My wife and I just returned from a wonderful, relaxing trip to St. Martin. Of course, late June and early July is the low season, so prices were reduced, crowds were non-existent, restaurant reservations were freely available, all the facilities were still in full operation, and the weather was fabulous. Given the advantages of travel to St. Martin at this time of year, my wife and I concluded that it couldn't get any better than this.

We flew direct to St. Martin from Philadelphia on U. S. Air. The flight was uneventful except for an encounter with the most mean-spirited airline customer service representative we have ever encountered. She curtly informed us that we had arrived at the check-in desk too late (55 minutes before flight time) and therefore the only thing she could do was try to book us on the same flight a day later. She actually had a smirk on her face as she delivered this information, the smirk widening to a grin when I called her attention to the fact that she was smiling. When she stalked off, we merely moved down to the adjoining customer service representative and he promptly checked our luggage and gave us our seat assignments. Shortly before our plane boarded, the airline announced that the flight was overbooked, asked for volunteers to give up their seats and promised that the volunteers would instead be routed through San Juan and would arrive in St. Martin at 8:00 that night. So why didn't the customer service representative at the check-in desk suggest that alternate flight plan, instead of informing us that we would have to come back to the airport the following day? The lesson here is that when an airline employee tries to throw her weight around, you should always take a deep breathe and then try to locate another representative of the airline who will be more sympathetic.

Upon arriving in St. Martin, we checked into the Esmeralda Resort. Except for the weird cushion discrimination issue (about which more later), we thoroughly enjoyed the Esmeralda Resort. The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The villas are lovely, the rooms spacious and equipped with a kitchenette area which is suitable for the preparation of in-room breakfasts and lunches. The beds are comfortable, the bathrooms perfectly adequate. It's not a Ritz Carlton, but then again, our seven nights in the low season only cost us $1,200. Each villa has only four units, and each villa has its own pool, some pools more private than others.

Our villa's pool was extremely private, and once we unpacked, we disrobed and jumped into the pool for a relaxing skinnydip before dinner. By the time we had returned to our room and showered, we heard some of our neighbors in the pool, so I stepped outside to engage in the conversation which protocol requires - would they have any objection to our nude use of the pool? The other couple was relaxing in the pool with drinks in their hands. I introduced myself and then got as far as stating that my wife and I had planned to use the pool nude and hoped that they would not have a prob... when I realized that our neighbors were themselves nude. We all had a big laugh over that. As other couples checked in over the course of our week, the precise same conversation was repeated, and the resolution always was that the newly arrived neighbors pulled off their clothes and hopped into the pool to join us in skinnydipping.

Esmeralda guests have the right to use the chairs, umbrellas and cushions on Coco Beach (adjoining the resort property) free of charge. The beach boy puts up a low and completely inadequate privacy screen to separate the clothing optional and clothed sections of Coco Beach. On most of the days that we were on site, the clothing optional section and the clothed section were so close that a person at the edge of the clothing optional section could reach an arm across and shake hands with the nearest person in the clothing section. And of course, everyone swims together in the same ocean. So the separation of the two sections is more psychological than real. The only real differences are: (1) that about three times as many chaises are set up in the clothed section, creating the weird situation that the clothing optional section is generally jam-packed with sunbathers, while the clothed section is frequently pretty empty; and (2) the chairs in the clothed section are provided with very comfortable cushions, while the chairs in the clothing optional section do not receive any cushions at all. We found the cushion discrimination to be pretty bizarre, but it was actively enforced. One day, a clothed person lying in the clothing optional section next to her husband grabbed an extra cushion and put it on her chaise. The beach boy promptly came over and informed her that the cushions are for the exclusive use of resort guests using the clothed section of the beach. As I noted, bizarre, but ultimately not of great consequence one way or the other.

We made reservations at the Esmeralda Resort's "L'Astrolabe Restaurant" for the evening of our arrival and enjoyed a delicious, although expensive, meal. The following evening, we had dinner at "The Plantation". Once again, the food was quite good, but the service at "The Plantation" was horrible. The one problem that we identified with visiting St. Martin in the low season is that some establishments try to trim expenses by reducing their staffing. Often this works out allright, but more diners arrived at "The Plantation" that evening than the two waitresses could possibly handle.

