Saturday, June 12

It was an absolutely beautiful morning in my neck of the woods. I had breakfast on my deck listening to the sounds of a teacher shouting instructions to children taking swimming lessons. Warm, sunny, light breeze: just a perfect morning.




Divi is building 90 new rooms. I understand about ten will be timeshares, and the remainder are hotel rooms. The tennis courts are not being rebuilt, and that area will be additional parking.



I spent several hours at the Infinity Pool, where it was mostly sunny. There was one hard rain, but we just hunkered down under the umbrellas, and it soon passed.

I had dinner at White Swan again with the group from IZI a few nights ago. The host was the jeweler I mentioned, and his wife joined us this time. They are vegan and introduced us to some dishes we otherwise would not have had. Tasty.

Sunday, June 13

My intent was to visit the beach at Grand Case Beach Club. In times past, despite the sign to park on the road, I’ve been able to drive to the gate and they have let me in. Not this time. I was told to park on the street and walk to the gate, at which time they would open the gate. I didn’t feel like doing that so drove to Orient.

Plan B was either Orange Fever or Coco Beach, both of which are highly recommended by friends. I couldn’t find Coco Beach at the time, and the friends who were joining me had been to Orange Fever the day before and wanted to try Le String so I set up there. While waiting for them, there was another heavy downpour. I took out my mini umbrella and sat under their umbrellas with mine open to wait out the rain. It passed quickly enough and it was back to lounging and looking at the water.

We went up to the restaurant to eat. All three of us had lamb chops with mashed sweet potatoes, which were very good. An appetizer of tuna tartare was less successful. The restaurant was packed, and all the beach chairs appeared in use as well. They were doing a very nice business. I was glad we weren’t too close to Sun Clubber as they had loud music; we could hear the booming bass thumping away.



We all agreed it was a perfect beach day, and I was sorry when it was time to leave.




As a result of COVID, housekeeping schedules at Divi have been curtailed, which I understand. I don’t understand that no one seems to know what the schedule is; or perhaps they know, but it isn’t being adhered to. I was told my room would be cleaned on Sunday. It had not been when I returned from the beach, but at least I was able to get fresh towels.

Monday, June 14

My kitchen is missing several items that I have been accustomed to using in prior years. I have requested replacements for a few items, but the requests seem to be falling on deaf ears. After breakfast at Réveil Matin again, I went to Ace Hardware to pick up some kitchen items. I haven’t been in that store for years but was impressed with its extensive inventory and helpful staff. They had everything on my list; I returned to Divi to find I still hadn’t had housekeeping. A housekeeper was working on the room next to me, and I was able to get her to at least change my sheets. Spent the afternoon on my deck, reading.

Then . . . a favorite SXM activity: sailing! A sunset sail on No1SXM, to be exact. This is always everything a sail should be: quiet with no music except the waves and flapping sails. The weather was a little overcast so we didn’t see much sun, but Pieter was good about sailing away from the rain clouds. I am intrigued by this shot; part of La Samanna is on the left, on the French side. On the right is Ocean Pointe, on the Dutch side.



We sailed up to this Windstar ship at anchor and waved to the crew on board.



And the famous staircase. Does it reach the ground?



Mullet at evening.



This was the extent of the sunset we were able to see.



Dinner was at The Palms with friends, where I had a few drunken ribs and brought the rest home for leftovers.

Tuesday, June 15

A quiet morning on the deck. Then I went to Georgina’s, where I had been able to get an appointment to have my nails done. I really appreciate that there’s someone on the island as good as my gal at home.

Due to the annoying curfew, I met friends for dinner at 4:30 p.m. at Barranco in Grand Case. This has been on my list ever since it opened a couple of years ago, prior to the pandemic. Coming from the airport entrance, it’s just after the lolos. I neglected to take pictures of the place, but it’s right on the water and nicely appointed.

Dinner was leisurely. I had the scallop skewer in vanilla sauce, which was wonderful. Others were equally pleased with their choices.



“The girls”




I left a little after 7:30 p.m. and was crossing the border at 7:50 p.m. I didn’t see any enforcement of the curfew, but perhaps that occurs after 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, June 16

A beach day was in order. A part-time resident of the island highly recommended Coco Beach on Orient, saying she likes it better than Anse Marcel. Since I’m pretty fond of Anse Marcel, I had to check it out. OMG – what a fabulous place!! The pictures don’t really do it justice.




A chair and umbrella are 20 Euros but also come with a bottle of water and a towel, which is a nice touch. And they don’t charge for extra umbrellas. Three of us had four umbrellas.

For lunch, I had the fixed-price, three-course “menu of the day,” which was amazing. The appetizer was zucchini flowers stuffed with salmon, floating in a lobster bisque sauce.



My entrée was equally delicious: monkfish over mashed potatoes with a “little carrot.” That’s right: just one little carrot! Lemon cheesecake with berries completed the meal. This may be my best meal of the trip so far.

A drink I had was titled “Missionary Downfall” and included light rum, fresh pineapple, apricot and peach brandy, honey water, fresh mint, and citrus.



The water was beautiful but rough, and I didn’t see anyone getting into it. That’s the one thing Anse Marcel has over Coco Beach: calm water. In all other respects, Coco Beach is superior. Very friendly service and excellent food . . . which comes with a price tag. This is not an inexpensive day.

Thursday, June 17

Puttered around in the morning and then met friends for lunch at Da Watering Hole on Mullet Beach. It was nice to catch up, but neither the food nor the service were anything to write home about. The sign is a bit old.



After lunch I went to Bar Code for some dessert and told Ivan I likely would do another “meet and greet” this fall; this was fine with him as they are usually pretty well attended and many stay for dinner. After trying to find a baby gift for a friend and grocery shopping, it was back to the room, where I watched the sun set over Cay Hill.



Tonight I heard from the woman who is caring for my two cats, one of whom is terminal. She thinks it’s time to pull the plug, and I agree based on her assessment. Euthanasia is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. While not unexpected, I am very sad tonight that I won’t see him again.

Not to end on a “down” note, I have back-to-back sails scheduled for the next two days on Spellbound and Enigma/Celine 3, respectively.