Following are some comments on our recent trip. Sorry if it is not too exciting. We traveled with some of our small grand kids and my son and I have to work remotely, so we mostly hung out at our villa. My wife and I have been to SXM each year for the last 15 years, so it feels like home to us. In total, we had 10 of us, some not for the whole trip.
Flights- I know that some people have issues with American Airlines, but over the years we have had minimal issues with them. We live outside of Baltimore, but we like the nonstop out of Philadelphia. Round trip tickets this year were the least expensive ever, $317. Some flew out of Baltimore, through Charlotte. All flights were on time. I have to say, it is much nicer flying on half full planes.
Covid tests- We have many options for tests here in the Baltimore area. We ended up using the free testing from Baltimore County. They would not guarantee a date for the results, but we received them in one day. I had two backup plans if needed. We took the test on a Monday for our Saturday flights. We received the results on Tuesday, submitted them to EHAS and had our approvals in less than 2 hours.
For the return home testing in SXM, it seemed like people weren’t having much trouble getting tested, so I did not worry about it until we were already on island. My daughter and son in law left a week earlier than us. They were tested at Simpson Bay Resort and had no issues, everyone was great to deal with and it took about 30 minutes. Someone on this forum recommended the Red Cross in Hope Estates as a testing site for those staying on the French Side. We went on the Wednesday before our Saturday departure. We were the only people there and they we fantastic to deal with. They were overly kind to our small grand kids.
For the past six years, we have been staying in a villa on the French side. It is nothing fancy, but it suits our needs. After the first year renting through VRBO, I have dealt directly with the owner. When I made our reservation for this year, we agreed that if we were not able to come because of Covid, we would work it out and I would not lose any of my deposit. Fortunately, I trust the owner and was not concerned about the risk of losing any money.
We did our main grocery shopping at the Carrefour in Cole Bay. The store was well stocked and the people were very friendly. It is always scary watching the register ring the items up in guilders, we were quickly over 1,000. The helper boxing up our huge order was great and we were happy to provide a generous tip. We also shopped at Market Garden when we happened to be in Simpson bay.
Dining- We ate most of our meals at the villa. Cocktails watching the sunset and then cooking on the grill. The view never gets old.
Numerous breakfasts at the Yacht Club and Zee Best. All great. We were at the yacht club the day of the large yacht incident, but left 5 minutes before it occurred.
Dinners at Pineapple Pete’s, La Patrona, Isola, Mama’s Cupecoy. All great with consistently good service. As others have noted, the restaurants were not too crowded. We miss not being able to go to Buccaneer Beach Bar.
We used to stay at Simpson Bay Resort so some of us spent an afternoon there. Normally, I would not go and use the chairs if I was not staying there, but we looked at the webcam and it was not crowded. We asked the beach attendant and he said no problem. Had a nice day there and had lunch and drinks at the beach bar.
One day we took a hike to Happy Bay. The kids enjoyed the hike and we spent a few hours swimming and enjoying the beach. Purchased a few beers from Danny. I’ve only been to Happy Bay one other time, so I don’t know how many people are usually there. This day there were about 20 people spread along the entire beach.
Based on a recommendation on TTOL, we picked Orange Fever for lunch at Orient. Very good time. The food was excellent and the whole atmosphere was perfect. We spent a few hours swimming after lunch.
This is the first time we have gone for three weeks. I would have no problem staying longer. Although the locals need more visitors, it was nice driving with limited traffic. Everyone was extremely appreciative that we came and we tried to be as generous as possible with the tips. The villa is not big enough to accommodate all of our children and grandchildren at once. I have a feeling we might be staying longer than 3 weeks next year. Attached are a few pictures.
