Susan and I visited St Martin for the 5th time, 8-16 November 2003, traveling with four family members and friends.

[color:"red"]Air Travel[/color]
We flew on American Airlines frequent flier tickets, CLE-MIA-SXM. Flight out of Miami was delayed 45 minutes, and we arrived on SXM one hour late, after circling the island in a holding pattern.<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> For the return our 757 aircraft was given to the folks flying to San Juan, and we departed on a replacement 767 one hour late. On arrival in Miami we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, waiting for a gate. All very Philadelphia-like, and even though immigration and customs took about five minutes the doors to our flight to Cleveland had already closed. So AA put us up in four rooms at the Wyndham and gave us each $25 in food vouchers, and we got to fly back via LGA Monday morning. (There were others going from SXM to Cleveland, and many others connecting to other cities who missed their flights, and I wonder what this cost AA, compared to holding a plane for ten minutes on its last run of the day.)

[color:"red"]SXM Immigration[/color]
We arrived Saturday afternoon to find the line reaching the door. However, things moved relatively quickly and we were into the baggage retrieval area in twenty minutes. The immigration personnel were definitely not scanning or inputting data from passports. Our passports weren’t even stamped.

[color:"red"]Car Rental[/color]
Fifth time renting from Marius Andrew, St Louis Car Rental. Had reserved two identical vehicles, and on arrival received one complimentary upgrade, and one complimentary downgrade. So I guess this evened out. Didn’t like the lack of luggage room in the downgrade car, but both ran fine in the rain, through standing water and mud, and around rock slides.

[color:"red"]Green Cay Village[/color]
Our third stay here. Three bedrooms and a pool is an extravagance for a couple, but the perfect place to stay with a group. The view of Orient Bay was great, the gardens looked better than ever, and Brigitte in the office was an especially positive presence.

[color:"red"]Weather[/color]
Record setting rain. All everyone talked about was the “Big Blob” (pronounced “Beeg Blub” in French) which appeared on the satellite weather map. The forecasters in Guadeloupe continually predicted that it would be departing in 36 hours, but it never did. Still, there were breaks, and we were out on the beach every day but one, and had three complete, though cloudy, beach days.

[color:"red"]Orient Beach[/color]
The weather kept us from spending time at other beaches. Erosion continues at Orient. The situation at the Club Orient end was more or less the same as one year ago (a little more sand at Baywatch, a little less at Papagayo). The beach by Boo Boo Jams and Coco’s was considerably smaller this year (and twice we had to walk in the water to get around the rocks at Coco). And KonTiki is falling into the sea. Flooding created cut-throughs at three places along the beach. The water flowing into the sea at Pedro’s and KonTiki looked fine, but that was definitely raw sewage entering the ocean at Coco’s. Yuk <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" />
Nude walkers on the beach at all hours of the day. I was happily nude at La Playa until my last morning, when I was informed by one of the beach boys that “weekends are not nude.” When I told him that I had received drink service at my chair yesterday, and had been there nude all day the previous Sunday, he replied, “That is what you say.” Didn’t want to end my trip on an argument, but it can definitely be said that La Playa’s attitude toward nudity is inconsistent. (Just as is Club Orient’s attitude toward “saved” chairs.)

[color:"red"]Restaurants[/color]
Brief reports on the places Susan & I dined. Because first impressions can be misleading, and almost any place can have a bad day, I have indicated after each report whether I have eaten at the restaurant one (1), two (2), three (3) or more than three (3+) times in the past three years.

L'Alabama. Grand Case. Dinner. Botched my phoned-from-the-states reservation for a vegetarian meal, but improvised. The food was fine, service robotically excellent. (1)
Baywatch. Orient Beach. Closed for three days in the rain, or we would have eaten lunch here more than once. Great food, great people, and a good value. Just don’t ask Andy for a Presidente. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Hairy.gif" alt="" /> (3+)
Le Cottage. Grand Case. A really fun evening with the whole group. Great food, and Stephane the sommelier was exceptionally kind to the younger members of our party. (1)
L’Hibiscus. Grand Case. Another memorable evening. This is the best food we have found on SXM, and our second favorite restaurant in the Caribbean. It was neat to see more Americans dining here this time, and they all looked very satisfied. (3+)
La Playa. Orient Beach. Lunch. Service deteriorated this year. Other patrons thought that French people were being served before Americans, but I did not perceive this. We all waited. Food perfectly OK, never exceptional, never anything wrong with it. (3+)
Little France. Dinner. Excellent food and service, and their 21 Euro fixed price menu (choose from 3 appetizers, 3 main courses, and 2 desserts) makes this the value leader for fine dining in Grand Case. (3)
Papagayo. Orient Beach. Lunch. This place seems messed up. Arriving shortly after Noon, the waitress told us that she could not tell us about the specials, because the chef had not come out of his office to tell anyone about them yet. OK, so we ordered from the menu, and everything was fine. (3+)
Plongeoir. Marigot. Lunch. Thanks to everyone on TTOL who recommended this great restaurant (open breakfast, lunch and dinner). Fantastic food, a fun atmosphere, and a menu that is actually translated with humor. Their signature chocolate dessert was the best of many great desserts on this trip. (1)
Poulet d’Orleans. Orleans. Dinner. Missed the young Romneys, but it was great to get to talk with Chef Tony. Super, simply prepared food, and a real “feel at home” place. Doesn’t take credit cards, but does take U.S. dollars at a par with Euros. (3)
Rainbow. Grand Case. Dinner. Better than ever. A perfectly romantic setting with the illuminated surf, view of Anguilla, amazing food, and a check (dinner for 2 with wine) less than at no-view L’Alabama. Just as at Little France, the waiter here asked if we would like to have tap water with our meal. (3)
Sol e Luna. Mont Vernon. Dinner. Our favorite waitress Charlotte has gone into semi-retirement, but her (male) replacement was excellent, as was everything else. Susan says I must mention that Sol e Luna serves what must be the biggest jumbo shrimp in the world (and I did look over and think she was eating a lobster). Their beautiful porch was actually a great place to be in a thunderstorm. (3+)

