St Martin, Anguilla & St Barts - Caribbean Islands

---

We have been back home for a week or so now. We usually write our travel blog while at our destinations. But since Facebook is our main communication tool with our friends and families and because this trip was very short, we just did not have time to write our travel blog.

Nonetheless, we want to document our trip and publish our pictures here in the travel blog so that 5 or 10 years from now, we can look back and remember what we did while on this trip.

Here are some of the highlights from our Caribbean trip.

Day 1, September 1st, 2011 - Saint Martin:

We arrived in St Martin around 2 pm local time. After checking in to our hotel, we went to Sunset Beach Bar at Maho beach and watched the planes land on the beach. This is a popular tourist activity since the planes land right next to a beach where people are otherwise swimming or walking. If you Google St. Maarten Plane, you should be able to see some Youtube videos of this. Big 747 planes land so close to the beach and it is one of the most dangerous airports in the world. We had a few drinks, some appetizers, watched the planes landed and saw a beautiful sunset. It made for a nice day’s ending on our first day.

Got back to our hotel, cleaned up and went out to dinner at Bon Appetit which was a French Restaurant nearby our hotel. We had a great dinner.

Day 2, September 2nd, 2011 - Anguilla:

We decided to take a ferry to Anguilla today. On the ferry, we met a nice couple from Canada and decided to share a taxi with them to one of the nice beaches. We went to Shoal beach and spent all day there. What a beautiful beach! White sand, crystal clear water. We posted many pictures on Facebook while we were there. The restaurant where we laid out had free Wi-Fi, so we were able to take pictures and uploaded them directly to Facebook.

Got back to St Martin around 5:30 pm. We walked around the Marigot area where we caught our ferry. Marigot is located on the French side of the island. We had dinner at the Marina Royale. Again, we ate at a French restaurant overlooking at the marina. A beautiful place!

Later that night, we went to Buccaneer Beach Bar for drinks.

Day 3, September 3rd, 2011 - St Martin:

We rented a car and we explored the island all day. We visited Orient beach (which has a nude beach to once side – We stopped by there briefly :-) just to check things out). We then went to the Northeast of the island where Ken wanted to snorkel on the small island off the main island. Unfortunately, the water was too rough due to hurricane Katia passing by off to the north of the Caribbean islands. We then visited Phillipsburg which is the capital of the Dutch side and is near the cruise ship terminal. It was very nice with many restaurants, cafes, and bars along the beach and lots of shopping.

At the end of the day, we went back to the Sunset Beach Bar at Maho beach for a few drinks. A nice day’s end with another beautiful sunset of the beach!

Later that night, we went out to Pineapple Pete's for dinner. A nice cool hip place to hang out with a nice dinner, drinks and live music.

Day 4, September 4th, 2011 - St Martin:

Woke up in the morning and wanted to take a ferry to St Barts but unfortunately, there were no ferry to St Barts from where we stayed and it was too late to catch a ferry to the Phillipsburg pier. So instead, we explored more of St. Maarten and booked a ferry to St. Barts the following day.

We had another free day in St Martin. We went back to Marigot on the French side of the island. We had breakfast, French Pastry and Desserts at the world famous Sarafina Cafe, Pastry and Desserts. Love this place. We walked around town and visited Fort Louis on the top of the hill where you can overlook the whole Marigot area. Went back to Phillipsburg and had lunch at a nice hotel nearby the beach. Got back to hotel around 2:30 pm and laid out by the pool. Did some swimming, reading and watched another beautiful sunset by the pool.

Later that night, we went out for Indian foods nearby our hotel. Walked along the beach, watched Caribbean live music on the beach. Another relaxing day!

Day 5, September 5th, 2011 - St Barts:

Woke up early so that we can catch a cab to Phillipsburg pier to catch a ferry to St Barts. We arrived at St Barts around 10:00 am. What a nice island! It's a French island as well. We walked around town by the pier. Many shops, restaurants, cafe, etc. We decided to walked to the opposite of the island to visited St Jean beach. The locals told us it was only 5 to 10 minutes walk but it took us probably 50 minutes to an hour to get there. On the way there, we also visited the Fort Gustavia on the top of the hill. A beautiful view from there. Once we reached St Jean beach, we found only one hotel/restaurant open on the entire beach so we decided to just hang out there and enjoy that white sand and crystal water. Very beautiful beach, but not as nice as Shoal beach in Anguilla.

Got back to the pier around 5 pm. We had French desserts at one of the restaurant by the pier while waiting for a ferry back to St Martin. Watched another beautiful sunset from the pier. An awesome day at St Barts.

Later that night, we went out for Italian dinner and it was our last night here in the Caribbean.

Day 6, September 6th, 2011 - St Martin:

Last day in the Caribbean. We just hung out at the pool in the morning. We packed and left to the airport around noon.

Overall, this was a great trip. Even though it was a short trip, we did everything we wanted to do except snorkeling. We had so much fun on this trip. We loved Caribbean islands. We are so lucky that we had perfect weather while we here since this is the wet/hurricane season. We were worried that hurricane Katia would ruin our trip, but it went up north instead and did not hit the islands at all. We will be back here someday!

Until next time!!!

---