This was our second trip to the island and was at least as good, if not better than the first. This time we took our friends, Rocky and Penny, and my mom Brenda (WannaHula) and stepdad Greg. It was their first trip.
CAR RENTAL – We rented 2 Corollas from L’Esperance car rental (also spent our first night in their hotel). I set it all up through email with Debra who was very prompt with replies to my emails. We couldn’t have been happier with the service and will definitely be using them again. Penny and Rocky got there before us, so I had them take a taxi to the hotel. L’Esperance had offered to meet them at the airport, but since they didn’t know where they were going I thought this would be easier. Their car was waiting for them at the hotel. When it was time to leave, they met us at the airport right on time. Here’s the kicker about the service we received. Rocky wrecked his Corolla. He had a low speed rear-end accident (actually caused by one of those idiots on a motorcycle), no damage to the other car, but it REALLY munched the front end of his car.
Rocky's Car He called L’Esperance and the first words out of Debra’s mouth were “Are you hurt?” They brought another car over the next morining and switched them out at the hotel while we were at the beach. Admittedly the spare was something of a rattle-trap, but what can you expect if you wreck one of their cars! A couple of days later Tim shows up at our hotel to say that the car is fixed and he wanted to trade us back. Repairs ended up costing Rocky $437. Can’t say enough about the good service that Tim and Debra provided.
RESTAURANTSWe never ate at the same place twice and I STILL managed to miss Poulet d’Orleans and Bistrot Caraibes. I have very few regrets about the trip, but I am sorry that I missed these places again. Maybe next time! Anyway…here’s how I felt about all the places we did make it to!
La Gondola (Atlantis Casino Complex) WOW! 5 Stars! Best meal on the island. There are not enough synonyms for ‘fantastic’ to describe this meal! All 6 of us loved our meals here. The beef tenderloin was to die for, I don’t know why they even bother with a steak knife, its not necessary. Best gnocchi I’ve EVER had. Then as an added bonus we had incredible service too!
La Gondola Pictures Marty’s Gyro (next to Banana’s in Simpson Bay) Great food and entertaining service! Don’t even THINK about ordering a foofoo drink here! This was our first stop after landing. We loved it! Marty was a bit suspicious of us and wanted to know who sent us there! After we quit ordering drinks that he didn’t know how to make, he sat down and talked to us for awhile.
Gus’ Beach Bar (Baie Rouge) I guess I lied because we did actually eat here twice. BEST ribs, hands down. I actually tried to work out a schedule for our last day that would allow me to eat there again but I couldn’t make it work. They also make fresh mango coladas that are to DIE for! Happy hour from 3-4pm.
Baywatch (Orient Bay) Scott loved the scallops. I ordered buffalo margarita shrimp and I probably ate them and probably liked them, but by that time I was FAAARRRR to drunk to care. We went there for Contessa’s party which was AFTER LeeLee’s party! We also had breakfast there and the French toast and pancakes were very good. Andy and Cheryl are great hosts too boot!
Baywatch Party Pics Le Repaire du Pirate (Grand Case) Food was good, service okay, but the atmosphere alone is worth the trip! We had 10 for dinner that night with WayneB and Louise and SXMNorm and Betty joining us, and we had a great time! Kim_K and her group even stopped in to say hi! Have a look at our ‘Pirate’ pictures here
Pictures from Le Repaire du Pirate Sorry no pics of the bathroom, but its pretty cool!
Le Piccolo (Cul de Sac) This is a great little restaurant that serves only appetizers. We loved all the appetizers that we tried and we got 2 each. One each would have been sufficient as we had dessert, but it gave us a chance to sample almost everything on the menu! Service was great here, and the duck rolls were my favorite. Funniest thing was that Scott was a little disappointed because he expected the menu to have a foot of onion rings, buffalo wings, and jalapeno poppers on it!
La Petite Auberge des Iles (Marina in Marigot) They have a fixed price menu for $25. Everything was good, nothing was outstanding and boy was the service SLOW!
Scavengers (Dawn Beach) Really good, thick burgers.
Ric’s Place (Simpson Bay) Superbowl party was great! They had lots of free stuff to give away and the food was good. The company, however, made the evening! We had a huge table with Iowa_Girl & family, WayneB & Louise, SXMNorm and Betty, and WBL_couple. Loads of fun!
Kissing Fish (The Summit Resort) Really good for breakfast. They also had a decent all you can eat BBQ one night. Chloe and Terry are just great!
Talk of the Town (Grand Case) Second best ribs! They have lots of great side dishes to make up the difference though.
Cheri’s (Maho) The food is nothing special, the drinks are pretty weak, but the entertainment is worth a few laughs
Cheri's Pics . Be sure to call for a reservation so you can sit in the front!
Cul de Sac Bakery Really good baguette sandwiches and roasted chickens.
