Welcome to Saint Maarten
We arrived in the port of Saint Maarten on December 25th, 2018 (Christmas Day).
After briefly browsing the stores in the cruise port, we purchased water taxi wristbands and made our way to the main shopping area and beach.
The cost of the water taxi was $5 one way or $7 for a return. The water taxi trip took 5 minutes.
Lunch at Oualichi, Saint Maarten
After stepping off the water taxi, we made our way to Oualichi beach bar situated on the boardwalk.
Oualichi serves a variety of dishes including coconut shrimp, mozzarella sticks, stuffed crab, salad, burgers, pasta, pizza, Thai dishes, as well as many many more options.
Oualichi also offers a great range of cocktails to enjoy in this beautiful setting overlooking the beach.
The food whilst nice did not stand out from the crowd and it certainly seemed as though the quality had deteriorated from our visit the year prior. In addition, the entire place allows smoking and we as non smokers ended up sat next to a table of smokers which made for an unenjoyable experience.
A Tour of the Island
After lunch we decided to try to take a tour of the island and after much bartering we decided to share a taxi with a mother and daughter to tour the island.
The total cost was $40 per person (4 minimum), for a 3 hour tour.
Our tour took us to bikini beach, a beach area with a restaurant and sunbeds on the sand. A stunning area, however, very busy.
Next we headed up a moutain to lake a look at the port below, we stopped at a small market to try fresh sugar cane juice and coconut.
From here we made our way to the famous Maho Beach.
Maho beach has a main airport just behind it and you can stand and it looks like you can almost touch the bottom of the giant airplanes landing.
Our three our tour came to an end and we were taken back to the cruise port.
We were unfortunately provided a driver with what appeared to be a lack of knowledge or at least interesting knowledge on the island.
If you’re ever in Saint Maarten, definitely take a tour but be sure to query your driver before leaving to make sure you’ll get a good tour.