Our following evenings were all spent in Grand Case - at the "Fish Pot", "Tastevin", L'Alabama and California. All were wonderful dining experiences and confirmed in our minds the reputation that Grand Case has acquired as the gastronomic heart of the Caribbean. I should especially single out the "Fish Pot" because it is not often the object of praise in this forum. It faces directly on the beach, giving diners lovely views of the Grand Case harbor and Anguilla. The food at "Fish Pot", particularly the fresh fish, is exquisite, and the service is extremely attentive. Our meal there on our third night on the island was so good that we returned to the "Fish Pot" on our final evening on St. Martin.

As we spent a lot of our time at Coco Beach, we used the Coco Beach restaurant for lunch on two occasions. Others in this forum have criticized the food at the Coco Beach restaurant. In our experience, however, the food at lunch was quite good, although expensive. In particular, the fruit salad platter was very large, and the pizzas were really delicious.

Another eating establishment that we enjoyed but to my knowledge has never been mentioned in this forum is the "Friendly Bar" on Orient Beach about four stalls north of Baywatch. The fellow who runs the "Friendly Bar" is genuinely friendly, and our lunch was very good. Two days after our lunch at the "Friendly Bar", we were walking down to Club O to take the Tiko Tiko cruise, and the "Friendly Bar" guy came running out to greet us on the beach and wish us well.

Speaking of the Tiko Tiko cruise, our day on the catamaran was absolutely the high point of our trip. Philippe and Melony could not possibly have given us a better time. It is expensive ($95 apiece, plus a $20 tip each), but the wonderful memories of that day will last many years. The only possible reservation that I can offer to supplement all of the other Tiko postings in this forum is that another commercial catamaran outfit is now running twice daily trips to the same remote Tintamarre beach used by the Tiko Tiko. This means that for two separate hour and a hour periods each day the Tiko cruisers have to share the beach with about 60 clothed visitors. We simply stayed on our end of the beach during those periods, but others might find the clothed crowds somewhat disconcerting.

While on St. Martin, we managed to visit three other beaches. We loved Baie Rouge, were deterred from stepping foot on Happy Bay by the oddest natural barrier and were disappointed by Plum Bay.

The problem with Plum Bay, assuming that you can find it (we did), is that there is only a short stretch of the beach just in front of the entrance pathway which has easy access to the ocean. To the right are rocky bluffs, and to the left, extending all the way to the distant point, are vicious looking reeflike rocks all along the shoreline. In addition, there are extremely expensive mansions all along the beach except right in front of the access path. So, unless you settle down directly in front of the access path, you must choose a site in front of someone's mansion with no access to the ocean. As the sun beats down unrelentingly, this option is not very appealing. The afternoon, we went to Plum Bay, there was a large family occupying the area of the beach right in front of the access path, and we did not want to intrude on their privacy by setting up right next to them. Also, remember that Plum Bay has absolutely no facilities.

By contrast, Baie Rouge is delightful. Raymond's beach restaurant serves delicious food and cold drinks and rents beach chairs and umbrellas. The beach is long, and most of the way along, the access to the water is unblocked by rocks. There is good snorkling below the cliffs to the right. The area immediately in front of Raymond's is used by clothed bathers, but starting about 50 yards to the left, the beach is used by nude bathers. Everything is laid back, and everyone is as friendly as can be. Baie Rouge is a great place to spend the day, no matter what your choice of clothing (or lack of it).

Happy Bay is reached from Friars Bay via a very obvious trail up and over a modest hill. The trail begins at the extreme right end of the Friars Bay beach. It's an easy 15 minute walk up and over the hill to Happy Bay. Just as we approached the Happy Bay beach, however, we encountered massive swarms of mature bees. Weirdly, the bees had set themselves up all along the land edge of the beach, from one end of the beach to the other. They occupied about a fifteen foot swath and effectively blocked passage to the beach unless you were willing to walk through their midst. My wife had had a hospital-inducing encounter with a swarm of bees a year ago, and so we reluctantly chose not to run the bee gauntlet. Perhaps the bee infestation was a natural freak, or perhaps it only occurs at this particular time of year. At any rate, prospective visitors to Happy Bay should take note of the possibility of a bee encounter as the price of admission to what looked to us to be a spectacularly lovely beach.

Let me end this long report by recollecting the wonderful early morning walks on Orient Beach. The sun is coming up at about 5:30 a.m. this time of year. I was out there each morning to watch it rise and by 6:00 each morning spent the most sublime hour walking the length of Orient Beach. The beach is empty at that hour, the breeze is fresh, the air is salty and warm, and it makes one happy to be alive and thankful that such places as St. Martin still exist in a world as troubled as ours.