Today we were on St. Maarten – an Island that is half Dutch and half French. We took a tour bus to a Butterfly Farm that is near a beach on the French side of the island. The bus driver kept up a patter for the whole trip that was both funny and edifying. He described lots of the local sights and why things were the way they are or evolved over time. The butterfly farm was reminiscent of the Butterfly Pavilion in Colorado – but there was no building containing the butterflies. It was basically a wooden structure holding up netting and mostly open to the outside air on all sides – but contained the butterflies. The owner implored us to go to his website www.thebutterflyfarm.com and key in our latitude and plant things that our local butterfly population can use to build their population back up. He had a good presentation that explained better (to me anyway) why different breeds of butterflies need certain plants to continue to exist. After the Butterly Farm – we rode the bus to Marigot – a port town on the French side of the island where we had 45 minutes to shop and explore the town. We found a nice place to have a coffee and croissant or smoothie. Afterwards we took the bus back to Philipsburg where we got off the bus and explored the town. I have never seen so many watch shops in a confined space. And expensive watch shops. Not a Swatch shop in sight. We had a marvelous lunch on the porch of an old hotel near the beach in Philipsburg. Janet and Janelle took off their shoes and enjoyed going barefoot on the beach. After lunch we took a water taxi back to the port where all the cruise ships were docked. There were two Celebrity ships and one Royal Caribbean as well as a few others.
Back to the ship for a quick shower and then appetizers while watching the sunset from our stateroom balcony with Hinks and then a birthday dinner at the Tuscan Grill and then a musical show in the theater before retiring to get ready for our next adventure. Tomorrow we are doing a short bike ride in St. Croix.