Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For 45 minutes, we edged two Canadian vessels for the lead.
Finally, on the last stretch,
Stars and Stripes
pulled ahead.
With one last “Primary grinders, go!” instruction, we were lead-
ing. And suddenly, there was one last shout. “Blue flag up!”
Blue for
Stars and Stripes
. We had won. Dennis would have
been proud.
There's plenty of action on St. Martin's shores as well. Beaches
such as
Cupecoy, Mullet Bay, Maho,
and
Dawn Beach
on
the Dutch side attract sunlovers. On the French side, beaches
are all topless and include
Baie Rouge
and
Orient Beach,
best known for its clothing-optional stretch. Orient Beach is
lined with restaurants, beach bars, and souvenir stands, but on
the nude beach photography is prohibited (although tour bus
loads of gawkers come by daily). Chairs and umbrellas rent for
about US $5 each.
Shopping
In
Philipsburg,
shops line
Front Street,
the narrow boule-
vard nearest the waterfront. In these duty-free stores, elec-
tronic goods, leather, jewelry, and liquor (especially guavaberry
liqueur) are especially good buys.
T
TIP: For the best prices, shop when the cruise ships
are not in port. Bargaining is much more difficult dur-
ing busy days.
No duties are charged in or out of port, so savings run about 25-
50% on consumer goods. Shop carefully, though, and research
prices on specific goods before you leave home. Some items are
not such bargains.
On the French side, the best shopping is in the capital city of
Marigot.
A crafts market close to the cruise terminal offers
jewelry, T-shirts, souvenir items, carvings, and paintings (we
were especially taken with the Haitian artwork available here).
Marigot also is home to boutique shops, open 9 am to 12:30 pm
and from 3 to 7 pm, which offer liqueurs, cognacs, cigars, crys-
tal, china, jewelry, and perfumes, many from France.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search