May 8–22 Trip Report - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Before we left home “herladyship” said that she knew this trip was going to be different but she did not know why...as usual her intuition was correct. I will list our experiences under the categories of the Good, Bad, and Ugly. For those who only want to read positive things you can skip over Bad and Ugly and go to the Good, which by far outweighs anything negative. This format is a switch from my previous day by day reports, simply because I became too lazy to write anything down so I am really “shooting from the hip”. This was our 13th trip to St. Martin and our fourth consecutive 2 week stay.

THE UGLY

The ugliest thing had to be the weather. We have experienced bad weather in St. Martin before but not for such an extended period of time. The first week we lost 4 days to high winds and rain (Thursday we had about 4 hours of beach time before heading to the studio) and the second week we lost the last 3 days to the same. The weather was never clear and there were only occasional bursts of sunshine. The winds were relentless and were either blowing hard or harder and when we did have beach days we were driven away early by the frustration of the wind. We never saw a sunrise or sunset due to cloud banks or rain storms! Unfortunately this ugly is something that no one has any control over, however, we did not let the weather conditions get us down and just switched plans...see GOOD!

My second ugly are those people who stand at the area I refer to as Pervert Point (the large rock area at Pedro’s where the taxis let off their passengers) with their video and DVD cameras trying to get shots of the nude beach or nude people and also make rude comments. They do not have the courage to walk down the beach and see what the beach is really about, they just want their voyeur shots.

THE BAD

After many years visiting the island we are fully aware that service can be slow or at least hit and miss. My bad experience came at “The Fish Bar” in Orient Village (across the road from Tap 5. Not to be confused with The Fish Pot in Grand Case). I had been wanting to try this place since it opened and one night seven of us decided to try it. To make a long story short we ordered our drinks and dinner and eventually everyone was brought their order...except me. As everyone was finishing their meal it was questioned where mine was. The reply was “two minutes” and a while later I was brought a few pieces of bread and some sort of paté and told again “a few minutes” (I did not order anything unusual...fish?). In the meantime, other customers had come in, placed their orders, and had finished their meals. After an uncomfortably long wait I went over to the person who seemed to be in charge and cancelled my order. We then requested the bill, again a very long time passed before it was delivered. They crossed my order off and to their credit they also crossed off the two beers I had while waiting.
There were other incidents of “very poor” service and meals not being delivered to people we had spoken to or were with, however, I will not comment on those establishments as it did not happen directly to me. Poor or non-existing service seems to be an increasing problem and questioning what happened to dinners not delivered seems to be more prevalent than in previous years.

Another thing I saw as bad is the contradiction of nudity on Orient beach. On one hand the taxi drivers in Philipsburg are hawking the “come see the nude beach” to cruise ship passengers while on the other hand if the Disney Magic is in port there are rent-a-cops (no, they were not regular gendarmes) telling people to put a suit on if they were past Pedro’s. The rules seem to change by the day or by the economic situation. Some beach bars are C/O and some are not and that is of course their right. I do feel there is a need for a “clear” law and not for just whatever ship happens to be in port! With this in mind, I do not feel it is fair that the people who frequent the Club Orient side of Orient beach should be used as a “sideshow”. If nudity is only to be allowed on the Club Orient end of the beach, then perhaps a large fence should be erected to avoid offending any other visitors and discourage photographers...just my view!

THE GOOD (and Very Good)

Although the weather was less than perfect, our real sunshine came from our friends, those who we knew previously and those who we just met. Frank and Anna, Pierre and Joanne, Jim and Carmen, Bill and Linda and Ron and Beth along with ourselves had arranged to be in St. Martin at the same time. On those days when the weather did not cooperate we held our own happy hours and everyone took a turn hosting. The problem was the host usually ended up with more food, beer and Ma Doudou than what they started with.

This was our third consecutive stay at Club Orient and it is our favourite place. The cleaning staff is wonderful and we love the secure atmosphere. We also had great Club O neighbours, Bob and Sonya, and really enjoyed our frequent conversations. There were some “bad vibes” about the court case and of course the dramatic increase in prices next year. Many people we spoke to who were “long timers” at Club O were considering staying at other places next year or at least shortening their stay at Club O. I hope this is not the end of an era.

Car Rental - again this year we rented from Alain Arnell of AAA. We were met at the airport by one of this reps (not Myra) who took us immediately to the “yard”. On the way the girl told us that they had four “no shows” that day. We received a Nissan Maxima (big car for the island) with plenty of scratches and dents as per my request. When we returned the car Myra was waiting for us and we were dropped off at the airport. This is the 6th or 7th time we have used AAA and highly recommend them.

Casinos - due to the less than perfect weather we were in the casinos more than usual. Sometimes for only a few minutes and in some cases for a few hours. I hit a jackpot at Dolphin for $400 plus a few minor wins so that was obviously my favourite. Also had small wins at Casino Royale and Rouge et Noir. However, Princess, Atlantis, Colliseum and Jump Up made a withdrawal from my wallet. Jump Up seemed to have a lot of machines that were not in working order. Overall, I came out ahead but herladyship did not win at any of them :-(.

Jewellery - Shopped at DK Gems and herladyship purchased at diamond pinky ring and after my casino wins returned and purchased a blue diamond ring. Deepti and staff were very accommodating and whether you are spending a little or a lot you get the same attention and very courteous service. Most of our friends also made purchases that day so a slow cruise ship day turned out to be a good one for DK.

