s t a t i a scapes

Pinel Island

POSTED ON Tuesday, April 8, 2014 AT 3:54 PM \\

This is a very belated entry (from late February), but thinking back, I realized that it was probably the most fun I've had in a single day this semester and can't believe that I didn't post about it yet.

It started out as a very impromptu trip for me on an early Saturday morning. The plan was to drive over to the French side to a place called Cul de Sac, where a ferry left shore every 45 minutes for a tiny island called Pinel. There was also a choice of making the crossing on a kayak, and that was what we had set out to do. I had kayaked once in the past, which was at Centreisland in a little calm river that never saw a single wave. I was excited and had no idea what to expect when we actually got on the waters. We paid about $15 each for a kayak, stuffed our belongings into a plastic bag, and pushed off onto the choppy waters. It started off nice and pleasant, but halfway in (about fifteen minutes), the waves started to get stronger and we could feel the current press against us. Still we had to press on (taking a rest meant getting pushed back in the opposite direction by the current), and what felt like hours later we finally made it to shore. How exhausted and drenched I was by then! We hauled our kayaks onto the sand and took in our surroundings. The shore was lined with beach chairs and umbrellas and there were plenty of visitors already. And the waters, probably the best I've ever seen since arriving on St Maarten (and I've seen a handful of beaches by now). Just looking at the waters I forgot about my aching muscles. I immediately pulled out my (dry) iPhone and started snapping photos left and right. We met up with some school mates who had taken the ferry and started throwing a frisbee around. The water was so inviting and warm that I had no problem splashing in it. One of the guys took a paddle board instead of a kayak over, so I borrowed it and set out on it by myself. It was going alright until I tried to turn it around to get back to shore. I fell from it more times than I could care to count when I tried to paddle against the current (it was a strong current!). I finally gave up and just tried to swim back to shore with the paddle board in tow. Thankfully someone came to my rescue! Two of my friends made their way to me on a kayak, and I traded the paddle board for the kayak without a second thought. Was I ever so grateful!

The rest of the day we just chilled and I got myself a few pina coladas to enjoy on the beach. We also took a walk to the other side of the island and discovered huge waves, quite the opposite of the calm and tranquil waters on the front side of the island that had greeted us.

We left the island (on our kayaks again) late in the afternoon. The trip back was a lot easier than getting there since we were riding with the current (thankfully). But it was still another work out and a half getting back to St Maarten.

It was an amazingly fun and relaxing & tiring day at the same time. Generally, I am not a big fan of going to the beach (I hate getting sand everywhere and my skin doesn't take kindly to the sun), but making the trip over in a kayak, and the beautiful waters that greeted us there, as well as spending the day with friends and schoolmates, definitely made it worthwhile.

Kayaks ready for us

Panoramic view of St Maarten from the beach

Panoramic view of Pinel island from the beach

Beautiful waters :D

So many beach chairs (and our kayaks)

Pina colada, yum!

Labels: Island, kayak, paddle board, pineal island, pinel, st maarten, st martin, sxm, usesom

Fifth semester!

POSTED ON Thursday, January 9, 2014 AT 6:34 PM \\

This is it! The final semester of basic science, and the last four months on the island (or any island) for me!!
I arrived two nights ago after a few delays but nothing worse, thankfully. The rough weather apparently caused many flight cancellations at major airports in the states and Canada.
On my first day back at school I noticed that it was very very empty. Well it was kind of expected given the unideal situation from last semester. I was kind of sad to hear that some people had transferred to other schools, just because I had grown familiar with their presence in the classroom since first semester.
My two classes this semester are ICM (Introduction to Clinical Medicine) and FCM (Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine), but technically only one real course (ICM), as the other one consists of the Kaplan Review in preparation for the NBME that I have to write (and pass) at the end of the semester.
Yesterday at noon, the school's new CEO held a town hall meeting to go over the school's status and changes being implemented. The only change I did not like was that we were ordered to wear scrubs during class.
Did I mention that I made a few New Year's resolutions this year? (I don't usually). I plan on working out at the gym at least 5 times a week, and meal-prepping!
The gym I go to is right on the main road and about a five minute walk from where I live. It is on the ground floor of a large hotel beside the marina. The gym itself is actually quite small. There are three areas: the weight room, the cardio room and the room with the glass mirrors (cool-down room?). Anyways I was there yesterday for about an hour. After I got home I started meal-prepping. I wanted to do meal-prepping just to force myself to cook instead of buying food everyday. So I bought a huge bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, a bag of broccoli florets, and a box of mashed potato flakes and some fresh sweet potato as well as some quinoa. Also I bought a 24-piece set of plastic containers to place all the food in. It wasn't until I started cooking that I realized how long meal-prepping takes. But it did feel satisfying afterwards to see all the food packed neatly in the containers on top of one another. It will also help me control my portions (which I have a big problem with!)

At the gym~

Today I went to the gym again and bumped into my two friends from Toronto who were also working out there. Later we went out for food (since their stove exploded!!), and ended up at a restaurant on the main road called Harbor Queen. My two friends both got the all-you-can-eat ribs option, and I ordered… lobster!! (as usual)