we made it back to sxm for my 2nd annual bday tradition, as of last year, and a tradition that i hope to continue. this time around i skipped the daily notetaking during the trip, therefore this should be a shorter read than my previous trip report, but hopefully as enjoyable.

flight: jetblue nonstop, free flights compliments of credit card points. landed approximately 30mins early at sxm and also on our return flight at jfk. no complaints there.

car rental: rented from kenny’s and again very pleased. even with an early landing, lesley bruce was there waiting for us, which was not a big surprise with his reputation of being so reliable. paperwork was completed within minutes and we were on our way. thank you, lesley.

accommodations: princess heights, our new home away from home. we were welcomed to a lovely fruit basket, champagne, vodka, and stocked fridge compliments of the staff and our broker john ord of sunshine realty, who by the way i have to credit for doing his job above and beyond. i highly recommend him for anyone interested. to address pat’s inquiry, transitioning from island visitor to owner is an easy and very enjoyable experience. this was our first time not staying in orient, which was strange at first, but we got over it pretty quickly. our view is beautiful aside from the westin, but as john told us don’t look at it but over it… it still makes me laugh. i guess that’ll occur naturally with time. as for the gym, let’s just say it’s extremely basic with very low tech equipment. most people wouldn’t appreciate it, but i found myself there daily on the elliptical, with the a/c and my itouch cranking. there was a bose dock, so big plus there. my apologies for any guests who may have overlapped with me… i’ll shamelessly admit that was me singing “frankly, mr. shankly” at the top of my lungs.


view from condo

food and drink:
breakfast consisted mainly of cereal and fruit on the balcony. although we both love our coffee, it was just too hot for that and we stuck with orange juice.

lunch spots were lee’s, dinghy dock, bacchus, karakter, karibuni, treetop lounge at loterie farm, sunset bar and grill, and a lunch at home.
• lee’s- grilled snapper sandwich with fries, our usual lunch either on the first or last day of our trip. we’re able to keep an eye on the car/ luggage.
• dinghy dock- seafood pasta and ribs w/ salad. nice portions, good food, nice casual setting… would return.
• bacchus- mushroom ravioli and a pasta special (my boyfriend’s dish, sorry can’t remember it now) with a nice bottle of pinot noir. fantastic food and service. stefan recognized us from le cottage, which was a few years ago. a simple yet elegant choice for lunch.
• karakter- not so lucky with parking this time around. fortunately, the security guard let us park in a mary boon’s space. we had the garlic shrimp wrap (special) and italian character (beef carpaccio sandwich). really growing fond of this place. a nice lunch on the beach is hard to beat. anyone been there for the tapas and live music on friday night? hoping to (remember) to do that next trip.


• karibuni on pinel- greek salad and grilled chicken creole with fries, all very good, in particular the homefries were really very good. cocktails were also memorable, which included frozen mojito and toto buni (?) which consisted of mango, kiwi, other fruits, and best of all rum.



frozen mojito



toto buni, i think

• treetop lounge at loterie farm- highlight lunch of our trip, with the good company of luci frye of sxmcooks. we spent a leisurely afternoon sampling tapas and plenty of wine. everything we had was very good. i especially enjoyed the lentil balls and jalapeno cheese spread (i can’t remember how it’s listed on the menu). good choice, luci, and thank you for a lovely afternoon.



treetop lounge at loterie farm

• sunset bar and grill- due to close proximity to the airport, this was good choice for our last meal before heading home. we actually made it to the airport before the jetblue counter opened, a first for us, while john patiently waited for us to check our bags before driving us over to sbag. we ordered grouper fingers and fries, continental pizza, and fish sandwich. it was fun watching the planes come in. guess it doesn’t get old.




• baguette and gouda sandwich at home- another simple and favorite lunch of ours in sxm.

