Caribbean Travel Tips

#1-When traveling in the Caribbean remember to factor in ‘Island Time’ into your itinerary. Island time means that what you want to get done takes a minimum of twice as long, more than likely three times as long to actually happen.
#2-When factoring in island time, don’t try to cut corners! Always take the sure bet.
#3-Make sure to travel on non-holidays (I actually didn’t know there was a St. Maarten Day). Nothing gets done.
#4-Always, I mean always, make sure all of your luggage is in the cab before you go peeling off to try and barely make it somewhere. Remember, people on some Caribbean islands don’t really care if you make it anywhere on time, and actually want to keep you in their back pocket as long as possible.
#5- If you end up trapped on a Caribbean island don’t forget to eat some wholesome street food! American stomachs can handle almost anything right?

With all of that said, I’m about to crash out in a pretty sketchy hotel in St. Maarten worried about bed bugs while listening to some pretty big bumps in the night. But with a Jolly Cake and chicken leg in my tummy I’m pretty satisfied. Yep, my problem is I always try to cut it too close, so when I thought I could catch the four o’clock ferry out of Oyster Bay, well I was pretty damn wrong about that. See, the guys controlling the cabs out of St. Maarten Int. don’t care if I actually get to St. Barth today. I mentioned Oyster Bay and they sent me on my way. I think another tip should be not to suggest anything EVER! Just let them lead you to more of a sure thing.

The cab driver was nice enough and sometimes flew past cars like he cared, but other times it was like he fell asleep at the wheel. Sometimes when someone else is driving slow I wanna just slam my foot on the gas. It turns out getting to Oyster Bay for the ferry didn’t even matter at all! It’s St. Maarten day. The ferry never came period! So the security guard at the hotel there called his brother to help (you know where this is going right?) and he came to pick me up. The security guard pushed me to the front seat while he threw in my bags. So we whisked down the winding patched up two lane road all the way to the port where a ferry was leaving. We rounded the last bend and I saw the ferry still docked. Yes! I thought there was no way we were gonna make it, but there we were parked right outside the ticket center while they were closing the storm shutters. I jumped out and said, “wait, wait can I still buy a ticket?” The thin French accented lady behind the counter asked for my passport so I came back to get it out of my bags on the sidewalk. But wait, something is missing..NO! The vinyl branding for the boat that I tediously carried in my paws all the way from Orlando was not there! I couldn’t leave without it so we had to go back to Oyster Bay. Luckily it was still there, but I missed my chance to get the bounty of St. Barth.

No problem, the security guards brother drove me out of there and called a ‘friend’ for a hotel for me to stay. So here I am. Tomorrow’s another day and the adventure is what makes life so grand. I will make it to St. Barth! The problem today was that I could see my favorite island looming in the distance singing a siren’s song.