Just some observations for what you may find them worth, if anything.
Wife and I, early 50's baby boomers, had a wonderful six days, five nights in SXM, May 19-24, staying at Alamanda. This was a quickly arranged trip after a hole opened in my calendar somewhat unexpectedly. SXM generally, and hanging out at Club O specifically, was as great as in December when last we were there.
USAIR through Charlotte was fine – a little late getting out of CLT and a little late into SXM, no big deal. We were two of first pax off plane and through immigration, which of course did us no good whatever because we then had the 30 minute or more wait for our checked luggage. With the snorkel gear and bringing some food, it just seems too hard to fit it all into carry-ons.
Michael (Taxi #73) was waiting for us with our phone from Sharon Harris, as Sandy Molloy had arranged for us; Sandy bearing some general responsibility for our ignoring our business and taking this trip. This is the first time we had gotten a phone and we will do so every time in the future; I highly recommend getting a phone from Sharon or someone who provides similar service. It only was $30 total for the phone, which included 48 minutes of time. As it turned out, I did not need to handle any real business, but was able to make a quick call to my office at least once every business day to see if I could mess anything up. I never needed any additional minutes. In the past, I have tried to keep in touch with email, but that usually turns into a real hassle, no matter how easy it is supposed to be in theory. This time I just left the away message on for the entire time and never checked it. Michael was very nice, getting us to Alamanda, showing us how the phone worked, and arranging to pick us up to go back to airport on the 24th. He charged $40 each way, which I thought was fine, given that he picked up the phone and dropped it off for us. I tipped him $5. A good guy and I certainly recommend him both for this kind of stuff and more extensive tours. We asked if he wanted to take us over to Grand Case on Saturday morning and he said that if it was just a short hop on French side we should just get a taxi there; I appreciated his candor. He did say that if we wanted a tour or something more extensive, he would be happy to come over for us.
Alamanda was excellent for us. If you are like us, spending most to all of your beach time at Club O and not renting a car, but not staying at Club O itself, then Alamanda is a great location. They had a iced bottle of wine for us on our arrival - which may have been at Sandy's arrangement; they just knocked on door and handed it to us a few minutes after we had gotten to room. They provide “free” chairs and umbrella at KKO, but we never used that. You are put off into the “ghetto” as we called it; i.e., the section of chairs provided to Alamanda guests is at the far end of the chairs, farthest from Alamanda. The chairs closest to Alamanda are reserved for the cruise ship pax - they put the cushions in best condition there, too. The continental breakfast that comes with the room was very nice; it includes tea or coffee, orange juice, breads, and a fruit cup. For an additional $5.50, you can get eggs, bacon, and hash brown, which I got several mornings. The service was excellent and very friendly. Only downside to this was that we did not get to Baywatch for a really great breakfast. The room had a king sized bed which was fine and a kitchen area with a hot plate range, microwave, refrigerator, glasses, dishes, utensils, etc. The bathroom did have the somewhat strange bathtub with no shower enclosure and I did get the floor pretty wet every time. The pool was nicely landscaped and we swam in it a couple times when coming back from beach. There was a sign by the pool which said “Topless Not Authorized” and we saw no topless or nude use at the pool. Never asked anyone about it. There appeared to be 24 hour reception at Alamanda, which was nice. If you wanted beach towels, they simply left out a pile of towels and you could take what you wanted, returning them when you returned from beach. Overall, I give Alamanda very high marks.
Club O remains a great place. The only thing we observed since December 2004 as a change was discontinuance of the water taxi at Watersports. We had used this in the past rather extensively for trips to Green Cay and Pinel. I was told that “new management” had stopped the water taxi service a few weeks before our trip. My source did not seem to think too much of this particular decision or the “new management,” in general. Everything else, however, seemed just as it has been in past. The security guys seemed to recognize us by our second day, exchanged greetings and, if we were in the same place, exchanged a few words. The women working in L’Boutique were very nice, as always. (They told me that one of their biggest sale days in history was when the nude cruise was there earlier this year – they said that they almost were wiped out in some categories of merchandise and still had not replenished completely.) We did not get much at Perch (I often just walk to store to get supply of drinks), but Willie remains an absolute gem and the guy who was there when she was not was friendly enough. We ate at Papagayo’s (yes – I know the formal name is Papagayo Restaurant, but everyone I talk with says “Papagayo’s”) three nights – in a rut as usual – it just is too easy to go there. They provide live music most nights. We thought the food varied from good to excellent; the service was excellent. Paid for first meal cash – don’t remember how much it was. Last two were $55.25 and $68.90 on card, tips given separately in cash. The $68.90 included a diet coke, two glasses of wine, sea scallops, the beef and vegetable skewer, and one dessert; the beef was excellent. We enjoyed the Club O beach, appreciated the security aspects, used the restrooms and shower, shopped at L’Boutique, drank at the Perch, and ate at Papagayo’s. We continue to appreciate Club O being so open and welcoming to day guests such as ourselves. We detected nothing from anyone there that in any way indicated a desire or intent to stop day guests such as us from enjoying their facilities. I do think that there may be some sense of resentment among some against day guests who bring in their own chairs, umbrellas, coolers, and appear to spend no money at all there. I can understand that and might well feel the same way, if I were an owner or operator of the resort. However, I think that the atmosphere remains very welcoming and friendly to all, including the “regulars” who bring in their own stuff every day. (Of course, I can think of at least one couple that may bring their own chairs and umbrella, but whose bar bill at the Perch may keep the place going – not that I know this for a fact but it is a reasonable inference from reports given.) In general, Club O seemed pretty quiet and not very full – I think I read on another report that only 35 units were occupied during part of time we were there and that would seem consistent with what we saw. Certainly, there was no problem getting a chair and umbrella at any time of day when we were there.
