Startin' in St. Martin/Sint Maarten

Brrr!   The 2013-14 winter months are long and we are experiencing unusually bitter cold temperatures.  We need a break from winter.  So, we book ourselves on an 11-day Southern Caribbean Cruise. 

At 8:00 a.m., the ship docks in Phillipsburg (along with four other cruise ships in port today).  This morning, we are participating in the St. Maarten Eco Tour.  We meet our tour guide Eva and bus driver Gabriel.  We make two photo stops - one at a protected area where visitors can access an elevated wooden deck and do some whale watching and the other stop is at Paradise View.   

Paradise View

We drive through the French Quarter before arriving at the St. Maarten Zoo.  The zoo surprises me ... it is small but it is more than I expected.  Prudence (our zoo guide) walks with us through the zoo and introducing us to the animals.  We see lots of birds like the Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot (bright green in color), peacocks (one male is strutting his stuff - proud as a peacock!), Anna the white Umbrella Cockatoo, the rare Spectacled Owl with huge eyes, peach-colored Ibis, Red-Billed Toucans, Goats, Capybara (a huge rat with no tail), Vervet Monkeys (you can feed the monkeys), a Bush Dog, turtles (you can pick them up – they are big and heavy … and not potty trained!)), a Collared Peccary (aka Javelina - looks like a pig), a raccoon, African Fruit-Eating Bats, a Cayman Crocodile, an Ocelot (member of the cat family), and a domestic kitty wandering through the zoo - maybe to visit the Ocelot. 

      

An Ocelot

       

  Show-Off Peacock    

 

Vervet (Greeen) Monkey

We leave the zoo and cross the short National Bridge.  Here, a marker and flags designate the border line between the Dutch Sint Maarten and the French St. Martin

Border Line

We return to Phillipsburg where our tour ends near the pier.  Tomorrow, we have a leisurely day at sea.