The "Bodies are Baked in Mud" Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol and I are headed to the southwest side of St. Martin for the day. We stop first at the Sunset Bar and Grill to have lunch and watch the airplanes land. Always a favorite of ours. The runway to the airport starts immediately after the beach and the jets come within 30 or 40 feet of hitting all the people on the beach as they approach the end of the runway. Sunset Bar and Grill used to be the Sunset Beach Bar and is #3 on the list of "Sexiest Beach Bars in the World." Maybe because woman who are topless get to drink for free. Saw only one such woman at lunch today and she is sitting at the far end of the bar. We strike up a conversation with the people who share the picnic table with us as we eat and wait for the next plane to land. Here it comes! Everyone grabs their camera and runs to the beach for a shot. I must have taken thousands of photos of the planes, but never tire of doing it. Afterwards we decide to cool off with a trip to Mullet Beach which is a five minute trip to the west of us. Park near the only golf course on the island and grab our beach chairs and beach bag. This is only the second time we have ever been to this beach. The water is beautiful and very calm. Can't wait to get in the water so we park our chairs and bag under a sea grape tree and hit the water. The beach is lined with red, white and blue umbrellas and the vendors are hawking their goods. At one end of the beach we see a large group of people rubbing themselves with something they are taking from a large bucket. Having a good time and seems to be going on forever. We finally get out of the water and start to relax in our chairs. I tell Carol I'm going to walk around and snap a few photos. She knows by now that she can't talk me out of it. It is my hobby. I start at one end of the beach and end up at the end of the beach where the group is finishing rubbing "mud" on themselves. As I pass along water's edge, one of the girls in the group yells to me to take a photo of them. She hands me a piece of paper with her email address and asks if I can email her a copy of the photo so she can show her mom what she did on vacation. OK, I can do that. They gather for me and I snap away. They don't seem to mind that they are half naked and I, a stranger who they don't know, is snapping photos of them. And, I really did email copies to her and everyone else who gave me their email addresses. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - hope you're not offended by the bodies covered with the half baked mud!