St. Martin (MAR 18)

Pam and I were last in St. Martin (aka St. Maarten and Sint Maarten)  in 2014 (click here to see blog post).

VEENDAM docked about 8:00 AM.  Ahead of us was Carnival’s FASCINATION.  One the next pier was a Windstar ship.  An AIDA cruise ship and two small private cruise ships were also on the piers.

Today, Pam & I made perfume/cologne.  Some friends invited us to join them in the experience of creating a personal fragrance.  How could we resist such an opportunity!

The ship having been cleared for ALL passengers to go ashore, we gathered on the pier, found a van that could accommodate eight people and headed to Tijon on the French side of the island. 

We were greeted by John and Cyndi (both of whom were originally from Minnesota).  They explained some of the basics of perfume/cologne making.  This included the “organ” that had over a hundred extracts and essences in it, arranged in adjacent scents.

Cyndi at the organ

We moved into the lab.  We were each assigned a work station.  Donning white lab coats, we began crafting three different combinations of scents, coached by John and Cyndi.

Cyndi and Susan

Donna

Jerry & Jack

After applying our concoctions to different parts of our arms, we stepped outside to smell each in fresh air.

Jenn & Stan

We each selected the one we liked best, or in the case of some of the guys, the one our wife liked best, and made a 60ml atomizer of it. 

Our work done, we toasted our success at each creating our own unique perfume / cologne from the millions of possible combinations of scents. 

John diligently worked down a line of cameras taking a group shot with each one.

We thanked John & Cyndi, settled our accounts, and proceeded out to our van carrying our fragrance along with a goodie bag of other stuff.

This outing was interesting and fun.  It was unique in our travel experiences.  I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something different to do on St. Martin.  Note: you do need to make a reservation. For more information on Tijon, click here.

Our van returned us to the pier.  Not feeling a flash of inspiration for an activity that would complement our morning experience, we wandered through the shopping village.  Finding nothing of interest, we took our time walking down the pier to VEENDAM, sitting for a while on a bench just watching the activity around us.

We departed on schedule, beginning our passage to Key West, with two sea days before our arrival there.