entourage who were about to dispatch a rescue team in search of
the missing trio, their money and the grub.
After the messy but well enjoyed feast, it
was more, sun, shade, chilly dips etc.
And then it was time to gear up for the trek
and water shuttle back to the ship.
Helmut and Lydia went ahead to find the
lively island band and captivating music, while Chucky headed back to Rib
Heaven [A/k/A Carib Café] to use the restroom with instructions from DL to meet
them at the band stand.
Soooo… when Chucky was headed back, the music
had already stopped and now, how does he find the bandstand? [That never was
found]? He also can’t see the rest of
the troop, when HE hears a familiar whistle and looks up to see T2 on the
balcony of The Hard Rock Café, sipping FFCs. Assuming the rest of the gang was up there HE
runs up… ok walked up the stairs to find… just T2 sitting by the rail.
Presuming the rest either got lost looking
for the non-existent bandstand, or went back to the shuttle,
Either way, HE settled in as Helmut invited HIM
to enjoy a Frost Fruity Concoction, and he did.
Now he is trying to text, call, send up smoke
signals, Whatevah, to DL and the gang, when just then, his phone rings with
who else… DL who is standing in the door of a tchotchke shop across the way
looking for him.
“Look Up” he says and waves.
She waves back and tells him to relax with
the Tevini’s, the rest were headed to the shuttle and would see them all on the
ship.
Finishing their FFC’s and hustling the
Cute Waitress out of the Souvenir Glasses without having to pay for them, they
headed to the dock for the short ride back on a VERY rowdy Water Taxi with the
crowd vying with another boat to see who could sing “Sweet Caroline” the
loudest.
After refreshing in their respective cabins,
TE7 were in their prescribed places at Happy Hour with Super Waitress Alexandra
who had their drinks waiting.
Dinner was just so-so, with Rado doing his best impersonation
of an adept Head Waiter making sure the fresh lavosh was on the table and the
dishes coming from the kitchen hot… so much so that Chucky’s tortellini was
burned on the top.
He had originally ordered Gnocchi but when
Lenny’s appetizer order came out mushy and tasteless, in spite of the bolognaise
sauce, he changed it to tortellini. The
change may have interrupted the kitchen flow, but seriously. If the tortellini is cooked properly, you don’t
have to stick it under the broiler to insure that it came out hot. Which seems to be the solution to everything.
Oh well.
Oh well.
TE7 had reservations for the comedy club and
after a brief wait, they enjoyed an outstanding show featuring two HILARIOUS comedians, Steve White [SteveAintWhite] and
Their topical humor, improvisation and riffs on all things current, not to mention great audience interaction, was so spot on even Helmut was belly laughing out loud without having to say “Vaat dit he say” at all.
Then it was return to the cabin time for all to
prepare for an early docking in Puerto Rico [7:00am with a 2:00pm departure]
and rushed time on the island.
Chucly’s
contact lenses were itching so the NOWAT posting had to wait.
Ciao 4 Now
Uncle
Chuck & The
Happy on any Beach,
Dragon
Lady
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