DIVI LITTLE BAY BEACH

We decided to head to Little Divi Bay for our day in St Maarten from suggestions of people here on the boards. It looked and sounded perfect to us and I really liked that it was so close to port, providing us with a longer stay there if we liked it. 

It was an 8 minute drive to Divi Bay according to my pictures and watch. Not bad at all.  Now this looked like it was going to be a nice resort.  There was a reception desk area where you check-in and I loved how it was all open like this but always wonder what happens when a hurricane comes?

We headed up to the lady at the desk and told her we were here from the cruise ship to spend the day and wanted to rent chairs and an umbrella. She told us to head on out to the beach and one of the chair guys would be around. 

It was a little cloudy off and on and I was really unsure of what type of day this was going to be. I had hoped that it would clear up and little and the sun would come out. But it was still pretty early. 

We found some chairs and had a seat.  The guys were going around putting out the chairs and arranging them along the beach. They looked at us but never came over. 

There was hardly anyone out on the beach. I guess maybe because it was a resort and if I was staying here, I would still be asleep. I liked how they had the chairs spread so far apart. I always hate when they have chairs piled up on top of each other and you can't have a conversation without the neighbors hearing everything. 

Like always, Sakari couldn't wait to head to the water. I told her not with the mermaid tail yet. I needed to check out the water first and I couldn't do that yet because I was waiting on the "beach boys" to come around. This place had some waves too, but not too bad. I was really worried about the waves because I know this place is on the same side as Maho Beach and the waves there are insane most of the time. I was pleasantly surprised. 

After the beach boys were almost done with the chairs, I tracked one down and told him I wanted to pay for our chairs. He took our money and politely ask us if we cared to move down to the other side. I guess the side we were on belonged to the guest there at the hotel. So, no problem. We gathered our bags and moved to the other side of the volleyball net, which wasn't far at all. We were the only ones here so far. 

Once we were settled in, I would head out to the water with Sakari and check things out. 

Then of course this happened...out came the mermaid tail. Morphing Mermaid Sakari time.She always strikes a pose. I don't know where she gets this bent legs holding onto your tail pose at. Maybe they do this in a movie she watches? I have no clue. She does it all the time and especially when she's getting her picture taken.

Sakari pops up out of the water and says "Mommy, you have to go all the way in and go under. It's so pretty under the water!" Ok, the sun is not shining and I have been inching my way in for the last 20 minutes, but because I know you have such an appreciation for the water, I will go all the way in to see what you are talking about. 

The water was really clear and with the waves rolling in and out, it made a ripple look on the ocean floor. Within the sand, you could see tiny shells and they glowed like little stars in the sky...only in the ocean. 

Now like I said, the water was very clear, however with this really fine soft sand, it was the type that the minute you put your feet down, it created a "sand cloud" and fogged everything up. 

The only fish we would see here today were a few Palometa fish following us and weaving in between our legs during the day. 

Sakari and I stayed out in the water playing for quite some time. 

All of a sudden, Sakari goes out of the water and I ask her what she is doing. She said "I'm taking my mermaid tail off for now and taking a break." LOL Um ok, never heard this child ever say she needed a break before. 

I decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a walk and look around. I headed down the beach.  

I discovered the Tiki Hut Snorkeling Park out in the water. I know this is the place that everyone said the snorkeling was. There's just no way I'm willing to swim that far at this time. I'm overweight and out of shape at the moment and I won't do it alone. Since Kendra didn't come this time, I'll have to pass. It looked a little too far for me.  

There were plenty of boats out there so there must have been some good snorkeling. 

There was free internet here so the hubby was checking in on his work. Just ask the beach boys for the password and it worked decent on the beach. 

Sakari was back at it again swimming, but without her tail this time. Ok, I'm game. 

We look up and look who decided to get in the water. That little sneak daddy.

Snorkel buddies, only there wasn't any snorkeling today. That makes strike 4 for me this cruise. 

I noticed this and thought...Oh my gosh, there's going to be a wedding today! The dresses were hung on their balcony. (I would like to make note...as great as my camera is with pictures, it completely SUCKS at any picture you take that is zoomed in. It does not, no matter what setting you do, take good pictures of any kind when you zoom. I always have a tendency to forget this...until I get home and see the blur). 

After a little more swimming I decided to go off exploring. I headed down to the edge toward the left (if standing at the water and facing the resort). You could tell where the resort ended and another started from the rocks. 

I also snapped a picture of the resort next door. It was on the other side of the rocks.

The hubby was wondering about the jet skis and I found this station...with no one working there. But yet we would see people out on the water with jet skis. This building was in between the two resorts, so I'm not really sure which resort it belonged to.  I did see some jet skis out in the water, but not sure who they belonged to since the rental station appeared closed.  I did see plenty of people out on the banana boat. 

The workers were down on the end repairing/remodeling the building. I also walked down on the other end to explore. Then...Ah ha! I found the rental place, which I assume is for the Divi Bay Resort. That explains the jet skis and banana boats. So I also took a picture of the pricing.

More pictures at the opposite end of the beach/resort area.

My attempt of a panorama view:

By the time I got back to our real estate,

the wedding was taking place. 

