Return to St. Maarten/St. Martin 2022: 4/28/2022 Boomerang-3 Island Adventure tour, dinner at Isola

I'm up at 6:00 am! Today is the day for the only tour/day trip I booked for us. With some help from Trip Advisor-thanks BiggDogg-I think I've made a good choice. My husband who would usually dive on our trips has decided not to on this trip. But he did mention that he would be interested in snorkeling at Creole Rock. So I started searching for an outfit that would be a good fit for us. Both of us have bad knees so it's not so easy anymore getting in and out of boats. BiggDogg alerted me to this outfit. A catamaran with a ladder for easy access into the water and then back onto the catamaran. Perfect! I also loved their itinerary. We would snorkel at Creole Rock, explore Pinel Island, snorkel Tintamarre, and then end with swim stops in Long Bay and Mullet Bay. There would be a BBQ lunch on board the boat. Cost $136.00 USD pp but with my Trip Advisor discount I paid a total of $244.80 USD. I saved $27.20! There's also a Marine Park fee of $6.00 USD pp you have to pay. I booked this trip on 3/5/22. Free cancellation before 4/26. https://boomerangsxm.com 3 Island Adventure.

We need to be at the St. Maarten Yacht Club by 10:00 am for pick up. Drop off is the same place at 5:00 pm. We will drive and park our car for the day. We've packed our own snorkel gear that we brought with us on this trip, beach towels, sunscreen. I brought 2 kinds. One is called Reef Safe and good for the environment. All this goes in a large mesh bag. In my backpack I pack my change purse with cash and a credit card and Richard's driver's license, my beach cover up, my Canon point & shoot camera, Richard's small underwater camera, my notebook, a pen. I think we're good to go. We wear our swim suits under our clothes. Going to have breakfast there so we leave at 7:15 am.

With good directions we have arrived at our destination at 7:45 am. There was a bit of traffic but not as bad as I thought it would be. Now to find a parking spot. We see a large area next to Amsterdam Cheese and park the car there. Walk back to the St. Maarten Yacht Club. The woman who seats us tells us we can park anywhere we see a grassy area. There's that right next door here at Nowhere Special! So Richard goes back to the car and moves it so much closer. I leave my clothes in the back seat and put on my cover up over my bathing suit.

Light traffic was a pleasant surprise

Lovely views as we drive

Not much traffic

Mickey Ds!!

Simpson Bay Causeway

Turnabout

Almost there

Nowhere Special-where we parked

ST. MAARTEN YACHT CLUB. Breakfast. Coffee to wake us up! I go with the lighter breakfast which is a fruit bowl-banana, kiwi, cantaloupes, pineapple, grapes-and a croissant served with butter and jam. Richard has the ham and egg sandwich which comes with potatoes. He chooses a croissant for his sandwich . This place is crowded. Obviously popular for breakfast. Cost $22.00 USD without tip. Nice views from here.

St. Maarten Yacht Club

View from Yacht Club

View

St. Maarten Yacht Club

View

Coffee is good

View

Lighter breakfast

Ham and egg sandwich/croissant with potatoes

View

We get to the dock at 9:45 am and there's a lot of people already here waiting. Soon the catamaran pulls in and we're ready to board. Before we do we take off our shoes and put them in a bucket. We'll get them back at the end of the day. There are 4 crew members. I'm afraid I don't remember their names except for Stefan who either owns this boat or..... He's in charge. Then we have a guy who will be steering/driving the boat. A young girl in charge of the bar. A young guy who does a bit of everything. All the crew are friendly and easy to have a fun day with them. The Marine Park fee of $6.00 USD pp is collected. Rules while on the boat and emergency procedures if necessary are explained. Our itinerary will be 1. Creole Rock for snorkeling 45 minutes. 2. Pinel Island for exploring-whatever-45 minutes here. 3. BBQ lunch on board while at Pinel Island. 3.Tintamarre Island for snorkeling and if lucky may see turtles 45 minutes here. Last stops will be opportunities to swim before ending the day at 5:00 pm. There is a bathroom on board also. We are lucky in that it's a perfect day. Sunny and very warm. I think our group size was around 25.

Boomerang shows up

Heading to the boat

Stefan

We place our shoes in the buckets

Seated and ready to leave

Drinks will flow all day long. Richard says they're a bit diluted which is probably a good thing! I get a drink called Poisedon. It's lovely but I don't really taste much alcohol which suits me fine as I'm really not much of a drinker! Besides these mixed drinks there's Carib beer, sodas, juices, water. We have a great mix of folks on board. Young couples. Older couples. A father and his adult son. A family with 2 boys. There's a big group of 8 that seem to know each other. Later a woman explains to me how turtle caps were made up for this group. Everyone is super friendly. Couldn't ask for better people to spend the day with you.

Leaving dock at Simpson Bay and on our way to Creole Rock

Noodles on board!

My drink-Poseidon

We pass by our resort-Grand Case Beach Club

GCBC is very near to Creole Rock

Cute couple

Group of 8 with some wearing the turtle hats

Having a good time!

Not too bad a picture of me and some others on the boat

Richard and me

Candid shots taken by Stefan

Let the fun begin

Me and my drink chilling!

Creole Rock. Supposed to be good for snorkeling. I did some with a purple noodle under my arms to help but the current here is too strong for me. Richard doesn't snorkel because he didn't bring his fins even though there are fins on board. Richard's excuse-my feet are big and wide!! LOL!!! Snorkel gear, life vests, noodles, floats, paddle boards, and more are provided throughout the day. Richard had dental work days before our trip and he was advised not to snorkel as it goes in your mouth and could damage his dental work. He was just going to use his mask but that didn't happen. I just floated for a bit, then returned to the boat and took its of pictures!

