Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

 

“Life takes you down many paths but my favorite ones lead to the beach.”

Anonymous

Our cruise ship pulled into the quiet harbor of Philipsburg, which lies on the southern side of the island of St. Maarten on a pristine morning. We sat in the dining room having a lovely breakfast as our ship docked. We were blessed with a beautiful morning and a great start to our day. The views of Sint Maarten were gorgeous with the morning sun shining on the mountains making them appear to glow. Our day on the island of Sint Maarten was about to begin.

After breakfast, we headed to the lower levels of the ship to debark. Today's plan was to have a relaxing day on the beach. When we got off the ship, we headed down the dock to the water taxi. The taxi goes back and forth to the Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg. It was a short walk from the cruise port to the ticket stand where we bought our ticket for the water taxi. We paid $7 each for unlimited trips and got on the boat when it was time to go. The boat was nice and since we got off early, it wasn’t crowded. As we headed across the water, we were amazed at how beautiful the water looked and we were excited see what the town of Philipsburg had to offer.

We were going across the bay to Great Bay Beach which is a two mile stretch of beach. Getting off the boat, we were instantly asked if we wanted to rent chairs and an umbrella. We just said no and walked on. All along the beach on the boardwalk, were many quaint shops and it is a fun place to stroll around. Many peddlers were in town that day trying to sell us anything and everything but we just said no. We spotted many nice restaurants with great seafood and fun bars with lively music and lovely views of the beach.

As we strolled around, we had many people come up to us offering to rent us a chair and umbrella for the day. The best option when you are walking on the boardwalk is to just enjoy the boardwalk and when you are ready for the beach, just head out on the beach where you will get the best deals on chairs. We met up with an elderly gentlemen who offered us two beach chairs, umbrellas, and a bucket of beer for $20. You can get chairs cheaper but we liked the man and felt we were helping him out.

Once on the beach, it was true relaxation. This was just what we needed as the rest of the cruise we had booked an excursion at each port. Since we had been on Sint Maarten before and done the island tour, we felt this was a great thing to do today. We were not sorry as it was a perfect beach day. The last time we were here, we got to see the damage that the Category 5 Hurricane Irma had done to the island in 2017. It was so sad. The island has recovered well but still has work to be done.

On Voorstraat or Front Street there are many duty free shops where you can find that something special to bring home. It is a nice but small port town to walk around. We stopped at one of the beach front bars to get a drink and something to snack on. The slight breeze coming off the ocean made sitting at this open front beach bar perfect. We sat and enjoyed seeing the waves rolling in and people watching.

Here are some quick facts about the island. The island of St Maarten is the smallest land mass that is shared by two nations being only 16 square miles. The Northern part of the island is owned by France. They own 60% of the island and call it Saint Martin. The Dutch own 40% of the southern half of the island and call the island Sint Maarten. It has the oldest officially open border between two country’s in the world. This is the number one island visited by cruise ships in the Caribbean and one of the most popular tourist destinations. There are more beaches per square mile than any other island and also more restaurants. And as far as adventure, this beautiful island brags of having the steepest zip line in the world. So if you are brave at heart, go for it.

After spending a wonderful day relaxing, we headed back to ship via water taxi. What a lovely day we had on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten. This is a lovely island and worth a visit.

Till next time. Bye for now.