This was are 5th time to St. Maarten in the last 8 years. This time we brought our twin 20 years olds with us. This report is a little late, so here goes.
Tuesday, July 10th - We flew Continental out of Newark with no real problems, got thru immigration in about 20 minutes. We were met by Leslie of Kenny's car rental and the transaction lasted all of 5 minutes! I'm not sure why anyone would rent a car from another company. More on Leslie later. We drove to the villa we rented. La Casita in Beacon Hill. This is a 3 bedroom house right on the water with magnificent views. Every morning had coffee staring at the ocean, very nice. The house is a little odd in the fact that two of the bedrooms is not attached to the main house. We had to get used to locking ourselves in every night. But, we got used to it. The housekeeper, Ermine, was a delight. We hung around the decent sized pool overlooking the ocean this day until we went out to dinner. We had dinner a Lee's. The food was good, but didn't seem to be as good as it was the last time here two years ago. Had a drink at the Lady C and went back to the villa.
Wednesday, July 11th - Got up and took a quick swim in the pool before the kids awoke. I bought some croissants at a french bakery in the Simpson Bay area (I cannot remember the name) and brought them back to the villa. The first beach we went to was Dawn beach. We hung out here all day, had lunch and drinks from Mr. Busby's (75 cent Caribs!) This evening we went to one of my favorite all time restaurants in Grand Case, La Alabama. The food and service was as great as usual. We were sorry to hear that Pascal and Karen moved back to Paris! (although they still own the place)
Thursday, July 12th - Made eggs and bacon for breakfast that I purchased at Food Express. This food store is very conveniently located when staying in the area, if you find a place to park! We hung out at the pool for most of the morning until around lunch time where we drove over to the Loterie Farm for lunch. The food was really incredible and the location makes you feel you're sitting in a treehouse. After lunch we drove over to Friars Bay to hang out. We only staying about an hour as there was a constant cesspool type of smell coming from off the land. This was weird, we've been there many times and never had that experience before. We went back to the villa and hung around the pool. (and drink many heinekens) For dinner we drove over to Le Monmartre (sp.) and the food and service are as good as in Grand Case, in my opinion. They actually remembered us from two years prior! Lost some money at the ATlantis casino and went home.
Friday, July 13th - We took a snorkeling trip on the Lambada leaving from the Pelican marina. It was an all day boat trip that included drinks and lunch. The boat sailed to Sandy Island off of Anguilla, most of the snorkeling was here and it was pretty good. I always wanted to visit this little slice of sand after the first time I saw it in a picture. You can walk around the entire (island) in about 10 minutes. There is a building there that apparently sells drinks and possibly food. From Sandy Island, we cruised over to Road Bay in Anguilla for lunch. They must have an agreement with a beach bar there as the food was all prepared and waiting for us. From here we sailed back to the Pelican marina and arrived around 4:30PM. The Skipper and crew were all great, they allowed my daughter to steer the boat the whole way back! For dinner this evening we tried Peg Leg Pub...just ok
Saturday, July 14th - We did shopping in Philipsburg at DK Gems based on reviews here. Well, we were there for most of the day! Vicki is great! We bought a 5 diamond ring for my wife and a 3 diamond ring for my daughter. He worked very long (and was very patient with my daughter) and gave us a great price. Oh yeah, we also bought a nice necklace for my wife also. They are all very cognizant of this board and I would suggest anyone shopping for jewelry to at least stop by and say hello. We hung by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we made reservations at Mario's Bistro, easily the best meal we had for the trip. We bought Mario's cookbook which he gladly signed for us. This is a fabulous restaurant, definitely world class. Will go back again and again.
Sunday, July 15th - Spent the whole day at Orient beach. This is our favorite beach and for some reason did not go there until this day. We hung out at Le String beach where they charge $8 for a chair and umbrella. This included a free drink (any drink), considering a Pina Colada costs $6, the chair and umbrella was $2, very reasonable. Jean is great and serves you on the beach....a real find, I think. We ate lunch here also and it was fine. For dinner we went to Jimbo's in Simpson bay....the service and food were marginal at best, would not return.
Monday, July 16th - Our last full day! We went back to Orient and Le String, the chairs are so comfortable there you can (and I did) fall asleep. I will always go back to Le String. For dinner we went to La Gondola at the Atlantis casino. This place is marvelous. They are so "hi tech" there and so efficient....the food was great also...you should try this place.
Tuesday, July 17th - Took a swim in the pool for the last time, Ermine met us at the house and we were off to the airport. Got to the airport to find out the flight arriving from Newark NJ hadn't left yet! In fact, they had to change planes for mechanical reasons...We were supposed to leave around 1:45 PM and did not leave until 8:00PM. I met Leslie from Kenny's at the airport and updated him with this information. He allowed us to keep the car until we needed it! He didn't have to do this. So, we checked our bags and went out exploring again. Had lunch at the Boathouse restaurant, I thought this was very good also. The time waiting for this plane also allowed me to lose some more money in the casino's. We finally got home, home to our house in NJ at 2:15AM, all very tired.
All in all, another great trip to the island that my wife and I love so very much (we spent our honeymoon here) and cannot wait to go back again. I would like to thank Vicki at DK Gems, Leslie at Kenny's, and Ermine from La Casita for making this trip special.
.