Approaching Creole Rock

Snorkeling and floating at Creole Rock

Leaving Creole Rock

Pinel Island. Wow. This is really lovely. Beautiful beach area. Calm water. We waded ashore. Loads of people here. It is a hot, sunny day. Chairs and umbrellas for rent. I spot a restaurant and a gift shop. I had been told there's an area where we can see iguanas. Yellow beach? We spot tons of iguanas. Some have brought some food and the iguanas are all over themselves trying to get it. I browse through the gift shop where I run into 2 other women from our boat. Unfortunately I didn't bring any money with me ashore. One of the ladies tells me if I see something I want to buy she can pay for it. I can then repay her when we're back on the boat. But I don't see anything that catches my eye. I spend some time floating in the water with my noodle. Others in the water. On super large floats. The mom of the family is trying her hand at paddle boarding. Cannonballs filled with liquor being thrown to some in the water. Catch them before........ Yelling to return for lunch. It's now 1:15 pm.

On our way to Pinel Island

Approaching Pinel Island

Chilling at Pinel Island

This is a lovely place

Pinel Island

At Pinel Island

Pinel Island

Getting ready to jump off the boat

Paddle boarding

Canonballs!

Iguanas-Pinel Island

Iguana-Pinel Island

Tons of iguanas!

Pretty coloring on this iguana

Iguanas all over the place!

Fighting over food

Iguanas

Yellow Beach-Pinel Island

Gift shop

Pinel Island

Richard is in the water taking pictures with his UW camera and here's me!

Group float fun

Paddle boarding

I love the easy accesses ladder

Pinel Island

Lunch. The young jack of all trades guy is grilling up chicken skewers and shrimp skewers. Another guy is plating up the food. Each plate has 3 skewers of chicken and 3 skewers of shrimp. The shrimp is tasty but the chicken has been seasoned with a curry taste and while ok it's not my cup of tea. On the plate are 2 pieces of bread and Greek pasta salad which is amazing. A lovely lunch. Very filling. There's more if you want. We leave Pinel Island by 2:00 pm heading to our next stop.

Lunch time

Back on the boat for lunch

Returning to the boat from Pinel Island

Plating up lunch

Lunch time talk

Nice young couple

Getting the lunch plates ready

In charge of the grill

Delicious!!

Leaving Pinel Island

Tintammare Island. Here we can snorkel or just float in the water. Whatever we want. I'm floating. Some are snorkeling hoping to see some turtles. A group hits pay dirt. I hear a woman yell out "don't touch, don't touch". Later in talking with the woman she tells me the boys were trying to touch the turtles which is a big no no. They speak French and may not understand that. Back on the boat the boys are excited. They saw 3 turtles and a ray.

Tintamarre Island

Good times

Tintamarre Island

Snorkeling at Tintamarre Island

Floating

Leaving Tintamarre Island

Moving and grooving

One happy guy

Picture of our boat taken with Richard's UW camera

Back on the boat we are now going to the last stops of the day. We're told something about Natalie? (the family mom) and her birthday?? We sing "Happy Birthday". At first I thought it was for one of the boys. We have snacks-brownies, watermelon, and pineapple. Yummy! I had 2 brownies! Our last stops were supposed to be Long Bay and Mullet Bay for some time for swimming. But w're told about problem with swells or........... So we stop at Kim Sha Beach in Simpson Bay. We spend 1 hour here. Boys jumping off the top of the boat. Floats out. Paddle boards out. Song comes on "Wagon Wheel" that really strikes a chord with several. Dancing, singing. Having fun! What a way to end our time! I've been taking lots of pictures so several give me their e-mail information so I can send them the pictures.

Heading to our last stop

Our last stop will be Kim Sha Beach/Simpson Bay

I'm a pirate!

Floating

Jumping off the boat

Simpson Bay

Snacks

Even a kid can be a pirate!

Our skipper

Simpson Bay

Snacks

Kim Sha Beach/Simpson Bay

Jumping off the boat is fun

We're near the airport

Here I go!

I guess I can be a pirate too!

Stefan says we need to get to the bridge for 5:00 pm when It goes up so we can go through and then dock. Once docked Stefan air drops the pictures and video he took to my iPhone. Left a generous tip-20% of cost of the tour-even though Richard tells me some didn't leave anything in the box. Everyone should do what they're comfortable with doing. Tipping, not tipping. A sensitive subject. I buy a Boomerang T shirt for $20.00 USD. Some bought Boomerang cool tumblers earlier. My hair is all frizzy. I look a fright! Back at our car I take my clothes, use the Yacht Club's restroom, and change out of my swim gear into a top and capri pants. I feel somewhat human again!

Heading back to the dock

Waiting to go under the bridge

Almost through

Almost there

Docking the boat-end of the line

ISOLA. Dinner. I had planned to go to this place as it's located in the Simpson Bay area. It also has brick oven pizza. Every trip we try to have pizza for dinner one night. I'm thinking this will be a casual pizza joint. Wrong! Very elegant place with valet service. I ask if we're dressed ok and am told we're fine. It's only 5:40 pm and we are the only ones here! An extensive menu! Drinks. Bottled water. I want a cosmo. It's very nice. We order the margherita pizza. I wonder if we should order salads but we'll wait to see how we feel. The pizza is larger than I expected. More than enough for both of us. Filling so no salad or dessert. Maybe because we had that lunch on the boat. Normally Richard and I don't do lunch. the pizza is so-so. The ratio ideally would be 50-50 cheese and sauce. This pizza is more like 75 cheese and 25 sauce. It's a thin crust and the outer edges taste great but the rest is kind of limp. Cost $29.90 USD with tip added. Not that impressed. Valet brings car around and Richard gives him $3.00 USD. Time to return to our place. Driving back-no problems, didn't get lost! Home by 7:00 pm or so.