We are in Philipsburg on Dutch Sint Martens in the Caribbean. It's very hot and sticky and when we arrived we had incredible blue skies and gloriously coloured turquoise sea but since then it's gone a bit grey and gloomy Dr Fred says it looks a bit like Redcar it's not quite like that... though but we did have a tropical rain storm still very warm but also wet.
It was good to get off the boat after five full days at sea and it's very exciting to be on a Caribbean island but to be honest it's a little underwhelming when you get there because it's basically one large market with a lot of bars selling expensive drinks and buckets of beer. The beach is one long strip of sunbeds and umbrellas. I'm sure there are some very pretty places but it's difficult to get to them when you have such a short time in Port however it is quite nice to be somewhere hot and sunny and being fed and watered so I'm not going to complain
The marina is full of seriously large yachts... ooozzing money..and at first glance Philipsburg looks quite smart... but as you move away from the actual marina it all starts to look quite alot less glamorous... not quite tatty but defo well worn. Personally I think it adds character and we did end up having lunch in quite an ethnic place - not the best lunch but quite an experience. (Very expensive experience🤣)
We are berthed next to a very pretty cruise ship like a tall ships with fancy rigging called 'Sea Cloud 2'.. obviously quite an elite affair as it's quite small it just looks very nice. Moored on the other side of that boat is the 'Icon of the Seas' which is the largest cruise ship in the world carrying a total of over 10,000 people (including crew). It's absolutely enormous and fairly hideous to be honest, though it does have a funky looking water slide on the roof and a climbing wall 🤣🤣 but not sure that shareing that with 8 thousand people would make it worthwhile.