Here we are just finishing our meal. As you can see, we were right on the water. Very nice.

As we left a young couple came up to sun themselves and she casually removed the top of her bikini. It wasn't all her, believe me! No picture of that (or those, whatever).

Orient Beach - what a place. It is on the French side of Saint Martin and is famous in that much of the beach is clothing optional.

The sand is like sugar, extremely small grains. And the slope is amazing, one can be 50' into the water and the water would not be above your waist. But, back to the clothing optional thing - there were folks parading up and down the beach at the water line with nothing on their bodies. Unfortunately, most of them should have had something on. What a sight. Still, many people say that you cannot go to Saint Martin without at least stopping at Orient Beach.

Back to our beach, Enolds is on Grand Case beach. There are a few restaurants and many rental places. This is the view looking north from where we ate our meal.

I thought that the colors on this outrigger at Grand Case was unique.

One of the problems at Saint Martin is that it is so popular that every bit of land is being taken for development, mostly for tourists. One of the main attractions, and an unbelievable experience, is the end of the airport's runway. The end of the runway is so close to the edge of the island, that they could not build a road around it. However, there are several bars there. And the experience is awesome. You are literally less than 20 feet under each of those huge jets that bring in the tourists as they land. Hundreds of folks will be there every day just to experience the thrill of almost being run over by a landing jet.

This photo is from a previous cruise, but I am including it to show what it can be like in the port. Four cruise ships were there. That could mean as many as 6,000 people coming ashore on the same day.

For those who don't want to go far and still be on the beach, you can see how close you can be. You can also do some shopping at the end of the pier. There are probably 30 shops and restaurants in a welcoming area. It is all new; 10 -12 years ago, you came ashore right in Philipsburg, not an artificial welcoming area a mile or two away.

Saint Martin is a good stop for cruise ship passengers who are in the Caribbean. Although it can be a bit crowded, it is still a good day to be there.

We are getting ready to leave the western hemisphere and spend several days at sea. Next stop will be the Canary Islands.

But first, Holland America's crew will clean the ship. Gotta get some of the salt spray rinsed off.

The last photo is, for me, the downside of cruising, I don't like to be in large crowds of people. But the scenery is still nice.

Like Lilo, I would like the travel but not the crowds. No phobia, but I am more the lone traveler; maybe because all my life at work I had to deal with lots of people and for some reason people always talk to me, especially strangers.

For many of the Caribbean ports, one can easily rent a vehicle and drive around to explore. We have done that on at least 7 islands. Good times at a decent pace.

We just returned from a cruise to Hawaii and did the same thing. Rented a car on each of the four islands and did it our way.

Too many people? Keep moving along.