Philipsburg, Sint Maarten - the Dutch side

Day 5 – 12 December 2025 – Sint Maarten

 

Day began with a crew drill, which included putting a “cleared” sign on each cabin door.  With some 750 to 1000 cabins, that is a HUGE job!  I’ve seen it previously, but never was fast enough before to get a photo – finally managed to do that today.

 

The way in to Philipsburg, capital of Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of the island shared with the French) from the ship dock is a water taxi – roughly 100 passengers, a whopping $7 US for a round trip.  I love taking either the ship’s tender or a water taxi to town, it’s like a little bonus boat ride!

 

There were two docks in town, one at the far end and one closer to the ships.  We first arrived at the dock on the far end of town, so I walked on the beach and in the shallow water for a bit, then up to the main street (Front Street).  SO gorgeous to dip my toes in that lovely aqua water, and walk on the packed powdery sand.  Plus it was a fairly empty beach at the far end, despite all the chairs and umbrellas set out by the waterfront hotels.  I guess it was too early for dedicated sunbathing tourists or something.

 

My plan was to look for Delft stars of David, which I’ve bought here before.  I walked up and down the street, in and out of shops, talking to people, but never did find any stars of David, only some five pointed stars in the one Delft shop still in town.  Oh well, no new Chanukah stars for me.

 

I found plenty of murals all around town.  One man on the street actually stopped traffic so I could take a photo without traffic, which I found quite amusing.  The sea creatures and waves mural was painted on two sides of an alley, creating almost a Moses crossing the Red Sea effect!  Really, it was amazing!  Aqua and blue waves, with some creatures in color, others mere black shadows in the depths of the ocean.  I met two women from our cruise ship as I was taking photos of this long mural – and one of the women was named Phoebe!  So there were three Phebes/Phoebes on our ship!!! 

 

Wandering in Philipsburg, I chatted with people in stores, on the sidewalk, wherever.  Walked past an old church and funeral, gave someone my condolences.  (Being in the Caribbean, he thanked me, and didn't think it was odd.)  Passed the old courthouse building, no information on the age but it definitely looked like an old traditional building. 

 

Of course, all that walking brings on an appetite.  I found a lovely little French mini bistro, two tables inside and five tables outside for a light lunch.  Had a lovely broccoli quiche and side salad, with an orangina to drink.  (I wanted to have an iced decaf, but the coffee machine was giving the café owner problems so he asked what else I’d like.)  More walking, so I had a cooling snack of gelato in a garden that had a carambola tree (star fruit).  I’ve never seen carambola growing before, so that was pretty interesting.  Plus there was another mural in the gelateria’s garden.

 

Eventually, I walked back to the in-town water taxi dock – I rode back to the dock and chatted with an older woman who is from the Blackfoot Nation in northern Montana.  (I told her I was from the Tribe of Judah.  I’m not sure if she really comprehended what I was talking about.)

 

Over all, I walked a bit over four miles.  And slightly sunburned on my cheeks.  Definitely time to buy a sunhat, since I forgot to pack mine!

 

I also sketched a little composite image of Sint Maarten, with the Dutch gabled buildings behind the beach umbrellas.  Not realistic, but capturing the feeling of this lovely half-island nation. 

 

 

 

 

Caribbean Cruisin' 2025

Day 1 – 8 December 2025

 

We decided to have a little adventure, so I booked us on a cruise to the Caribbean.  Sure, why not – leave hot and dry and go visit hotter and humid!  We flew from Tucson to Dallas to Fort Lauderdale – but our flight from Tucson delayed about 1.75 hours.

 

So there we were, racing through DFW – it took us on two different carts through three terminals (second cart went on two elevators – how bizarre!) – with Richard and me yelling BEEP BEEP so people would move.  The first driver thought it was hilarious, pretty soon he started yelling “Merry Christmas” to people!  Little children waved – we were having a great time even though we were so late!  Finally in the fourth terminal, we had a guy without a cart but instead pushing two wheelchairs!  I walked most of the way, but then when I hit the part where we only had 15 minutes until boarding, the guy with Richard in one chair and the extra chair came running up so I hopped on the second chair.  This young man raced us past 20 gates before we finally arrived – whew!  (Gave him a $20 for his valor!)

 

In Fort Lauderdale, we made it to our hotel – but the receptionist  couldn’t find our reservation!  Eventually she searched the hotel’s entire register, and found someone else had checked in as me!    The woman went to check the room, person was named SCHAR, apparently the earlier receptionist mistook them for SCHWARTZ!!!  Lots of running back and forth to find which room SHE should have had, we finally (30ish minutes later) she found which room was still empty and no one had checked in.

 

CRAAAAZY!

 

Day 2 – 9 December 2025

 

Our hotel has a shuttle to the cruise ship dock, although there is a fee and it’s a bit distant.  But it made life so much easier.  Plus while we were waiting for the shuttle, I asked around and found MR. Schar!  Nice person, and his wife was carrying a Seattle Mariners bag!  Oh, and they seemed to be travelling with friends or relatives, and the woman is named Phoebe (with an o)!!!  Also, they'll be on our ship!!!  The whole thing was just too funny and coincidental!

 

We’re ensconced in our cabin.  This is the same ship we were on in late August/early September for our Alaskan cruise, and I’ve already chatted with the woman from South Africa with whom I talked about the lack artwork on the ship.  We also have a similar cabin, located where the ship bumps in (or out) to accommodate the life boats at the lower decks.  All it means is that we have a somewhat larger balcony, but that makes it rather nice so we aren’t sitting right next to the railing getting wet while it rains (which it has been doing all day here in Fort Lauderdale).

