Day 5: St. Martin

By day 5, opening the balcony curtain each morning was comparable to being on a game show & revealing the grand prize to the contestant. We were always winners! Just look at the beauty of Philipsburg, St. Martin! Hands down, this was the best port of our cruise.Since this was our last port, we took the entire gang ashore to make the most of our limited island time. The kids were eager to spend a little allowance money shopping for souvenirs and the moms were interested in walking through a few more jewelry stores.The setup in Philipsburg was a little different. You are required to take a water taxi from the port across the bay to Front Street where the shops and taxis are located. We all agreed this $6/person journey was simply a way for the local government to make money off the thousands cruisers that arrived each day, but at least it was a scenic ride.Speaking of the scenery, this is definitely one of those days where I got a little picture-happy with the new camera. Eventually, the kids were refusing to cooperate, and I was forced to document our lovely surroundings. While we all agreed that St. Thomas is pretty, after seeing St. Martin, I can safely say that Anh and I will without a doubt be booking a return trip. The island is divided into a French and Dutch communities, and we were only able to explore a portion of the Dutch side. By staying on the island, we would be able to explore both more thoroughly. Once docked, we were forced to choose between lounging on the beach and shopping. Surprisingly, shopping won out. I guess the allowance money was burning a hole in the kids' pockets. In the end, it was the right choice because that afternoon the temperatures and humidity were almost unbearable. Laying in or near the water was about the only thing that we could have possibly accomplished.Surprisingly, I once again was completely uninterested in jewelry shopping. Instead, a Belgian chocolate shop and guavaberry rum shop caught my eye and accepted my money. Even though a diamond is forever, chocolate and rum certainly make the here & now a little better.Before committing to an afternoon of basking in the sun and heat, we decided to grab a quick bite at a cute little beachfront cafe. The tables under the palms at the water's edge were irresistible. Too bad it turned out to be the definition of a tourist trap. The service was slow, and the food was beyond over-priced. The setting, however saved the day. Yes, it was that nice!The kids are so much easier to please. They didn't care that the service stunk. The chicken fingers they ordered were tasty, and the nearby water was the perfect entertainment. It was the one meal of the vacation where nobody asked for an iPhone!Before we knew it, we were reboarding the water taxi and making the return trip to The Oasis. Our last port visit and come and gone entirely too quickly. We now had more vacation days behind than ahead of us! Time was of the essence, and that just made us even more determined to take advantage of every opportunity.

As we watched the sun set and St. Martin fade into the distance, it was hard to feel sad that our island hopping adventure had come to an end. We still had two action-packed days at sea to look forward, and even more importantly, an incredible anniversary dinner at the ship's finest specialty restaurant that evening. Nope, no time to rest. Time was ticking away and there were more memories to create!After cleaning up a bit and dropping the kids off for the evening activities at Adventure Ocean, we made our way to 150 Central Park for an adult-only dinner. The restaurant is located in Central Park on deck 8 and is located 150 meters from the bow of the ship. So now that you know what inspired the name, I will tell you that is was absolutely fabulous! I could go on and on about the food, the decor, and the service, but instead I'll highlight two things that I think made the evening.Believe it or not, it was the cocktail that started the evening and the complimentary bread for the table that made the entire meal. Each of the 5-courses on the tasting menu were delicious and elegantly executed, but the cucumber-basil-lemongrass martini that we ordered pre-meal to cleanse our palate was AMAZING, and the assorted salts from around the globe that we sampled with our artisan sourdough bread was the perfect compliment. The entire event ranks near the top of our dining experiences.Little did we realize, the highlight of the entire day was still to come. We made it back to Adventure Ocean, just in time to see Jax secure a medal in the dodgeball competition. PROUD doesn't describe how Jax felt about the accomplishment. He's competitive by nature and that medal was in his sights. Nothing was going to stop him! Jax wore that medal for all to see throughout the remainder of the trip. People noticed too! High-fives were constantly being awarded. I'm sure the attention will only feed his competitive nature. Lord help us!