Saturday morning we took the Voyager I from Marigot to Gustavia, St. Barths. Our plans changed that morning while on the go and I was not prepared with sufficient cash to pay for Voyager with cash – wanting to make sure that I had plenty for St. Barths itself. It cost 121 Euros, which on the card, turned into about $155, not including any collateral charges for currency conversion that my greedy bank may hit me with. They would have taken $121 in cash. The ride over was great – the seas were only about 2 feet, quite calm. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes over. They serve free soft drinks, putting the pressure on for small tips. When arriving, we first just walked around. We wound up walking to Shell Beach, which is easy walking distance, just to see it. It did not seem to be what we really wanted, so I started talking with a guy sitting at the bar with a drink. I figured any guy sitting at a bar drinking at 11:00 AM on a Saturday morning clearly was a well informed and highly intelligent fellow. He ran through a summary of all the best beaches and recommended that we go over to Baie St. Jean, for the best combination of easy to get to, snorkeling, and beach beauty. We took his advice and caught a taxi to St. Jean, after stopping at a supermarket right on the main drag to get some drinks and food. St. Jean was very nice. The water was crystal clear and there was an excellent reef out in front of Eden Rock, a fancy place on St. Jean. When first heading out into the water from the place where the cab drive dropped us off (essentially next to airport), I saw a plane that seemed to be heading directly at me. This was rather startling as I momentarily wondered why a wheeled plane seemed intent on making a water landing on top of me. I then, of course, remembered that the airport was right there and turned around to see the plane land. After a good day at the beach, the taxi picked us up right on time to get back for the 4:30 ride back on the Voyager. The seas were slightly higher, but the ride back was very comfortable.
Snorkeling and hanging out at Green Cay, as usual, consumed a good part of our time. With Club O Watersports not providing any water taxi, we first used KKO Watersports. It was $10 per person RT. It is hard to get anyone moving to get over there until 10, but they took us over about 9:45. Only problem came when it was 3 and they were supposed to be picking us up – they didn’t. At 3:40, I swam back, leaving all of the gear with the wife. Took about 20 minutes to swim over to Pedros. As I paused to rest on the beach, my wife walked up – they had finally shown up at about 3:50. First time we had not been picked up on time from there. Having experienced how easy the swim was and losing confidence in the watersports guys, we then swam over and back three times in the following days, after establishing our base of operations at Club O. The first two times with our stuff in a back pack and one of our snorkel gear bags. The towels got a little wet but gave us something to lie on - we generally hung out in one of the caves there - fighting off the army of hermit crabs. Our last morning, we swam over early with just some suntan lotion and sunglasses. Came back over about 9:30. Later in morning, we were over at watersports and talked with a security guy hanging out there. We told him we had gone over to Green Cay and back earlier that morning. He said yeah, I’ve seen you guys swim over there last three days. I guess that they do keep an eye on things! We like the security. Even if it is not safer, we think it is, and it feels safer to leave things on beach at Club O. We like Green Cay for good snorkeling and a good place to hang out (although no umbrella – which we used to get from Club O watersports). There rarely are any significant number of people there and we very often have the place to ourselves. I was amazed at the change in Green Cay since December; the large sand spit on the Orient side is gone - and the landscape was considerably changed otherwise; amazing.
I do have to report on a group we saw at Club O while we were there. We never figured out what the relationships of the group were, but the group included about 8 or so very attractive young women, who appeared in their early twenties to just over 30 (one celebrated her 31st birthday at Papagayo’s one night – we got some of the cake). They definitely got some attention, as they lowered the average age considerably and certainly made a joke of any complaint that everyone at Club O is too old or too out of shape, which in my opinion is a stupid complaint at any time. Their dancing definitely livened the place up. On Monday afternoon, most of them walked the beach to Mount Vernon and back, roughly between 4:30 and 5:30. Actually, paraded the beach might be more accurate, although the word “parade” might inaccurately carry a connotation of more costume or uniform than was in sight here. Suffice it to say, they definitively established that Orient Beach is c/o, at least after 4:30. Of course, anyone trying to arrest them and take them away probably would have been subjected to mob violence. In general, with regard to the c/o nature of the beach, the general approach seemed to be that it was c/o before 9 or 9:30 and after 4:30; in other words, when the cruise pax were not there. There seemed to be a few male nude walkers during the middle of the day (I do not know that in recent years I have seen any female nude walkers in middle of day), but not many, I do not think.
Some random notes: we had a good meal at Le Fish Bar in the Village one night, nothing great, but a good meal. We were charged $15 for a taxi from Alamanda to Grand Case; $15 from Grand Case to Marigot; and $18 from Marigot to Alamanda. There seemed to be more dogs on Orient than ever before. On Monday night and Tuesday morning, the wind was down and the bugs were out in force – be prepared with repellent.
Another great trip.
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