Susan & I have never before returned to a vacation spot just two months after visiting it for the first time. But we had such a great time in St Martin in November that when our January vacation destination of Cayo Largo was not yet ready for visitors following hurricane Michelle, it didn’t take a whole lot of thinking to decide where to go instead. We were on the island 19 - 26 January 2002.<br><br>Travel <br>All flights went smoothly, CLE - MIA - SXM down, and SXM - JFK - CLE back. As one might expect, security was especially tight at JFK. I’ve taken my photographic lead bag through dozens of x-ray machines since September 11th, and this was the first time it was ever detected. Because of this, I suppose, I qualified for a shoe search. The JFK - CLE leg was on an American Eagle Saab turboprop, with more than half of the fourteen passengers appearing as stereotypically Middle Eastern. The “random” security checks at the gate focused on these passengers. In-flight, we were somewhat disconcerted to look over the shoulder of the passenger in front of us and find him reading a book about the Oklahoma City bombings.<br>    Even though American Airlines was making at least a perfunctory hand search of all luggage at SXM, arriving at the airport two hours before our flight was still plenty early. Passengers arriving just one hour prior to flights leaving before ours were ushered to the front of the line.<br>    Car rental from Marius and Arlene at St. Louis Car Rental was once again completely hassle-free.<br><br>Residence de la Plage<br>We rented apartment #38--located on the third floor of the building that houses the row of shops behind Bikini Beach--from Cap Caraibes Realty, whose office is in the that same row of shops. For $800 a week in the middle of January we received a spacious place to stay, with a great view, in an extremely convenient location. The apartment consisted of one great room with kitchen (microwave, toaster, coffee maker, two counter top cooking elements, and the world’s largest refrigerator/freezer, but no oven); a shower-only bathroom; a relatively private balcony with two loungers, a table and four chairs; and a spacious loft with a king-size bed. A sofa in the great room contained a trundle bed and so could sleep two more, although at different levels.<br>    Two disadvantages to this apartment were the steep and narrow stairs up to the loft bedroom and the lack of services from the Cap Caraibes agency. Out-of-shape or particularly large people might find the stairs a chore, and anyone will want to make sure they are completely awake before venturing down them. Upstairs, a 6' 1" person could stand on the stairs-side of the bed without banging his head, but only if he didn’t have perfect posture.<br>    Because our rental agent was off the island on the day of our arrival, and for the following four days, we checked in through the Cap Caraibes hotel. We received maid service twice during the week, and with the second service most of our towels disappeared. A trip down to Cap Caraibes hotel and we were able to replace them. However, we were never able to figure out how the TV worked, find the stereo that was supposed to be in the apartment, or have the broken lamp in the great room repaired. The hotel could not help with these matters, and the other personnel at the agency were not interested. Our agent finally returned to the island and stopped by to see us on Thursday; by this time we didn’t care about any of these things anymore. And of course none of them were particularly important things. <br>    We would rent this apartment again. Even without a stereo, a TV, or a lamp, it was still a great place to stay.<br><br>Euros<br>The ATM in Cul de Sac was out of Euros upon our arrival on Saturday, and was still out on Monday afternoon. We finally got Euros on Wednesday, only to find that many businesses didn’t have enough change. Some merchants (such as the Pinel ferrymen) were treating Euros as equal to dollars, while others were giving a very unfavorable 1 euro = 80 U.S. cents exchange rate. This was particularly noticeable at the airport, where people were anxious to get rid of their Euros.<br><br>Orient Beach<br>After just two months, it was great to see how much beach had returned to the area just north of Pedro’s. Navigating the rocks remained an adventure, and we almost always went up through Pedro’s rather than attempting this.<br>    We spent most of our time at Club Orient’s beach, had a great time, and met some really interesting people (including a couple who live just a few miles from us. It’s a small world. Or a big beach. )<br>    I can either ignore the cruise ship gawkers, or find them funny. My wife is more bothered by them, and determined in November that the Disney ship brought the most annoying boat people. So we took our day trip when the Disney ship called. This time Susan kept even better track of cruise ship people, and decided that the folks from the Sundream and the European Vision were no-problem cruisers.