Saturday, June 23

The day began with a visit to the Marigot Street Food Festival, comprised of multiple food booths as well as vendors selling goods. Ruby Bute had a table and I wanted to see her to purchase the canvas I fell in love with.




There was also live music on a quite large stage.




After wandering through the street fair, Cindi Frye, Ann Elliott, and I headed to le Bistro Nu for lunch. We shared an appetizer of Baked Camembert with cold meats and toasted baguette. My entrée was a salad of prosciutto, cheese, and mango. The food and service were both very good.



We were eating outside, and it started raining heavily. There was a gap in the awning so we moved inside, where the dining room was quaint and cheery. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for the island, the rain stopped by the time we left.

Back to Divi to relax for awhile before dinner with Jeff Jhangiani at recently reopened le Piment. The place was hopping, and it was encouraging to see the good business they were doing. We shared a marvelous and beautifully presented goat cheese salad.



We both love duck. Jeff had duck breast, and I had duck confit. The picture of my dinner didn’t turn out; this is Jeff’s.



Sunday, June 24

I needed a beach day. Although it was very windy, I headed to Friar’s Bay Beach Café. Big mistake to go on a weekend as it was packed and service was pretty slow. There are a lot more rocks on the beach than pre-Irma, but the ocean is still beautiful.



Monday, June 25

Today’s original plan was to take the ferry to Anguilla, but I just didn’t get an early enough start. The Hills had invited me to drop by to see Beachside Villas, so I took them up on that invitation. I can see why they like it so much; it’s really beautiful.

Still wanting to have a beach day, I drove through Grand Case and was going to give Rainbow an opportunity to provide good service; however, they appeared to be closed. I then drove by Grand Case Beach Club. There was a lot of repair activity going on, but I couldn’t see an easy way to get to the beach; there wouldn’t have been any services anyway. I’m feeling a little at loose ends as two of my four favorite beaches aren’t available at this time (Anse Marcel and Petite Plage), nor is Divi’s Infinity Pool. I do understand that in the grand scheme of things, these are minor issues compared to what the island’s residents are undergoing.

So Pinel won out. There was heavy equipment moving the seaweed around, but it didn’t do anything to improve the smell. I opted for Karibuni this time.




I started with pork nems served on a bed of greens. OMG – the iguanas wanted that lettuce! I must have had eight of them circling my chair; some of them even had their front feet on my chair before I could swat them away. No pictures of that, but it was disgusting. Someone walking by commented that they were just like kittens. Hardly!

The terrific beach boy, Pech, constructed a wall around three sides of my lounger by putting other loungers on their sides. That kept the iguanas at bay somewhat while I had grilled shrimp. It was fairly windy on SXM today, but it was calm on Pinel. There was quite a traffic backup leaving Pinel, which gave me an opportunity to watch these cuties having some dinner.



When I got back to Divi, my room key wouldn’t work. I made three trips to the front desk to get new key cards, none of which worked. Finally the reservations manager stepped in; after discovering that her master key also wouldn’t work, she determined the battery in the lock mechanism needed replacing. The weekly managers’ party had just started, so I hung out there while the entire lock mechanism was replaced, on island time, of course.

[u]Tuesday, June 26{/u]

Finally made it to Anguilla and Shoal Bay East. Words cannot describe how beautiful this beach is. Best beach day ever!




I ate at Madeariman and had beef tartare; very good.



There’s a new hotel since I was there last, the Manoah. It’s billed as a luxury boutique hotel, and I can’t find prices on their website . . . not a good sign. But it looks like a lovely place to stay.



On the way back, I noticed a familiar blonde head seated at The Palms. I parked and joined Bill and Elaine and Ann and Steve for a drink. Ordered takeout and ate dinner on my deck to the sound of waves splashing against the shore.