June 8, 2022 Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

Today we arrived in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten and were cleared to leave the ship by 8 a.m. There were a few clouds, temperature was 28°C and windy. Our docked location is 18°00.73N and 63°02.72W. We had breakfast in the dining room. As we watched the harbour, we noticed that a bunker barge was being guided to our ship by a tugboat to refuel the ship. On our way off the ship, while Larry got bottled water at Café Al Bacio, I stopped at the Captain’s Club desk to inquire about the Depart Questionnaire requiring Internet to link to. All I needed to do was give our stateroom number and the time we would need to leave the ship. We need to be at the airport by 11:30 and the last group off the ship is at 9:15 a.m. so we will be leaving then. We have purchased shuttle tickets to the airport. I am not confident in how organized the departure day will be. Internet connection is still frustrating, I can sometimes view Facebook and even make an entry, however, I cannot get the email provider website to get past the sign in page. We can Apple Message, but have difficulty accessing the GPS download of our walks.

The island has a Dutch portion, Sint Maarten, which is an area of 16 square miles and a French portion, Saint Martin, which is an area of 21 square miles.

We walked 300 meters to the water taxi ticket dock to purchase $7US round trip yellow wristbands to get to Philipsburg as there doesn't appear to be any way to walk there. We waited only 10 minutes on the catamaran before making the six minute journey to the pier at Philipsburg. The dock led to the street where vendors with signs for taxi tours and beach with drinks packages vied for the attention of the dozen passengers. Of course, there was the Diamonds International jewelry store right at the corner. Nearby was a plaque commemorating October 10, 2010, when Sint Maarten became independent from The Netherlands. We had not booked a tour since on our last visit we visited both parts of the island. The street leading from the pier ended at the Court House, which is beside the Parliament of Saint Maarten and a few blocks along was the Philipsburg Methodist Church built in 1851. Today, we walked three kilometres to the ruins of Fort Amsterdam, along Philipsburg’s one way Front Street, following the curving up and down route, lined with jewelry stores, souvenir stores, lottery stores, restaurants and bars for the first kilometre. The street changed into a road, with a sidewalk, to other parts of the island. Up the hillsides were homes, apartment buildings and hotels. We had a good view of Great Bay on the other side of the road. We saw an Iguana and several small lizards. We turned into the drive to Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. We needed to walk through the resort to arrive at Fort Amsterdam Heritage Park. The resort owners have assisted in the care of the ruins. Nearby is a sanctuary for the national bird of Sint Maarten, the Brown Pelican.

Originally the island was named Soualigna, meaning land of the salt, by the native inhabitants. In the 1500s to 1800s salt was considered white gold by Europeans. One of the reasons to build Fort Amsterdam was to protect the salt ponds. Fort Amsterdam was built in 1631 and captured by the Spanish in 1633 and held until 1648, when the Dutch recaptured it and it remained Dutch until 1795 when it was captured by the French. During the Dutch almost 150 years of possession, John Philips reconstructed the fort from 1735 to 1737 in order to protect Great Bay and established Philipsburg. The fort fell to the French in 1795 until 1801 when it was captured by the British. The British built Fort Trigge on the highest hill north of Fort Amsterdam to watch over both Great Bay and Little Bay. The Dutch regained control of the area in 1816, but abandoned Fort Amsterdam and partially rebuilt Fort Trigge, renaming it Fort Wilhelm. Sint Maarten was a Dutch territory in October 10, 2010 when it became independent.

We wandered around the ruins of Fort Amsterdam, with the site to ourselves, for almost an hour. The sun was shining, although there were clouds starting to form. In the 31°C heat, we appreciated the cooler sea breeze. Although mainly ruins, there are a few remnants of structures that have not been destroyed by hurricanes and time. There are signs in English describing different areas of the old fort. At the northeast bastion is an old 30 pound cannon overlooking Great Bay. Near the northwest bastion was the location of the Governor’s House. All that remains is the aqueduct to the house. At the southeast bastion location, Larry took a photo of our ship.

On the walk back, we followed the same route until the road turned and we took the one way street back to the downtown. This route back had more shops for the local residents. We found Saint Martin of Tours Catholic Church and the Sint Maarten parliament on our way back to the water taxi dock. We had a short wait for the six minute ride back to the port water taxi dock. We walked back to the ship past the shops, including Diamonds International again, near the cruise pier. I recognized the Guava berry kiosk where on our last visit, I sampled a guava drink and broke out into hives the next day. It was not yet open, not that I would have tried it again.

It was just after noon when we returned to the ship and had lunch in the Oceanview Café, the bunker barge was still hugging the ship. We had lodged almost eight kilometres and 16,890 steps.

The balcony shaded temperature was 33°C. After choosing photos to post from yesterday and today, Larry went onshore to an Internet café buying an hour of Internet time for $7US. When Larry returned, we went to the Craft Social bar on Deck 3 to relax with beer and apple cider.

BR4 was playing dance music in the Grand Foyer before dinner. At dinner neither Ann & John nor Deana & Eric were at the table. About 6:30 p.m. Angela and Susan were seated with us. We are assuming that Deana and Adam have decided not to join the table anymore. Including Arnie and Sue, we had a nice dinner. Arnie and Sue are also booked for the Town & Country shore excursion in Tortola tomorrow so maybe they will be on the same bus as us.

Total steps 20,409