I’ve been back for just short of a month now….Went to ST Maarten for a 3 day junket.
Had an art show in which probably 40 people attended and even sold a couple of pieces while there. Then hit and worked Front street in Philipsburg. That part didn’t go nearly as well as I would have hoped. Though I did learn a few things…..tourists are cheap and for the most part want to buy junk. I brought one item that fit into that category….cheap that is and two others that were still under $20 but very little interest in those. I did find out, one store owner was honest with me…..I picked a bad time to visit the island for sales of tourist trinkets. Was there the last week of April, should have been the last week of September. Seems that all of the buying is done in the fall for the next season.
Oh well I have a couple of friends on island that will help me out and thank you all!!!
I have placed items in 4 shops on front street, one piece of art in Grand Case and some of my products in Simpson Bay too.
I need to re evaluate the smaller items, do I want to go forward with them or just stick with my art?? Here is my dilemma, I don’t like the idea of some of my better photos ending up on something that gets tossed in a couple of days….should it matter to me? Maybe not but it does.
My art show was pretty successful, at least I got good reviews from those that saw the pictures. That made me feel better as I had already heard the proverbial “no thanks” at least 50 times before the art show.
On a happier note, my eldest flew to the island with me and fell in love with it, he loves the French side and did enjoy the Dutch side too. He liked the culture on the French side…though at 25 wasn’t too thrilled with Orient beach…there were no women under probably 45 there the day we visited so was less than enthused with what he saw….tried to tell him to each their own and it takes some nerve to be an American and take some or all of your clothes off ….a nerve usually reserved for those over 40 that frankly don’t care what others think or say. Example…We were bobbing up and down with the waves at Orient when a very large couple entered the water….she immediately started in on every woman that walked by…she shouldn’t be topless and other un pleasant jabs like that. Listening to them I later found out that this was a pair of cruisers from the Dakotas. They literally fussed about the price of the chairs to rent, expensiveness of the drinks, how ruff the surf was ( and it wasn’t) and then they became judges of the men and women that walked by. If this is how those of us from the US are no wonder we have such a bad rap as ugly tourists. They then made their way back to the beach bar and proceeded to order French fries and deep fried string cheese…what happened to when in Rome? Try something new..or better yet if you are going to sit and complain….go back to your cruise ship and stay there… OOPS there I go ranting again!!
We did cover most of the island to view some of the beaches and man that turned out to be exciting too….there was a bit of a surge on the south and west facing shores. We stopped at Plumb Baie to enjoy the water but after walking to the beach I quickly realized there was no place to get in that wasn’t rock covered that day and the waves were a bit too strong to try that so we decided to head to Baie Longue, was ruff there too but we found a little sandy entrance to the water so hung out there for a bit. (side note, I learned while living in Hawaii, never turn your back on the Ocean). We had been at the surf’s edge for probably 10-15 mins enjoying the break and just having a good time when the undertow suddenly picked up ….as in it pulled my 250+ lb body down and into the surf, and started pulling my son out. He is an excellent swimmer and diver and not one prone to panic…I pulled myself out and turned to him and said….relax and wait for the wave….sure enough a much larger than average wave followed behind and not so nicely deposited him on the shore. We decided that caution should at that point override our confidence and we headed for the dunes to relax a bit before heading back to the room.
He said when he took his shower….he brought 5lbs of sand back with him…the shower floor looked like the beach its self… Out of the multitude f times I have been on island, that was the first time anything wave related has ever shook me…but that was the only time that I didn’t respect the ocean like I should have.
Rest of the trip was simply awesome and we are looking to return in late Oct.
