Cruisin' day 6 - St Maarten ,a dreary day, curly hair (again) & a nude beach. Yes, I said nude beach...

Wednesday morning we ported into St. Maarten. It is another island & it is 50% French, 50% Dutch. They also love our American dollars...& they took a ton of ours. More on that later... The dock at St. Maarten was my favorite. It was very festive. There was a band playing music when you walked off the pier through the gates. Everything was very colorful & bright & cheery. Plus you could see the cruise ships all lined up. Ours is on the left.
Ok-so I know you're DYING to know about the title. Well, since St. Maarten is 50% French, their beach attire is 'European style'. Which means either topless or n.u.d.e. Uhm - ok?... We didn't do a score excursion this day. Carnival had given us a map of the nicer beaches in St. Maarten, so we went to the information booth at the pier. We said we wanted to go to a beach that was quiet & clean, but had refreshments we could buy. They guy said Orient Bay beach would be good. It was on the map Carnival had given us so we felt like it would be ok. He explained to us (again) that at the beaches tops were optional. The guys had no problem with that...

We hopped in a taxi & took off for Orient Bay Beach. It took about 30 minutes to get there. We walked down the beach to find just the perfect spot. And as we walked, I looked down & saw this chick. Boobs hanging out while she was reading a book. Gasp. We ended up sitting a few feet from her so this was my view for the day. There's no shame in her game. (Please for the love of God make the pic bigger. I beg of you.)
A dude came around & told us it was $7.00 for each chair for the day. Sheesh. Then there are locals that walk the beach back & forth 9000 times asking you if you want to buy what they're selling. They had towel 'backpacks', jewelry, hats, bags, etc.

It was a very gloomy day. Sigh. I don't think I have to tell you what happens to my hair in humidity AND rainy days...
I didn't take my fancy schmancy camera on this trip. I didn't wanna lug it around everywhere so I just took the point & click. It's waterproof so it was fun to take it into the water. That way you get cool pics like this:
And this...

But then a phenomenon happens where water drops get on the lense & you get this when you take the pic:

I got in the water for a bit by force. As soon as I had served my time I hauled my bootie back up to my $7 beach chair. And I got to see lotsa topless chicks walking the beach. Just walking without a care in the world. Don't care whose looking...boobies just hangin' out...Carrie's dad had taken a walk. To the OTHER side of the beach. The NUDE side of the beach. Oh.my.word. Well, I'm not gonna lie - I told B-rad, "LETS GO!" I mean, if people are gonna be lounging on the beach in their birthday suits, I am gonna look! So B-rad, myself, Matt & Carrie took off for a nice, leisurely stroll down the beach. (Disclaimer - you do not HAVE to be nude to be on the nude beach. We were not nude. We were fully protected by our lovely American swim attire...)

The beach was realllly long so it took a while to find the action. There was a sign. "Nude Beach" "No cameras" Dang.it. So I put away the camera.

But we kept walkin'. Oh.my.word.again. Unbelievable. Men & women alike just laying around on the beach. Naked. Standing around carrying on serious conversations. Naked. Splashing around in the water. Naked. An old guy ran past us up & down the beach several times. Naked.

It was THE funniest thing I've ever experience in my life. All shapes & sizes. Different age ranges, but mostly they were older. (It was a Wednesday in the middle of the day, after all. The young naked people were probably at work or something?!) There was even a little restaurant at the end of the nude beach. And people were sitting in there eating. Naked. Gag. I even saw one guy with his 'equipment' pierced. No lie.

After the show, we walked back to the promised land where men covered up their weenies. But that doesn't stop the naked people from wanting to come down to the tops optional side to check out what's happening. This guy right here? See his 'suit'? (And I use the word 'suit' very loosely...). It was basically a 'pouch' & a string around his waist to make him legal to be on our side. At first I thought it was a speedo. But after he walked past me, I turned to look - & I saw his whole.freakin'.a**. (C'mon, ya gotta make this one big too. Check that lady out. You just KNOW she's naked under that cover-up...) Gasp.

After looking at all the naked people, we really worked up an appetite. There was a little restaurant (not the naked one) right behind our chairs so I walked up there to get us something. The prices were pretty expensive, but I kinda expected that. A hamburger was $11 & chicken nuggets were $11. $22 bucks for lunch? You've gotta be kidding me? But we were stuck there - I had no choice. But those damn French people - the figures were in French dollars. When she gave me my ticket it was $31.67 American! WHAAAA?!?! The French to American conversion is $1.35 American for every French dollar. Curses on those damn French people & their naked weenies.

Before we left we did another portrait of my curly hair. I am a mess... I haven't told you about the shows & things on the ships. Every night they have some sort of theatre entertainment. They have dancers & singers who perform, but when we're in port, they pick up other entertainers. One night there was a guy who juggled. It sounds corny, but it was really cool all the stuff he could do. Another night, a magician who was also a comedian was there. He was amazing too! They also have a comedy club in the back of the ship & many nights you can catch a couple of different performers. (All of these are included in your initial cost. Cha-ching!)

On Wednesday night, we came back to the room to find this towel animal:

At first I wasn't sure what it was. But after inspecting it from the side, it was a frog!

I hope my topless pics didn't burn your retinas. Keep checking back, I've only got 2 more days to torture you with. And I promise - no more boobies...

OH! I almost forgot to tell you - while we were walking to the land of nakedness, I saw a chick. In a bikini. Nursing her baby. No blanket shielding her. Nothing. Just out there for the world (or just ME) to see. WOW. I threw up a little in my mouth & then thought fondly of you, loyal stalkers...