Papagayos (Club O) A great place to sit and play canasta but they should get rid of the waitstaff (I assume they’re around there somewhere) and make it an honor bar.
BEACHES
Baie Rouge – Our favorite beach. Great body surfing plus Gus’ Beach Bar has fabulous ribs and fresh mango coladas.
Cupecoy – Very little sand on the north end. More sand at the 2nd stairs, but the waves were HUGE!
Dawn Beach – Snorkeled a bit here, but it was fairly windy so the visibility wasn’t great, and as we’ve said before, SXM is not know for good snorkeling.
Pinel Island – Lots of kids here. Made me miss my 3 year-old. Had a good plate of calamari at the restaurant.
Happy Bay – Ranks up there with Orient as biggest disappointment. Must have been at least 35 people on the beach. At least one of the chalet/condos ringing the grassy area was occupied.
Happy Bay pics Orient Beach – I was REALLY looking forward to our stay at Club O and being able to walk to the beach from our room, bu the wind and rain came in on Friday and we moved to Club O on Sat. The rain let up , but the wind stayed on and was so strong that they didn’t even have the umbrellas out on Sat, Sun, Mon. We ended up hanging out at the pool at Orient Bay Hotel (also fun, but they frown on nudity)!
HOTELSL’Esperance (Cole Bay) These guys have a great internet rate of $65/night. Check out their website. We stayed our first night there and I would definitely return. The rooms and pool area were very clean and well kept
L'Esperance Pics (2) , and Tim, Debra and Sharon were super friendly and helpful.
The Summit – We got the Summit through the CheapCaribbean $499 deal. I loved the grounds and the way the rooms are set up as individual cottages, but I was disappointed that our room did not have a kitchenette. I did not bother asking CC about kitchen facilities when they called me with room assignments, so its my own fault.
The Sapphire – My mom and Greg used their RCI points to get a room here. WOW! Their place was great! Very clean and HUGE! It was a 1 bdrm that could have slept 8 (really). 2 bathrooms and a fabulous view of the ocean.
Sapphire Pics (2) Club O – Loved it here! The grounds are just great and the studios are really cute and very well kept. All the neighbors are superfriendly. Unfortunately it’s a bit out of my price range to stay there on a regular basis, but it was fun to do once anyway!
Orient Bay Hotel (Cul de Sac) The rest of the group stayed here while we were at Club O. It was recommended to us by HeyJoeHere. They really liked it there and we did too. The only complaint was that the beds were not very comfortable. Greg was fairly certain that they were sleeping on just the box springs.
I’m going back to the Alizea for the next trip unless we get a villa. I liked all these other places, but I just loved the welcome homey feeling at the Alizea last year.
ODDS & ENDSPacklight- we got 6 chairs and 3 umbrellas from Craig. This is the ONLY way to go if you’re beach hoppers like us
PackLight Website 12m Yacht Races – This was a BLAST. WayneB and Louise joined us. I was a winch wench and our boat won!
12m yacht race info TTOL Events – LeeLee’s margarita party was a huge event and I LOVED meeting everyone! My whole group thought it was totally hilarious that I already had so many friends on the island. Muchos gracias to LeeLee for putting it all together! Missed you at Baywatch!
Contessa’s Baywatch Party was a continuation of the fun from the margarita party! Dancing, karaoke, Baywatch food, and a heavy dose of GreenChair Greg made for a memorable evening! Thanks, Contessa for putting it together and big hugs and kisses to Andy and Cheryl for making it happen. Being the friendly drunk that I am…I took a ton of pictures
Baywatch Party Pics BEST DANCE PLACE WITH THE CUTEST BARTENDER EVER- the Lady C in Simpson Bay. I could have flirted with Colin ‘til the sun came up! Not sure why, but Scott didn’t seem to enjoy this place as much as I did! Hahaha!
Body Shot at the Lady C GIANT THANK YOU to Iowa_Girl for bringing Scott an Iowa State shirt! You made his evening! You have an absolutely lovely family! Give Abby and Jessica big hugs from us in Washington State!
MYSTERY OF THE WEEK! What the hell happened to Kathy & Al (cheftaz)?????!!!!!
BIG REGRETs! I didn’t get to meet Carol and Eric! Contessa was sick and I was too drunk to sit down and talk anyway! LeeLee didn’t come to Baywatch!
So it was a great vacation and I’m bummed that it will be a couple of years before we make it back. We’re going to Kauai next year and Belize after that. Maybe I can sneak in a low season trip sometime. It’s truly the people that make the vacation for me. I adore meeting new people and introducing those that I already love to a place that I love. We met lots of TTOL’ers, but I especially want to tell WayneB & Louise, SXMNorm & Betty, and Iowa_Girl and family that I truly value the time we were all able to spend together and I look forward to being on the island (or in the states if the opportunity arises) with you all again!
