After about twelve hours of sleep, we had all stumbled out of bed by 8:30AM.  By nine, we had loaded into the car and made our way back over to Simpsons Bay to a restaurant that Kathie had found called Turtle Pier (located on Airport Road in Simpson Bay, near the airport; Tel: 011-599-545-2562).  What a find!  Located at the end of a pier amidst an absolute forest of sailboat masts, this restaurant just oozed Caribbean charm.  We took advantage of an assortment of tropical drinks and dishes while Victoria a thoroughly enjoyed visiting the restaurant's parrots and monkeys!  A definite recommendation (for breakfast, at least!).  Feeling ready to hit the road, we made our back around the southern part of the island to the St. Maarten Park, near Phillipsburg. 

On our family trips, it always seems that if there is a zoo anywhere near us, we'll find it and visit it.  Well, the same was true here.  St. Maarten Park is definitely not a large zoo, but it does a great job of presenting Caribbean and tropical animals from throughout the Americas.  If you have small children with you, it is definitely worth a couple of hours of your time.

By 1:00, we were back at the resort ready to hit the waters.  While Kathie and Victoria head straight into the ocean, Kelley and I made our way over the water activities "shack" to get outfitted with snorkeling gear.  Snorkeling was something that Kelley had never done, but that I had done extensively when growing up in Florida.  And with waters and reefs as pristine as St. Maarten offered, I'd be a fool not to take advantage!  After lunch at Divi's poolside café, Kelley and I made our way into the waters for her first "lesson."  We went over the basics and then (literally) jumped into it!  My god, it was beautiful.  With some extremely clear visibility, we were able to see starfish that were about 10-15" across and tropical fish that looked like they were right out of Finding Nemo!  Although it was a bit "basic" for what the reefs around St. Martin offered, it was a great first-time dive for both me and for Kelley. 

Around 4:00, we headed back to our room to clean up and get ready for dinner.  We decided to drive across to the French side to find a restaurant the Kathie had found in our Fodor's guide.  We were originally looking for a place called Le Mango and we actually found it.  It's just too bad that there wasn't a soul in it.  This actually worked to our advantage as ended up at a French-owned restaurant in Cul-de-Sac that we had passed called Sol é Luna (Tel: 011 590 590 29 08 56).  Omigawd, what a dining experience we had.  While Victoria worked her way through a huge bowl of mussel shells (WITHOUT any help from Momma, I might add!), I was in sensory overload with a scrumptious serving of caramelized pate de foie gras (even Kelley tried and liked some!).  The rest of the meal was equally delicious, with Victoria loving Momma's beef, Kathie enjoying Victoria's red snapper, Kelley working through her lasagna, and me appreciating every minute my lamb chop had spent in the oven (over seven hours!).  Those dishes, though, barely held up to our desserts, with Kathie and Kelley each enjoying chocolate volcanoes, while Victoria and I blew through chocolate mousse with bananas!  The interesting thing was that even the coffee that Kathie and I had tasted just like café noir in France! 

By the time we left Sol-e-Luna, it was WAY past bedtime so we made our way back to Little Bay as quickly as possible.  We were all exhausted by our time in the water and we had a busy day planned for Monday.

Tomorrow: The Butterfly Farm