A totally different type of day for us. My niece who lives in TX asked us to meet friends of hers staying at Holland House and show them around. So we played tour guides.

Started down Front Street , ringed around the coast by Cpt Oliver’s crepes at BZH, on to observation deck overlooking baby beach and the islands, on to Bikini. After some sun moved on to Mt. Enron, Pinel Ferry area, over and down the hill to Anse Marcel on to Grand Case. Lunched at Sunset cafe at GCBC.

Through Sandy Ground. They did not want anymore beach stops so just drove through the lowlands, Maho, stop for typical tourist plane photo before heading through Simpson Bay. Stop at Greenhouse. The “guests” were not impressed. Then back to Holland House. Goodbyes and stated hopes we could meet up again. They want to go to Rainbow. Tried to politely suggest a car rental for a couple of days now that they have an idea of the island.

Returned to our neglected paradise only to fall asleep immediately.

Only comment I have is disappointment at Sunset Cafe new look. Not as quaint as before, cement floor, plexi sides, much wider that before, sterile. They will close in June to complete kitchen. At the moment food being served from a food truck. Still tasty though. Lodi is gone...man with the braided beard but same woman (forgot her name)that also was at Cafe Paris at Marina Royal.

Wow, can't imagine staying at Holland House and not having a car!!

I've actually tried it both ways, Carol and actually it works out either way. Holland House charges for parking on a per day basis, so you save a few bucks if you stay there without a car. Without a car, the doorman or the front desk will call a taxi for you and they pick you up right at the front door. Taxis are not a good option if you plan to move from sight to sight during the day, but if you plan a particular destination (i.e, Orient Beach) the taxi takes you there for $25 and you let the driver know what time you're heading back and he (or she) brings you back for the same amount at the time you designate. Advantages are set taxi rates by zones on SXM, no worries about your rental car being broken into or damaged when parked, tons of local knowledge from the local taxi operators who love their island and love sharing their stories with you, and no stress from driving yourself! Disadvantages include being locked into one location for the day, and overall it will cost more out of pocket when staying for a week or longer.

Sammy--OK, I just think it would be incredibly inconvenient and expensive to have to get a taxi everywhere, as if you want to go to Simpson Bay or Orient or wherever, those taxi rides would add up to a lot of money. I can't imagine being stuck in P'burg for the whole vacation, except when you pay for a cab. Simpson Bay or Maho, maybe, but not P'burg. There are a ton of places one can walk to in Simpson Bay or Maho, even at night.

I agree, Carol. Simpson Bay is the place to be if you don't want to rent a car. The problem in Philipsburg is at night when searching for places to dine say after 6:00. The choices are quite limited. There's Chesterfields, The Green House, Ocean Lounge (at Holland House), Hard Rock Cafe (?), and few other smaller places like Burger Madness but not much to choose from. On our recent trip I had a nice chat with the owner of the Lazy Lizard on Great Bay Beach and he closes up shop at 4:00 p.m. when the cruise ship visitors begin to leave. For his place it's breakfast and lunch only. For people visiting the island for the first time a real nice mix would be maybe four days in the Simpson Bay area, and then another three or four days up by Orient Bay or Grand Case if they want to experience the french side. Philipsburg can't be beat however, if you're into high end shopping!

" Philipsburg can't be beat however, if you're into high end shopping!"

Maybe its me and I need to really give this yet another go but apart from the usual jewellery stores, a couple of " bespoke names" that you see everywhere, I just don't get what you mean by high end shopping. First there is only one decent woman's store now left on front st and one small men's high end store. What am I missing? I suppose like food, define high end? Where are these stores that are unusual? Perhaps I am comparing it to St. Thomas and to a certain extent St Barths and expecting more. I agree that visiting in Dec of 2017 and twice again last year, so many were still shut and recovering but even many years before Irma, all I see are the usual cheap souvenir stores set up for the cruise crowd. Nothing different along the boardwalk either. Same stuff. I remember that off Front Street there was a side street(always had a colorful car outside) that had a few stores that were not the usual tat, but that was it. Actually find Marigot for clothing in particular, more chic, upmarket(yet still reasonably priced) and a huge selection in many stores.

