Our Trip to the beach

I'm back and semi unpacked from the cruise. It was an amazing trip on which I learned alot, made many new friends, laughed, spent wonderful time with my sister and relaxed! It was sad to see it over but I came home with so many memories!

We got to take three excursions; one on St. Maarten, one on St. Lucia and one on St. Kitts. If I had to choose a favorite, I'd have to say I have two! My first being our trip off of St. Maarten over to the Island of Anguilla. Three years ago, my sister met Bob and Melinda Blanchard, writers of the books “Live What You Love” and “A Trip to the Beach” and owners of Blanchard’s and Zurra’s, two restaurants on the island of Anguilla. Diane had a sort of pen pal friendship with Bob and Melinda and when I asked her to come along on this cruise with me, she immediately contacted them to let them know we would be stopping on the island of St. Maarten. They were excited to have us see Anguilla and told us how to get there. SO, on the 14th we jumped a taxi, and then grabbed a water taxi to the island of Anguilla. BUT the adventure is so much more involved than this. We got to the ferry and this gentleman kept giving us direction… go to that window, pay ferry tax at next window… you have ½ hour to browse kiosks before the ferry comes…. Then the connection was made. I got to talking to this man and he asked how we were getting around the island. Seems he has a taxi service. I told him we were there for the day visiting ‘friends’. He asked where they were staying and when Diane mentioned they owned a restaurant called Blanchard’s, the man smiled and said, “OH Bobby and Mel?” It so happens to be that he is “Nell” from the book “A Trip to the Beach”. We hired Nell to be our taxi for the day. He called Bob and Mel and told them he had us. He brought us to Zurra’s were we were expected and shown to a table out on the veranda overlooking the golf course and ocean…breathtaking!!! Bob and Mel arrived and treated us to lunch, sitting with us while we ate. I took one bite of my chicken curry salad and my mouth screamed “Its fiesta time!” it was a whole party experience!! Bob and Mel were down to earth and very friendly, they were wonderful hosts. You got the feeling that you’d been friends with them forever. Conversation, pictures and goodbyes were over with and upon leaving, we picked up copies of books to buy only to have them signed by Gerrilyn our hostess and Nel himself. Nel then drove us over to see Blanchard’s restaurant, a cute intimate place on the beach that serves dinner. We explored a little and were then off to Shoal Bay, a recommended stop by Mel and Bob, where we walked bare foot on the beautiful beach by aquamarine colored waters. It was definitely a stop to make! We took many photos and made wishes to someday come back for a stay with our families. We then hopped into the taxi for a little island sightseeing and then to make the 3pm ferry in time to get back to our ship by the skin of our teeth! Had we not made it back they wouldn't have waited on us as we were not on a cruise sanctioned trip! Phew!!