WEDNESDAY

Wednesday is our anniversary, and we didn't have anything planned, except an evening meal out.

Breakfast was ham slices, eggs and strawberries, along with coffee and my usual mimosa. I used some of the morning to upload some pictures and trip report to TTOL. Somehow our computer AND our SXM phone did some kind of an update and both are now defaulting to Dutch . He got the phone fixed, but Eric can't figure out how to fix Edge, so we have to manually type in addresses on the browser. First world problems..

I spent some time at one of my favorite places on earth, by the pool, reading my book.

After a bit, I was able to get some liquid refreshment from the Cabana Boy!!



I had a lovely time, reading, watching the waves, and the planes.





Until in no time, it's time for a burger on the grill for lunch, which hit the spot.



About that time, some folks showed up in Number 14, which had been empty for a few days. Since they have no car, I suspect they are newbies? It's now Sunday, as I write this, and we still haven't seen them.. Whatever.. After lunch, a little shower chases me inside and I work on trying to finish my book. Life is rough...


For dinner, we headed out to Astra. It is directly across the street from Captain D's, and right next to Skipjacks. It is a HUGE restaurant, by SXM standards. We arrived around 6:45 and there were only a couple of tables occupied, but they were probably about half full by the time we left, around 8:15. I had what they called lamb medallions, but what I would call lamb loin chops.



They were a tad overcooked for my taste, but I had ordered medium, so that was probably my fault. They were quite good.
Eric had yellow fin tuna, which he enjoyed.



For some reason, Astra does not have any desserts listed on their web page and none on their regular menu. It is a separate list, which I managed somehow to take a photo of, EXCEPT for the top item, the amaretto cheesecake, which is what we had.


I tell you, that amaretto cheesecake was the BEST single thing we have had all week, by far. Along with some coffee, it was the BOMB.



It was a huge piece, more than enough for the two of us.


They did serve tap water, which I usually ask for, and normally cannot get here. Service was good and prompt. What appeared to be the owner was walking around, making sure everyone was happy

When the check came was the only bad moment of the night. The menu online and in the restaurant is very clear that they add 15% service charge. Since most of the places in Simpson Bay do it, I can't be too bothered with that, except for the fact that we normally tip more than that. However, the server brought the bill and said "We have added 15% onto the bill. Half of it is for TAX and the other half is a shared gratuity among the servers. If you want to give something to me, you need to add it on the bill. Would you like to do that?" No, and h*ll no. There is no TAX that is supposed to be passed on to the consumer in SXM and even if you're going to claim it's turnover tax, that is not 7.5%. That left a bad taste.

All in all, the meal was very good, but not sure I would return, because of that one thing.


THURSDAY

For breakfast, we enjoyed a ham and cheese omelette. I then sent Eric over to Carrefour for some supplies and I posted some more of my trip report. . The wind was FIERCE and the waves were CRASHING on the shore here, by far the biggest waves of the trip so far.



We watched them splash up OVER Da Boat and pour out through the holes in the hull.

She appears to be totally firmly wedged in there, as the pounding waves did not move her at all.

We had made plans to meet Jazzgal (Linda) for lunch at Da Watering Hole. We were surprised to see very little wave action at either Maho or at Mullet, based on what we had here.



I was excited when I learned, a while ago, that they had built a real restaurant on Mullet, one with a bathroom. The place is set up to deal with heavy winds, I guess, as the chairs are wooden and incredibly heavy. The menus are really heavy cardboard. What I didn't like is that the roof keeps out the rain, but not the sun, as it is basically clear, so it gets really hot in there. For Pat, I noted that the chairs were spaced very nicely, all up and down the beach.




The biggest problem we had with the place was that the service as ABSYMAL. We arrived before Linda, and it took a long time to get our drinks. Other than being fascinated by my camera at one point, the waiter basically ignored us. We tracked down a fellow who I guess was the manager and asked him to find the waiter so we could place our order. He said that he would take it himself. Then at that point, he told us that we couldn't have separate bills, which is what we had already set up, and said he would figure it out at the end. They brought the food eventually, which was extremely blah. It was the sampler appetizer platter, with a side of fries and none of it was particularly good.



I do not ever do frozen drinks, but I ordered a strawberry margarita, for some reason. It was OK, but it was $9. Seems kinda high??




They had a POS hand held device, which apparently they can't figure out how to use, as he wanted to charge us for a ceviche, I think, which I didn't even remember them having on the menu. They tried to charge Linda for a drink that she originally ordered, and then the waiter said they didn't have. It was just a clusterf*ck all the way around. It was good seeing Linda again, but I will not be back anytime soon.


For dinner, we enjoyed a kind of tradition for us here, garlic shrimp, baked camembert, fruit and baguette.



Thus endeth another successful day.