So for those more familiar than I am with Philipsburg, educate me please, would love to give it another chance to see, high end, unique, unusual and select stores if they do indeed exist.

Sammy--yes, very few places to eat after dark in P'burg, or at least, not nearly the selection as in Simpson Bay.

This is what surprised this couple. Only greenhouse, Antoine’s and their hotel. There maybe other places but not sure.

A few years back we dined at Pasangraahan and was surprised to find street dead when we left.

When we showed them Simpson Bay they voiced that there is where they would like to stay if they visited again. They also like the look of Divi but again they would need a car. They either did a TS exchange or used a friends Ts, not sure.

Well Bran ... by 'high end' I mean jewelry, perfumes, cosmetics, electronics, etc. and not necessarily men or women's fashions. You won't find a Sax Fifth Avenue here. But, if you are shopping for a really nice watch, expensive perfumes, various unusual liquors, and so forth then Main Street in Philipsburg is packed with these places and nearly all of them are up-and-running now. Don't confuse this with a Galaria-style shopping mall, but if you like to shop for nice things and don't mind salespeople that will stick to you like human crazy glue, then you might want to give this a shot if you're in this area. Many of the same places that are in St. Thomas, etc. you will find here as well. There are also more moderate places to shop for tee shirts, hats, souvenirs, and even cuban cigars for those who are cost conscious. The difference between here and Marigot is that in Philipsburg the prices are in U.S. dollars. By no means am I advocating coming to Philipsburg to just shop, but there's plenty of it here for those that are interested.

Correction! I meant Saks Fifth Avenue and not 'Sax' Fifth Avenue. Rarely go there so my spelling was off!

You mention st Thomas Bran for shopping. The memory we have is everyone trying to sell us drugs. We do not see that in sxm but I suppose it exists...probably “high end”.

St. Thomas is the most traveled Island we have been going to over 40 years, probably been there 30 plus times and like everything else, in the old days it was fabulous but has deteriorated badly. Don't recall anyone ever trying to sell us drugs, whereas in Jamaica and Grenada was approached many times. Sure it goes on everywhere but also never noticed a drug situation in SXM. Was really getting annoyed though in St. Thomas with all the paid hawkers approaching you to walk inside their store and noticed to a great extent that happening in Philipsburg but not as much. Annoyance though is too strong a word as they are only doing their job and just smile and politely say no thank you.

bran,

I have no idea of your age bracket but like you, we used to think there wasn’t much of a drug problem in SXM.

That was until about 25 years ago when our kids were approached in Marigot by a young stranger who was trying to tell (sell?) them something. We couldn’t make out what he was saying but the ‘kids’ - in their late teens or early twenties at the time - knew exactly what the stranger was offering.

They chuckled at our naïvety and told us they get offered stuff all the time. I guess we just didn’t fall into the right age bracket for the offer. Just sayin........

Understand Pat......Once somewhere on the "Islands" some braided chap came up to me with a large frond from a Palm tree, gabbling in some incomprehensible lilt. kept saying something like "reefer". Thought it was a local hat he wanted me to buy, but couldn't understand why he kept blowing invisible smoke rings. Learnt fast. (he must have been on something:-)))

Bran have you ever been to St Johns via ferry from StThomas? Beautiful place. We stayed in an ecological preserve mountain side. Saw no drugs there.

Jamaica was horrible. We were glad we had rented a house. After a few days of people in our faces either selling drugs or asking to change money we told the maid no housework one day and had her accompany us around. No one came near us that day.

There are many selling drugs in SXM, but I have never been approached. If you don't look the type, they think they are wasting their time. We actually saw some exchanges on the French side in past trips and on the Mullet Bay beach on the Dutch side.

We saw a bit of it even at Karakters and those involved were wearing bracelets from th e Happy Bay music festival.

My nephew was approached on Orient Beach seven years ago, while on a cruise. A Jamaican looking guy asked him if he would like to buy his music he recorded on a cd. The trick is, they put drugs of some sort in the cd case. I guess that supposed to look less suspicious?