 

We have two days at sea before we arrive in the Caribbean – lots more time to explore parts of the ship I never got to when we were in Alaska!

 

Days 3 & 4 – 10 – 11 December 2025

 

I’ve learned to always tape either a postcard or a small painting I’ve made to our stateroom door.  All the corridors and doors look the same, and having an image on our door helps both of us find our room easily.  I also try to make a picture or find a postcard that is relevant to the location of the cruise, so for the Caribbean, I made a little moko jumbie – the stilt dancer, painted in colorful costume and dancing down the street.  Makes our door look like we’re ready to party at Carnival!

 

I like to use our sea days to explore the ship, learn my way around, and do what I call a photo safari.  I go around and take photos of the ship, and mostly the artwork.  Because this particular ship, the Koningsdam, is the same ship we were on last August/September for our Alaska cruise, I didn’t take many photos, having already done my photo safari in Alaska.  This ship doesn’t seem to have as much artwork as most of the Holland America fleet.  In fact, one crew member I chatted with on that Alaskan cruise said she found the ship to be flat, as in colorless and boring.

 

But in true Phebe and Richard fashion, that particular woman was the crew member who checked us in for our required visit to the “muster station” – where we would go in the event of an emergency evacuation requiring life boats.  She looked different (she was wearing glasses), but as we chatted we realized we had met each other on the earlier cruise!!  Funny but also exciting – or perhaps a sign that we’ve been cruising more frequently than our usual!

 

Cruising in December means the ship is decorated for Christmas, so my walking all over the ship let me see all the changes.  There was the Christmas tree lighting event (everything turns into an event, the crew tries hard to keep the passengers amused and involved), today there’s a Nutcracker-themed tee – things like that.  Garlands of silver, gold, and red spheres draped around railings.  Mini trees of greenery, or silver balls.  Electric lights are minimal, and candles are non-existent, since fire hazards are avoided as much as possible.

 

Being Jewish, we ignore most of this.  (I do have a menorah for our Chanukah observance, but I’ll include that on the 14^th.)

 

However, there’s a HUGE gingerbread house display that the ship’s pastry chefs created – an entire Dutch village of gingerbread houses!!  Each house or building is unique, and there are also two windmills, a huge church or cathedral, perhaps a train station, as well as a small electric train (not gingerbread).

 

One house in the left corner, instead of being decorated in red and white, or red and green, was decorated in blue and white!  In my mind, I instantly dubbed it the Chanukah House.  (And of course, when I told Richard about the blue and white house, he said oh, that must be the Chanukah House!  Too funny!)  We’re always glad to see representation of diversity!

 

As always with our cruising, we order breakfast delivered to our room.  It’s one of the luxurious little things we do, but since I wake up slowly, it also helps get me going each morning.  Lunch on sea days is offered in the dining room as well as the Lido buffet, so I go to the dining room and share a table.  Both yesterday and today, I shared a table with two very funny women from Massachusetts and New Jersey.  They met on a cruise a number of years ago, and get together to cruise periodically.  The two of them are hilarious, and we’re all of a similar age.  So that’s been fun, sharing lunch with two new friends.

 

Dinner last night was shared with a woman who grew up on Barbados – she had such interesting stories about growing up there!

 

So that’s the excitement thus far.  Exploring the ship, meeting new people.  Sharing the adventure of life at sea.

 

 

Grey Weather, Grey Mood

24 to 26 October 2025

 

After all the craziness of travel during October, I had one more trip to make.  You know those friends who become your family as you age?  Your personal sisterhood (or brotherhood) – those people.

 

Well, one of those sister friends’ husband passed away during September.  I won’t go into details, not my story.  But their adult daughters planned a celebration of his life, and it seemed appropriate to be there.  These are the people I was with a year ago in Italy, and I just couldn’t NOT be there.  This is what close friends do, they’re there for each other during life’s vicissitudes.

 

The memorial was held on Vashon Island, just off the coast of Seattle.  Autumn in Washington is full of color despite the extreme greys of the weather and the profusion of evergreen trees.  There are enough deciduous trees to provide the usual yellows, ochres, oranges, and red we expect in autumn landscapes.

 

I caught a ride with another close friend and her husband, and we enjoyed the ferry.  It’s always nice to be out on the water, even on a misty rainy foggy cold day.

 

We had some time on the island before the event began, so my friend found one of those scrap wood giant trolls that seem to live in the forests and parks.  Okay, I know, they don’t really live there, someone builds them.  But this was Oscar the Bird King, wearing his crown of bird houses!!  Oscar was wonderful and whimsical from all angles, pointing his finger in a friendly “grok” gesture (if you remember Isaac Asimov’s “Stranger in a Strange Land”).  Or perhaps accusingly, if you litter or are unkind to animals.  Oscar and I shared a grok moment.

 

The celebration of life was truly that, celebrating a wonderful man much loved by his family, his co-workers, and the larger community.  It was sad, it was sweet, it was emotional.  We all knew he was great as soon as he started dating our friend, but I learned so much more about him from his employees, their families, and people who knew him in other settings.  He will be much missed.

 

We spent some time at the family’s island house, just sitting outside (covered porch!), enjoying time together and sharing stories and bringing life back to normal, at least for a little while.

 

My flight back to Tucson was a bit crazy, with an added delay when changing planes in Phoenix.  I ended up spending about seven and a half hours at the airport due to mechanical issues and waiting for a plane that never showed up.  Oh well, it happens, although this did seem excessive.  However, I finally made it home to Tucson, however much later, happy to be back in sunshine.