Back from Vacation

Back from vacation... 

which means no more waking up to this view of St Martin every morning!

Grand Case Bay

Petite Plage

We did some kayaking and snorkeling from this beach at our hotel.

Fort St. Louis

We hiked up to Fort St. Louis 

(well, it was a steep incline then a lot of stairs, anyway).

For this view of Marigot:

Marigot, Capital of St. Martin

We went snorkeling here:

Baie Longue

and went swimming here:

Mullet Bay

We hiked from this beach

Friar's Bay

to this one:

Happy Bay

and on our way back, encountered one of these:

Donkey

With the help of a friendly island dog...

Pinel Island Dog

we had a nice little walk to find the snorkeling trail on Pinel Island

Snorkeling area to the Left

only to find out that the water wasn't clear enough to see much.

We tried to be somewhat active between walking into town for dinner at night, our little hikes to the Fort and between beaches, swimming in the ocean (hey, I treaded water for about 25-30 minutes at Mullet Bay - that counts for something, right?), kayaking, walking around a couple of the towns, and I did use the treadmill one morning at the hotel.  Unfortunately the lock was broken on the fitness room when I tried to use it early on in our trip, and it wasn't fixed until a few days after that.  

I was a little thrown off by the default mode of the treadmill (km vs. mi.) so when I first got on and cranked it up to 5.2 to start, it took me a second to realize why I was able to still walk at that speed :-p  I ended up kicking it up to 8.8-9.0km/hour for a nice comfortable 5k/3.2 mile run.

Anyway...back home, and time to get back on my real running schedule as my half marathon is only 20 days away.  I ran yesterday morning for about 4 miles in my new running shoes which I will need to break in before the half as well (I will post on that later). 

And back to healthier eating!  We always opted for grilled fish (over fried) at restaurants, but at the French restaurants there was plenty of cream sauce.  And lots of delicious French pastries and desserts and cheese.  We stocked up on fruits and veggies at the store on Saturday once we got home, so we could start eating better immediately!

"Continental breakfast" (Baguette, Pain au Chocolat, Croissants; OJ & Coffee)

Cheese plate... with breakfast!?

One of 5 cases at Sarafina's in Marigot

Grilled Red Snapper

We did go to a Super Market to get things for a salad for a lighter dinner in one night.