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My Big Adventure

The island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean is one of my top spots on the planet, amidst the 30 plus countries I’ve been to. Snapshots of famous singers and actors having weekend affairs in its clear blue waters have draped the pages of gossip magazines and websites across the world. To me, St. Maarten is like home though it literally cannot be any further away from my home, being 12 time zones away.

Then, I’ve been working on a cruise ship for the past 10 days and I have earned my right to step out of my metal prison and lavish in the Caribbean weather. The sun, the sky and the breeze all rejuvenates my soul and tickles my sense of adventure. The size of my smile was directly proportional to the volume of the steel drum band playing. I step into a water taxi and calypso music blasts through the speakers. Caribbean men flash their smiles and echo the lyrics of the song. Their smiles are infectious and I start to sway from side to side.

At the pier, you bear the entire island and what it has to offer. The beach has some Greek officers from the cruise ship running around the sand and splashing through the waters. The bar has some of my new American friends indulging in fruity colored drinks that you can shamelessly consume in the Caribbean. I ended up following my gastronomical needs and head for the restaurants. I pass by shops that will be, in the following months, my go to places for shirts, blouses and souvenirs. I pass by a sunglasses shop that I didn’t know at the time will make me invest in the most ridiculously expensive pair of sunglasses, a purchase I have never regretted. And I pass by the people, who will forever be with me- the always celebrating, perpetually smiling, unmistakably helpful and forever memorable people of St. Maarten.

It’s never one thing. It’s never just the beach or the people or the landscape or the food or even the nude beach on the other side of the island. It’s a collection of all these things and so much more. St. Maarten has all that plus the most amazing electronics shopping anywhere on the Caribbean. So as I slip into my new tax-free MP3 player earphones, I skip back to my metal home and sail away from my St. Maarten. I shall see you again, in 19 days.