St. Maarten From the Top of Sentry Hill, Plus Pirate Night on the Disney Destiny (Day 4)

Starting at Rockland Estate

Day 4 of our 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing on the Disney Destiny was our port day in St. Maarten, and we booked the Rainforest Adventures excursion at Rockland Estate.

The day starts in a restored 1700s plantation house and the Emilio Wilson museum, where we learned why St. Maarten calls itself the friendly island. We also met some iguanas that looked dinosaur-sized to us. To be fair, we are Californians, so our iguana scale may be a little off.

Riding the Soualiga Sky Explorer

From there we boarded the Soualiga Sky Explorer, a 25-minute open-air chairlift that climbs the hillside. There is a transfer partway up, and the scenery keeps getting better the higher you go.

It is a slow, quiet ride, and that turned out to be the point. We spent most of it just looking out.

The view from Sentry Hill

At the top there are more stairs than we expected, but the summit of Sentry Hill is worth every one. You get the whole island at once: Philipsburg, the Great Salt Pond, the cruise port, and the airport where planes come in low over Maho Beach.

One practical note before you go: there are no restrooms at the top. Plan accordingly.

If you would rather skip the ride back down, the Flying Dutchman zipline runs from the summit straight to the base. We stuck with the chairlift and got to enjoy all those views again in reverse.

An afternoon back on the ship

After a little shopping in Philipsburg, we headed back to the Disney Destiny for lunch and an hour in the Rainforest Room. Then came laundry, because someone has to.

We squeezed in a run on the AquaMouse before catching Toy Story 5 at the theater.

Pirate Night and fireworks at sea

Then it was Pirate Night. Our pirate gear came courtesy of Christy, and dinner had a pirate-themed menu to match.

Captain Hook crashed the deck party, there was plenty of dancing, and there were a few yawns from the kids by the end. It all built up to the fireworks at sea, which is the part of Pirate Night everyone seems to remember. We will too.