The "Sint Maarten River" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Woman standing next to me said, "Welcome to the Sint Maarten River!"  Boy was she right.  Carol and I are standing on the sidewalk along Front Street in the town of Philipsburg which is the capital of the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten.  The rushing waters are approaching the lip of the sidewalk and are being caused by the torrential rain that has been pouring from the sky for the last half hour.  Two days ago the island had six inches of rain in about 12 hours which caused flooding in quite a few areas of the island as well as knocked down a tree on the road from our villa to the main thoroughfare.  Carol and I arrived at the beginning of the month and have experienced rain on just about every day but maybe two.  And ...... we are supposed to be on vacation in paradise.  We come to the island yearly with the hope of sitting on one of our favorite beaches in a lounge chair with an beach umbrella nearby, a good book in one hand and a tropical drink in the other. Hasn't been that way so far, and we are getting pretty ticked.  This morning there was a hint of sun so we lathered our bodies in lotion, packed a lunch, hopped in the car and headed down the hill from our villa to Orient Beach.  Was only a bit after 9:00 am, but we had missed so many other beach days that we needed to catch up on beach time.  Found the beach with the orange loungers and yellow umbrellas to be nearly deserted, but we staked claim to a couple of chairs and umbrella and waited for the sky to clear.  There were promising patches of blue when the sun shone brightly, but after two hours we could see the dark sky returning so he packed up and headed for the car.  

Raining so hard that the wipers couldn't keep up with the rain.

Just made it before the heavens opened and the deluge began.  After eating our packed beach lunch on the deck of our villa, we surveyed the sky once again and Carol suggested our trip to Philipsburg.  Hey, my cabin fever is giving me headaches so I was up for anything.  Our first hour of shopping for gifts for family and friends and looking for new straps for our suitcases went fine until we heard the first rumble of thunder.  We just happened to be at the opposite end of the town from where our car was parked along the waterfront.  

Almost home.  Heading up the hill to our villa became
a tough chore with the rivers of water flowing down on us.

We decided it best to begin our journey back down Front Street.  Got as far as DK Gems and the rain began in earnest.  Carol suggested we stop in and see Jeff, whom we have grown to know over the years of visits to the island, and wait out the storm.  Well one ring led to another bracket etc. and before long she was asking my opinion on a ruby and diamond favorite that Jeff told us he could let go for $$$$$.  Luckily the rain stopped and I drug her out the door.  A minute later the rain began again and we found ourselves standing next to a local entrepreneurial vendor trying to sell us an umbrella.  That's when she looked at us and said, "Welcome to the Sint Maarten River!"  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.