Getting there.

Non stop on Sun Country, car rental from Empress, and our 6th year at Les Balcons. All went well.

Food.

Breakfast was mostly on the deck overlooking Oyster Pond.

Lunch.
Orange Fever for pizza, grouper, goat cheese salad etc is hard to beat. 6 beers for $10 is cheaper than home. Chez Leandra might be the best lunch on the Island when you consider price, quality and quantity. The chicken satay wrap with fries can feed two for less than $10. Rosies was good, Mr Busby's and Beau Beau's were ok. We stopped at Little Jerusalem on our way to the airport. The owner and his wife were there, and we told him to bring us two plates of whatever he felt was best. We had two huge plates of great food, a couple of beers and a ting for around $25. We will go back. On our "drive around the island day", we stopped at Les Boucaniers at Baie Nettle and were glad we did. I had a flank steak which was done perfect, maybe the best I have had on the Island. It was very a peaceful, relaxing lunch, right on the water. I wish it was not on the opposite side of the island from Les Balcons. Our second great new find was Hercules in Cul de Sac. We were chased from Anse Marcel due to wind and ended up stopping there for lunch. We had stuffed christophines for a starter and they were the best we have had. A curried chicken dish, pork ragout, shrimp and whole red snapper all done creole style were all top notch. Hercule came and sat with us and shared some Island and family stories. Many locals eat there, give it a try.

Dinner:

Marks, La Villa and Lals were all good. Le Escapade was pretty good, beautiful view and are now doing 1 to 1. Waited a long time and finally had to ask for change from a $100 on a $74 tab. The tab clearly stated tips not included, but I wasn't planning on 30+ percent. Maybe they were just on Island time. Quai Ouest, normally reliable, had an off night, their chef was not there. We will give them the benefit of the doubt. The lolos in Gran Case seem to have fallen out of favor with many, but we were very satisfied with Cheryl's Rib Shack. They are right on the water and have added seating which is fairly quiet and not too smoky. Harbour Queen was a bit of a disappointment. They advertise a rack of ribs for $14, but we got 7 or 8 bones and they were not very hot. Mama's Pizza was not as good as we remembered . Bamboo Bernie's had really good food, but try and pick a night with minimal activity in Maho, it can get real noisy. The Palms, new to us, was great. The lasagna is great and a huge portion. Susan asked me if it was almost too big as I was licking my plate. Drunken ribs also got high marks. Panlaan got the critics choice award for 2013 from all 4 of us. Thai food at its finest. When considering quality, service, ambience and value, you can't beat it. This will be first on our must do list next year. We got into a bad habit of stopping at the Carousel for gelato fairly often.

Beaches.

Orient, Dawn and Mullet were all good and have different things to offer. We tried Anse Marcel, but according to a lady that had been going there for 20 years, we picked a time with the least amount of beach and unusual wind which wouldn't even allow umbrellas to be put up. We went to Great Bay for the first time while the ladies shopped. If you get down a little ways from the cruise pier, you can negotiate pretty cheap chairs and beer prices and it is a little less hectic. Very nice beach.

Traffic was reasonable if you plan ahead, no bugs, no "crime" issues, the roads were not too bad except for a few horrible spots. The weather was windier and a little more rain than we are used to, but not a deal breaker.

Fun stuff.

We are extremely fortunate to have very good friends and fellow Minnesotan's Dave and Britt on the Island the same time as we are. We met there 8 years ago. We spend a lot of beach time and dinners together, and as long as Dave keeps laughing at my jokes, we get along just fine. The bonus is that we get together and replay the trips back in Minnesota. We attended several SXM lovers parties which are always fun. Stopped at La Bamba on Sunday night, between closures. The crowd was a little subdued, but we like listening to Category Five, even if I had to sit next to Norm the whole time having him singing in my ear. Dave and Britt on the other hand are rock star singers, you should hear them on the karaoke machine. We also went on an evening dinner cruise on the Passat. It was an enjoyable evening with good snacks and drinks prior to a three course course meal with ample wine. The hosts were delightful. The captain kind of reminded me of the old shark hunter in the movie Jaws, but with better people skills and a lot more compassion. I would recommend this trip. $71 pp plus tip.

Random thoughts.


In talking with numerous business owners and residents, and based on observations, it seems like the tourist spending is down even though the number of visitors are supposedly up. Very few Gran Case restaurants were full, and frankly that was somewhat true all over the island. There seems to be more and more places changing ownership or location all the time. I guess you can only cut the pie so thin.
We sadly question sometimes if the never ending, ongoing land development, the apparent increase in crime (we have never been a victim), and the apparent lack of government direction is beginning to temper our enthusiasm about the Island. Please don't suggest that we go somewhere else, we don't want to go "somewhere else". We never knew St Martin back in the "day", but even in the last ten years there has been a lot of changes. You could almost have bet that a beach like Orient ( as an example) would eventually be developed as it has, but at what point is it too much. I think the residents are frustrated as well. We are on their Island as guests, maybe we have created more headaches than the good our tourism dollars have contributed.
We made our reservations for 2014 and we will be back. As big a draw for us as the food, beaches and weather, are the friends we have met and all the local residents who have been so kind to us. Thanks.