We were starting to get hungry and I gave some money to the hubby and told him to go get some food. I had researched the price of the food prior to going and knew what to expect. The hubby came back with a menu and it was a little different than what I had found online. 

He ordered the Divi Sampler and I had the Divi Burger. I believe Sakari either shared mine or got a kids cheeseburger, I can't remember. 

One thing I did find weird is that they didn't have anyone running up and down the beach taking orders for drinks or food. You had to walk up to the restaurant to get your own (which is fine with me, but I don't think I have ever seen that before). Of course there wasn't vendors walking up and down the beach trying to get you to buy their homemade junk from china on the beach either, which was super nice. 

(So the only beach we had vendors at was St Kitts at Reggae and it was a guy that was trying to sell his homemade CD's of either steel drums or reggae music. The hubby kept telling him "You have ask me 3x's already, asking again is not going to change my mind". The guy informed him that sometimes it does. So we got to talking to him and ask just how many people still buy cd's when most people use ipad's/ipods with ear buds these days and also you can download your own music from the internet and burn it on to a cd. I know a lot of cars these days also can't play a homemade cd if it's a factory radio. The guy said on a good day, he makes about $200. I just can't imagine buying a cd that someone else has burned from songs that are free on the internet and you can do it yourself.)

While the hubby was up at "Gizmo's" ordering food and waiting on it, Sakari and I were swimming. I noticed twice now that whenever I went swimming, more and more people were coming (the sun had come out and was shining full force by 10am) and they kept moving the chairs closer and closer together. The last time the attendant had taken my chair, moved it over so far, up against the people to my left, that it drug our bag under the chair, tipped over the hubby's shoes and got sand in them, and knocked over my open pop sitting inside the cooler staying cold. Then he squeezed in 2 more chairs right up against ours. Sigh. Now that's what I hate. I can stand for the chairs to be tight like that. It kinda ruins it for me. We had a small space in between us that we kept our bags and now there was no longer that small space either. 

The hubby came back carrying all the food and I told him that I wanted to find a table and chairs to sit at. The sand was scorching hot and we didn't have our shoes on because sand was all over our feet from swimming. We looked like we were playing hopscotch on the sand going from shade spot to shade spot and at one point the only shade spot before the next spot was the shade from someone's chair...."Well hello there! Just passing by and using your shade spot for a moment" I thought I had always heard that sand in the caribbean doesn't get hot like it does in "normal" places. That was not the case here!

All the chairs in the shade were taken of course. 

Then all the chairs in the sun were open...but would you look at these chairs? They are all metal. Metal sitting in the sun is a no-no! Who thought of this idea???

We did find chairs that surrounded a building (which I think might have been another restaurant, but there wasn't anyone in there) and decided to head up the steps to find a table. 

Notice to the left, at the other building, there was also an area with chairs in the shade, but that's where they were having the wedding party reception and cake. 

The cheeseburger I ordered was massive! Like I think they gave it steroids. I couldn't believe how big it was and it was yummy. My meal was supposed to come with fries and coleslaw. There was no coleslaw. Although I was disappointed (and so was Sakari because she loves coleslaw) there was so much food that I didn't bother going to ask for it. The fries were cooked perfect and were crispy. 

We had a nice view from our table as we ate. The person at Gizmo's told the hubby that it was much cheaper to go buy drinks from their "store" within the building. The hubby went around the corner to get them and they were the throw away bottles and he got 3 of them for $4.50.

Sakari was having a good time and all smiles. Daddy is always making her laugh

A trip to the bathroom inside the building showed a nicely decorated place to potty. 

After eating, we spent a little more time in the water knowing that it would soon be time to go. 

We packed up our things and headed to the front. We hated to say goodbye and both agreed that it was a nice day at a nice place and was definitely worth the time coming here. 

There was a little store on the premises. We also noticed some cages at the entrance. They were full of birds.

There was talk on these boards about the van drivers taking any of the ship towels that people leave behind and using them as seat covers. I found one. lol

We pulled out of the resort and headed back to the ship.

We safely arrived back in port and took a few pictures, did some shopping, then headed back to the ship.  We left the resort at 2:48 and arrived back at the port at 3:01pm

We seen an advertisement in the port and wondered if Divi Bay is really rated #1 on the island or if this was just an advertisement to get people to go there. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Divi was a nice place to hang out at for the day. We enjoyed our time here and the beach was fairly nice. The food was good and plentiful. Remember to go to purchase your pop at the little store they have on the premises and you'll save money.

The seating for eating seemed always full, but being able to eat on the outside area to the regular indoor restaurant worked out great.

Bathrooms were very nice and clean.

There's not any snorkeling here, but if you was to swim out, along the left side facing the ocean, that is where the reporting snorkeling spot is (by the Tiki Hut, which is actually an excursion you can book with them if you'd rather spend a day doing that).

Things were great with the seating situation when we first arrived. As the day went on and more people came, things got a little crowded and chairs where basically lined up on top of each other after that. So, my suggestion is to arrive early before the crowds do to enjoy it. Once everyone comes, it will be VERY crowded with no space in between everyone. There are separate area's for guest versus the people staying at the resort.

I would recommend this place for a decent beach to try out and it's super close to the cruise port. Since we've already done this now, we will probably not return here and try something new out next time.