One of the things we love about cruising is going to bed out in the middle of the sea and waking to the sprinkling of islands about us. After two days at sea, the Kern family was happy to pull into St. Martin! Land ahoy and lovely it was! We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow that extended full bow both extending into the sea.
With a full port of boats, this was our busiest day with other ships also arriving at our destination, but the Kerns were ready. We knew this going and researched our options to escape the crowds.
Pinel Island was our destination of choice and after a 20-25 minute taxi drive, we arrived at the French side of the island. The boys rented a kayak and the girls waited for water taxi to make our way across. Note, these girls can kayak with the best of them, but it was just too expensive. One of my greatest complaints about St. Martin is that things were so expensive there. Kayaks were $40 each to rent and we had a couple of sodas and shared three appetizers for another $40. A hamburger......was $27 US. We said no thank you and ate when we got back to the boat.
The cool thing about Pinel island was the lack of crowds and the great beach and point that remained shallow for play. The kids would go way out, where I'd be nervous because they were too far....and then they would stand up. Perfect for their play, sand digging/shell seeking and wave riding. Snorkeling was not great, but Karly and Kent saw iguanas lurking about. We also saw the largest hermit crab I've ever seen. About the size of a large man's fist.
Heading to this side of the island we had read that taxi's can be a problem to get back to the ship. We arranged with our taxi from the morning to come back and get us, she never did. Luckily we started heading back well before departure time and eventually we were able to find a taxi to take us back to port. Overall, what's not to like. You are on a beautiful beach in the Caribbean without a care in the world. Nonetheless I do think it will go down as one of our least favorite travels thus far. St. Martin was lacking the charm that we've found elsewhere and the prices and people did not win us over.
One of the things we love about cruising is going to bed out in the middle of the sea and waking to the sprinkling of islands about us. After two days at sea, the Kern family was happy to pull into St. Martin! Land ahoy and lovely it was! We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow that extended full bow both extending into the sea. 
With a full port of boats, this was our busiest day with other ships also arriving at our destination, but the Kerns were ready. We knew this going and researched our options to escape the crowds. 
Pinel Island was our destination of choice and after a 20-25 minute taxi drive, we arrived at the French side of the island. The boys rented a kayak and the girls waited for water taxi to make our way across. Note, these girls can kayak with the best of them, but it was just too expensive. One of my greatest complaints about St. Martin is that things were so expensive there. Kayaks were $40 each to rent and we had a couple of sodas and shared three appetizers for another $40. A hamburger......was $27 US. We said no thank you and ate when we got back to the boat. 
The cool thing about Pinel island was the lack of crowds and the great beach and point that remained shallow for play. The kids would go way out, where I'd be nervous because they were too far....and then they would stand up. Perfect for their play, sand digging/shell seeking and wave riding. Snorkeling was not great, but Karly and Kent saw iguanas lurking about. We also saw the largest hermit crab I've ever seen. About the size of a large man's fist. 
Heading to this side of the island we had read that taxi's can be a problem to get back to the ship. We arranged with our taxi from the morning to come back and get us, she never did. Luckily we started heading back well before departure time and eventually we were able to find a taxi to take us back to port. Overall, what's not to like. You are on a beautiful beach in the Caribbean without a care in the world. Nonetheless I do think it will go down as one of our least favorite travels thus far. St. Martin was lacking the charm that we've found elsewhere and the prices and people did not win us over.
No comments:
Post a Comment