TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin SXM Recap

We planned our stay at Beachside Villas because we’ve come to love that location almost as much as we loved our beautiful Towers Unit #709. And if the roads into the Beacon Hill area ever get repaired we will love it even more so. I don’t know what comes over us, but with each successive stay at BSV, the desire to leave and go elsewhere on the island diminishes. This trip the surf and waves were a little stronger than usual so we didn’t spend much time in the ocean there but with the pool as convenient as it is to both the unit we were in and the beach itself, that was okay too.

Couple the property and the incredible staff there with the convenience of renting our car from Lesley Bruce - aka Kenny’s Car Rentals and the villa stocking service of Jeannie Gunthanen (sp?) of Shopanddrop grocery delivery service and I just couldn’t ask for anymore. Well, longer stays maybe but I’m sure you get my point.........

It was a perfect two weeks. We were able to spend time with old friends and new and sadly, so many friends there at that time frame that in most cases there just wasn’t enough time to see them all and do it all. Made some new friends, too, and I hope we manage to do trips that will coincide with them in the future.

We didn’t do any excursions this year and in fact, we never even made it into P’Berg this trip - a definite first for us over all our 47 years of annual SXM visits. No Antoine’s, Chesterfields, French Touch and saddest of all, no Caribbean Gems and Manu though we did break bread with Max and friends one evening at Isola. Thank you, Max, it was a fun time. I did make it to Red Piano - for all of five minutes or less - which quite truthfully was more than enough for me. My days of loud music in smoky and crowded bars are long since done. We did one Simply SXM event, a dinner at Palapa Grill, which was lovely - thank you Karen for arranging it and Barbara for doing such a great job in accommodating such a large group.

We had one perfect day at Anse Marcel with family and friends and had hoped to get back again but that didn’t happen either. We had reservations so we enjoyed an incredible lunch there in one of the cabanas and were generally spoiled the entire day. It just doesn’t get much better than that, IMHO anyway.

Over the course of our trip most breakfasts were coffee and pastry in our room though we did get to the Yacht Club twice. Over the course of our trip, and beyond those already mentioned, we ate at a variety of places including the Spaghetti House and Fat Tony’s in Jordan Village, Sublime - a new favorite in Simpson Bay but somewhat off the beaten track, Mario’s in Porto Cupecoy, Rosie’s yummy ribs which we got for take out and enjoyed on the balcony at Kim’s place at Cupecoy Beach Club, Le Moulin Fou in Maho, and of course, Marks for an incredible PEI mussels dinner. I’m sure there were other places as well and while names and locations escape me, suffice it to say, all meals were excellent and the company, too. I couldn’t complain if I wanted to.......

The only fly in the ointment of what was an otherwise perfect trip was the chaos and confusion with Jet Blue and their flight scheduling issues on our return to JFK but that stuff can and does happen and is just one of the possible pitfalls of travel we all have to deal with.

And now we wait for April..........which on this beautifully breezy but cold day here in CT seems a lifetime away.

Thanks for taking us along!! We're not going back until May and that seems like forever!

Tell me about it. We go in May and the wait is to long.

Sounds like our kind of trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Can you give me directions to Sublime coming from Cupecoy?

Sue,

Go thru Mullet and Maho and past the airport to Simpson Bay area. It is a right hand turn onto Sister ?Something? Road which is just before Banco de Caribe on the right. You can also find it by heading off the main toad towards Mary’s Boon and Horny Toad but you have to do a bit of winding around going that way. if you reach MB or HT turn around and start over again.

Do NOT, please, be turned off by the outward appearance. It used to be an auto repair shop and a pool hall in other lives. It’s a very simple place, no need to dress to the nines, but the food and the people are excellent and reasonably priced.

Thanks, Pat. Can't wait to try Sublime. Luckily neither Jeff nor I care about the looks of the place- we go to "eat" not "dine"!!

Thanks for those directions. On my radar for May.

Sister Modesto Rd.

SUBLIME

Are the two Argentinian girls still working the beach at El Zafiro?

Sublime Chefs were formally the Chefs at Dino's Temptation Restaurant way back. They came from India and started with Dino from the beginning.

Lesley--my understanding is that the chef at Sublime was formerly Dino's SOUS chef, not the head chef.

I don’t know what the position he held with Dino was but he sure can cook a great meal!

Carol , Dino taught Surendra from the beginning and Dino just double check the food .

OK, I still think he was not the head chef, that there was another head chef, but whatever..

That is for sure.

It was him and his Brother Dhamendra

ok