Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside. Elizabeth von Arnim

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Friday, January 01, 2010

St. Maartens

The ship pulled into the port at St. Maartens and tried to tie up at the dock but the seas had large waves rolling in. There was a gap between the ship and the dock of about 6 feet and one of the HUGE nylon ropes broke and one of the workers got injured so the captain decided to anchor off shore.
The ship anchored off shore.
We then had to get in the life boats and be taken to shore in those. This made long waits to get on and off the boat. Since we had a scheduled excursion, we were one of the lucky ones and got off on one of the first few that left. Others didn't get off till late afternoon. The gap at times got pretty far while trying to get on and off the lifeboats which made things difficult for some people. There was much complaining about how the whole operation worked that day.
Looking down at one of the life boats.
In spite of the delay we enjoyed a tour of the island. We started out on the Dutch side and crossed over here to the French side. This is the little bridge at the border on the side of the road.No need to stop or anything at the border.

We visited The Butterfly Farm, it's small but had lots of wonderful butterflies. Here is just one picture. Once again I'll post more when I return home.After the butterflies we stopped stopped and had some time to look around one of the French towns and do a little shopping.

Here's a picture I took when we stopped to look at the views on the way back to the ship.
We made it back to pick up the life boat which took us back to the ship. The ship ended up leaving 2 hours later than scheduled.
Seas have had large swells which has made for a pretty rocky return. Not so bad today.

I'm writing this New Year's Day morning and we will be back home tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Happyone :-)

9 comments:

Dick said...

Unexpected excitement, maybe you didn't like it? lol
Nice pictures.
Happy New Year and the best wishes.

Kerri Farley said...

Oh, that water is gorgeous! As are the views! And of course I LOVE the butterfly!! Happy New Year!

Goosey said...

That sounds all a bit scary karen but glad you managed to get onto your trip. It sounds like you have had a wonderful time, have a nice last day x

Vee said...

That does sound a little challenging. I'm sure that weather complicates things even in tropical climes. It's complicating things here in the North Country that's for sure. Happy New Year to you and Ken, too!

Susan said...

We are up to our knees in snow. Now if the sun would shine it would be beautiful. Everything looks so clean and well starched..lol
Just thought I would give you a little reality..;0)
Happy New Year from the frozen north!

o2bhiking said...

Happy New Year, Karen. It is a memorable one for you. Art

Karen said...

Welcome home, Karen. The drop to the lifeboat looks a little scary--but what wonderful pictures. I'm so glad you had such a great time!

Golden To Silver Val said...

Enjoy that lovely weather....we've had single digits all day long and the wind chill is double digits below zero. Talk about a deep freeze!!! But I feel so fortunate...I don't have to go out for anything until Monday morning. I even have alcoholic beverages in the house should the mood strike me! So glad you're having a wonderful time.

KathyA said...

Seeing that butterfly at this time of year is such a treat! Getting on and off those tenders must have been interesting!