Obsession; it’s not just a perfume for women!

With my last post I was running a bit of island fever.

Today's topic is Obsession.
Webster’s online dictionary definition of obsession is…a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling. So! Where am I going with this?? Here is where; Count the number of times I use the word island in this post. Already have used it twice…

Since I last shared I have made the one night reservation on ST Maarten that will cover our late arrival on all hallows eve. (We found a great on line rate for our timeshare for one evening) Next morning we will get up and take a cab across island to Marigot and then on to Anguilla for a few days. Only reservation left will be for a rental car on Anguilla, I will do that when we get there as it is still off season and won’t be an issue to get.

Scheduling

Since I am going to visit the island to capture as many tropical pictures as I can I have started a simple spreadsheet to make sure I can take advantage of the best lighting as well as optimize our beach time. We are taking my buddy and his wife along with us this time and they are island virgins. I want to make sure they are getting some of the highlights of the island so it only makes sense to make a kind of calendar that can be interchanged with events such as…a round of golf when and if we get a rain out day..it can be replaced by an afternoon of shopping. Schedule? Schedule?? Are you kidding me? Rob is the type that plans all the way until we get there then…neatly folds up the schedule and puts it in what ever book I plan to read while on the beach and uses it as a bookmark, what ever happens on island stays on island. Ok, not quite like that but we get up in the morning and as we are getting ready will have the Where’s Waldo discussion about which beach we will be on that day. Sooooo, this schedule thing is tuff for me but I know I want to be on differing parts of the island during the softer natural light hours of morning sun and evening sunset.

Mindset

When I started this blog, I quickly realized that I am inflicted with what travelers to ST Maarten refer to as DIF (dreaded island fever). Once I have been there I can’t get enough. Why? What is so special about this little island? With all of the islands in the Caribbean, why continue returning to this place? Is it the island or the mindset?

Above, are a group of questions that one might ask before planning a vacation to this piece of island paradise.

1. Why? This one is easy for me. Ever been to the heartland of the USA? Try living there, many are narrow minded and set in their ways. Most have never seen another country or even costal USA. Simply the escape from Bubba and kin would be my response there. Yes I grew up here so am a bit red in the neck too but I try to escape my own environment at least once a year. That being said, I come from landlockedville USA. Only water we see is very dirty brown lakes just not my bag to swim in. I gotta go to ST Somewhere, a tropical island and nice beaches….that is where ESCAPE starts for me.
2. What is so special about this little island? Where do I begin; how about this recipe? ST Maarten is a slice of Europe covered in tropical Caribbean sprinkles with a sugar coating of beaches all kissed and baked by the sun and served for your enjoyment by some of the Caribbean’s nicest people. Honestly it is a great place to visit and enjoy.
3. This is a place that you start your day with a fresh morning greeting of bonjour and a double espresso and a nice glass of a magical rum concoction served by your favorite bar tender is the perfect ending to the day. The island offers some of the creature comforts of the good ole US of A blended with Caribbean love and friendship and displays just a flair of Europe.
4. Island or mindset? BOTH. We love the island and what it has to offer. We totally enjoy what it transforms us into. This little island escape has become our yearly recharge/honeymoon. When you land at PJIA and they roll up and secure the jet way and crack the doors on the plane, there is a rush of warm (sometimes hot) tropical air that wafts thru the cabin. In that air is just a hint of jet fuel and smell of the tarmac. That combination of smells is about as exhilarating to my nose as a fine perfume on my beautiful wife, it means we are back on island and for 7-14 days we don’t have any cares to worry about. It is just my wife and I escaping from our normal routine to enjoy each other and what the island has to offer.

My wife and I love our visits to St Maarten (yes we sleep on the Dutch side but travel the entire island a multitude of times while there). We love the island, its people, the return visitors we have gotten to know and some other private things that make this a special escape for us. We work hard for 11 and a half months a year and take about 2 weeks to enjoy the fruits of our labor each year by taking the time to escape to the island, walking hand in hand with the one we love, soaking up rays and enjoying each other without all of the concerns back home.

Obsessed? Maybe a bit…..ok yes I am!!!!
By the way did you count how many times the word island appears in this post??