Zipping Through St. Maarten

Good morning, St. Maarten!



We let our trip tour guide, Steven Morgan, run the show for us this day. We joined in on their shore excursion when we learned they were renting a car and doing their own thing.

The car rental agencies were in a building close to where we got off the ship. It seems that each company likes to keep an eye on their competitors. We noticed that each company's employee had a hand sticking out of the window and the hand was holding a mirror. What an ingenious way for each of them to see how much business the others of them were drumming up from the tourists.






Steven drove us around a bit to see the island and then we went to Loterie Farm to do a zip line obstacle course. Good thing they got some practice with the zip line on the ship!







They got all harnessed in, received their brake (a glove for their right hand) and then headed off to do the course.










Looks like they survived the course and were just a little tired and extremely sweaty from their adventure.



We saw a little bit more of the island on our way to the airport.



Steven is an air traffic controller and he told us there was an airport right next to the beach and people like to go to that beach to watch the planes take off and land because the planes fly so close to the ground.

We checked the arrivals board and were in luck when we noticed a small plane coming in for a landing right then. Steven was right--the airport was right next to the beach, which was right next to the road, which was right next to the airport, and the plane flew over us really close, which was downright cool for someone who loves planes so much to experience. Steven was right pleased with himself.




Glen enjoyed this poster on the other side of the arrivals board. As "luck" would have it--there were TWO TOPLESS WOMEN on the beach as the plane came in and they stood up and turned to get a better view of the plane coming in for a landing.

I'm not sure which show the men enjoyed more...?!?


Looks like we all got the memo to wear blue that evening for dinner.



The high seas were "alive with the Sound of Music" shown on the big screens out under the stars in the aqua theater.



Great movie, great setting and made even greater with an ice cream sundae for Patricia to end our great day.

The Thomases on St. Thomas Island

This is our view of the port of St. Thomas from the ship.



Then we got on land to get a closer look at things.



We decided to walk into town and check out the shops. Even though Glen needs a new watch, he passed right by the Rolex store. Because I'm not a big fan of shopping, it was easy for me to pass on shopping out in the blue tents. Glen was happily enjoying the fact that his Blackberry was working.




Steven and Patricia had gone off on their own to find a beach and do some sunbathing and snorkeling. We decided to get on a yellow tour bus and see the sights of the island.


Our tour guide drove us up into the high part of the island where we could look down and see our Oasis of the Seas ship. At another stop we could see some smaller islands.




The bus stopped at a location where we toured through a home and then could have a free sample of their world-famous banana daiquiris. Of course there was an option to buy a whole drink if you wanted. We passed on that part of the tour and instead walked down into the jungle area to wait for the drinkers to finish up.




The bus took us to another overlook up high in the hills where we saw this man and his goat. He was making money by having his picture taken with the tourists. He kept his eye on all of us who were not even close to him and if he saw anyone taking his picture, he went over to them and held out his hand until they paid him some money. This picture cost us some money... He wasn't about ready to let the bus leave until a couple of us had paid our dues to him.


Our last stop was at a beach which was kind of funny because we were the busload of people who didn't want to go to the beach. But, our guide insisted we at least see the beach and so we stopped because that's where he thought we should go.



He drove us back through a nice shopping district before depositing us at our ship. He really was a good guide and we enjoyed our time spent with him.


It was a good feeling to get back on the ship and get all cleaned up for pictures and dinner.



I thought the guys looked so handsome that evening wearing the same color shirts. They looked especially cute in front of the interactive wall unit that they loved so much to use to find out what there was to do at any given hour on the ship. It would tell them where to go and when to do something.


Hey! I thought that was the job of their wives!!!

A Day At Sea

Our first whole day at sea began with us eating breakfast, followed by an exercise session. Gotta work off all that food we were eating!






As Glen was finishing up his extra running lap on the track, I sat and relaxed at the back of the ship. It was very interesting watching a storm brewing and seeing the definite line in the sky where it changed from bright blue to dark and threatening.




We decided to eat lunch in the dining room that day and Patricia had us thinking about Ben when she ordered Singapore noodles.




Of course Glen and Patricia had to have their daily dose of ice cream cone treats.


Our entertainment for the afternoon was going to a matinee performance of "Hairspray" and finding things to do around the ship.









We ended the day by having our usual late-night snack of pizza at Sorento's even though we'd had dinner in the dining room at our appointed dinner hour.


Why does pizza at midnight taste so good?