Snorkeller,

It was nice meeting you at Toppers, if only briefly, and like you I also assumed the 'dude' was a guy. But it was very nice meeting both Jackie and her daughter, Mickey, and I was so happy she had a good turnout.

What a great and detailed report. Don't know how you managed to keep track of everything. I have a hard time remembering at the end of the day what I did in any given day and find myself making notes for future recap.

I was interested in your comments about the reefs around St. Martin. We don't snorkel but there was a gentleman on a boat trip we took and he was very into the sport and had all kinds of his own personal snorkel gear. He emerged out of the water after only a few minutes at Creole Rock and told us how very disappointed he was in the condition of the reef - technical terms that I didn't get but in the end he said it was very bleached out and not worth the time spent to swim there, so I'm guessing he wasn't very happy. He talked about snorkeling trips in Bonaire and other places and I guess that was his personal basis of comparison.

In any event, thank you for the very detailed and beautifully written trip report. I truly appreciate the effort. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />