We had sailed from Antigua to Sint Maarten on Wednesday to Thursday, 11/21/19, to pick up my parents, brother and sister-in-law who were flying in from Miami to spend a week with us. Because we were a little rushed cleaning up and reorganizing from the Salty Dawg Rally and getting from Antigua to St. Maarten, they had booked a room at Carl’s Unique Inn for their first night. We were a little concerned when we drove up, but the room was nice and you could see Joli at Simpson Bay Marina in the distance.
After picking up Mom, Dad, Chris & Denise at the airport and getting them settled in at Carl’s, the first stop was Lagoonies, a locals and sailors bistro & bar, for a bite to eat. Lagoonies brought back lots of memories for Mom & Dad. A couple days later, we returned to Lagoonies for drinks after a dinghy tour of the Lagoon, one of the things my Dad wanted to do while in St. Maarten. Again, touring the Lagoon brought back lots of memories for Mom and Dad and they were sad to see the destruction that remained from Hurricane Irma in September of 2017, especially on the French side. The whole time we were at the marina, there was a barge with a crane on it, working hard to remove the underwater debris from the large, sunken dock.
We had fun swimming, snorkeling and walking the beaches at Orient Bay, Simpson Bay, Great Bay (Philipsburg), Maho Bay and Mullet Bay. We especially enjoyed Chris’s 60th Birthday dinner at Holland House in Philipsburg and spending the time with Mom, Dad, Chris and Denise. We were sad to see them go on Thanksgiving Day but we all had a wonderful time.
