what a fantastic blog: The Cruise (Blog 4 of 4) - Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

I am going to apologize right now, since you probably have the time while you are waiting for pictures to load. I'm sorry there are soooo many pictures in this blog. But this is the last cruise blog. So I'll never make such a large blog again!

The first thing we did was EAT. We ate breakfast at the only place out of my Frommer's book that we actually were able to go to. And boy was it delicious ... Chesty's!!!

For the first half of the day we walked around the bazillion shops.

After my research paper on Van Gogh, I am always excited when I see Absinthe.

I didnt see the "Free Tasting Free Van Gogh Picture" until I looked at my pictures from the trip. Otherwise I totally would have grabbed a picture. Though, I have no desire to see green fairies so I would have passed on the taste test.

Then we walked along a beach (with only one nude person).

Here's Malachi, amidst a community of yellow-helmeted-segwey-riders.

I think I find this sign more amusing than most other people do.

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The second half of the day was spent on the 'adventure hike'. Which turned out to be one of the best highlights from the cruise.

This is where we started on the hike.

Hi-ho, hi-ho...

I would be okay with living near this view.

Malachi loves him some sun.

I love me some caribbean.

The guy in the white shirt in this picture is our tour guide...aka, Malachi's hero.

This is alot farther down than it looks.

This was the half-way point where we could stop and rest a little and "listen to the pebbles talk" as our tour guide would say. It really was a peaceful and beautiful sound when the waves would roll back into the ocean and cause all of the rocks to rattle (and roll).

This little shack with the couch is where the surfers gather. How very Gidget-esque.

Our tour guide said that on his hikes, he was always looking for signs of indians from the past. The only thing he ever found was this rock that just looked like an indian. But I think its a good find, not one to be disappointed over.

I was shocked that there are so many cacti in paradise.

"What an awesome hike!"
"Word."

Our hike ended at a small and quiet beach (again, only one nude person). Our tired feet were happy.

Watch out Malachi!

At the end we were waiting for our bus (which actually had forgotten us, but we didnt know that at first). We asked our tour guide how long we had and if we could jump in the water. He said we had about 7 -10 minutes, so we went for it. This was the only time we were actually able to swim.