So, I was up early again today, but 'only' at 7 am, versus yesterday. I hung out for a while and when Eric got up, we had a nice breakfast (at home) of eggs, bacon and toast. We had decided we would go to Tropicana for lunch today, so basically just hung out during the morning.

A little after 12, we headed out through Mullett and Sandy Ground to Marigot. Mark (from Mark's Place) had told us the other night that the island was incredibly dry, but I didn't know how much so until we rounded a corner and saw the golf course. OMG. I don't know that we personally have ever seen it that dry. It was horrible. Although this was Saturday and not Sunday, which I know is the huge test, there were NO cars parked on the side of the road along Mullett, which is a very good thing. We saw the 'gate' or whatever leading to the new restaurant there, and noted a golf cart type vehicle headed that way, so guess that is in place for sure, transportation from the site of the closed casino there in Cupecoy. Starz? I think?

And of course, it is always gut-wrenching to see the remains of the Ocean Club. We only stayed there once, but it is such a crime to see what is there now. And further sadness ensued, heading past where Dreams used to be.. Sigh..

I have got to say that the road through Sandy Ground surely is ROUGH, or perhaps it's the 'lovingly used' shocks on the vehicle we have. I do prefer a vehicle with a few knicks and dings on it before we get it, which is perfectly fine with me.

Our destination for today was Tropicana. I lovingly remember a couple of editions of their Grand Marnier souffle, which they (used to) only serve on Saturday. The first question that I asked the server was whether they had the souffle today, and was decimated to hear the answer was 'no'. Sigh.

As of now, they have no printed menu, just a chalkboard for specials



and a different one for the regular menu.



I don't honestly remember whether they used to have a printed menu or not. We settled on a warm goat cheese salad to share, followed by a beef filet with fries for me and one of the specials for Eric, which was a salmon and mahi-mahi blend. We ordered a bottle of Beaujolais, which was absolutely brilliant!

Honestly, that was almost the best part of the meal.. Not damning the rest of it, but I am going to look for that wine in the store while we're here!

So, I have had a lot of warm goat cheese salads over the years. I remember very fondly the one at Bistrot Cariabes. I have to say that this one was distinctly underwhelming.

There was no POP of flavor--no honey, no walnuts or pecans, no pear, very little dressing. It was OK, but underwhelming to me.

My filet arrived perfectly cooked, medium rare, as I had ordered it, served with a lovely sauce.

It came with French fries, which were good, not great. Eric enjoyed his fish in his entre, although he didn't really care for the sauce.
The meal came with garlic fried potatoes.



I tasted the potatoes and they had way too much garlic for me, but I guess that's the point of garlic potatoes, isn't it?

Although I had hoped to have the souffle, or at least SOME type of dessert, I discovered that I couldn't finish my (admittedly wonderful) filet, so we didn't even look at the dessert offerings. We did enjoy the complementary banana-vanilla rum after.



I have to say that, after looking forward to this meal, I was over all disappointed. What saved the day for me were a few moments. As we were having our meal, we watched what I assumed was either just a field trip of some nature or a sailing school, with three small sailboats, filled with mostly elementary school kids. We laughingly watched them sail into the marina and about tip over each of the boats, three or four times. After their sail the little ones trooped along the sidewalk through the restaurant, headed who knows where.

And, as I am want to do in almost every restaurant I patronize, I had to make a visit to the lady's loo. We were seated outside and as I went up the stairs to inside, a dog who was sitting with his owner decided that I didn't look suitable to walk by their table, barking fiercely at me. I laughed and gave him a wide berth and proceeded on to the bathroom. When I returned a few minutes later, apparently I still didn't pass muster, so he barked again. I said to the lady that I guess I still wasn't his friend. She said that he hadn't stood UP when he barked, so he was just saying hello. We both laughed and I walked back to our table.

The bill settled, we headed on to check out Monoprix. We had never been there before. Overall, an interesting store, with a nice selection of pre-made dishes and gourmet items. We probably won't go back. BUT! apparently our ship had come in, so they had mint! YAY! We bought two packages, as I wasn't sure whether anyone else would have any. We wanted to buy some plastic storage boxes for the room (which normally there are a few here in the room, but only one this time), so we headed on to Carrefour. We picked up some boxes there and headed home for several hours to hang out here.

Since there has been no rain so far, we have not had to deal with "Lake White Sands" at all. According to our guy from AAA, if the water gets too high there now, the owner of the Morgan pays to drain the lake. He's still a jerk though..

We knew we wanted a light dinner, so we headed over to the Driftwood boat bar for a pizza, which hit the spot.


We found a parking space out front, which was pretty shocking, considering the place was pretty full. So we had to sit back away from the ocean. There was no view of the sunset this evening anyway, so not a big deal. With a small box of leftovers, we headed back to BSV for an early night. Boy, we are really boring!!

Speaking of nights, so far we haven't been out very late at all, but there has not been anyone at the guard gate by Beacon Hill. Our security guard here at BSV has been here every night, of course.