This was our 8th trip to SXM with 5 being in the late 80's and 3 now in the 2000's. We took a decade break in between to raise 2 sons and put them through college, now it's time for us again. We have enjoyed each trip more than the one before. Our next goal is to be able to go more than once a year. Naturally we get home and right away there are fantastic fares on AA from JFK - how depressing!
We found the traffic to be quite heavy during the regatta time, which is to be expected. We stayed one week at Pelican, which we have never done before, and the traffic was always heavy through there. The other week was spent at the Royal Island La Playe with an extra day at the beginning and end of the trip at the new La Terrasse. It was funny to have traveled so many times through Maho over the years, and never to have really seen the Royal Islander resort and Maho Beach Hotel from the beach side. They have beautiful grounds and we enjoyed our stay very much. La Terrasse was nice basically because it's new, the price was right $129 per night, and we love watching the airplanes land and take off. Enjoyed eating at some of the restaurants in Simpson Bay for a change, especially Zee Best, Peg Leg, Boat House, and in Maho Pizza Pasta was our favorite. It's so reasonably priced, fresh and friendly. I mean the food is fresh. In Grannd Case we tried the Bistrot Caribe for the first time and went back twice, absolutely wonderful. Service was rather slow though. Don't know how 2 people think they can handle serving the whole place. Also ate at LaCalifornia, Le Petite Auberge in Marigot marina where we had a wonderful meal and one of the best values.Always look forward to seeing the owners and their dog each time. Tried Temptations at Deepti's recommendation. Meals were good, desserts excellent, especially the creme brule sampler with 5 different flavors - to die for. Thought the prices at Temptations were a little steep for our budget, one of the higher priced bills of our 16 days. Tried Talk of the Town also for the first time. Was very disappointed because we went there specifically for grilled lobsters and they had none, but said they would get some if we could wait a few minutes. We said yes that we really wanted some good size lobsters for 4 of us. Well he came back about 15 mins. later with 4 very very small lobsters and said that's all he could get. So after we gobbled them down we were dying for more, but there was no more to be had. I guess next time we will have to call and reserve some 2 pounders ahead of time. By the way, we made an earlier attempt to have grilled lobsters at the La Bar de La Mar, which I had read was closed. Well we found it to be opened and my husband insisted we go. We were charged $45.00 a person for half of a 2 1/4 pound lobster, which was outrageous. Felt like reall suckers - the old raise the prices for the tourists. As always there were too many restaurants and not enough days, we'll put the rest on my list for next year.
Weather was quite windy the second week, which turned out to be wonderful for our friend who arrived in time to go windsurfing. I had told him I hadn't seen alot of windsurfers in SXM on previous trips but did know that occassionally they were going out of OB and that there was a place at LeGalion.
Well he ended up at LeGalion renting his gear and going out 4 days with great winds. That's definitely a beautiful beach that could use some cleaning up. Found most of the island to be very clean. Loved the new boardwalk in Phillipsburg where I spent 2 days shopping with my girlfriend. We enjoyed meeting Deepti and leaving some of our money with her. While in Phillipsburg tried a new place for lunch, Talouha Mangos. Had great crisp pizza and enjoyed watching the sights in the harbor. What a thrill to see the Queen Mary 2.
Favorite beach was Orient, where we had lunch at Baywatch and were entertained by Andy and the most gracious Cheryl. Had the famous margarita shrimp, wish the Contessa had told me they were sooooooo hot! That's ok, just needed more of their delicious garlic bread! Also enjoyed time at Mullet Bay and Friar's.
Rented our car through Marius of St. Louis Car Rental and as always he was great to us.
This was our friends' first trip to SXM after hearing us talk about it for ages. They fell in love with it just as we had many years ago.
Thank goodness for this board, it will keep us going until our next trip comes around.