CMDTA on Vacation: St. Lucia

If you have little to no money what can you do in St. Lucia’s Port?

First of all St. Lucia has an odd port.  It’s a mix of old and new.  There are some nice shop areas that are new and updated.  Right next to that there is what I’d call a flea market.  The flea market feels confined and you keep thinking someone is going to try to mug you while you are in it. This might sound odd but that’s the place to go.

The clean area has your normal port stores so in other words it’s nothing special.  The flea market has a lot of odd stuff. Stuff you might not be able to find in other places. The people in the flea market are also interesting.  They are true locals.  That might sound odd but there is a reason why that stands out.

Often the tourist stores hire non-locals.  Some of the major ones even hire Americans.  Some of these employees work year round for these companies.  You might wonder how they get through the off season.  The answer to that is rather interesting. 

My wife and I were in St. Thomas one year and we walked into a Spectrum store.  Spectrum specializes in ammolite which my wife likes but we could never afford. However because she likes it we always check out the stores selling it.  The sales rep knew us.  He knew us because he tried to sell us some ammolite in Ketchikan.  Ketchikan is in Alaska. Turns out a lot of the workers you see in the Alaskan ports spend their summers in the Alaska and their winters in the Islands.  I don’t know how much money is in that but how awesome does that sound?

OK back to the port in St. Lucia.  Other than the flea market there isn’t a whole lot in the port for poor people.  One thing you can do is head to the end of the port where you’ll find a bar that does karaoke.  It’s always fun to listen to drunk people try to sing.

If St. Lucia didn’t have the flea market and the karaoke bar I’d say skip it if you can’t afford to take a tour. However, those two places make it worth getting off the boat.

CMDTA on Vacation – St. Maarten – St. Martin

No, I didn’t misspell the title and no I am not talking about two countries.  St. Martin is an island in the Caribbean.  It has two names because it’s technically two different countries.  It’s up to some debate but the Island itself is called St. Martin but the island is divided into two sections.  The French side is called St. Martin and the Dutch side is called St. Maarten.  Just to clarify my wife and I visited St. Maarten.

Sadly on this trip my wife and I couldn’t afford to do any excursions so my reviews of all islands will be based on what you get in the port.  I actually hope this ends up being a helpful way of reviewing islands considering how expensive excursions have become.

St. Maarten has a pier.  Right off the bat this puts it above other islands.  I hate getting tendered on and off a cruise ship.  From the pier you could walk to the shopping area but that would be a long walk.  Instead you go to the right hand side of the port and take a water taxi to the shopping area.  It’s only a five minute boat ride and it’s totally worth it.

Where the water taxi drops you off is a long sandy beach which is lined with bars and cheap shops.  Beyond the bars and cheap shops is a street that is lined with numerous shops.  This is a great island shopping area.  I use the term “island” because it’s a typical example of what you find on almost every island in the Caribbean.  These shopping areas consist of lots of jewelry, liquor, clothing, and what I call tourist junk stores.

Tourist junk stores is where you find all the crap you laugh at when you are home, but are compelled to buy when you are on vacation.  I don’t think I need to say anything else.  You know what I am talking about.

The best part of this destination is the beach.  You can rent a beach site for next to nothing, the water is clean and warm, and the bars will serve you if you want.

Included in the beach are the bars. I say this because if you are looking for a beer you will be in heaven here.  To explain what I mean I first have to inform you about beer on cruise ships.  Carnival (Royal Caribbean and NCL) sell “beer buckets” on the ship.  These are insanely expensive four packs of beer.  Bud Light or Bud (which are both like pee in a bottle) will run you around $15 when you count the gratuity.  In St. Maarten you can buy a “beer bucket” for $10.  Oh and by the way these beer buckets have six beers, you can pick what beers are in there, and it’s not “pee in a bottle” beer.  Normally you can pick between six or so Caribbean and Mexican beers. WOOOOOOO!

So that is the St. Maarten port area.  If you are broke it’s the place to be.