TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin TRIP REPORT 11-12-16 thru 11-19-16

OK settle in, this is a big one....

Flight: AA out of Kansas City at 6:15 am. Big brother Mike (49) and wife Mary (49) from Overland Park, KS had slight issue with checking in as they booked the flight under Mike instead of Michael which is on his passport. All good, after 20 mins the clerk had it all squared away. Wife Julie (47) and I, Matt, (47) from Omaha, NE had no problems. We carry on our luggage, as we read years and years ago, that's the best way not to over pack for the Caribbean.
Landed in SXM around 3:45 pm and headed towards Oyster Bay Beach Resort (OBBR) after renting RAV-4 from AVIS (had JEEP Wrangler reserved but was not going to big enough for 2 giant Americans and their beautiful wives and luggage). Avis said they are getting a couple of 4 door Wranglers in next week which would have been perfect for us. Stopped at Lee's for a couple of quick drinks and appetizers. $1.50 Caribs for Happy Hour! Also had fried crab balls (so-so) and rib app (awesome). Off to Grand Marche for groceries. Mike and I scurried over to Mark's for an El Presidente while the girls shopped. Back on the road and the traffic was absolutely crazy! It was the weekend of St. Martin days and 6 pm and rainy. It took us over an hour (maybe closer to an hour and a half) to get to OBBR from the airport.
OBBR-
Easy check in. I called the week before and talked to Kathleen and requested two renovated rooms on the ocean and low and behold that's what we got!! The rooms (2831 and 2821) had an awesome view of the ocean and sunrise (that almost never happens). Well-appointed with acceptable furniture (much nicer than 8 years ago), flat screen tv's, and plenty of room. Some minor issues like the thermostat stayed on 18 degrees C, the bedroom drywall not quite finished and the power, cable, and phones went out several times during the visit. But for me, my biggest hassle out of all of that was that I had to reset the clocks in the room three times, ha. Oh, and open the doors to warm the place up.
$50 Timeshare fee and $7 per day for utilities. I paid $99 upon check out for our timeshare stay through Interval. WIFI not great but it worked most of the time. Did not partake in any resort activities as I love to plan my own adventures based off experience and all the help and suggestions I get from the TTOLers. Lastly, the staff was amazing friendly and helpful. If you treat people with love and respect, you get love and respect in return.
Dinner at Daniel's By the Sea. It was pretty good, I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The Mahi was a little over cooked but my pizza was really good. Off to the Dinghy Dock for late drinks and to watch the Iowa/Michigan game. It was fun, not too many people.
SUNDAY
I got up at dawn (6:15-6:30 am) almost every day to drive around the island some while the wife slept until 8-8:30am. Driving around the island, seeing the kids go to school in their different uniforms is one of my favorite activities of the week. 10am, off to Mullet for our first beach day. It was raining pretty heavily, so we stopped at Maho to get Mike some snorkeling gear. $32 for a large mask and snorkel (no fins). We got our first free rum shot of the week and it was good. Rain stopped so off to Mullet. Rented four chairs on the far left side of the beach as you come in. The beach and water were as amazing as I remembered. Got four chairs and 2 umbrellas for $25 (talked them down from $30 or $15 for two chairs and an umbrella). We did have a couple that were super overzealous in their passion for each other frolicking on the beach in front of us, but chalked it up to something we would talk about for years to come. We nicknamed them, Kim and Kanye. Mike and I snorkeled, just OK, as the waves were pretty big and the water was pretty cloudy. Ate lunch and had great chicken and fish at Daleo's (I thought it was Rosie's at first). They were out of ribs, sad face. Overall, an amazing first beach day. Had to stop at Sunset Beach Bar for one drink to see the planes. Mike and Mary really enjoyed that as it was their first time on the island other than a cruise 20 years ago. It's still kind of exciting to Julie and me as well, even after several visits. Headed back to OBBR to clean up and head to dinner at Big Fish. Funny, I did not realize that they moved across the street (no longer on the water). We liked the new digs however. For the price, we were slightly underwhelmed. Enjoyed meeting Teresa and Mike but the food had a little to be desired for the price and our server was nonexistent most of the meal. I would probably still spend a night there if we go back to OBBR though as we had a great time and it was super close. Wife said the calamari was off the hook good.
MONDAY