dinner choices were la marine, spiga, poulet d’ orleans, chesterfield’s, captain oliver’s, peg leg and buccaneer beach bar… all places except spiga were first time visits.
• captain oliver’s- accidentally walked into this place instead of dinghy dock and decided to stay, mostly because the person on the mic (live music) welcomed us in… hard to walk out of a restaurant after that so we stayed. dinner was ok but wouldn’t rush to go back. the most memorable part of the meal was the table side preparation of steak tartare. afterwards, we walked over to the piano bar, where there was karaoke. there was a very fun german family with the cutest twin girls, about 3yrs old, dancing and unsuccessfully trying to get me to join them. dancing’s not my thing, but i did enjoy sharing the night with them. it was a nice lowkey first night on island.
• la marine- we’ve eaten at many of the restaurants in grand case, so we were surprised when john suggested this place for dinner and we’d never heard of it. it’s located towards the end of the strip, not far from il nettuno. let me just say this place was fantastic and it’s amazing that there aren’t more reviews about la marine. appetizers were oysters flown in from france and chicken and mushroom raviolis; the raviolis were incredible. for entrees the guys ordered duck breast and i had “vivaneau oeil de boeuf” (which i’m certain that i misspelled)- red snapper, a special type with very large eyes. unfortunately, due to my peculiarities, i ordered the fish filleted without the head. chef dominique was very gracious and respected my request, despite the fact that i destroyed the presentation of his dish. the theory about waterside restaurants not being up to par goes out the door with this one. from what i understand la marine will be closing until october 1st. looking forward to going back for our next meal when it reopens. another bonus, aside from the waterview, reasonable pricing for grand case standards, and excellent food, is the valet parking.
• spiga- caprese salad served in three varieties, entrees of filet mignon and beef tagliatelli. i know this place gets mixed reviews, but it’s still a place we enjoy.
• poulet d’orleans- we were greeted by the owner’s puppy (very sweet dog) and the owner, who was exceptionally welcoming. we sat on the porch and watched the cars turning on that 90 degree bend. really enjoyed the laid back setting. ordered garlic bread, chicken creole, mahi mahi special, with generous sides of rice and beans and potatoes. things to note about this place: wine is sold by the bottle only, no dessert, cash only, serves only dinner.
• chesterfield’s- we used a $75 certificate from the silent auction and had a nice dinner with john. escargots, hurricane shrimp, and shrimp cocktail for apps. grilled grouper specials and grilled snapper special for entrees. i was under-impressed with the hurricane shrimp, but the fish was very good. portions were very large, so we never made it to dessert.
• peg leg- the owner, eric, came over to welcome us. very nice guy. unfortunately, the dinner didn’t quite meet our expectations. it was worthwhile because we were able to use the caribbeancard for buy one, get one entrée up to $20.
• buccaneer beach bar- after reading some of the reviews about the good burger here i think maybe my expectations were too high. it was ok. my boyfriend ordered the (3?) pepper pizza, which he enjoyed. the bbc here is definitely very good as has been mentioned here on ttol. i would’ve ordered two if it wasn’t so filling.
• cito’s- stopped in for some cold carib after dinner. didn’t have time to eat there, but hope to return for lunch or dinner again next trip.

shopping: my boyfriend needed a pair of sunglasses, so we stopped into optic at hope estate. selection and service were ok, but we definitely prefer designereyewear4you (seller on ebay) for greater selection and much more competitive prices, which obviously is not an option when you’re already on island and realize that you’ve forgotten to pack your sunglasses. we also went to dk gems for the first and probably not the last time; great service and quality selections. the complimentary drinks are a great, yet dangerous marketing tool. as for groceries, we picked up items at us market in hope estate, pretty decent selection. fyi, the cart unlocks with a quarter, even though it states 50cents. i forgot our reusable bags and was hoping they offered a bag for sale similar to the one i picked up at match in howell center, but no such luck. we simply loaded our groceries into the cart and to the car and made a mental note to bring the reusable bags next time.

entertainment:

blackjack at hollywood and princess casinos with a net winning of $229, very happy to walk away with heavier pockets. regarding the dress code at princess casino, since there was a thread on this subject, this policy didn’t seem to be effective both times that we went. there were plenty of people wearing casual sandals/ flip flops with no issues. there is now a metal detector at the entrance that i don’t remember being there last may.

something new for us, we took the ferry over to pinel for $7 per person and enjoyed a great afternoon at karibuni. chairs for two and umbrella cost $15. enjoyed a good lunch and cocktails on a near perfect sunny day.


killing time, watching the crab while waiting for the ferry



en route to pinel via ferry


afternoon at pinel

we also did the celine sunset sail with neil and his crew, which was a different perspective of the island. it was a nice way to pass time. not sure about the cost per person, as we won a silent auction for two. we hope to do the pub crawl next time, but this time it didn’t workout due to poor planning on our part. speaking of pub crawls, we passed by da party bus a couple of times while driving… has anyone done this yet?

other events: fundraiser for jenny williams at skipjack’s. dawnbeachette, who we randomly met at the pool just before heading over to skipjack’s, did a great job organizing the event. jenny and her husband were on webcam for most of the night and were able to see the great turnout on her behalf. the place was packed. we met some very nice people, including bill and elaine. and we had a nice time with luci as well, including watching her dog boss play with a very adorable pitbull puppy. there were many items for silent auction and raffle and as elaine already mentioned i won quite a bit; some items were ferry for two to st.barths, ferry for two to saba, two excellent bottles of wine, sxmcooks workshop for two (which i’ve promised to take elaine to) and other great items. at the end of the night, i was surprised when everyone sang happy birthday to me, which i think was luci’s doing. supporting a good cause was a nice way to celebrate. wishing all the best to jenny.

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boss and puppy

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boss's new friend

misc: very hot and sticky and loads of mosquitos. i got eaten alive by the bloody mosquitos while my boyfriend got just a few bites, go figure. not sure why we waited a few days into the trip, but once we sprayed ourselves head to toe with off it seemed to do the trick.

all in all, it was yet again another great trip, one of the most memorable actually. we met a lot of great people, and as always ate and drank well. we missed certain things on the agenda, such as lal’s, but it gives us something to look forward to for the next trip.