Places we ate:
Lolos (Talk of the Town) - always great food for the price.

Brasseries des Iles - good food and plenty of it for a reasonable price. It is also the ‘safest bar” in St. Martin as they have a contract to feed the Gendarmes. One evening while we were there a couple of trucks pulled up and about 12 gendarmes got out and came in to eat. I never felt so safe in all my life!

Papagayo - only ate there a few times. We found the service very good and the food just OK. 12 Euros for a hamburger is just a little steep. Happy Hours were almost deserted and on dance night there were only 6 or 8 people in the place. The Saturday night Kareoke is the most popular with the place being about half full.

Peg Leg Pub - ate there a couple of times, great variety in the menu. I did have the filet mignon one night, it was excellent but I doubt I would pay $26 at home...oh well, we are on vacation. Shawn of course was there to greet everyone like long lost friends! He is “the man”!

Ric’s - great place and good bar-type food at a reasonable price. We have to go in to check the hockey scores!

Bistrot Cariabes - Went with Pierre and Joanne on our last night and to celebrate our anniversaries. Amaury and Thierry (sp) sure know how to run a restaurant. They are the ultimate hosts. We each had an appetizer, entre, shared two desserts, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water and coffee came to about $90 per couple. Of course the boys drop a bottle of their home-made rum on the table at the end of the meal. Again, great value and their presentation is superb. Highly recommended!

Repaire du Pirate - one of my favourite places. We went with a group of about 14 people and had an absolute blast. We had made reservations that afternoon. Can’t remember what we had or how much it came to as an overabundance of “Mort” took its toll. Frank (of Frank and Anna) once again took on the role of pirate and had everyone in stitches. Frank is such a great and fun character that I wrote and performed a song about him which I will soon post on People Talk. (I am not a song writer...which will be painfully obvious!) Special thanks to my back-up rhythm section “The Honest Attorneys”.

Baywatch - One of our favourite places in the world! The food is absolutely superb and I am gradually working my way through the menu. There are always lots of hugs and handshakes all around. We had breakfast there a couple of times and had some great conversations with Andy. We also had lunch there about every second day, Cheryl is a real gem and brings us our drinks before we get a chance order them (2 Caribs). We have known Andy and Cheryl since they were in Grand Case before the hurricane and it is getting to be a home away from home.

New Discoveries

Derrech Traiteur - A great find thanks to Frank and Anna. This restaurant is in the harbour front across from the market in Marigot. Great food and service and very reasonably priced. I think the bill came to about $55 a couple.

Mark’s Place - On a bad weather day (read shopping) 8 of us went to Philipsburg and Bill suggested we go for lunch at Mark’s Place. What a great place in the parking lot of Grand Marche. 3 of us had the curried goat special...and it did not taste like chicken, in fact if I did not know what it was before hand it would have said it was beef!

Other Great Stuff

Again this year Nan (Nan2SXM) and Jack and Bill and Cathy invited the whole gang of us to their villa at Mt. Rouge. What a wonderful time we had and our hosts were extremely gracious! It was also great to see Tim and Diane again also (congratulations on your engagement). Hopefully I will soon have a group photo on SXM Photos.

We attended the one year anniversary of the sinking of the Realite. This was held in the evening at Baywatch (closed). We spent four days last year watching the Realite on the beach before it was finally towed away. We had a chance to talk with Steve and Barb and are delighted that things worked out for them in the end.

The May 14 party at Baywatch had to be cancelled due to bad weather. Anna had put so much work into this that we could not possibly see her let down. The cancelled party turned into a tailgate party behind Baywatch. Anna had made name tags for everyone and had “leis” for everyone. Frank insisted on distributing them to the women, I won’t tell you what he said, but if you know Frank, you can image!!! Once again Lemonade was made from Lemons! Although the party was officially cancelled we got to meet many TTOLers. Again, photos soon come.

Bulldog in the morning on Laser 101 and his “phone scams”. Watch it Bulldog...Rerun is after your job!



WESTJET AIRLINES - Our flight was direct from Toronto to St. Martin. We are always delighted to fly WestJet, it is a no -frills, informal airline that is extremely efficient. We left Toronto on time and arrived in St. Martin 10 minutes early. It is a boxed lunch flight with no movies etc., but there is plenty of leg room and the seats are comfortable. On our return to Toronto, our flight was to leave St. Martin at 7 p.m. however our boarding call came at 6:20. We boarded the plane in the pouring rain, the pilot was trying to beat a bad weather front that was coming in (so what else is new this vacation?). However, we did not make it and sat on the runway until 7:40. Incredibly we arrived in Toronto only 5 minutes late! And yes, it was raining and foggy...I think the weather followed us!

DISAPPOINTMENTS...

Being a Canadian does not get rid of the timeshare hawkers as in previous years. One of us must have bought one because we are back on the“hit list”. It was good while it lasted!

Didn’t go on the Tiko Tiko this time and it is one of our favourite things to do. We have been the 8 previous years, but the weather just did not cooperate. Tiko Tiko only went out twice in the 2 weeks we were there.

THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!

The best part of this vacation was our friends, both old and new! Without them this trip would not have been the success it was...YES, you can get sunburn on a cloudy day ;-) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

Photos soon come...

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Umbrella.gif" alt="" />John (and Toddy)