If you took away the aggressive local shop owners, this would have been an amazing Beach Day. If you want a beach that is not crowded and is free of rocks for swimming, take the small ferry from the dock over to Columbus Cove. They will have workers waiting for you to put lounge chairs out for you with plenty of palm trees to provide shade if you want. They serve a delicious lunch buffet right near by. You can take the tram back to the main entrance or walk. We walked back pass all the local shops and where so harassed that we were too intimidated to do any shopping as all. That was really the biggest negative to the entire port. This port offers plenty of activities or you can just relax and read a book.
Based on the research that I had done on this port, we decided we would just walk around the secure port area and not venture out into the city. There just was not enough cultural or nearby attractions that interested us at this port. The Port Area was very nice and had plenty of shops and a small straw market of local vendors. The vendors was all very nice and attentive. They were very friendly and good natured in their price haggling. I found several very unique souvenirs for my kids and some really pretty custom jewelry pieces at very reasonable prices. Be sure to try the free Banana Cream Rum at the shop right across from the Straw Market - yummy!
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