Nov

10

Sonesta Maho

Filed Under Caribbean Living, Quotable | 

“If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work.”
~ William Shakespeare

electronic roulette. crab races (with contenders named Obama and McCain). poolside BINGO. giant chess board missing the King pieces. steel drummers during dinner. big screen TV with only 5 or 6 channels (one of which showed really strange movies first thing in the morning). a beach bordering the airport runway.

we played. we laughed. we shopped. we splashed. we drank. and boy did we eat.

our weekend was about as awesome as 3 days of all-inclusive food, drinks, and sunshine might sound. getting away from Nevis was nice, but arriving on St. Maarten was even better than i expected. license plates claim you are on “The Friendly Island” and that’s no exaggeration. the cab fares were reasonable, the service was great, the airport was efficient, the people were helpful, the Big Mac was fattening, and the movie theatre was comfortably freezing. i wouldn’t hesitate to visit St. Maarten again or recommend it to friends or family. it’s even North American-ish* enough for Brandon to claim he could live there. taxi drivers asked where we were from and scoffed that Nevis is “too quiet” when we told them. St. Maarten really does have a little something for everyone, but isn’t much of a place to visit if you want to get away from hustle and bustle.

you know, the exact North American stuff we were trying to find.

Brandon hated the cramped shower and ever-running toilet in our hotel room, but the (ridiculously huge 600-room) Sonesta Maho is a pretty nice place to stay. except for the $95 long-distance phone bill to a number we never dialed. yeah, that’s not so nice.

we arrived back on Nevis this beautiful Monday morning and were in class again less than 2 hours later. block 4 slows down for no one. thank you for the emails over the weekend. internet was completely non-existent for me and Brandon only logged on to get his MBA homework assignments done. sorry i missed getting in touch with you, Beach Bum.

3 weeks left of classes in MED 4. pharmacology shelf exam on December 4th. finals the week after. lots of work to do before i get to go home and snooze all day with Maddy while eating and drinking at the All-Inclusive Mom Resort in Moose Jaw.

————
*our requirements for this title include iconic landmarks such as McDonald’s and KFC. if we had seen a Wal-Mart, St. Maarten would have been instantly granted North American Club citizenship.

photo: Maho beach next to the Princess Juliana Airport runway. Brandon was standing somewhere underneath filming a Very Loud video and getting knocked over by a French kid freaking out.

Comments

12 Comments so far

  1. dearheart on November 10, 2008 6:44 pm

    The Hubby and I loved our short time on St. Maarten too. :-D Isn’t that beach/runway awesome and scary all at the same time?! *lol*

    Good luck with the rest of MED 4, girl! *hugs* Miss ya!

  2. sarah on November 10, 2008 7:33 pm

    As I am Dutch, I’d like to claim responsibility for your good time on the island. So..you’re welcome!

  3. joelucas on November 10, 2008 7:50 pm

    Glad you had a great time.
    Funny, there is a site on Flicker that a guy takes shots of aircraft. He was in almost the same spot as Brandon when a 747 was taking off. The only problem was that it blew him over and blew off his swim trunks.
    A friend got the shots.

  4. BCWB on November 10, 2008 9:14 pm

    Those jets are one of the most awesome things to experience in the whole world. Never anywhere in the world could one be so close to them. So great. I had a wonderful time and I hope you all enjoy the video. I recommend Sint Maartin to anyone and everyone. It is amazing and the hotel is as well, not to mention that the staff was friendly and helped us out after Jen complained for me that we did not get the room we wanted. Great place and a great break from Nevis : )

  5. Beach Bum on November 10, 2008 9:32 pm

    No worries. I suspect you had better things to do. :) Not all of St. Maarten is as busy as the touristy sections; the French side especially. There are a couple of wonderful semi-deserted beaches and little, out-of-the-way spots that can be really fun! Have fun with the rest of your semester!

  6. Jeremy on November 10, 2008 10:53 pm

    Did take that photo? What about the backwash from the jet? I would think it would blow the beach and everybody on it away.

    Sounds like you had fun!!!

  7. mike wood on November 11, 2008 4:23 am

    thats insane. ever seen the mythbusters when they knock the school bus over with the jetwash? or Pushing Tin? i would love to shoot those approaches. but well anchored down. :D

  8. maxivida on November 11, 2008 7:53 am

    that’s an amazing photo. almost surreal.

  9. kev on November 11, 2008 8:59 am

    where’s the darn “all sizes” link? :)

    glad you guys had a great time, and that you got your big mac fix.

  10. robyn on November 11, 2008 3:21 pm

    That airplane photo is awesome! I live near an airport, and have been daydreaming about getting a shot like this one.

  11. Lauren on November 11, 2008 6:11 pm

    Best thing about that video?

    Definitely the guy you can just here saying ‘I wouldn’t stand there’

    Incredible!

  12. Allison on November 11, 2008 8:19 pm

    Glad you had such a fun weekend - I can only imagine what it must be like to live on one island and get-away to another! And what an awesome photo - the sense of scale and proximity is mind-boggling…

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