Philipsburg is the capital of the Dutch side of the island – Sint Maarten. It is also where the cruise ships dock, and it’s filled with jewelers, clothing stores, bars, t-shirt shops, and everything else that a cruiser could want. After parking on the sidewalk (1) we went for a stroll along the beachfront.

Zelda and Meteo are experienced cruisers, and she knew where the stores are. So we strolled over to Front Street, which has jewelers, clothing stores, liquor stores and everything else that you might possibly want to buy on your vacation. All duty free!

Despite spending almost an hour driving the 10 miles to Philipsberg, we stayed for less than an hour. Sally bought something (2) – a nice Lilly Pulitzer pocketbook. I don’t think Zelda or Mateo bought anything.

By then we were hungry, but rather than wander around in the heat looking for a suitable bar to eat in, we headed back to Maho for lunch. We ate in The Deli. We all got hero sandwiches and we were all satisfied.

Since we ate lunch late, the rest of the crew didn’t want to go out for dinner, preferring to eat left overs from prior meals that they had squirreled away. I always prefer to go out, and went back to Maho for a pizza later in the evening. Here are some shots from the town after dark.

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(1) Parking is very difficult in Philipsberg. There are allegedly parking lots, and there were signs for them, but no sign of them. I did in Philipsberg as the Philipsbergians (??) do.

(2) Sally and I rarely buy anything when we travel. Years ago we found that much of what we bought on vacation was just an impulse purchase whose desirability faded pretty quickly.