St Maarten and the rain

We docked in St Maarten bright and early this morning - and then it started to rain.....  :(

 but we love St Maarten so we're ok with it.  This is the first time we've been back here since hurricane Irma hit - we were supposed to overnight here in Dec 2017 on Celebrity Reflection, but since it was still damaged from the hurricane, we went to St Thomas and Martinque instead, which while interesting, isn't St Maarten.



The port looks to be in pretty good shape- not too much damage still  and looks like it's in pretty good repair overall.  We backed in this morning so our view off our balcony was the pier, the shops and people walking.  There were 4 ships total today - all around the same size as ours, so no Behemoth of the Seas today.  :)





Jewel of the Seas was parked right next to us, and Regal Princess and a Holland America ship were at the next pier over. 

We got off about 930am and headed for the water taxi to downtown - and it's a little different than we remember -









Here's the back of the ship - our room is 2 levels down below the solid part, 3rd balcony from the left.  (in case you were wondering)







This is the former loading area for the water taxi looks like it was partially demolished by the storm - you used to walk up one side and down the other after you paid your fare.  (currently $7 for an all day bracelet, or $5 one way) and then headed down for the boat.





 a view from the water taxi while we were headed to downtown.

 the beach is much shallower than it was prior (i'm guessing it ended up in the bay)  so all the chairs are clustered much closer together than I recall from before.

 More chairs, a little further down.  Looks like the palm trees have come back

 But there are definitely signs that all isn't back to normal...this building is still missing a roof and most of it's windows.  Luckily, there are more signs that rebuilding is happening -g

 This one is getting the 2nd floor rebuilt, and maybe the roof too. 


Below - the white building is almost completely restored with new windows, and the other one is close behind.

We headed for the jewelry store (sorry, no photos!)

and spent some time figuring out how I wanted to change up my jewelry wardrobe (no photos, you'll have to ask to see it!!!)