The "25 Of My Favorite...Pixs" Story

For the past nine years I have been sharing photographs of my visits to the island known as St. Martin/Sint Maarten.  It is the smallest island shared by more than one country; St. Martin being French and Sint Maarten being Dutch.  Carol and I have traveled to the island close to twenty times since my retirement from teaching in 1999.  We enjoy both sides of what is known as "The Friendly Island", but we tend to gravitate to the French side due to its low key lifestyle and fabulous French cuisine.  I have taken a few thousand photos of the island during our visits and recently looked at most of them.  Today I have chosen some of my favorites to share with you once again.  I have also given a bit more information about each photograph so you can better understand why and where I might have taken it.  Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did when I took them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click on images to enlarge them.

Happy Bay beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on St. Martin.  Many days you may be the only one on the beach since it is somewhat hard to reach.  This lone islander made for the perfect photograph.

This photograph was taken with my cell phone.  The color of the water contrasts with the white sand beach in this photograph of Happy Bay.

Carol and I were two of the very few who visited Happy Bay this particular day.  The shadows on our beach umbrella add just the right touch to the photo.

Roland Richardson is one of the best known artists on the island.  His gallery is located in the French Capital of the island, Marigot.  Carol and I have made a few visits to his gallery and this photo and the following one were both taken one day when he shared the story of the home in which his gallery is located.  Here he looks over his rear yard which fronts what at one time were barracks for soldiers. 

At one point Mr. Richardson removed his trusty hat and placed it on a bench in his gallery.  Just the perfect touch for this photograph.

The island has many stray cats.  Every morning during my walk to buy croissants, I passed through  the many restaurants in Orient Village.  Every morning I was greeted by many of the strays.  This little guy was such a treat.

This is one of many strays that live with a woman named Bernadine.  Her home was badly damaged when Hurricane Irma went through the island in 2017, but there is still room in her home for the many strays that call her their savior.

This photograph is more dynamic as a black and white.  It was taken  at Friar's Bay Beach of a French woman having a smoke as she had her lunch.  

Many trips to the island saw us making a day trip to nearby Pinel Island.  There are no official homes on the island, but the beach is beautiful with crystal clear water.  This photograph was taken at the ferry dock where you could catch a ferry to the island.

This photograph I enlarged and have it hanging over the fireplace in our home.  It shows the sandy point on Pinel from the hill above.  Every visit I take the same photograph and can see how much the point changes from year to year.  St. Martin is in the distance. 

The colors on Pinel are brilliant.  Karibuni is a restaurant on the beach that displays the bright colors found here.

The island has many inhabitants.  Most look like this!

The colors on Orient Beach are truly beautiful.  The blue sky, aqua water and colored beach bar known as Pedro's make the beach come alive.  Irma destroyed most beach bars, this one pictured here being one that was lost to the storm.

Many days Carol and I love to stay on Orient Beach until the sun drops behind the mountain in the distance.  This is what we get to see if we wait long enough.

Visits to the Sunset Beach Bar on the Dutch side of the island allowed these views while we have lunch.   The airport is directly in front of the plane.

In the French town of Grand Case we can sit in a restaurant and watch the sun set.

Many days on just about any part of the island you can find creatures to take photographs of for your scrapbook.  This is just one of many that I have photographed.  He is headed directly toward me.   

This photograph means so much more to Carol and me than to others, since it shows the roof of what at one time was Andy & Cheryl's Baywatch Beach Bar.  The dark blue and yellow plate which reads CAW-LWW was a gift from Carol and myself and was hung as we ate lunch one day years ago.  It too was lost to the hurricane.

In one of the many small stores along Front Street in Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of the island, I found this young boy playing a laptop game.  He had no idea I was taking his photograph. 

Have you ever tried to take a photograph of a hummingbird?  Tough to find and hard to take photos of them since they move so fast.  At one of the villas were we stayed one year I was able to take this guy's photograph.

In downtown Philipsburg is a Catholic Church that is beautiful.  This fellow was opening the windows to allow the cool breeze to pass through the church.  Made for a neat photograph. 

In one of the many restaurants in Orient Village on the French side of the island I was able to take this photo of the barmaid preparing for the evening patrons.  The colors make the photograph come alive. 

Shortly after I took this photograph along the waterfront in Philiipsburg, this gentleman asked if I wanted to play a game of checkers with him.  No wanting to beat him, I declined!

On just about every tree on the island you will find a little guy like this.  He is showing me his colors on the photograph.

This was taken a few months ago on Orient Beach.  Someone was flying a kite above our umbrella.  The colors were amazing.