Cruise Review - Port of Call - St Maarten

The second port of call on the Celebrity Summit 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise was St. Maarten (Dutch side)/St. Martin (French side). Up to this point I did not have any trouble with seasickness on the cruise and hadn't even busted out the Bio Band. Yet the night cruising from St. Thomas to St. Maarten was pretty rocky and we both had trouble sleeping. So we got up ordered tea and coffee and sat out on the deck as we travelled toward our second port of call.

Sunrise in the Caribbean.

Another cruise ship in the distance.

Tea and coffee on the deck.

Arriving in Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

Leaving the boat.

Water taxi stand.

The activity for the day was parasailing. We booked on our own with a company called Size Matters. They were running late that day so we walked around the beach/shopping area and stumbled upon the cutest little restaurant you ever did see.

I did find this sign to be a bit misleading. I was expecting a Heineken Breakfast as is eggs poached in Heineken, biscuits made from Heineken dough, or bacon fried in Heineken. Maybe I need to go back to Amsterdam to get that?

The view from Heineken Breakfast.

Finally the parasailing time came. There were 7 of us in all. We dropped our bags in the Size Matters office. Jumped into a speed boat and hit the water. Or actually the water hit us. The sea was rough that day and we all held on for dear life as we Crockett and Tubbs it out to sea. We finally slowed down to get harnessed in and to receive instructions. By this time I was regretting the fact that we were going parasailing and the terror in my heart was churning. Oh - and we went first b/c we went the highest - 800ft.

Once harnessed we once again get some speed going and head for the angry sea. At this time we are instructed to climb on the back of the boat where there is a take off and landing area. We are now hooked to the parachute and the rope is let go and we climb, climb, climb. Did I mention it was 800 ft into the air? No? Well it was.

Climbing to a comfortable cruising altitude.

Taking off.

Dear God please don't let that rope break!

The view from the top.

I don't even know how hubby got these pictures. The wind was so fierce that we were being shook around, up, down. left, right then back up, down etc. And of course I forgot to wear my seasickness band!

The decent was absolutely amazing. It got quiet, gentle and serene. That part I would do all over again.

At first we were loving it then we were hating it. I think the elements were too rough and the crew did say that if it had been any more windy that day they would have had to cancel. Yet, he told us this after the fact.

After parasailing we had planned to take a cab over to the French side, but we were so air/sea sick that we headed back to the ship. We didn't even want to take the water taxi back to the ship b/c we were afraid of how the boat would make us feel!

As I told hubby -'Glad I did it but never again.' And he agreed!

Heading back to the ship.