Philipsburg, St Maarten

Here we are coming into St. Maarten, our last island and last day for seeing land until Friday.  All of the docks we visited are called deep water  ports.  They have these real long docks.

We came over a hill to view the French capital, Marigot, in St. Martin.  There is a border between St. Maarten, and St. Martin. Philipsburg is on the Dutch side, Marigot, is French.  Our guide told us, if you have friends or relatives in St Martin, and you live in St. Maarten and called them, it is an overseas call.  They are two distinct countries on one island.  There is two of everything on this island. Two capitals, two school systems, two court systems, and even holidays. 

This is in the Marigot marketplace.

Spice lady sells in any quantity.

Look at the colorful dresses from one of the street vendors.  Notice the plaid, it was very common in the islands. I fell in love with it.

Local homestead, notice the gravestone in the lower left hand side.  They do bury family members on their own property. Again, there are bright colored houses. Most times the houses are concrete, with corrugated metal roofs.

There were 4 big ships in port. We were the second from the left. Those big ships are amazing.



Here are are at the Butterfly Farm.

Monarch Butterfly.  I was having fun trying to get some good closeups of the butterflies.  Our guide gave a lecture of how they are grown. It was so interesting. There were some gorgeous butterflies.  The only problem is, you don't get to spend enought time viewing everything.

Here I am in front of our ship.  I had a wonderful time in the islands.  I had not been to any of these six islands.  I would be interested in going back.  This may have seemed like a lot of pictures , but I can tell you, this is nothing.  I actually took over 1300.  I have been working on my composition skills, and closeups. I love flowers and trying to capture pictures of birds and of course scenery. It is hard for me to see the pictures on the screen on the back of the camera. Even on the computer screen I have problems telling if it is blurry or not.  I printed a lot, and been playing around with the windows applications for pictures. I  love to take pictures, can you tell.  Good thing for digital.

It is a wonderful experience that I have been able to go on these trips with my Dad. He appreciates me there as I take care to make sure he gets his medicines. He was not able to do so many of the excursions this time.  He has arthritis in his right hip that causes him a lot of pain.  He does use a walker, but this time he used it like a wheelchair, he sat, I pushed.

Dad loves to check out the ship. He talks to everyone. I have to watch those stories, some seem to change a bit with time. By the time he leaves, all the ship personnel knows him.  He has over 400 days at sea now.  On this voyage, I found out there are people with far more days, and have been sailing a lot longer.  Who knew!  I met two ladies that had left home on December 1, and had not been home yet.  They go from one ship to another. What a great way to see the world. 

As you can see I love to travel.  There are so many wonderful and interesting places to see in this world.  I feel I have been blessed to be able to do this.  I hope it can continue.

Ok, I know you have wondered what I brought back. That is my next post.  I finally got pictures taken today, now to upload them and share. 

Have a great evening, Thank you for indulging me by following these adventures.  When I started my blog, it was to keep a record of my sewing and my travel adventures.  I do keep a written journal as well when I travel.  Maybe someday, someone will find one of my journals and think, what an interesting life this person has had.

Have a great rest of the week.

Mary