St. Maarten "Rich and Famous" as seen from the Celine!

The other night Bud got chatting at a Caribbean Stud table and heard about a sunset cruise in Simpson Bay Lagoon (translate--very smooth sailing, no risk of waves and seasickness). Turns out the 40' catamaran, the Celine, does a once-around the lagoon once a week.

We booked! The Celine is docked right behind Skipjacks Restaurant in Simpson Bay. Their Happy Hour margarita's kept us busy until a brief downpour passed and we could get underway.  Skipjacks looks to be a great place to have Caribbean Rock Lobster--look at the size of these guys in the tank!

There were just six of us on board, so we all got primo seats.

The idea of the cruise was check out some of the megayachts and homes of the rich and famous (or not so famous).  Right away we spied the Huntress, pictured below.  She is 180' yacht that you (or maybe someone you know) can charter by the week.  Price? $275,000/week! Don't get your hopes up right away, though--she is booked pretty much through the end of the year. Next week she's going over to St. Bart's and then on to the Bahamas.  From there she'll run up to Savannah and then over to the Western Mediterranean. She stays in Turkey and Greece through the fall, then comes home to St. Maarten. If you want to check out her staterooms, salon and such click here. You'll be impressed.

Captain Neil Roebert, who built the Celine in South Africa and sailed it over, was full of facts and stories about Hurricanes Luis and Lenny and their aftermath.

A few piles of wrecked boats are still in the lagoon.

The megayacht Limitless was out to sea, so we missed her. She is owned by Les Wexner, founder of The Limited, which now includes a ton of brands that we all know, including Victoria's Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. Limitless is 315' (the largest yacht owned by a private American citizen at the time it was built). Wexner had to pay big bucks ($1m or more) to widen the drawbridge that spans the entrance to the lagoon.

You can see what a tight fit it is on this YouTube video of the Limitless making the transit.

Limitless transits into Simpson Bay Lagoon.

and now...back to the beach for our last afternoon in St. Maarten, and the last full day of our 3-month "Faux Retirement".  We haven't done bodily harm to each other--great news!

Sunset Bar & Grill...watching the "heavies" (747's from Europe) land--complete with Bud's video!

It has become tradition for us to spend one afternoon each trip at The Sunset Beach Bar & Grill. The bar sits on the left-hand side of a smallish but very pretty beach right at the end of the runway at Princess Juliana Airport (SXM) on the Dutch side of St. Maarten.

It's an amazing sight because the planes, from teeny WinAir commuters from the neighboring islands to the KLM 747 from Amsterdam, all land directly over the beach.  And I do mean directly.  The Travel Channel did a segment last fall on the 10 scariest airport approaches for pilots in world (click here for images and text of all airports). Only Honduras and Nepal ranked scarier--read the piece!  But do forgive their fact-checker.  they misspell St. Maarten as St. Maartin.  The Dutch side is actually spelled Sint Maarten and the French side Saint Martin. They also call SXM Queen Juliana Airport--it's Princess.

But the point is well-taken. Here is KLM flight 785 landing at 1:15 on Tuesday.  Notice Bud to the right taking video.

And here is the video!

The smaller guys get fewer notice.  Sometimes they come in low like this DHL plane, but other times they are way high--they don't use a lot of runway like the 747's, so can cruise on down towards the terminal before they actually have to set down.

They have reinforced the barrier to keep people from playing in the jetwash.  It doesn't stop them, though.  And the signs seem to be a "must-do" photo op.

In all, a fun afternoon!

A view from high above Divi Little Bay Resort and we get an update on the Cul-de-Sac shooter!

In all the 16 years we've been owners at Divi, we have never driven the road that goes up the steep hill to the west.  We've watched the sun set behind the hill a gazillion times and used our binoculars to scope out the houses up there--and we have always had a car.  We just never tried it--until yesterday!

The views are out of this world and really give you a perspective of island geography. This shot shows the narrow peninsula Divi sits on, the cruise ship area, and then St. Barts Island in the distance.

This shot shows the condition of the road...not as bad as Montengro and Croatia, but not exactly a super highway with guard rails and such.

At one point we pass by another fort.  This looks so much like the battlements in Old San Juan that I have to believe it was built during the Spanish period back in the mid-1600's. The guns add a lot of atmosphere!

The whole drive only takes a few minutes (a lot more if you stop for pix every few feet!).

Back down on the Divi beach at the end of the day, we watch the P & O cruise ship you see in the photos above head out for her next port.

We also saw a news item about the shooting we witnessed in Cul-de-Sac.  They arrested the shooter--a 20 year old.  The victim is not doing well, though. Click here  for the story in the Daily Herald. Apparently they have had to place the victim in a coma--very severe injuries being shot at such close range.