This was our 21st vacation in SXM since 2004! I guess you could say we LOVE the island.
In May, my truck was stolen from a Miami hotel parking garage while we were in the Turks and Caicos, so I decided to rent a car in Sarasota to drive to Miami.
Drove to Miami on 1/24, met friends and family for dinner, then spent the night at EB Hotel near the airport. Took EB's shuttle to MIA the next morning. We and and our best friends flew business class on AA. Thank God, things are starting to get back to normal, including the service in business class. Easy flight. Cleared immigration quickly and met Michael's guys from Unity Car Rental outside. This was also the 21st time we rented from Michael. Great service, great prices, friendly people!!!
Villa:On all of our 20 previous visits we stayed in the Orient area. 3x at Esmeralda, 1x at Club O, 16 times in private villas. This time we opted for a villa in the Happy Bay area. It turned out to be a great choice! This is the link to the villa:
https://saintmartinrentals.com/properties/ocean-5-6-bed-luxury-villa-in-happy-bay/The villa is very close to Friars Bay Beach, Happy Bay Beach and Grand Case. It's probably a 10 or 15 (depending on traffic) minute drive to Orient Village. The villa is managed by Sotheby's and we were fortunate enough to have Cheyenne as our concierge. She was off-the-charts AMAZING!!! The villa was spotless and more beautiful in person than online. Everyone with Sotheby's team treated us like royalty! I will try to continue to rent villas that are managed by Sotheby's in the future. No, I don't have any connection to the company other than I was exceptionally impressed with them.
Dining:Our best friends love to cook, so they blessed us with home cooked and grilled meals at the villa many times. Other than that, we dined at:
L'Atelier two nights. Great meals both times! Steaks and fish were awesome. A new favorite in Orient Village!
Bistro Caraibes in Grand Case during Carnival/Harmony Night. This is probably my favorite restaurant on the island! They never disappoint and I LOVE their lobster thermidor! It was our first carnival and it was a hoot!
Li Piment in Orient Village used to be our favorite, but the menu selections, quality and service (Sarah is now next door at SAO) have all declined noticeably. Probably won't go back.
SAO in Orient Village. I'm not a fan of Sushi, but Sarah is one of our favorite people on the island. We will follow her wherever she goes! Our friends love sushi and they said it was excellent.
Sunset Beach Cafe in Grand Case. Once a favorite, but pretty disappointing on this visit. Probably won't return.
Le Telegraphe in Orient Village. Had an outstanding dinner with awesome service. All four of us were extremely pleased! Will definitely return on our next trip!
We also enjoyed Friars Bay Beach Bar/restaurant, Kali's, Coco Beach and Aloha for drinks, lunch and tapas. Also, Good Morning Bakery in Orient.
Orient Beach:Our #1 all-time favorite beach in the world was a huge let down due to oppressive winds and enormous amounts of sargassum. We have seen the sargassum be bad on previous trips, but NEVER to the extent that it was on this trip. It is normally much worse on the north end of the beach and much less so on the south end. Not so, during the two weeks we were there! We did try to tough it out at Orient twice, but between the stench of the sargassum and being sandblasted by the sand due to the high winds, it was a deal breaker. If you find yourself in these conditions, I would recommend that you either relocate to Friars Bay Beach or Pinel Island. They will both provide much better conditions, when things are bad on Orient.
High Season:This was our 21st trip, but our first in high season. Because we live in Florida, our perspective will probably be much different from those who are trying to escape unbearable cold from more northern locations. Really, the only good thing for us was getting to experience Carnival in Grand Case. Otherwise, we found the weather to be cooler, windier, and rainier than in low season. The villa was more expensive and everything was more crowded.
Rhum excursions:For us, no trip to the island is complete without visiting the Ma Doudou "factory". I use that term loosely, because it's more like a colorful shack at their home, but the rhum tasting and wide selections of delicious offerings are well worth the trip!
A first for us (hard to believe) was the Toppers Rhum tour. It's on a completely different scale than a visit to Ma Doudou, but OMG make sure that you do it! Cristina was an awesome hostess on our tour! We learned a lot, tasted a lot and bought too much.
Shopping:Our two wives enjoyed shopping in Marigot, Grand Case, Orient Beach, Orient Village and from the local vendors during Carnaval. Us guys, enjoyed buying rhum!