<br>    My own observations of the nude population outside of the various beach bars:<br>    [color:red]Kon-Tiki</font color=red>: didn’t see any naked people. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there.<br>    [color:red]Kakao</font color=red>. On several occasions observed nude people emerging from the sea, returning to their chairs, and putting their bathing suits back on before sitting down. Don’t know if this was a policy or just what worked for these folks.<br>    [color:red]Bikini</font color=red>. Nude people apparently confined to the rank of chairs closest to LaPlaya.<br>    [color:red]LaPlaya</font color=red>. Numerous naked people, including, one day, one hanging upside down from a tree.<br>    [color:red]Waikiki</font color=red>. Didn’t see any naked people, and people we met at the Club Orient beach complained that when they tried to use their Cap Caraibes hotel chair privileges at Waikiki they were informed that they could not do this nude. Since they had specifically checked about sunbathing “au naturel” before booking Cap Caraibes, they were upset. After they were asked to dress or leave at Waikiki, the Cap Caraibes people told them that “au naturel” meant enjoying yourself outdoors, and had nothing to do with being nude. Other beach goers thought that Waikiki’s policies depended on which attendant was on duty. In any case, if folks are not allowed to sunbathe nude on Waikiki’s chairs, Waikiki needs to change its website advertising.<br>    [color:red]Coco</font color=red>. As in November, numerous naked people by the rocks.<br> <br>Other Beaches<br>We enjoyed another perfect day on the far side of Pinel. We were the only naturists, with snorkelers and round-the-island hikers appearing and disappearing throughout the day.<br>    We spent one afternoon at Baie Rouge, and ran into folks we recognized from Orient. They said they were escaping the wind. It is almost always windy here at home, so we don’t mind it at all in a place that has an ocean, and 85° temperatures in January. But Baie Rouge was a beautiful and very mellow place, and, on this day, completely clothing optional beginning about 200 feet from the second beach bar. Don’t know if this is usual or a result of all of the immigrants from Orient.<br>    For sunset at Plum Bay we ran into some zillionaire’s security agent, who didn’t want us taking pictures of his boss’s house, and certainly not of him. He had no apparent problems with pictures of the beach, or the sunset. This beach was a popular place for French families to bring dogs, babies, and bottles of wine at sunset.<br><br>Dining<br>We returned to Le Piccolo Café and Sol e Luna, our favorite places from November, and visited four restaurants new to us.<br>    At Sol e Luna we were once again greeted by the charming Charlotte, who either remembered us from November, or is a great bluffer. After ordering we realized that we had repeated our November choices. And we enjoyed them just as much this time. This is a great restaurant, so very relaxing, and still a value leader.<br>    Monday evening we decided to take a walk down Grand Case Boulevard and spontaneously decide where to eat. L’Alabama had been closed in November, and we were disappointed to find it reopened with not one vegetarian selection. But the far northeast end of Grand Case Blvd, which we had neglected last time, turned out to be almost a meatless mecca. L’Amandier had an entire vegetarian section on its interesting menu and I could have made a very satisfying meal from Le Pressoir’s published choices. But we chose L’Hibiscus, whose menu advertised daily vegetarian specials. We apologized for not having a reservation, and were invited to choose any table we wished. Susan and I loved L’Hibiscus. It was very French, but also very warm. While Susan enjoyed her monkfish in red wine sauce, I was thrilled with their wild mushroom plate—my best meal in a week of excellent meals. And then I had my best desert in a week of great deserts. The Hibiscus Chocolate Plate features miniature servings of five superb chocolate deserts—cake, ice cream, mousse, creme brulee, and souffle. Wow! We will definitely return to L’Hibiscus in November, and hope others will try it too. We were the only guests until 8:30, and when we left at 9:15 there were only two other tables dining. Other restaurants looked pretty full.<br>    After our disappointing experience at Il Nettuno in November, we wanted to try a different SXM Italian restaurant. We were strongly considering Sebastiano’s until we saw their advertisement in the Ti Gourmet restaurant guide, advising that Sebastiano’s is “regularly visited by the most important celebrities world-wide (Richard Nixon, Marvin Hagler...”). Somehow, this was a turnoff. So we made reservations at Spartaco in Almond Grove on the Dutch side. We found a beautiful setting and excellent food. We both enjoyed the specials—snapper in marinara sauce for Susan, and stuffed eggplant for me. Spartaco ran a tight ship—he was an attentive host, and the service was outstanding. While Spartaco was our most expensive dinner this time, it was not one of those dining bills that we regretted the next day.