FRIDAY   
SINT MAARTEN

There's got to be a morning after. Ooh, maybe not the best song to reference on a cruise ship.
The first of the two islands I have already visited, Sint Maarten. This time only the southern Dutch side.
Walk of the cock.
Didn't think I would get a photo of an adult store, did ya?
There was a Philadelphia Lane in Bridgetown. There is a Penn State Avenue in Philipsburg.
Looking down the Voorstraat.
Again, I would much rather walk around and explore places than just sit on a beach.
It was about an hour walk from the ship to Fort Amsterdam Heritage Park, mostly flat.
In addition to being a historic site, it is also now a sanctuary for the island's national bird, the brown pelican. There are some down there somewhere.
There is some of the wall of the fort very near a modern condominium building. The part is at the end of a peninsula and to get there you have to go through the condo complex.
The cannon probably was not out there all by itself originally. Seems rather exposed.
That is neither brown nor a pelican.
A bulwark facing Great Bay.
You can't really tell, but the cannon is aimed at the back of our cruise ship.
Out there is the foundations of the original Government House from 1738 to 1793, where John Philips and the Government Council officially met.
Now there is a brown pelican.
A tiny little cove off of Little Bay.
They tore the roof off the sucker. Some history about the fort. 1631: Built by the Dutch 1633-1648: Controlled by the Spanish 1648-1795: Controlled by the Dutch again 1795-1801: Controlled by the French 1801-1802: Controlled by the British again 1802-1810: ????? 1810-1816: Controlled by the British again again 1816-today: Controlled by the Dutch again again
A big lizard chilling on a hot rock.
What is left of one of the bastions.
After a rest on a shady bench and a refreshing Lipton watermelon mint iced tea I got at a shop in the condo complex, we looked at the couple of parrots they have in a cage for some reason.
A vacation home overlooking the water.
It really is a great bay.
While Google maps app said the walk was mostly flat, there was a big hill to cross.
How many cemeteries is this now, three?
Walking back to the ship.
The Oranje School.
This is the original Oranje School.
Philipsburg Methodist Church, originally built in 1851 but apparently rebuilt in the 1970's.
The Philipsburg Courthouse was completed in 1793, just thirty years after the town came into being.
It's just the tourist bureau building and probably not very old, but I like the look of it.
I'm not here for the Foo Ho Chinese Bar & Restaurant or Sona Gift Shop. It's all about Mr. Tablecloth.
And a mere 70-80 yards away is Mr. Table Cloth Too.
We stopped into the Fairway Mark It. While it was not oppressively hot outside in the morning, it was a nice cool break.
Need any Kobe Tepung Kentucky chicken coating mix? I know where you can score some.
This tiny patch of land with nothing on it is designated a military area owned by the Ministerie van Defensie. Not entirely sure what they use it for.
On the French side, they fly the French tri-color. On the Dutch side they fly their own flag rather than the flag of the Netherlands.
More shopping opportunities near the ship.
Sailing into the sunset.

TO ST. THOMAS