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Nowhere to be first thing in the morning but i woke up at 5:30 am anyway. Instead of morning dives, we will have a night dive. Had a very good leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, coffee, and pancakes. I forgot to put baking powder and baking soda in my pancake mix when I mixed them up at home so when I made them the other day they had the consistency of a mousepad. So we bought some baking soda and today they are edible. The only thing on our itinerary this morning is to explore Orient Beach. When we passed the area on the first full day on the island, the road takes you away from the beach so we never got a chance to see it. We found it easily enough, parked a few blocks away, and walked down to the sand. Like most nice locations on the island, the area around the beach is so built up that almost every inch is covered with a resort or condo. The beach is beautiful! It is a long arc with powdered sugar sand and lovely aquamarine water. Of course, the beach is pretty much controlled by two bars that sit side by side and have their chairs and umbrellas occupying the majority of space on the sand. There is no other shade so we each rented chairs and umbrellas.
The water was refreshing. Clay and I managed to ride some small waves which washed us up on the sand.
Susan and I took a long walk down the beach and just chilled out. Clay and Jean frolicked in the water for a long time. We stayed about two hours and then headed home. It must be cruise ship day because we had to follow two full-sized tour buses and multiple taxi vans on the way back. On top of that, there was road construction that restricted us to one lane. To make a long story short, it once again took forever to get back. We stopped at Bread and Butter for lunch stuff and treats. Made great sandwiches with our fresh French bread and then relaxed.
Headed for the dive shop early just in case the traffic was extra bad. You never know. As it happened, it wasn’t! Made it there by 3:30, more than an hour before dive time. There were already a couple of divers at the shop. Were there two boats going out for this dive? The answer turned out to be no, which made for interesting logistics later on. The gang at the shop was taking their mid-afternoon snack so we joined the girls next door at the bar. Killed a half hour hanging out and then it was time to load up and head out. It was a little choppier today, but not bad. Nine divers were on board and four or five crew members. An interesting group- a marine biologist, a super yacht stewardess, another yacht crew hand, a young couple from South Carolina, and a couple of older guys who looked like seasoned divers. There were a few iPhone dive cases with lights, which will be my next purchase to replace my GoPro when it dies.
So it was a crowded boat between divers, crew, and gear. The day/night dives would take place on a barge wreck called the Gregory in about 50 feet of water. During the day portion, we would break up into groups and slowly explore the wreck and the surrounding reefs. It was windy and a little cool. Finally, it was time to go. The water was quite cloudy and full of debris and there was a significant surge. Clay and I and Liam were the last to enter the water.
After the first dive, we sat on the boat and waited for the sun to go down. It was a spectacular sky, lit from top to bottom with thick, puffy, bright red stacks of cumulus. Because I was wet and there was a light breeze, I got a little chilled.
Eventually, it was go time. We each got a flashlight. Clay and I were with Liam. There were different dive teams all over the wreck. It was pitch black except for the lights. It was quite confusing to try and keep track of your dive buddies. The wreck is a haven for sea life. The turtles and rays use the wreck to anchor themselves while they sleep. The myriads of other fish of all sizes, shapes, and colors find refuge in the interior of the wreck. We saw several turtles and rays, too many spiny lobsters to count, spotted eels cruising around, and big barracudas. It would have been a lot more pleasant without all of the divers swimming everywhere and shining lights all over the place, but it was still a cool, unique experience. After the dive, we headed back to shore. There was a whirlwind of activity and the crew rinsed and sorted gear in a rush to get out of there.
Susan’s Comment: While the guys were diving Jean and I planned to play cards for a while at an open-air bar, the Cocky Turtle, right next to the dive shop, and to explore the area for more shopping. We had a drink and played some Quiddler while looking to the southwest at the water. There was a keyboard player in the place that we realized after a few hands of Quiddler, was literally playing the same riff over and over and over, it started to drive us a little crazy so we decided to do some walking and looking for shops.
It was only 5 pm and we had a fair amount of time to kill. We walked to the east of the dive shop and went by lots of restaurants, bars, music venues, etc. Finding actual shopping was difficult. Finally going toward the water, we found a strip of nice shops that were fun to explore. Once back in that area, we realized there were more small streets with smaller restaurants that were connected right to the beach. We decided on the Buccaneer Beach Bar. They had tables that had awnings so you are protected from direct sun right next to the beach. We sat at one and a young man took our order. A few minutes later an older lady wait staff came to us and said we had to move because this table required 6 people and we were only 2. I said well we want to have a view of the sunset, but she said we could not sit there. I noticed there were picnic tables on the beach and asked if we could be served from the picnic tables and she consented to that, so we moved. It was actually lovely to be right on the beach. When the sun started to set it was pretty spectacular. At a picnic table next to us was an older lady smoking cigarettes and drinking wine. She struck up a conversation with us by telling us that when you are watching the sunset in Sint Maarten, when the sun just hits the water line, there is a quick green burst, but only if there are no clouds to get in the way.
It was a gorgeous sunset to watch! We all sat waiting for the burst, but she said there must be something in the way because it was not visible to us. She was very nice, from Toronto, and had been coming to Sint Maarten for the last 20 winters with her husband. He has since passed but she had her son and his family down with her now for a few weeks and was actually looking forward to when they would be leaving so she could get back to her quiet life. We could tell that she had been a beautiful woman in her day but the sun and cigarettes had really impacted her skin. After sunset, we decided to walk the beach. We realized it was a much shorter distance to get back to the dive shop by simply walking back along the beach. When we got back there, the Cocky Turtle was closed and everything around the dive shop was boarded up. There was literally nowhere to wait, so we went back to the car and waited. The rib place we ate at earlier in the week was hopping with activity, complete with a small band. We were parked right next to it so there was plenty to take in. The guys finally got back about 4 hours after they’d left which left us sitting and waiting for about an hour.
It was late when Clay and I finally had our gear all put away. It was time to get something to eat. The local eateries at the parking lot were rocking with bad music so we opted across the street to a nice-looking place called Astra. It was pretty much empty so we got prompt service. The food was gourmet, I had two apps of grouper ceviche and coconut shrimp along with carrot cake. It was all very good. While we were there, one of the workers went out and snagged a lobster for another couple at the bar. It was huge. The guy posed with it and then presumably enjoyed it later. The place was also a hookah bar. You order your smoking blend and they bring the hookah to your table. Thankfully there was a lot of ventilation. After another exciting drive home, we turned in.