The Friday Farewell Cruise

Today I was surprised for my birthday, a little early, and was hijacked and taken hostage by Laura and Kelly. HA HA Sounds scary huh, but actually that is exactly what they did and it was the most fun I have ever had. Laura and Kelly surprised me with a Friday Farewell cruise around the island for my birthday. I had no clue we were doing this. I was told to bring a swimsuit, towel, sunscreen and camera and be ready to get wet. "This could mean anything." So this morning when Laura called and told me to take a dramamine I knew we were going on a boat, but that still left things wide open. With the kiddos in good hands, Thanks Jill and Hillary, we set off to Phillipsburg to get on our boat. At this point in time, I still had no clue where we were going. OH, I was also handed an underwater camera, HMMMMMM....whatever could this mean.

Once we got to the office of the farewell cruise they let me know where we were headed and I screamed like a little kid. I was stoked! I have wanted to do this cruise ever since 1st semester, and now I was really going on it. We were the first to get on the boat and so had our pick of a place to set for the day. We chose the very front of the boat where we were sure to see everything and get wet too. The crew were so kind, and gave the three of us special treatment, which was nice, (since that is a rarity here on the island).

The first stop on our journey was the remote island on Tintammare. It is a "reserved island" so it is all natural, no development whatsoever. The sand was so soft and such a pretty orange color. The first mate told us that we were getting "mud baths" like the spa treatments. He wandered off on the island for a few minutes and that gave us time to explore it too. Then he came back with a bucket of dog brown mud and handed us each heaping handfuls of it. We had to rub it all over our bodies and then let it dry. You can see by the pictures that we were covered. Now some of the passengers got a little wild and took off all their clothes to mud themselves. I about died when I went to get another handful of mud and came face to.....well not face, but right next to this man's "junk." YUCK!!! They were flying free and didn't care who saw, and it was hard not too. Besides, showing their nakedness off, there were about 10 other people on the island who were "buck naked." Geez! I was getting a spa treatment and seeing a whole lot of skin, that is the kind you don't want to see. The three of us giggled and giggled.This is a picture of that soft sand I had mentioned above. Isn't it just pretty? This island was so much fun. Once the mud had dried we were told to rub it off with our hands, as much as we could, to exfoliate the skin, and then rinse it off in the water. My skin was a smooth as the day I was born. WOW! I couldn't believe that mud did that. (I am tempted to take mud from the back of my apartments and try it again, but I'm afraid it won't have the same affect). Back onto the boat we went and it was off to Creole Rock for some snorkeling and trying out of the underwater camera. YES!

So this is a picture of Creole Rock where we went snorkeling. We were the first off the boat and into the water. The underwater life was so amazing. There were blue, yellow, white and rainbow colored fish. It was a ball. The funny part was when we had to get back to the boat. Laura, the swimmer, got back to the boat just fine, Kelly and I.....that is a whole other story. We both took our fins off WAY to early and as we tried to swim back to the boat, the wind picked up and took the boat away from us and swept us out to sea. All we could do was laugh and swim. Finally we got closer and Kelly got on the boat and just as I was going to step up I lost my fins in the water, and they sunk to the bottom. ARG! It would have to happen to me. The captain saw and I thought he was going to be mad, but he laughed and jumped into the water and retrieved them. I was so embarrassed.

We stopped in Grand Case for lunch. It was at this little french restaurant on the beach, where we ate Mahi Mahi with rice and corn, a salad and ice cream to top it off. Laura, Kelly and I sat by ourselves facing the ocean so we could get a great view. And as you can see from the picture it was a wonderful view.

With lunch over with, we got back on to the boat and sailed around the island ending up at Mullet Beach. They let us off the boat and we relaxed on our bright green noodles, that they provided us with, and enjoyed the last leg of the trip. The water was so clear at Mullet that we could see a long way down. We met two couples on their honeymoon and chatted with them for the rest of the ride. Just a few more shots of the beautiful island of St. Maarten. It was so pretty to see the outside of the island where it is green and the ocean is that beautiful Caribbean Blue.

This was our ending shot of the day. As you can see we were wind blown and sun kissed and still smiling. This was the best birthday I ever had. Thanks Laura and Kelly for making it so special. I will remember this day, always! You gals are the best. And a special thank you to Hillary and Jill for watching the kiddos so we could do this. Ya all are the best!!