The Islands: part 3

The last port was St. Maarten. Again, it was absolutely gorgeous. This time we did a lot more shopping from the locals.

We took another "cab" to the downtown district, stopping for pictures of the beautiful view. It's like a postcard!






The downtown area was really cool, there was a mixture of nice jewelry stores and the family-run businesses.










After a couple of hours we split from the group.





We wanted to parasail. Unlike the stingray excursion we'd booked through the cruise, we were told to buy this one ourselves right on the beach where it'd be a lot cheaper. The beach that all the natives recommended was Orient beach. The girls from the group decided not to come with us since St. Maarten is French and Dutch, and that European culture is well represented with nude beaches. Half of the Orient is a nude resort, the other half is topless optional and happens to be the best place to go parasailing. The group wasn't comfortable going there, but I wasn't missing out of this opportunity because of some naked old lady boobs.

As soon as we got there we went directly to the boat that would take us in the sky. It was AMAZING! I thought it was going to be an adrenaline rush, but no, it was the most calming, relaxed feeling ever. We even got to go together and went as high as 700 feet! At one point they brought us around the shore line and we looked down and saw the other 1/2 of the group we were hanging out with on the ship (apparently they didn't mind the topless part, either). I looked down and "wait, is that Debbie? hi!" They were quite surprised to see us too.



Okay - hilarious thing to add here. As we were looking through our pictures that night with the girls, I realized that Corey looks like he's parasailing with a baby. I look tiny! Like mini-me or something! I don't know if it's the angle of my legs combined with the fact that obviously I'm short, but we were cracking up looking at Corey and the midget.















We spent the remainder of the day swimming at Orient beach and soaking in the sun. Like their nakedness, again the smell of weed was pretty out in the open. One guy came over to us so I could look at the jewelry he was selling. He tells Corey, "I also have some peace pipes you can look at." Corey politely checked them out and the dude adds, "I also have some peace I can sell you." Smooth!