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In June 2003, Steve and I took our first trip to the Caribbean. The island we spent most of our time on was half Dutch (St. Maarten) and half French (St. Martin).

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The resort we spent most of our time at was Divi. The 1st picture is of the swimming beach. The other 2 pictures are the views from our balconies.

Divi had 3 swimming pools. My favorite was the perspective pool up on the cliff.

The property the resort is built on used to belong to Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. On the resort property on a peninsula overlooking both Great Bay and Little Bay is Fort Amsterdam.

The capital of St. Maarten is Philipsburg. It has a ton of jewelry stores and it's a major cruise ship port. It also has a really pretty beach.

We took a ferry to St. Barthelemy. Locals and tourists call it St. Barts. We took "The Edge". The sea was really rough in the morning, so I kept my window open to keep from getting sick. The price I and the passengers directly behind me paid is that we were completely soaked by the waves that crashed through the windows. Steve thought he would avoid the water, and ended up getting drenched by a wave that went over the boat and in through the skylight - that he happened to be sitting under.

The ferry landed in Gustavia, the capital of St. Barts and largest town on the island. Lucky for me, we landed before lunch and the shops were still open (the stores close between noon and 3pm for lunch and nap time). My bikini top decided to have a blow out and I had to do some emergency shopping (soaking white cotton tank, no bra, you get the picture). We walk into this swim suit store and I see a rack of just bottoms, so I ask the clerk if they just sold tops. She looked at me like I was loopy. Then I remembered - they sun bath topless on this island. Not sure if I was up for being "French", I bought a new suit that had a top and a bottom. After user acceptance testing on my new suit, Steve helped me to connect with my inner frenchy. After checking on St. Jean beach, we went to Anse du Grand Cul-de-Sac and had lunch at La Gloriette. The kitty was perturbed at Steve taking his chair.

After lunch, we went winding around the hills until we found this really rugged stretch of coast line. I liked the rocks - they looked like something from another planet to me. From there, we found this kick ass beach called Grande Saline. It was tucked back off the main road, and there weren't very many people there. Perfect for topless swimming! :)

From there, we went back to Gustavia and did some drinking in the harbor bars until the ferry took off.

We also took a trip to Anguilla on the Heineken catamaran. It was good deal. You sailed over to Anguilla, took a bus over to Shoal Bay beach, went snorkeling (equipment provided) and had a BBQ lunch, then sailed back. I have never in my life ever seen a beach as beautiful as Shoal Bay. The water was blue green, clear, and 80 degrees. On the way back to boat, we were in a parade for some famous cricket hero. I have no idea whom it was, but the Anguillans were totally stoked about it. On the sail on the way back, our boat and the Lambada mooned each other. Steve was amongst the mooners, but since we had a dirty old dude with a video camera, both myself and another somewhat sober chick abstained. Several other drunk chicks did participate however - the old man was thrilled.

We also did a lot of exploring on St. Martin. The most deserted beach was Long Beach, where La Samana is located. We captured the Lambada and Heineken off the coast of Long  Beach. Marigot was cute, but looked pretty shut down for the summer. Our favorite beach on St. Martin was Orient Beach. For the Mikel, they had fancy day resorts with dudes who brought you fruity drinks. For Steve, they had topless chicks and trampolines. Something for everyone! We hung out at a day resort called Waikiki. For those who care, if you squint at two of the pictures with Steve on Orient Beach, you will see topless chicks - not too exciting though as they are just pink blobs in the background.

For our last night on St. Martin, we stayed at Le Meridian. This was a very nice resort. It was tucked back in the hills on this secluded beach. There was a nice marina on site, and the grounds were like a lush garden. It was a very nice way to end our vacation.