Same morning drive by myself. Headed to Orient for the day around 10 am. Setting up camp at Kakao's (NEW) (when I put new down in parenthesis, it means it was our first experience based mostly off TTOL recommendations). Could not negotiate a deal for the chairs this time, $40 for four chairs and two umbrellas. We did, however, get two tables that turned out to be a huge asset for our beers and drinks. Guy said that the chairs are a separate business from the restaurant so they could not negotiate a deal even if we ate and drank. Still an amazing day at the beach. Snorkeling nonexistent but still had to give it the ol' college try. Oh, forgot to mention that Mike and I brought our own small coolers full of beer and water to each beach day and then we would start ordering from the bar when we ran out. Mike and Mary wandered up the beach and ate at Sun Beach Bar. Mike said it was the best Mahi Mahi (or any fish) he had ever had. He loved the Creole sauce. Julie and I ordered from Kakao. I got her the Mahi Mahi with Creole sauce (which she loved!) and I got the Pina Pizza that was ham, prosciutto and pineapple (awesome!) Ate it on the beach and it was fantastic. Love Orient for the sun and people watching. Mary got an amazingly cool cover-up for $65 on the beach. Roughly 6 hours on the beach, we have to head home. Cleaned up and off to Canoa (NEW)for dinner. One of our best dinners of the week. Everyone really really enjoyed their meals. Mike and Mary split the seafood pasta (rich but really good) and salad, Julie had a Greek salad with added Mahi. It was awesome and $20 well spent she said. I had the chicken curry and it was off the chain good. Sat out on the deck by the water and it could not have gone better.
TUESDAY
Out for my drive first thing after setting my alarm for 6 am to watch the sunrise.
Off to Phillipsburg for shopping and lunch at 10 am. Stopped at the Tour of St. Martin Catholic Church(NEW). Very impressive! Got a little choked up at the beauty inside. We love Caribbean Catholic churches and their quaintness. So here is a good spot to tell the main story of our visit. We celebrated 20 years of marriage last month and I wanted to take a special trip and surprise. A new diamond ring for Julie and a renewal of vows at Dreams. So I tried to get Mary to help me get Julie a new ring. I had her take her into Artistic Jewelers (NEW) as Julie loves David Yurman jewelry and so I thought this was the spot, but no go. SO, onto plan B (later). We stopped at The Lazy Lizard (NEW) and had a few drinks and a couple of apps. The ribs app were really good (pretty sweet but add a little of their homemade hot sauce...and POW, awesome!), the chips and mango salsa were underwhelming (needed more flavor) and the shrimp skewers that were pretty good. Marlin did an awesome job as our sever. The owner came out and was very passionate about his food and rum which I appreciate, but it seemed somewhat canned (IMHO). Loved the free rum shots, the best we had the whole week. Should have bought a couple of bottles to take home, sigh. Off to Gus' on Baie Rouge (NEW) . Our youngest son is named Gus (9) so, of course, we had to check it out. The beach is spectacular! The bar was very modest to say the least. Gus was gone to a funeral but I got to meet him briefly as we were leaving. We had a great beach day at Gus' and got our Gus a tee shirt to wear in the future when he grows into it. I snuck over to Dreams to set up our big 20th anniversary dinner and renewal of vows for Thursday night. Here's where my biggest snafu of week occurred. I had been going back and forth with Bruno a few times over the past few months about this big dinner. I needed them to set up the entire renewal with flowers, a trellis, an officiate, and dinner. Well.... he said he could take care of this in so many words, but come to find out, they really could only take care of the dinner. You see, he is very French and a lot of what I emailed got lost in translation. So I show up on Tuesday afternoon and meet with Bruno (owner?), George (manager?) and most importantly, the wonderful and amazing, Angelique. Come to find out, I needed to care of the flowers, trellis and officiate on my own. So, George got me in touch with the florist in Marigot and Angelique said she would take some pictures of the event since that is her passion. So.... I cannot get a renewal setup in such a short time, so we improvised and just turned it into a 20th anniversary celebration. BTW, a renewal of vows with an officiate, trellis and flowers will run you about $850 on top of the $300 dinner for 4. Oh, and the kicker, they didn't serve dinner that Thursday night because their chef had to head back to France I believe. I had a pretty great and rough day (that the wife knew nothing about at this point) so we headed back to OBBR. I took a nap and the others went to Mama's Pizza for a less expensive and casual dinner. The pizza and atmosphere was great. I ate the left overs and the pizza was great!
WEDNESDAY
St. Barths! We took the Voyager ferry from Oyster Bay to St. Barths. I rented a car so we could explore the island. The boat ride was fine as I got some motion sickness patches from the doctor the week before we left (because Julie got sick the last boat ride to St Barth's 8 years ago). Customs sucked. It was long and hot. Traffic at that time was terrible so I went to get the car and the others walked down to Le Select to have a beer and wait for me. We headed to Shell Beach (NEW) first and it was fantastic. We had never been and were overwhelmed with the beauty, shells and snorkeling. The major downfall was that Do Brazil was sold and closed. The new owners were renovating it so there was a lot of construction noise. Oh well, still awesome. So we needed to have lunch so we headed back to Le Select. had a great "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and a few Presidente. Off to Saline Beach. Fantastic beach as we remembered. Mike and I went to the left side of the beach to swim out to the rocks and snorkel. Different but as amazing as Shell. Nice to have a partner to snorkel with as it gets a little hairy swimming out into the deep water. Off to Jean Beach and Eden Rock (NEW). The ladies had their one and only $18 cocktail! Julie had a Thyme, lemonade and vodka drink and she said it was phenomenal (for $18). The French people were all skinny and fabulous. Off to return the rental but not before I dropped everyone off at Le Select for one last drink. I caught up with them and met 4 great couples staying on St Barth's from Cleveland, OH. Ferry ride home was uneventful but relaxing. Stopped at the small grocery store in Oyster Bay to get snacks for dinner in the room.
