24 hrs in St. Maarten

Since Julia is busy at work, it's my turn to add to the blog.... my Christmas present from Mom and Dad was a new surfboard, custom-made by an Aussie living in St. Maarten... What was supposed to be a quick, same-day trip to St. Maarten turned into a 24 hour escapade. The goal was to fly in, buy my surfboard, do a little shopping, and fly home,... easy, right? Wrong! I arrived in St. Maarten 7am and started heading toward the surfshop... 2.5 miles east from the airport... well, the early morning rain quickly determined that I would have to rent a car if I wanted to enjoy the island at all, so I rented a car... a sweet little Subaru, and I got to drive on the right side of the road again!..



Since it was too early for the surfshop, I decided to circum-navigate the island to get an idea of what I wanted to do later with my day..., passed up the McDonald's and found a nice french deli, had some quiche for breakfast and continued around the island and headed back to the surfstore...









Bought my sweet new board, and headed out to explore the island some more. I wandered through the tourist town of Phillipsburgh, nice beaches, nice cruise-ship ports, stopped by a little casino, collected some free money from the blackjack table and continued on my way...





Found the only breaking waves on the island and decided to give the new board a try... I caught a couple waves but stopped early since I had 10 sea urchin spines sticking out of the bottom of my foot.... Ouch. It hurt, but I didn't have time for the Doctor, and heck, I've got the same equipment at home, figured I'd get the buggers out on my own....



Hobbled around the island a little more,.. looked for DVD's for Julia,.. (couldn't find any in English, all French!) Stopped at a cool beach bar by the airport and waited for take-off. The beach bar had a little surprise for me.... Since it is at the base of the runway, it is exciting to watch the planes land, but even cooler to get blasted by the huge jets taking off. Apparently, if you hang onto the fence, you can do the 'Superman.'






Well, my first experience was with a double decker 747... what a rush! It blew my margarita all over me, I almost lost my flip flop and struggled to stay upright while video taping the experience...



To the unsuspecting beach-goer, a sand blast and missing beach accessories was a given.... it was hilarious to watch!! I had just enough time to do some gambling on hermit crab races. Most places it's horses or dogs, but not in St. Maarten!
(I put $5 on Slim Shadey, but he let me down, Whoopi and George Bush took first and second respectively)



Time to go,... (or so I thought)... I headed back to catch my plane home... Besides the urchin spines in my foot, it was a fun and exciting day in a very different country (felt like Europe) and it was only 17 minutes flight from home! Here's where the real fun begins... the airline I booked with wouldn't allow my surfboard on... no if's and's or but's... the staff wouldn't give me any options, the supervisor refused to talk to me, ended up calling security on me, and left me stranded at the airport... Other airlines had flights to St. Kitts, but the ticket salesmen were gone for the day.. I was stuck,... After $110 in international calls to home and Julia, we were able to track down the phone number for one of the surfshop employees... Thanks to Jeff, I was able to find sleeping quarters at the surfshop..





We hit up dinner and many Heinekins which helped numb the frustration of my situation and the throbbing pain in my foot... a short night's sleep next to the halfpipe, and it was off to the airport the next morning to find a new flight... after many hurdles, I was able to find a flight home with my surfboard! Great,.. right? Wrong,.. as I was walking on the tarmack to my little puddle-jumper, I watched the baggage handler throw my brand new surfboard to the ground in frustration because it wouldn't fit in with the unorganized luggage that had been so inefficiently shoved into the undercarraige of the plane... Ever played tetris? Ever bagged your own groceries? It's not that hard,... apparently in some parts of the world it is.... Hearing the new board bang on the ground, I lost it,... gave the man an earfull and left the island.... and after all that,.. without the surfboard.... Well,... the board managed to arrive later that day with relatively minor damage,... easy to patch with resin, but it never should have been... grrrr... Anyway, I never thought I'd be so happy to be back in St. Kitts,.. Price for custom made surfboard... $600, Price for multiple airline tickets for a boy and his surfboard to fly for 17 minutes... $250, Price for international calling cards to find new way home... $110, Surfing on a new board in the Caribbean during Christmas break.... Priceless.