Distance from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Maarten: 110 Nautical Miles
A beautiful day in St. Maarten. Late last evening, at the last minute (after the Daily had been published), the ship got word that it would be docked at Philipsburg and not anchored.
After breakfast, I watched the sail in and docking from the open deck.
Approaching St. Maarten
We may be last ship to come in this morning because it looks like several cruisers are already there.
Some locals provide an escort
Approaching the port at Philipsburg
It is pretty easy to pick out the monster ship in the port, the Oasis of the Seas. Along with the Oasis OTS, docked are the Ruby Princess, Carnival Dream, Mein Schiff 2, and the Thompson Freedom.
Lining up the final approach
Philipsburg in the distance
Docking alongside the Ruby Princess
We disembark and make our way through a virtual canyon of ship, which provide some important shade from a hot son.
Since we docked, we have two options for getting to the city. We first check out the water taxi and the lines to get tickets are enormous. We could take a taxi but the walk is supposed to be only 10 –15 minutes so we head out for the city. It is not a long walk but shade is scarce and it is already getting warm.
The walk turned out to be about 10 minutes and we ended up where the stores and beach start. We walked most of the town collecting goodies from several of the jewelry stores including a free beer and diet coke.
The walk back did not seem as far and soon we, and a few thousand close cruiser friends were back in the canyon. This time, there was no shade so we made a dash for the ship.
Ellen and friends back at the port
After tuna sandwiches in the cafe, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the open deck (very mild).
All of the ships at St. Maarten were scheduled to depart at about the same time. I caught the Ruby Princess departing from the open deck.
Philipsburg at night
Ruby Princess departing
We had a nice dinner (pasta and veggie soup) in the Cafe and then saw “Ghostlight – the Spirit of Broadway” for the third time. The songs from Wicked never get old.
We listened to Ray Brown Jr. in the Grand Foyer and then called it a day.
Seas are expected to be smooth.
Pedometer: 10,805 steps; 5.12 miles; 529 calories
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