Tiffee's St. Maarten: Back to the Island

Another trip to the island, this time for Thanksgiving week (November 21-28, 2009). The weather was once again island perfect most of the time.

On this trip we had a 6 hour lay-over in San Juan before arriving in St. Maarten, giving us time for a little sight seeing in Old San Juan. The photo above shows one of the forts and an old grave yard near the sea.

This is Saba, an island south of St. Maarten that we could see from our condo this time as well as in August when we were there. I would love to take the short flight over to Saba and do some hiking.

JACK AARON DEPARTS FOR AN ADVENTURE!

Headed for the airport!

Our time with Jack Aaron was very short! He left the day after we arrived headed for a Humanitarian Expedition in the Dominican Republic with his class. If you would like to see a video of his experience it can be found at http://www.third-world.net/news.php?lang=en&debut_breve_principal=10#news1536 you may have to scroll down until you see the title “Experience of the International Academy of San Maarteen” He moved in with a family in the Dominican for 7 days and lived as they lived, meaning no hot water or running water for that matter, no air conditioner, and he bathed from a bucket placed in a small bath area. It was a truly memorable experience for him to see how those live in the developing countries, we all should expose ourselves to the really real world that exists outside of the comfort of homes (from http://medicinemon.blogspot.com/).

A BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER!
Arden celebrated her 11th birthday on the island the week before we arrived with a low key gathering of a few close friends, but waited for her Nanna and Poppa to share in her real party. How many of you remember what you did for your 11th birthday? I bet Arden will always remember this one:

Posing under a mangrove tree wearing the LSU tee I redesigned for her.

First on the agenda was an international volleyball game. Nationalities represented by the children were Dutch, Hispanic, French, Dominican, East Indian, and of course good old American!

After the kids grew weary of the game they all took a dip in the beautiful waters of the Caribbean! In the photo above the red tiled building is the American University of the Caribbean Medical School and the cream colored building behind that is the kids' school, Caribbean International Academy.

Aaron grilled in the shade of the mangrove. It was wonderful to have so much shade and still be on the beach. The tropical breeze made for a comfortable afternoon.

The cupcakes had to be consumed quickly! The icing had a tendency to slide right off the cake in the heat.

After refreshments, several of us walked along the beach where we had an awesome view of planes coming in for a landing at the Princess Julianna Airport. This landing spot was recently featured in the National Geographic.

We then happened up on a neat area with a cliff that looked very tempting to jump off of. Should we?

Of course, says Aaron and he takes a flying leap to the astonishment of the by-standers!

Not to be out done, Arden quickly follows her daddy!

Scott was soon to follow, of course he did a canon ball!

Before jumping, everyone threw their shoes into the water for the climb back up over the sharp lava. Timing the rise and fall of the waves was crucial to scampering up the side to avoid being cut and scraped.

The “whale hole” was fun to watch. The whoosh of air before the blow was really cool.

All this activity was in one day for one little girl’s 11th birthday party! What fun we had. She and her friend Sasha say good bye after an awesome afternoon.
Little Swimmer!
Arden’s swim team at practice.

The pool is on the roof of the gym!

Coconut Harvest

Arden wanted a coconut so Poppa rigged up a pole and taped a knife to the end of it to cut one out of the tree.

Success!

Now, to get into the coconut for the delicious milk and tasty meat.

What a funny face!

A cool and refreshing drink! Can’t be any fresher than this.

Even Layla the Coconut Retriever likes a little coconut milk. Yes, she really is called a Coconut Retriever and is unique to the island of St. Maarten. The dogs roam the island as strays. A group captures the dogs they can get their hands on, spays or neuters the animals, gives them shots, etc. They put collars on the adults and release them. There is a feeding program also where food is put out at various locations on the island. All of the puppies are adopted out, with some being shipped to different parts of the world. Pretty neat program. Don’t know who pays for it. Oh, and Layla was adopted by James and Amanda, good friends of Aaron and Leah.
Boats of St. Maarten

This is one of the views from our condo. We would sit on the balcony early every morning and watch the cruise ships come in to Phillipsburg.

This was the Disney Cruise ship leaving the island. It was so pretty at night. It was really neat because we had seen it that morning coming in to port!

A 5-mast sailing cruise ship. I would love to take a trip on one of these.

Condo Livin’
Our condo This time was not as nice as the one at Sapphire, but it was still very comfortable. The worse part was that we were not in walking distance to the Islander’s house! It was quite a chore to get to and from their home having to cross Simpson Bay Bridge.

Out from the condo’s beach was this swim platform that Arden and Poppa played on during a brief shower. If you look closely in the background, you can see the airport.

@ the condo beach

The pool at our condo was so pretty! When I took this picture, I had just come from the room and there was condensation on the lens, so the picture looks a little foggy.

Arden was trying to talk this guy out of his John Deere hat we saw him with the day before. She needed it for a Christmas program, Leroy the Red-neck Reindeer! He wouldn’t part with it…

She found another tree that was easier to climb!

Just around the curve of the beach from the condo was this fun activity that the Spouses Org. rented for the med school students’ kids. We had lots of fun! (Arden on swing)