Our impromptu beach day was fun yesterday, but if given the choice, I like to have some sort of plan in place. After doing a lot of research on Cruise Critic I booked a tour for our group with Noel Tours. We were fortunate enough to have Mr. Noel himself as our guide for the next five hours. We met him at the black statue at the end of the pier. Very easy to find. Two gentleman from our ship were also in our group, and the seven of us fit comfortably in the air conditioned van.
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| Me and Mr. Noel |
Our first stop was by the sea. Really. Mr. Noel (we never did find out his first name) pulls the van into this bumpy parking lot like area and there is this guy, in waders, in the sea, poking around. We get out and wander down. There is a little table set up with all sorts of sea creatures on display. The guy starts pulling things out of the water for us to see. A starfish, a sand dollar, a sea urchin, all very much alive and kicking. We got a hands-on lesson on sea life, which was very interesting. But we had to move on to the next stop.
Which was Orient Beach. It was breathtaking! Turquoise water, white sand and no rocks in the water to deal with. Amenities included use of beach chairs and umbrellas, rum punch, changing area and bathrooms. We had about an hour and fifteen minutes here. I really could have stayed all day.
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| Orient Beach |
The capital of Marigot was the next stop. It was on the French side of the island. There was a market area setup where vendors were selling t-shirts, scarves and other assorted wares. There were also shops along the street and a fantastic patisserie where I indulged in a few macarons.
Maho Beach was next on the agenda. This is a beach that is about 100 yards from an international Airport. All day long planes take off and land right above the beach. It is very cool to watch, but dangerous at the same time. We spent time in the restaurant adjacent to the beach watching the planes.
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| Maho Beach |
And that ended our tour. I would highly recommend this tour. Mr. Noel was very personable as well as knowledgeable. After a bit of shopping at the port, I headed back to the ship to spend some time in the solarium.
Dinner tonight was at Portofino's, one of the two venues that have a surcharge. If you are looking for a fine dining experience, I would recommend you try this out. The food and service were excellent and we weren't rushed at all. I had the parpardelle pasta in a mascarpone cream sauce. It was so good!
The rest of the night? We took a walk to work off some of the dinner we just had. We went to the 50-60s Dance Party in the Safari Lounge. Then some of us went to bed (are you seeing a pattern here?). The rest of us went to the 11:15 pm comedy show which was very funny.
Next up, Antiqua and my long-awaited ziplining adventure.
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