St Maarten Nature Walk and Snorkel Tour
This tour starts at 8.30 am from a parking lot next to the cruise ship terminal in Philipsburg and takes 4 hours. If you are a cruiser and concerned about the timing, please read below*. Guests staying in Philipsburg and Oyster Pond hotels are picked up for free.
This wonderful nature tour starts off with watching birds at one of the many ponds, the use of great binoculars is included. Expect to see Brown Pelican, Royal Tern, Magnificent Frigate Birds, Bananaquit, egrets and many more. Iguanas can also be spotted during this tour, as well as other smaller lizards.
Next, after a drive from the Dutch to the French side of the island, is a visit to St Martin's highest peak: Pic Paradis. A 20-minute slightly sloping hike will bring you to the first viewpoint with breathtaking vistas of the east side of the island. Your knowledgeable guide will tell you all you want to know about St Martin’s history, nature and other remarkable info.
After the visit to the peak, we'll go back to the car and stop at another viewpoint for a break with iced tea or coffee and homemade banana bread. From here you can see the west side of St Martin.
The last stop of this half day trip is a beach - at a calm and quiet bay - where you’ll snorkel with your trained snorkel guide to see some of St Martin’s colorful underwater life.
When the guide drops you back off at the starting point you’ll have had a full round-trip tour of St Maarten and St Martin while visiting her beautiful natural highlights.
*FAQ from cruise ship guests concerning timing:
My ship arrives later than 8 am, can I do a tour with you?
Yes, when making a reservation please let us know what time your ship is scheduled to dock. If it’s later than 8 am we will adjust the starting time of our tour so we’ll be able to accommodate you.
If your ship is docking half an hour prior to our starting time, then you will make it to our meeting point at Dock Maarten. Usually ships arrive at 8 am, so you’ll be in time for our 8.30 am start. Sometimes ships don’t announce very clearly that you can get off the ship, just proceed to the deck where you can disembark and you’ll see you’ll be let go.
Then also: don’t worry if the ship is not letting you off immediately. We know the ship’s in port, we know you’re on it, you’ve paid for your tour, so we wait till you get to our meeting point. We’ll start the tour when you get there, you’ll still get the full tour even if you’re half an hour late.
Will the tour be back in time for my cruise ship?We have returned 100% of our cruise ship guests back to the ship on time. We're in business since 2014.
