Saturday, November 26, 2011

St. Maarten Explorations

It's been a full few days! Ally flew in to join us for a couple of weeks, as she's currently between fall and winter quarters at DU, so we enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving aboard. The galley was full of mixing bowls, pans and fixings; we had the usual family menu in its entirety of roasted turkey, bread stuffing, Daphne's mashed sweet potatoes, awesome corn casserole, broccoli, cranberry relish and of course, pumpkin pie!! I'd stocked up on all that was needed for each recipe, but the first challenge was cutting back the recipes to feed just the three of us (and not a small army)! The other challenge was finding enough small baking pans so that everything could fit inside our oven. Turkey on one shelf, with pans of corn casserole and mashed sweet potatoes on the other. Happily, everything fit, I timed each dish just right, and dinner was ... sumptuous! Yum! Ally was delighted with the pumpkin pie!

L'escargot, a local landmark restaurent in Philipsburg
After a day in Philipsburg, we thought we'd explore more of the island by dinghy, so went over to the French side to meander along the coves and bays of the west side. Fort Louis, Marigot, Friar's Bay, Grand Case...we made a great day of it! 

High atop Fort Louis ruins
Amazing views of the water
Ron and Ally exploring the fort
In Marigot, we walked up to Fort Louis and enjoyed the views, then took the dinghy north to swam in Friar’s Bay and walk its beach, before heading to Grand Case, where we watched the small planes coming in on final right over us as we ate lunch at Le Tastevin. We went rather high end for ourselves rather that eating at the lolos again, although I’m not sure that was the best choice as their lunch menu was quite limited. Still, a VERY fun day, and on our return to Great Bay, we stopped at Customs and cleared out. We’re heading to Statia tomorrow, to see our friends Glenn and Michele at Golden Rock Divers, and hopefully, do some diving there!  


My smoked tuna Asian salad at Le Tastevin
The small Grand Case airport is not too far from town
The beach at Grand Case

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