St. Maarten/ Anguilla trip

I have traveled to many places in my lifetime including many islands but I have to say my favorite place by far has been traveling to St. Maarten/ Anguilla. I went to St. Maarten for my bestie Alethia's 25th birthday. From the flight there to our air bnb which was on the French side everything was amazing! The French side is a bit more quiet than the Dutch side but you find beautiful air bnbs , private beaches, amazing French Caribbean culture, and access to private islands like Pinel Island which we also got the chance to go to. Being Antiguan I am very biased when it comes to the clearest Caribbean waters. We had the chance to go to Pinel Island for a day trip which you can catch a small 10 minute boat ride from the end of the French side. When we arrived I was in complete shock at how crystal clear and pristine the waters were. Not only was the water breathtaking but the service on this island was outstanding. We had a very friendly waiter from the south of France that served us decadent French food and drinks on the beach. What more could a girl on vacation ask for ?

Every night we went out and enjoyed delicious dinner from fresh Caribbean seafood, to freshly made pasta, to brick oven pizza, authentic Thai, and along with dinner we were served SHOTS. St. Maarten is the island of shots I am convinced! Everywhere we went to eat we were served shots. I believe I had a total of 60 plus shots in my one week in St. Maarten . One of our favorite places was this place called WE lounge that served amazing drinks, food, hookah, and has the best music. We celebrated Alethia's beginning of her birthday there and let's just say we started off the trip with a bang lol. We made friends with one of the bartenders there named Rahul, who became our bestie/ shots partner. We always ended our night somehow at WE lounge, so if you are reading this I recommend you make a stop there.

Another day trip we did was a trip to the neighboring island of Anguilla. As a child my family dreamnt of going to Anguilla which has now kind of become this exclusive ritzy island so it was such a blessing to have the opportunity to visit. To get there we took a 20 minute ferry from Marigot (the French Capital). It was about 30 US going and 30 US coming back but I promise you it was worth it. We had such a nice driver who took us around the island when we arrived and dropped us off safely at Schole Bay which is a popular beach on the island. The water seemed to be a bit rough that day but the beautiful deep blue hues of the ocean with the long strip of white sand was just a view my soul enjoyed deeply. We also had an amazing lunch on the beach consisting of curry Grouper with rice and peas and steamed veggies with a side of mojito while listening to a live band play all the calypso hits. Anguilla reminds me of home.

The last thing we did before we left was Zipline. St. Maarten actually has the tallest zipline in the Caribbean region. When Alethia and I bought our tickets we had no idea what we were signing up for. When we got there we were in for a total surprise. This was my first time ziplining so leave it up to me do the tallest one in the world. Our ziplining package included tubing down the mountain, ziplining on smaller mountains, and then ziplining down the steepest mountain. Thank God the steepest one your zipline is actually a seat and not with your legs hanging. I was soo in the moment this day that I barely captured any content. It was such a freeing yet powerful feeling being at the tallest point of St. Maarten and it made me just realize how blessed of a life I have lived. God is truly Good!

Overall our St. Maarten trip was one for the books and I totally recommend everyone go there at least once. Whether you crave the party life, or the relaxed vibe, St. Maarten truly has it all !