On Monday we started with a walking tour of the cruise ship port, Philipsburg, which is on the Dutch side of the island. It has an old courthouse on Wathey Square. It is the shopping capital of Saint Martin and a bit overwhelming.
We started on the boardwalk and enjoyed a view of the lovely blue water.
We stopped at Wathey Square and the pier for some photos.
Saw some great examples of caribbeann architecture including this church:
The shopping was nonstop on front and back streets:
We stopped in the Guavaberry Rum store for some samples and purchases.
We had lunch on the boardwalk at Taloula Mangos and started with Guavaberry coladas. Look how pink!
After lunch it was time for beach lounging at little bay beach, accessed from the Divi beach hotel.
The beach was lovely. The snorkeling was OK.
After our afternoon of lounging and snorkeling we headed back to the French side of the island to go back to our apartment and stopped at the monument commemorating the friendship of the two sides of the island.
For dinner we headed to Grand Case, the culinary capital of the Caribbean. After perusing the menus along the main avenue, we settled on Le Cottage.
We first had a delicious amuse bouche of sweet potato, carrots, and ginger chilled soup. omg, so good! Carl ordered the creole seafood tasting and I had soup and an eggplant dish.
The first plate that came out as part of Carl’s tasting menu was cod fritters with sweet and spicy sauce. I neglected to get a photo of that plate. The second plate was fried white and black sausage with a side of fruit slaw.
My first plate was French onion soup, because, you know, I love that stuff. Just look at that presentation!
Then, the magic happened. Carl got a crazy tasting plate with a number of seafood items that he actually enjoyed! It was awesome.
Here he is eating some raw fish on a toast!
I got my eggplant dish at the same time, beautifully plated.
We closed with bananas flambé, which I was so excited about that I didn’t take a photo. It was delicious. And we got the traditional shot of house infused rum at the end of the meal. Carl said his food was great, and so was mine. Nothing to jump up and down about, but still very good.
There was a bit of snorkeling along the edge of the bay, but the current was strong and the water murky.
Laura Makes 
