DAY 5:
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| The beach at Phillipsburg. |
| After my sleep-in and waking to hubby and breakfast we drove to Phillipsburg which is known for great shopping. |
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| Me when anyone tells me about great shopping. Also I always send this to my sister when I find a big Toblerone (see FRIENDS episode in which Joey has same reaction). |
The outdoor kiosks sold
souvenirs and colorful beach wear while the indoor shopping was known for
designer brands at a great price plus no tax. We walked on Front St., their
main street by the beach, and they did have a lot of designer brands but
unfortunately (or fortunately for our wallets) it was all accessories and no
clothing. We didn't buy much for ourselves but we did get our souvenir on for friends and family. We even found a few casinos and anyone who knows me
knows I cannot say no to a good slot machine.
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| Me when someone takes me to casino sans the Toblerone. |
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| BTW, this little top hat man is the Rum guy on the island... or something like that... |
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| We enjoying a little stroll. |
We went inside a casino and blew about $15 on the oldest looking slot
machines. Like these were so old that only a few buttons worked on them and not
even the fun lever thingie you get to pull. The machines were not loose despite
their age so we didn’t stay long. We bought a Heineken and walked out in the
streets because we could.
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| Joey ALMOST booked that beer commercial until the realized the label wasn't facing out... |
So, Sunset Bar is probably the most famous place on the island. It's a
huge outdoor restaurant right next to Princess Juliana airport and by Sunset
beach - where you see the planes fly in very low and close to you. The bar had
a big surfboard/chalk board and written down were flight arrival times. We
showed up around 2pm just in time to see some jumbo jets land and take off. Departing
planes line up with their backs to the beach so there's a huge jet blast if you
line up behind it. Joey took video of the biggest plane and got annihilated by the
heat, sand and sadly his baseball stud sunglasses flew out into the big blue
water (RIP 2015-2016). We ate lunch and I mustered up the strength to stand
behind a smaller plane. Side note: my dad built airplanes for a living and
would probably be ashamed of me getting behind the jets like that. Sorry Pops!
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| Airport to the right, beach to the left, party in the back. |
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| RIP sunglasses. I don't miss you, but I think Joey does. |
We didn't get in the water here because it was right next to Maho Bay,
where we were originally booked our hotel but due to Joey's intel and research
he found that it is one of the more heavily populated towns on the island, and
it is near the cruise line docking areas. Our original resort was hiding
evidence of a Norovirus outbreak AND it's been going on for several years.
People had been posting horror stories online but the resort denied claims and
when we called were told ‘everything was under control’. After the phone call
we kept an eye on reviews and yep: poor people still getting sick on their vacation. There
is even a group of people who banded together to start a lawsuit. DO NOT STAY
at any SONESTA resorts, especially Sonesta Ocean Pointe. A lot of the sick guests posted pictures of crates of
Gatorade behind the reception area so they were ready for something…
So we went back to our super virus free resort and swam in our
friendly, safe waters until about 5pm then ran to our room and quickly changed
because our resort was hosting a cocktail mixer for guests of the resort from
5-6pm next to the pool on the roof. They had beer, wine and a dangerously
delicious peach (insert liquor here) cocktail as well as hors d’oeuvres. We
made friends with guests and staff (we were popular being the young
honeymooners plus everyone at the restaurant wanted to be Joey’s BFF) and met
our vacation couple friends Chris and Heather! They were celebrating their one
year anniversary and had come their year prior for their honeymoon.
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| This is Joey and Chris and they'll be friends soon. Also, Creole Rock is right behind them photo bombing! |
We had been to every part of the island at this point. We had driven
around so many times that we knew the lay of the land and we stayed at the best
resort and the best location. We were on the French side where it's less
tourist-y, right next to Restaurant Row (known for food that makes me happy)
and we had our own little bay with free water activities and chairs at our
disposal. Security made us feel safe at all times, the staff was amazingly
friendly, their hotel restaurant is voted the prettiest view and the prices
there were very reasonable. There were stray cats on the grounds so we didn't
feel as many heart pangs for leaving our little guys… we were so glad that we
had to shuffle around our itinerary.
Joey did not eat much at the mixer so we drove to Restaurant Row to
find him some pizza. Joey is a pizza lover and if it's not in his system he
will perish. We walked and found a new litter of kittens so obviously we had to
stop and buy some kitten food for them. The kittie bag was big so we had plenty
of leftovers to feed the millions of other cat friends. Also I told Joey I'm
going to buy a fanny pack and fill it only with cat food. This way if I ever
see a hungry animal – boom; food. The craziest part of all of that is that I
just NOW thought of this idea.
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| One of them is named Romo for Kellen. |
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| If we had not brought food home it would have surely been us eaten. |
Joey unfortunately did not find pizza
so we went home and he ordered some pasta from our hotel. We called it
an early night after feeding our felines on the grounds.
Joey's favorite moment: Walking up and down Grand Case aka Restaurant
Row.
Laurie's favorite moment: The hotel mixer, hanging out and meeting new
people!
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