THURSDAY
The big day! We arranged to head to Dreams around 1 pm so everyone had the morning to themselves. Mike and Mary spent it at Dawn Beach, Julie and I had breakfast at Mr Busby's, Johnny Cakes (NEW), pretty fantastic breakfast, different as I have never had a Johnny cake (syrup enhances it as it is a little dry). Then I had to excuse myself to "run some errands". I headed to Artistic Jewelers to pick out Julie's ring, then all the way up to Marigot to get the flowers and then hustled back to OBBR to get cleaned up. We got to Dreams (NEW) around 2 pm and Angelique was ready for us. We had the table on the far right up on the "stage" closest to the beach. She had fresh flowers for us. We started with the spring rolls and edamame apps. The spring rolls with shrimp and beef were really good and the edamame was good as well just not WOW. Then the main course....I had the flank steak with house fries w/ spicy mayo, heavenly, Julie had the seared tuna which was 5 stars (really good), Mike had the seafood pasta which was great, and Mary had the shrimp salad that she really enjoyed. The whole meal was wonderful. I gave Julie her head band of flowers and flower bouquet (which seemed kind of strange since we were not having a ceremony). Then Angelique brought us these most amazing tasting creme brulee ever! It was not setup (maybe because of the temp and humidity) but it was, close your eyes and moan, good. Off to the beach so I could give Julie the ring and have Angelique take some pics. Julie was super surprised with the ring and I said a few words. She brought out some after dinner rum shots that were fun ( I love the fact that the French want to send you off with a couple of rum shots after you have been drinking all day and then are ready to jump in the car, ha). Got some amazing pics sent to me by Angelique several days later. All in all an overwhelming beautiful day. Something we will cherish forever. After 2 and half hours of this lunch...we headed out and decided to stop at the Calmos Cafe (NEW) in Grand Case for music and dancing. Well....it was 5 pm and the band did not start until 8:30 pm. So we decided to go back to the resort and clean up and rest for a while. Back to Calmos and it..was..hopping! We had a great time listening to the Latin band and watching the pretty young people salsa. It was packed and hot and we had a blast! We could only stay til 12 am as we are old.
FRIDAY
Up early for a drive. Headed to Happy Bay for our last true beach day. Parked at Friars and hiked to Happy. Beautiful as I remembered it. Good snorkeling as well. Only a couple hours of that and headed back to Friar's Bay Beach Cafe (NEW) for chairs and food. $20 for 4 chairs, 2 umbrellas and 2 tables as long as we ate at the restaurant deal. Well...headed to the restaurant and it is cash only! So Mike and I had to head to the Super U in Marigot to get some cash. Back and had an awesome lunch. Mike and I each got the rib plate (Kansas City guys) and the girls split my wife's most incredible dining experience of the trip. It was a 1/2 Santa Domingo avocado with fresh crab salad, topped with caviar, smoked fish with garlic and Dijon aioli, served with fresh ciabatta. It was super fresh and clean tasting. No fancy seasoning was used. Caviar served as the salt, the avocado was rich but paired with the salad that was a ceviche, it had balance and the smoked fish was really delicate. It was the perfect beach lunch(if you can't tell, she's a recipe editor for a magazine in Omaha). Oh, and the wife said the waiter was about the most handsome man ever, ha. The water was super calm at Friar's as well as a beautiful sunset.
We were not done as the girls could not wrap their minds around leaving the next day and devised a plan to stay, so we headed back to Grand Case for a little more fun. I heard great things about LOVE but could not park anywhere near there so we ended up at the Rainbow (NEW). We ordered a pizza and shrimp and of course it was amazing as well (I ran out of adjectives several paragraphs ago, if you couldn't tell). We walked back up the beach to LOVE and they opened up the boutique for the girls to buy a couple of things and we had our last drink and went home. What a lovely place and our new find for this trip was Grand Case. Our two trips before to St Martin we did not spend any time on this wonderful strip even though I read tons of great reviews from the TTOLers. Just thought the restaurants were too expensive for us.
SATURDAY
Going home day...drats! Bought me and the boys some cool shirts from Shipwrecks at the resort. Got packed and headed to Karakter's (NEW) for our last beach opportunity. What an amazing spot for our last lunch. I branched out again and had the beef carpaccio which was awesome. The wife got the grouper which was good but not her best and Mary got the bruschetta I believe. The bread with tomato, olive and garlic butter app was fantastic as well. Just the perfect way to end the trip. Met our new friends from Cleveland again at the airport and had a good time drinking a few before we boarded. Pretty long and uneventful flight home.
Overall an incredible trip. Different because we had people with us this time as it has only been Julie and I in the past, but a different kind of wonderful to experience it with my brother and sister in law along with a lot of new experiences. It helps that we all get along and Julie and Mary are close friends being the "outlaws" of the Kolpin family.