<br>    Thursday night we enjoyed Yvette’s in Orleans. Here were found excellent home cooking, and a great host in Andre. I think we were the only people there whom he didn’t already know. But next time that will be different. While their large menu had no specific vegetarian entre selection, and I would have been happy to dine on salad and many johnnycakes, our server insisted on making a vegetarian plate for me. Being hungry, Susan enjoyed ribs for an appetizer and the large seafood platter for her entre. Almost all dinners come with a salad on the plate, so you may not want to order salad separately. Yvette’s does not accept credit cards, but this should not be a problem since everything is so reasonably priced.<br>    Even though Jared Fogle, the young man who lost 244 lbs. eating Subway’s turkey sandwiches, was going to be appearing at the Subway locations on the Dutch side on Friday the 25th, we still kept our reservation at Le Piccolo Café. And this was the only restaurant that was turning away customers while we were there. Robert has made minor changes to his menu since November, dropping a few items and reducing the size of his previously monster salads. This puts them more in line with the rest of his all-appetizer menu, although they are still big enough to share. Le Piccolo is one fun place to eat, and in our three visits on two trips we have found a real surprise each time. I’ve never had the same thing twice at Le Piccolo, except for the fantastic Chinese cinnamon creme brulee.<br>    On the way back to the airport on Saturday, we enjoyed lunch at Brasserie de la Gare in Marigot. Apart from having countless vegetarian options (the pizza was great) we enjoyed the banter here: when Susan asked a question about the martini sauce that surrounded her scallops, the young waiter apologized, explaining, “I am not a gourmet, and am eating most of the time the hamburger.”<br><br>Nevis<br>Nevis by Winair was a perfect daytrip. This is one laid-back island. We had reserved a car ahead of time, which was good, because people who hadn’t found there were no rental cars available and had to hire a taxi for the day. Paid $40 for a Suzuki Sidekick, $20 for a Nevis driver’s license, all in cash, and at the end of the day left the keys in the car at the airport. <br>    We drove all around the island, on the left, walking around the ramshackle capital of Charleston, visiting the hot springs (sadly padlocked) at the ancient Bath Hotel, having a fantastic lunch at the Hermitage Plantation, stopping to let wild monkeys cross the road, exploring ruins of sugar mills and old estate houses, and feeling as if we were in heaven at the botanical garden. A 4WD will take you to any number of deserted beaches on the south and east sides of the island, but the surf appeared to be rather dangerous.<br>    Finally, to Sunshine’s at reef-protected Pinney’s Beach for the obligatory Killer Bee. We thought this might be a tourist trap, but it really wasn’t. A convivial crowd: local people, Windjammer barefoot cruisers, and non-stuffy British people from the 4 Seasons resort next door. After our drinks, when asked if we wanted to stay for dinner, we explained that we had to leave for the airport in 45 minutes, so didn’t have time. Sure you do, we were told. So we ordered. When food hadn’t arrived after half an hour I checked and was told everything was fine. Finally, with five minutes left I went up to the bar to explain that we would have to leave. No problem, Sunshine said, but I’m giving you my good china, so be sure to leave it for me at the airport. And there were our dinners, wrapped in foil on top of his good china, with plastic utensils. We ate in the airport lobby, washed the plates off with a hose we found outside, and left them at the Winair ticket counter. They didn’t think it was that unusual.<br><br>Both Sides Now<br>Flying home out of SXM, Susan and I did not have seats together. So while she was getting the lowdown on St Barts, I enjoyed the company of a couple who own at the Royal Islander. I honestly still don’t get the timeshare thing, but what I did get was that this couple had enjoyed their vacation just as much as I had enjoyed mine, even though they might appear, to someone who has never been to SXM, as vacations that could not possibly have happened on the same island. They were intrigued that I had stayed on the French side, and spent most of my time there. They told me that several years ago they had gone to a restaurant in Marigot, and made their menu selections. But the owner told them, no, they were not allowed to have that, they must have steak tartare. They didn’t want steak tartare, and it made them sick, and they haven’t been back to the French side since, except to take the ferry to Anguilla. I tried to make the French side sound less scary to them, and hope I may have succeeded. If I see them at Le Piccolo next January, I will know that I have.<br><br>