Day 9 (Nov 24th): Phillipsburg, St. Martin in West Indies Travel Log

This morning we went on an “organised” tour at Sentry Hill. It has a zip line, called the “Flying Dutchman”, which sends you from a hilltop - highest point in the island - down to the port. You get up there on a ski-lift. So, we took a ski-lift up to the hilltop, spent half an hour admiring the scenery, and then took the ski lift back down. To our knowledge, nobody ziplined down. The tour itself was rather odd; in every other excursion, a local guide would explain the sights and history of the island to us, but this time, the driver was completely silent. And once we were there, nobody directed us to where the ski lifts were. I suppose you have to know what to expect. The view was stunning though - it was a sunny day and you can see for miles up high. We came back down on the ski-lift and spent time at a little museum at the base, it was there that we learned about the history of Saint Martin that we would normally have learned from guides.

In the afternoon we took the included bus tour, which drove us around the island, with stops at scenic spots for pictures. The sites were pretty, but the narration was at times unnecessary. The majority of attractions of St. Martin consists of resorts, hotels, or celebrities’ houses. Whereas on other islands we get to see local farms, churches, schools, or old forts, here we see yacht-filled marinas, hotels, or resorts. The guide would go “and now we enter so-and-so district, where we have a casino, so-and-so resort, and you can find all sorts of restaurants”, and proceeded to list the restaurants in the area in the order they appear to the bus. So, we were underwhelmed.

When we got back to the ship, we hopped into the infinity pool at the end of the ship - it has a glass back so you can see the outside from underwater. We were still in it when the ship pulled out of port, so we got a unique view of the sail-away.