Land, ho! Finally a stable surface under our feet. It was a relief to dock in San Juan and, as promised, we arrived early in the morning. The port is only a few hundred yards away from the old town so we disembarked and explored. We could see the old castle on a hill not far away but too far to walk, so we hired a taxi and overpaid him to give us a short tour and drop us at an internet cafe. That accomplished, we settled in to collect email and eat a greasy (but good) lunch of cheese and chiraso. We then walked back to the ship in time for a nap. Most people seemed to like San Juan, but I wasn't too impressed. Maybe we should've made the effort to see something more in depth, but we didn't. Maybe I've just travelled too much to be particularly interested any more. For whatever reason, I was just as happy to move on.
We docked bright and early the next morning close to Phillipsburg, on the Dutch West Indies island of St. Martin. The Dutch influence showed in clean, neat streets. The main reason for its existance as a destination is shopping...again, not too interesting. I needed a watch since I was late for meetings all week, and I did manage to find an $18 plastic watch. That was about all the shopping I could stand. We took a taxi to the French side just to get a sense of the difference. It was an interesting contrast. The French side is more crowded, dirty and laid back. Nice beaches everywhere. I wished we had gotten off with our bathing suits! Lunch and then back on the ship.
The afternoon was spent in Avoya meetings. Great news...we're getting a new interface for our cruise search engine. It'll be much easier to accomplish searches for the best deals. Everybody's gotta have a deal. We've met some nice people and discovered that Avoya is a class act. The family that owns it is professional and ethical, and I think I can make it work for me. Mission accomplished on this journey.
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