St Maarten - Two Lane Adventure on the High Seas – Day Four of the Cruise

Vacation Day Six we docked at St Maarten on a beautiful sunny day! We were so ready to hit the beach after two days at sea! Our travel agent arranged for a private excursion for our group to Sunset Beach. We got off the boat early and had a little time to shop at the port while we located our transportation.

Transportation and our driver was located and we crammed 14 of us into a 15 passenger van. Can you say C-O-Z-Y?!

 As we drove, I noticed many traffic circles and every traffic circle had statues in the middle. I picked a couple interesting ones I could get pictures of to share with you. We came upon the Salt Pickers Traffic Circle. Did you know that there is a Great Salt Pond located in south-central St. Maarten, north of Philipsburg. It is bordered on all sides by downtown Philipsburg and its suburbs. It is the largest permanent saline lagoon (saltwater pond) on the island. Great Salt Pond serves as a natural water catchment basin for much of the runoff water from surrounding hills. It is unprotected, and its shorelines have been completely cleared of their native mangroves and grasses for urban development. This site is primarily used for landfill and land reclamation purposes. Great Salt Pond was designated as a national monument based on its cultural and historical significance. The area was heavily used for the production of salt from the 1630s to the 1920s and many artifacts of this salt-production era remain, such as the rock walls throughout the pond.

The next interesting traffic circle was named Osborne Kruytoff, or Traffic Man Circle. There is a roundabout at the bottom of the Cole Bay Hill where there was a terrible T intersection previously. Getting through that T intersection was not easy. The most aggressive drivers went full speed, cutting everyone off, while the more timid ones waited patiently to hope they could get out. The roundabout eased these traffic issues. By why is it named after Osborne Kruythoff? Many of St. Maarten’s residents don't even know who he was. The old timers sure might remember him though. He was one of the special St. Maarten characters. Some have heard of the "traffic man" when visiting the island. Mr. Osborne Kruythoff of Cole Bay, dressed up with his safari hat and carrying all his worldly possessions in two canvas bags hanging to his side, would be on the square directing the traffic with his machete and incessantly blowing his police whistle while the tourists snapped photos of him. Added to his colorful costume were flowers hanging from his hat, his canvas bags and also from his machete which was used as a traffic baton. The Lt. Governor Mr. Beaujon made the mistake of saluting Osborne one day. He promptly quit his job as cleaner on the beach and for the next few years until the day he died Osborne directed the traffic on the square or anywhere along the road to Cole Bay, where he lived. He directed traffic wherever he was at the moment, and to him it was not important whether it needed directing as long as he could blow away on his whistle and point the cars ever onward with his machete. See, there is a job for everyone, somewhere!

We arrived at our destination and were ready for some fun in the sun in a very unique environment! The beach area at Sunset beach is narrow, especially at high tide, and there is a large empty spot in the center of the beach. If you are a newbie to the beach, you might head there … but avoid it! Stick to the outer edge! We found an empty umbrella and two chairs. We “rented” them for the day and started to enjoy the sun, sand and environment. Okay, here is the environment; the Sunset Bar & Grill is at this beach. It has a 24 hour web cam, the food is really good, and topless women drink for free. I will tell you, that members in our group drank for free …

we got a cooler of drinks with our excursion package … so, we did drink for free, just not from the bar for free! Along with the Sunset Bar & Grill, the local airport runway is two lanes of traffic away from the beach. Actually the end of the runway is two lanes of traffic away from the beach! When a plane is revving its engines for take-off you can watch unsuspecting people’s items blown right off the beach into the water. Some really “smart” people, even try to hang onto the barrier fence … they get blown off too! The other piece of the environment is that when the arriving planes are lining up their final approach, they will fly just feet above the heads of everyone on the beach, before they touch down on the runway.

It was a great day! The waves were a bit strong closest to shore, but once you swam out over them, the water was perfect! We soaked and swam in it for most of the day. A day filled good friends, a few burgers, a few more beers, a little rum punch, some shopping, and too much sun, made it a perfect day all around!