I counted 21 bars and restaurants and 14 beaches! Whoa.

A few quick observations after eight years since our last visit:
The traffic seems much heavier
Seems like much more C/O, topless goers on Orient, Happy, Mullet
More stray dogs
More iguanas
Hotter

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks again for all the insight and recommendations! We all truly benefited from your wisdom and experience!

LO
VE

Matt

I will try and add some pictures if I can figure out how to do it.

Wow!! What a great trip!!

Mullet is about our favorite beach on the island (but didn't realize, if I understand what you are saying.... it had gone CO) and Friars Bay Beach Cafe is one of our favorite beach restaurants (along with the Restaurant at Anse Marce) but sorry to learn they - FBBC - are now charging for chairs but I get it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences - you sure did pack a lot into a week!

Sorry Pat, I did not mean to say that Mullet and Orient had much more CO just one girl on Mullet but there was much more topless on Mullet and Orient than I remember. But there was much more CO on Happy than I remember and all up and down the beach where as before, it was limited to the far end of the beach. Not a big deal to me what-so-ever. Do what you feel comfortable with is my motto. You only live once! Funny thing about packing it all in, I did not feel we rush around much. Only the Thursday when I was trying to get the ring in P'burg and then up to Marigot for the flowers and back to OBBR in less than three hours. Whew, that was a challenge.

Thanks for the clarification. DH and I have been going to St. Maarten for a very long time and I remember the days way back when, when we tried to travel around and see and do and try new things. Today we're pretty content to slow down and just let it happen as it will. One word of sincere caution - BE CAREFUl!! BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL - this island becomes wonderfully addictive. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for the details. Sounds like you had a fun trip.

Thanks so much for the report! Thanks for returning the favor, for all the hints you took from here. Even though your renewal ceremony didn't work out exactly as you planned, it sounds lovely. Hopefully you can figure out how to post pictures, or at least a link to an album.

That was such a fun, great trip report to read. So happy you all had such a great time!

Thank you for a great trip report and congrats on your big anniversary. Angelique at Dreams is such a sweetheart. We first met her when she was working Le Sand and she made the meal so memorable that we went back despite disappointing and expensive food. We were thrilled to find her at Dreams on our last trip. Again, she made the meal so memorable that we went back for a lunch and a second dinner in a one week trip. I am glad she was able to help you pull off the big surprise for your wife even though it wasn't everything you hoped for. We are skipping SXM next year and she is one of the people we will miss most. Again, congrats and thanks for a great trip report.

Thank you for the great report! Sorry to hear of the problems arranging your surprise anniversary. Sounds like the real surprise was felt by you! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />Glad to hear it turned out well in the end and everyone enjoyed the day. It will certainly be something to remember for many years. Angelique is a sweetheart and is a lovely addition to Dreams.We have celebrated a few special occasions at Dreams and always enjoy our time there.

Really ejoyed reading about your trip. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> This helps to get my St. Maarten "fix" for the day!

http://s32.photobucket.com/user/mattkolpin/slideshow/

let's try this.....

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!

Great pictures! And thanks so much for the captions also! (To begin with, I didn't know to kind of hover my cursor toward the top middle of the screen, for those of you who aren't seeing them.)

Great job! Thanks!

