It rained heavily overnight, and then again this morning. I wasn't up early enough to witness the rainbow, but Jeanne was thoughtful enough to document it for me.
After breakfast, we donned our Christmas outfits for a group Steve-long-arms-selfie in front of the tree.
Jeanne also insisted on a group photo of just the guys.
Eventually, we got the van loaded up and everyone out the door, and ventured out for the day. The view from the top of the driveway is impressive.
We stopped on the way out to drop off a bag of trash at the bottom of the hill at the communal dumpster; I hope they come to empty it soon, or we might not be able to fit another bag in a few more days.
Our beach selection for today was Orient Bay, sort of in the northeast corner of the island. On the way up the coast, we took the scenic route through Philipsburg.
We made it about halfway through the town before the road was closed to cars, so we gave up on Philipsburg and detoured back to the main road. There were four cruise ships in port today, so downtown and the boardwalk were almost certainly mobbed anyway.
A few miles up the coast, we arrived at the (crowded) Orient Bay community. Somehow, we managed to find a parking spot directly in front of the beach. That's our whip behind Steve, there.
Orient Bay is quite windy, so the beach and bay are home to a lot of kite surfers and similar wind-powered water sports, in addition to the usual tourist selection of parasailing, jet ski rentals, etc.
We rented a few chairs and an umbrella from a dreadlocked entrepreneur, rolled out our beach blanket, and enjoyed spending Christmas in France, sitting on the beach with a lovely breeze and a few cold drinks.
It had been drizzling when we arrived, but the weather on the eastern side of the island held out for most of the day, thankfully.
To the east and south (where we came from), it looked like it was possibly raining and definitely overcast; we congratulated ourselves on successfully dodging the adverse weather.
Being one of the most popular beaches on the island, we turned down a steady trickle of salespeople offering massages, t-shirts, necklaces, bracelets, and beard-braiding. A wandering musician stopped by at one point, and decided Steve was the best target for a medium-sell of his album.
There were a few of Santa's helpers walking up and down the beach throughout the day. This one appears to be waiting for a ride, as we left the beach after spending 3+ hours there.
We continued along the ring road, further into the French St. Martin, headed toward Grand Case. A few miles down the road, we had to paused to allow a herd of goats to cross.
This little guy nearly got hit by that Audi. In the Audi's defense, he was a straggler who popped out of the bushes as the last minute. The goats were headed toward the French-side airport.
With the vague intent of changing out of our beachwear, we docked the van in a random parking lot in Grand Case, but then got distracted by a nearby... I guess it was a food truck?
Jeanne was very excited that the food was made with love.
Rudy wanted a glass of French red, so he followed the truck-keeper around to the wine fridge to examine the selection.
While everyone deliberated, Jeanne and I took a short stroll across the street to see the view of the water. It would've been a beautiful place to watch the sun abandon its watch, but we had an early reservation down by Maho again and the town was clearly on the verge of being very crowded for the holiday festivities.
I thought we were getting walking-drinks, but the French woman behind the counter was apparently grossly offended by this and insisted on using proper glassware, so we sat and watched the traffic for a while.
The clouds were rolling in as we took a short stroll down the Boulevard de Grand Case.
The farther south we went, the more crowded it was getting. We stopped briefly at the pier that Jeanne and I saw from our previous vantage point, then headed back to the van to continue our coastal tour, and also to find somewhere less public to change.
Just before getting to Marigot (the French side's capital), we saw a stray cow walking on the sidewalk. This completed the trifecta, along with the goats from earlier and donkeys that we saw grazing in the center of a major roundabout last night (and again, tonight).
The downhill view into Marigot was lovely, as the sun set behind the clouds, somewhere out in the water.
The only place in Marigot that I'd saved in Google Maps where I knew there'd be ample parking was by Fort Louis, and I figured it would probably be deserted at the end of the day on Christmas, so we took a short detour off the main road, behind a church, up a hill, and parked. This wasn't an ideal spot for us all to take turns changing behind the van doors, but it was what was available. Plus, the French aren't nearly as uptight about that sort of thing.
Having neither the time nor the energy to mount the steps up to the (ruins of the) fort, we told ourselves "maybe next time", continued south, then past the airport to the Maho area and parked in the same garage we'd used last night.
Several different sources had recommended La Rosa; Christmas dinner simply wouldn't be complete without calamari and pasta (for some of us), so this worked out perfectly.
We returned to the house after dinner, completing today's circumnavigation of the island.
After the usual ritual of unloading and such, we had time to assemble the beach-themed gingerbread house that Jeanna had smuggled through airport security. It was a real team effort, but the warm temperatures caused some issues. If the sculpture survives the night in the fridge, perhaps you'll see the final product tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we have semi-firm plans to head to Simpson Bay to spend more time at the beach and/or explore some activities in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment