Jan 13
Well, first day alone but my sleep habits are still the same. Woke up about 4:30 and struggled to stay in bed until 6:30 when I decided to get up and go for an early morning beach walk. I took my camera and tried to get a picture of the Club O beach for a memento. It really looks better about mid morning but you can't take pictures then of course. I was back home before 8 and cooked up the last two eggs with some hash browns. I had made a list of things to do before I left and first on the list was the Paradise View shots with the
Pentax. With that out of the way next up was Marigot and specifically Fort Louis, built in 1789 with remnants remaining today. I pulled into Marigot (getting to be a seasoned driver now) and found a parking spot without too much trouble. I got a few shots walking along the waterfront and then stormed the fort and took it without firing but one shot! Once up there I got quite a few good shots I think. It's a great view and well worth the climb. I didn't think there was much else to see on my limited time and headed on out to Maho for some plane landing shots.
As I pulled into the Sunset Beach Club I saw a familiar face, John and Nancy were there for a drink before going to the airport! Friends Kent and Becky were dropping them off. We had a drink together and then they headed off. Air France was coming in within the hour so I decided to wait it out and get that shot. Air France and KLM have the biggest planes coming in. KLM has the 747 which I'd like to get a shot of if possible. While waiting for Air France I took a couple of other shots of the beach and bar for reference. A couple of US jets took off and since I was hunkered down in my prime spot at the end of the runway I got sandblasted. It wasn't awesome for my camera stuff and didn't feel too good on the skin either!
When Air France finally swung in on final it had clouded over and the conditions were not good for a great shot. I decided to tough it out and use it as a practice anyway. Good thing as I think I'll change my approach for next time.
With no more opportunities for landing shots I decided to continue on to Cupecoy. I thought it'd be nice to spend the afternoon there and try some of Danny's ribs that I'd heard so much about. The weather still wasn't awesome so I had the ribs (which were indeed good) but didn't settle in on the beach. This time there was a guy from Quebec who chatted with me. What an arrogant prick. He asked where I was staying and when I said Orient he said "Orient? That's a shit beach". Um, OK, I guess. Thousands of others like it but I guess he knows best. Turns out he travels through Manitoba with work because he is, wait for it, a tobacco company rep. They still have those? Hmmm, I guess that explains why he was chain smoking and looked 90 yrs old. He lives in China now and made a point of letting me know that when he’s in Wpg he contacts a Chinese man that provides him with a beautiful young girl for the evening. Seriously? Whatever gave him the impression that I was interested in hearing him brag about his lame sexual exploits eludes me. What a douchebag. I finished my ribs and moved on. Cupecoy is actually a fairly long beach punctuated by striking cliffs of red and yellow sandstone. I
scouted a couple of other spots but they all seemed to have at least a couple of naked people on them so I was hesitant to get the camera out for fear of looking like a perv. In the end I managed to work around them at some spots and just out waited them at others since it was nearing the end of the day and seemed it might cloud over. I found one spot that looked interesting. You climb down this steep stairway with a rope railing to a small isolated beach. I was down near there waiting for the right light for some pictures when this very fit young guy comes out from behind some rocks down the beach and walks past me. It was weird because he shouldn't be intimidated by me but he didn't seem to want to make eye contact either. We exchanged hello’s and he carried on. A few minutes later another guy stepped out from the same spot. He seemed to keep checking on me which I thought was kinda weird but didn't worry too much. Finally he came out and walked past me. About then it finally occurred to me what was going on. Oh well, to each their own.
Regardless, the light finally showed up so I got my shots, headed back up the stairway and back to the car. When I got back up on the cliffs the second guy was still waiting there and headed back down after I left. I suppose maybe I was interrupting his business or something. At that point I realized that all the nude people I had seen were men and if I didn't know better I'd say the place was a bit of a gay meet up spot. And here I was just hanging around waiting for the right light! How that must have looked! I thought people were looking at me because of the camera stuff but maybe not!
Anyway, having left there I decided to stop in at Mullet Bay since it was so close. It was near the end of the day and most people had gone but I think I can conclude that it likely wasn't a beach we'd have chosen to spend much time on. It was very much like Maho Beach except for the bar and the runway and that it was about twice as long. Just like Maho it was very calm waters and the beach itself was very steep. Because of the proximity of all the resorts I figured it would also have been pretty busy during the day. Not really our thing. One more thing I want to do is check out Happy Bay which is between Grand Case and Marigot. Happy Bay is supposed to be quite secluded, quiet and pristine. I'd like to check it out both for pictures and in case we would like to visit it on a return trip. I stopped at Grand Marche to pick up a few essentials and headed for home. Traffic was retarded on the way back to the condo, presumably because it was rush hour again. However, I noticed a bus at the head of the line that was screwing everything up. Every time he let off a passenger he stopped cockeyed on the highway blocking both lanes so no traffic could flow. Even when he was moving it wasn't very fast. Frustrating to say the least but what can you do? Because the island is so small even stuff like this doesn't really change your arrival time by much.
Once home I was ready for a rum and it sure hit the spot. The shower might have helped too. By 7 o'clock I knew I should eat something but wasn't in the mood to head out again so I decided to try the in house pizza again. It was a hard, thin crust that was very greasy and salty last time and apparently he used the same recipe this time. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers! I checked the flight times for tomorrow and two interesting flights stand out; Insel Air at 11:10 and KLM at 12:40. I mentioned the attraction of KLM but I've noticed that Insel Air flies smaller jets quite aggressively. They come in lower and take off like a fighter jet. So it looks like tomorrow morning would be a good time for Maho!
Well, first day alone but my sleep habits are still the same. Woke up about 4:30 and struggled to stay in bed until 6:30 when I decided to get up and go for an early morning beach walk. I took my camera and tried to get a picture of the Club O beach for a memento. It really looks better about mid morning but you can't take pictures then of course. I was back home before 8 and cooked up the last two eggs with some hash browns. I had made a list of things to do before I left and first on the list was the Paradise View shots with the
With no more opportunities for landing shots I decided to continue on to Cupecoy. I thought it'd be nice to spend the afternoon there and try some of Danny's ribs that I'd heard so much about. The weather still wasn't awesome so I had the ribs (which were indeed good) but didn't settle in on the beach. This time there was a guy from Quebec who chatted with me. What an arrogant prick. He asked where I was staying and when I said Orient he said "Orient? That's a shit beach". Um, OK, I guess. Thousands of others like it but I guess he knows best. Turns out he travels through Manitoba with work because he is, wait for it, a tobacco company rep. They still have those? Hmmm, I guess that explains why he was chain smoking and looked 90 yrs old. He lives in China now and made a point of letting me know that when he’s in Wpg he contacts a Chinese man that provides him with a beautiful young girl for the evening. Seriously? Whatever gave him the impression that I was interested in hearing him brag about his lame sexual exploits eludes me. What a douchebag. I finished my ribs and moved on. Cupecoy is actually a fairly long beach punctuated by striking cliffs of red and yellow sandstone. I
Anyway, having left there I decided to stop in at Mullet Bay since it was so close. It was near the end of the day and most people had gone but I think I can conclude that it likely wasn't a beach we'd have chosen to spend much time on. It was very much like Maho Beach except for the bar and the runway and that it was about twice as long. Just like Maho it was very calm waters and the beach itself was very steep. Because of the proximity of all the resorts I figured it would also have been pretty busy during the day. Not really our thing. One more thing I want to do is check out Happy Bay which is between Grand Case and Marigot. Happy Bay is supposed to be quite secluded, quiet and pristine. I'd like to check it out both for pictures and in case we would like to visit it on a return trip. I stopped at Grand Marche to pick up a few essentials and headed for home. Traffic was retarded on the way back to the condo, presumably because it was rush hour again. However, I noticed a bus at the head of the line that was screwing everything up. Every time he let off a passenger he stopped cockeyed on the highway blocking both lanes so no traffic could flow. Even when he was moving it wasn't very fast. Frustrating to say the least but what can you do? Because the island is so small even stuff like this doesn't really change your arrival time by much.
Once home I was ready for a rum and it sure hit the spot. The shower might have helped too. By 7 o'clock I knew I should eat something but wasn't in the mood to head out again so I decided to try the in house pizza again. It was a hard, thin crust that was very greasy and salty last time and apparently he used the same recipe this time. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers! I checked the flight times for tomorrow and two interesting flights stand out; Insel Air at 11:10 and KLM at 12:40. I mentioned the attraction of KLM but I've noticed that Insel Air flies smaller jets quite aggressively. They come in lower and take off like a fighter jet. So it looks like tomorrow morning would be a good time for Maho!
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