Tuesday, October 10 (Pat)
Ron and I kept waking up anticipating our early wake-up to get ready before our 7:50am pick-up time. Ron got up about 6:45am and I got up just before 7. Quick breakfast, getting stuff together for snorkeling and we were down in the lobby by 7:48am. Dedrick, the shuttle driver , was running a bit late so he showed up at 8:04am. Island time! He drove us to Simpson Bay, back towards the airport and dropped us off at Skip Jack’s. That’s a seafood restaurant right on the lagoon with a dock. One other couple from the Belair Beach Resort was there when we arrived. We watched the big bunch of spiny lobster in a tank, checked out the sailing décor in the restaurant and as other couples from the resort came in we saw the Garfield pulling up to the dock. She is a twin-hulled motor-boat with two 115 horsepower motors, a shade cover in the middle, and a large bench seat in the front. A cooler was filled with various drinks and lunch. Rodney, a young man, probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s, was the leader/captain for the day. We all got on board (5 couples) and he gave us the game plan for the day. We watched a big tarpon swim alongside the boat several times while docked. Apparently there are quite a few in the lagoon. We headed off across the lagoon to exit under the Marigot bridge. Then we headed north and skimmed along with a short ride paralleling the coast line so we could see all the various houses and beaches on the French side of St. Martin. Our first stop was Creole Rock. A big hunk of rock with smaller ones on one end by itself. The east side of the rock was protected and had a great place to snorkel. We all donned our snorkel gear and jumped in. The water was very clear. There were lots of fish. A huge school of three inch fish was right near the rock wall. The swarm of fish would shift shape slightly but maintained the clustering of small fish. Away from the rock face it was probably 15-20 feet deep. We saw most types of the common tropical fish. Some coral and sponges were present, lots of black sea urchins. We skimmed the shallows watching the fish for probably an hour. On the way back to the boat, going over some deeper water, I spotted a Barracuda cruising by and pointed him out to Ron. Back in the boat we had some fresh fruit and drinks and headed off to Tintemare (teen-tuh-MAR-ee) Island. It is just on the northeast corner of St. Martin – a small uninhabited island. The beach was golden sand, turquoise water in front and some colorful rock cliffs on one end. The rest was relatively flat with some sea grape trees and a few bigger trees. We anchored and noticed another big Barracuda cruising around the boat. A number of us jumped in the water to see the Barracuda. He was 3-4 feet long and checked us all out. Ron saw him a couple of times as well as a stingray. Rodney brought the bags and some umbrellas onto the beach. Then he grabbed a bucket and went to the other side of one of the big trees and filled it with clay. Tintemare has a deposit of high-mineral clay in one area. You add a bit of water and slather it all over you. It’s a grey-tan color. We had fun getting mudded. Walking around for a while dries out like a good mud mask. Then you can get in the water and rinse it off. It makes the skin feel very smooth afterwards. Ron even did it twice. After our mud treatment, Rodney brought out the sandwiches and we ate. When we first arrived there was a small black and yellow bird that landed on the boat checking us out. On the island there were several of those little birds as well as 3 chickens and a peahen. All looking for treats. There were egg, tuna, beef, and chicken sandwiches, some Pringles potato chips, and drinks. I headed for shade under a big sea grape tree. There were lots of lizards as well as the birds. Two sandwiches for each so we got filled up. Since it was hot afterwards we all hung out in the shallow water to stay cool. By 2pm we were ready to leave. Also worth noting, while we were there a boat with 4 naked middle aged, not so slender people pulled up down the beach from us and they all came to the shore and sat around and chatted on the beach. They were all nicely brown all over and were all quite nonchalant about their nudity. We all got back onto the boat and headed south, the way we had come. This time we passed Marigot and continued around the southwest part of the island, past Baie Rouge, to the southern side and to a place called Seaman’s Point or something. This protected cove had a wall of cliffs surrounding it. The water was fairly quiet but more silty. Back in the water. This area had lots of sea fans, some tube sponges, fire coral, some staghorn coral, as well as fish. Some areas were pretty shallow and others were ten to fifteen feet deep. We spent a while there. Near the boat was a type of angel fish. Big silver bodies with typical fish shape but the long dorsal and ventral fins of the angel fish. Back into the boat. More drinks. We headed further up, along the coastline, past Long Beach and stopped at a beach with another tall rock wall on the east side. They were doing some construction so there were several bulldozers, a dump truck, etc. making lots of noise. We only snorkeled here for a short while. I now have discovered that the backs of my upper thighs and parts of my hips didn’t get covered with enough sunscreen and are bright red. One of the other ladies gave me some of her 45 SPF sunscreen so I lathered that on and put on my t-shirt. We made one last stop at Mullet Bay. Ron and I were the only ones to go in this time. A wall, some big rocks, and some interesting coral and fish. I saw two big puffer fish this time and a small stingray near the boat before I climbed back in. We were all tired by now and Rodney motored us around to the Dutch bridge back to the lagoon and Skip Jack’s. A fun trip. Beautiful weather – 4 snorkel stops and a free mud spa treatment!! We said our good-byes, waited for Dedrick a short while, and headed for the Belair. A nice shower felt good to get the salt water off! Lathered up the aloe lotion on the sunburn. Ron’s back got a bit red as well. Ron uploaded some pictures he took and is getting a nice collection. We had dinner at the Gingerbread café again. Our regular waitress was there again but in a much better mood than the last couple of nights. Ron had the curry chicken with baked potato and I had the coconut shrimp with rice. Both were very good. The waitress got into talking with us about some of the smuggling drugs and people that goes on in St. Maarten and some of her experiences visiting the US. Traffic, immigrants, trust, and crime all came up in the conversation. Afterwards – back to the suite. Journaling and computing. It’s now time for bed – 10:20pm.