St. Maarten Vacation Pics and Outfits, Part 1: The Beach and Pool

Since I ended my last post with a couple of pics from my short vacation in St. Maarten, I am going to post more pics of the resort and a few outfits that I wore.

The resort was the Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach, in the Dutch, South-Estern part of the island (clic here to book). We didn't get to choose the hotel since that's where the wedding party was but it turned out to be the perfect vacation spot, right on a gorgeous beach and with a little "Rio" feeling to it due to the its location semi-hidden at the foot of a hill (the island is very hilly and the roads are absolutely aweful with VERY STEEP slopes). Here is the pool at the sunset:

It is also the perfect location if you want to take a day trip to St. Barths (which was just in front of us) because the rapid ferry leaves from Capitain Oliver Marina which is just next to the hotel. We didn't make the trip because of the wedding activities but it is definitively something to keep in mind if you go.
You probably can't see St. Barths in my pic of the beach but it was right there at the horizon:

This is the same stretch of beach at sunset (there were a lot of seeweeds that day but the water was crystal clear and sooo warm). I am wearing the Linen lace-up tee in white by Calypso. I had a store credit and bought it FP but will pick up more colors on sale. It's the perfect beach tee):

During the vacation I wore almost exclusively Calypso and JCrew swimsuits. I went a little bit swimsuit-crazy this year and bought more than I really needed for this vacation (and in general) but let me explain. I have always been a bikini girl and a string bikini girl in particular but this year for the first time I felt like I needed more coverage in my tummy area which is less tonic than it used to be. So back in the winter (after my Caribbean vacation in January) I started to look at tank suits, since I only had an old white Calvin Klein. I bought first the Renatta paisley one (that you have seen in this post and then one day while I was browsing the swimming section in the wee hours, the Milly tank from 2009 popped back in ALL the sizes for $19.99 (I immediately ordered a 4 based on my previous purchase and miracolously, it shipped). If you don't remember this print (it also came in a silk shell and a beautiful long halter dress), let me refresh your memory:

And on me, on location (I could have gone with a 2 in this one, it is a little bit loose on the top but because it is adjustable with the halter strings it's not a big deal):

But after a little diet and tons of firming cream my tummy looked better and I couldn't resist adding two bikinis (one in this year's stripes and one in the most yummy orange) to my collection. So, this is the swimsuits line-up (from left to right: string bikini in Annick stripe, size S; Milla tank, size 4; Renatta paisley tank, size 4; a mix of the Palermo bikini and the string bikini in fresh orange, both size S):

The orange string top was a backup plan in case the top of the Palermo bikini fell off my boobs (also, the bottom was backordered and it arrived too late). I had ordered my bra size (34C) in the Palermo underwire top and when it arrived, it was WAY too big in the circumference, it wouldn't even stay on for a nanosecond. But because I had bought it for very cheap and the bottom (a S) was perfect I decided to keep it and have it altered. My mom (the best tailor whom I know) did the alteration when I was in Milan (yes, I put the bikini top and a few other things in my aready heavy suitcase just to have them altered by my mom) and it worked just fine. Not for heavy swimming and certainly not for diving but I can swim frog-style in it and it is perfect for sunbathing because of the very deep cleveage and minimal coverage:

A few more pictures of the pool and the bar:

As I said in a comment it is one of the most beautiful pools that I have ever seen (and I have seen many!), with an infinity edge that falls into another, smaller pool. It was heaven! The beach ws right behind the bar:

That's it for now. In the next post I will show you the evening outfits that I wore during the vacation. Stay tuned!

Do wear Jcrew at the beach? Have you been to St. Maarten?