Other members of our party visited and enjoyed Le Mambo and Talk of the Town in Grand Case, and Bikini and KonTiki on Orient. They did not like L’Arhawak in Marigot as much, but it was open when almost everything else was closed.

[color:"red"]Other Restaurant News[/color]
• Less than one year after opening, Le Jasmin in Grand Case was gone. (And this makes the preposterous review it receives as a “Frommer’s Find” in Frommer’s Caribbean 2004 even more ridiculous.)
• Chez Martine and Hevea were dark (although the Hevea hotel was open).
• Chef Thierry from L’Hibiscus and the owners of Paris Bistro have opened a new restaurant in Maho Plaza. Called Wellbeing, it features an international menu of lighter fare than what you might find in Grand Case.
• The former site of the KFC in Marigot is now a bar with a Mardi Gras theme.
• A McDonalds is planned for next to Howell Center (Match store) in Marigot.
• In just a few years, the number of restaurants in Grand Case eager (or at least willing) to accommodate vegetarian diners has dramatically increased. A survey of every restaurant on Grand Case Blvd this trip found only four hold-outs: Au Bout La-Bas, Fish Pot, Le Maeva, and Le Tastevin. Of course at the lolos, a vegetarian would be constructing a meal of side orders. (There appears to be some confusion about "vegetarian" on this board. By "vegetarian" I mean someone who does not eat meat, fish, or shellfish, but may eat dairy products and/or eggs. People who eat seafood may be perfectly admirable, but they are not vegetarians.)

[color:"red"]Shopping and Other[/color]
• Many shops offering $1 = 1 Euro, but this was always only for cash purchases. Credit card transactions did not qualify.
• We really enjoyed visiting the artist Antoine Chapon at his home/gallery in Cul de Sac. Even though we arrived on St Martin Day, and when he and his family were eating lunch, he was very gracious, and it was fascinating to hear him talk about his theory of watercolor. And Mme Chapon framed the print we purchased while we waited.
• The new plastic Ma DouDou bottles make packing a lot to take home very easy.
• Many French employees in the new Village d’Orient shops do not speak much English. Never a big problem, but the guidebook dictum that “everyone speaks English” simply is not true. After my wife asked some questions in the Coco Vibes gift shop, I whispered to her, “He’s just replying “Yes” to whatever you say.” Susan didn’t quite believe me, so I said, “Tonight the world will explode in a giant fireball.” And the nice young man smiled and said, “Yes, yes!” I felt kind of bad about that, but it proved a point.
• There is now an Everything for $10 store in the West Indies Mall in Marigot.
• We love the Match store in general, but it is always especially fun to visit them during the second week in November, when they are celebrating their anniversary. This year we received free cheese hats, towels, iced tea glasses, and a French cook book. And of course many samples that we consumed in the store.

At the airport waiting to go home we heard complaints from many first-time visitors, bitterly disappointed by the weather, vowing they would never return. And they might not. But that would be their loss. SXM has a lot to offer beyond the beach, and anyone who goes there wanting to have fun, will do so. After the rain set in on Monday, we got in the car and started driving. We picked up a hitchhiker, and took her down a sideroad we had never traveled just past Orleans. And then we picked up two more, and took them to Middle Ground. And we picked up hitchhikers and people in distress all day long, until we had driven in a complete six hour circle around the island. A few of our passengers weren’t very talkative, but many were, and it was a great way to see parts of the island (especially on the Dutch side) that we had never experienced before, and to meet people that we would not otherwise meet. We feel as if we know SXM much better now, and we like it more than ever.

Peter