Saturday, August 17, 2013

West Indies


 For two weeks 7 of my friends from France and I rented a catamaran. We sailed all over exploring abandoned islands, fishing, scuba diving and free-diving for lobsters and fish.   Each day was more amazing than the last there was so much to see and do. It was an amazing trip.

Maho Beach  Saint Maartin
The airport is so short that airplanes make a really low approach and touch down right next to the beach. It makes for some pretty cool photos. There is a bar right there that you can get a drink at while you wait for the planes to come in, there is one about every 30 min, but there are only a few big ones a day.
  I met a couple who were nice enough to let me take their photos.


The jets also start their take-off right at the end of the runway near the beach. When they take off they back right up to the beach and then put their engines on full blast which causes the beach to be blasted with hot stinging sand. It feels like a sandblaster and hurts like crazy. A lot of people will hang out in the blast area to see how tough they are, when it is too crazy they jump into the water.  I got caught in the blast while I was taking pictures. I couldn't do anything, I wanted soo bad to jump in the water but couldn't because I had all me gear on me. I stood there for what felt like an eternity with my back facing the blast cradling/protecting my camera from the sand. when it was finally over I took stock of my situation, my camera was okay a little sand here and there, but considering what it had just been through it was in amazing shape.


 A drug dealers airplane that was crashed when the police put up a cable across an abandoned airport.
 Nesting turns they are everywhere on the abandoned islands
 We went spelunking in some small caves on Staint Barts



The entire island is one big volcano that goes right into the water. The roads are super steep. The top of the island is a lush jungle forest which was shrouded in dense clouds. it made for some pretty wet hiking.