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Our first day of no diving. Last night was pretty tiring with the diving, the late dinner and late to bed. Today’s plan was to go down to the boardwalk in old Phillipsburg and do the self-guided mural walk. It’s a cute area full of narrow, curving streets, old-style architecture, lots of tourist shops, and a long beachfront with more shops and bars and restaurants. When we arrived it was raining, the first rains that we had encountered. We sat in the car and waited it out until it subsided.
The mural walk consists of at least a dozen murals all done by local artists. Each has a name and theme. They are pretty cool and a contrast to the intense shopping gauntlet of clothing, jewelry and tourist knick knacks for sale in other shops that lined the streets. The ubiquitous image that I will retain from walking the commercial row is lots and lots of older guys sitting or standing outside the shops looking bored while their wives were inside shopping. When we crossed into the “jewelry district”- store after store selling high end jewelry (how many jewelry choices do you need?), I encountered a young policeman with a Great Dane lying at his feet. The dog looked tame enough. “Is that dog friendly?”, I asked. He shook his head no. “If it was friendly, it would be lying on the couch at home watching TV”.
The cruise ships all dock nearby so the area is awash in eager, flush elderly people looking for a tropical experience and a good deal. We meandered down Front Street taking pictures of the murals and gradually worked our way around to the boardwalk looking for a place to eat. There was a guy grilling chicken by the sidewalk. It smelled really good. I asked him if his chicken was any good. “It’s the best in town, my brother”, he said. We were sold. We had a nice lunch and some cold beverages. I had conch fritters. The others had chicken wings with beans and rice. Good stuff.
The weather was perfect. It was mostly cloudy which made being out in the intense sunshine quite tolerable. The girls did a little shopping. On the way back to the car, we stopped in the St. Martin Heritage Museum. It’s a tiny little storefront with a single employee. It told the story of the settlement of the island from the first inhabitants from around 200 AD, to the “Lost Jews”, through colonial times, slavery, and the hurricanes. It’s kind of a mishmash of old artifacts- everything from old musketry and cannon balls to TV’s from the 60’s. Still, it was neat and well-kept and worth checking out.
We fought our way past the store barkers and back to the car. On the way back to the condo, we stopped at the other end of Dawn Beach to scope out the possibility of getting in one last swim before having to check out tomorrow. The beach is hemmed in by the gated resorts that surround it but allows the public to use the beach as well. It’s gorgeous, a picturesque half-moon of soft sand and aquamarine water. I will definitely take my last dip there.
Back at the condo, people took baths and napped. Feeling like I needed a little activity, I walked down to the pool and swam some laps. The sun was still filtered by soft clouds, a light breeze was blowing. It was the perfect relaxing situation. I almost fell asleep by the pool.
Around 5 pm we decided to get a few pizzas from Mama’s for dinner. Calling and ordering didn’t work so we all drove up there to have a beer and hang out until our pizzas were ready. We sat on the porch in the cool evening breeze and watched the sun go down while we ate. After dinner we played a four-way game of Quiddler. It was nip and tuck until the very last hand when Clay pulled out the win by one point over Jean.