Last set of Pictures. We had a blast! Everything worked out for the best. Memories that will last a life time as it was our first trip for the four of us. Thanks again, Matt

http://s32.photobucket.com/user/mattkolpin/slideshow/St%20Maarten%20St%20Martin%202016%20continued

Very nice......
Thank you once again!

Nice, thank you.

Great report and photos...thanks for sharing!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the report. Sorry we missed you. We were in 2810 till the 13th.

Drats! I thought about you Norm! If I would run into you or recognize you out and about.

Thank you for the great trip report and awesome pictures. It really gives us a feel for the islands. Thank you!

Thanks for the pics! I have to laugh, picture number 22, I took that same picture, or very close, back in the early 90s, when we took the White Octopus cat from SXM to St. Barts. I have seen the same pic in Caribbean Travel and Life also. Nice to know that Saline remains fairly unchanged since then. It would be hard to say that about any beach on SXM..

Can I ask how much the ferry ride from Oyster Bay was?

Also....the fee to rent a car...thnx so much

Sorry for the delay.
Ferry for 4 was 288 EUROS, upgraded car rental for a SUV on St Barths was 60 EURO thru Voyager (the same day I book the ferry) (1.10 was the exchange rate so 348 EUROS times 1.10 equaled $382.80). The SUV for St Maarten thru avis was $440 but we insured another drive so I think the total without the extra driver was $384 for a RAV 4.

Thanks for the report & pics - really nice.

I forgot to mention the vendor's on the beaches and Phillipsburg. I have no problem saying no but it seems like it is getting a little ridiculous. I also understand people are trying to make a living. I am a salesman and get told no on a daily basis for pedaling my stuff, but it's almost getting out-of-hand on St. Maarten/St. Martin. When we spent the day in St. Barth's, we did not have one vendor approach us for anything. It was actually a refreshing change from SXM.
Just an observation and opinion. I wonder if St John or Jost are like that as I really would like to try those islands sometime in the future. With that said, it will definitely not deter me from coming back!
Cheers

Thank you for a truly delightful trip report. I enjoyed hearing about your morning drives around the island. Congratulations on your anniversary. It sounded perfect even though it wasn't exactly as you had planned.

Thank you for the great trip report and awesome pictures.

Enjoyed your report. Thanks for taking the time to share. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Matt, great report and thanks for posting. It has been 9 years since we have been back to our beautiful Island. Your report brings back memories and we can't wait to go again in 2017.

We are traveling in March with some friends from Omaha, do you always fly out of Kansas City, or just more convenient this trip with your travel partners. Also, what are your favorite restaurants in Omaha, since we get out there every couple of months. Our friends in Omaha love to go to Kansas City for fun, small world. We live in Wisconsin, have a small airport in Madison that we sometimes fly out of, sometimes Milwaukee, sometimes Chicago.

Sorry for the delay! We typically fly from Omaha. We just wanted to go as a group. Omaha has a ton of great places to eat. We have younger kids and live out in West O so we tend to stick out here to eat (even though the best dining is probably in the Old Market). I love TripAdvisor for restaurants. I rarely have had a bad meal when I pick a top 50 restaurant on TripAdvisor. HAVE A GREAT TRIP IN MARCH!!!!
I have been planning our fall trip to Oahu with the kids so I forgot to check this board for a while! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Cheers!

We did a trip to Hawaii in Sept/Oct. celebrating a significant anniversary with a five day stay on Oahu followed with a cruise through several of the other islands. Its an incredible place but we were doing the site-seeing thing with very little beaching. We visited four islands and saw some incredible locations on each of them - it's beautiful throughout the islands but this being our second trip, we finally conceded the beaches are far superior in the Caribbean. But that is purely OUR opinion. If you haven't already been there, do make a point of seeing the Arizona Memorial - I thought I was prepared for it but I guess I really wasn't since it brought me to tears.

Again, thank you for your great trip write-up - very impressive. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Pat, will do! I am renting a cottage on Kailua so we will have tons of beach time. We have been to Maui and I concur that the beaches in the Caribbean are far more beautiful and closer! We are going to Oahu because we hosted a college baseball player this past summer from Oahu for 10 weeks and became super close to him especially my boys. Our trip will be mostly the beach and spending time with him and his family. Can't wait! Julie and I will be back to the Caribbean soon enough. Hopefully St John and Jost next trip as we've never been and I love me some awesome little beach bars. Cheers

Great story to tell and you excelled! Congratulations.

Bob

The snorkeling on St. John is much better than in SXM. Can't really comment on Jost since we only day-tripped. Just a personal opinion but I think the beach bars are much better on SXM. But still wet and cold and good.

And what a great reason to visit - I hope you have an awesome good time. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />