Another wonderful trip to paradise for two baby boomers in their early 50’s!
We used frequent flier miles for two tickets through Charlotte to SXM, arriving November 30 and leaving December 7. No problems with flights. Sandy Molloy arranged the stay at Alamanda Resort on Orient, the phone from Sharon Harris, and the car from AAA. All worked out great and, as always, I recommend Sandy’s services.
Renting a Car from AAA: I was conflicted about renting a car because we always have used taxis on SXM and that worked well enough. The stories about theft and other problems also scared us a little. But, having rented a car this time, despite some early problems in finding my way around (OK – so I managed to get lost on a small island a couple times), and despite the horrendous condition of some of the streets, I have joined those convinced that renting a car is the way to go. I finally decided to just ask Sandy to arrange whatever she thought best and I did not spend any time or worry about it further. She set us up with AAA. A nice young man met us as we exited the airport (our luggage came out in record time) and he immediately drove us to the AAA lot. I did not catch his name and he took off, back to airport, before I had a chance to thank him properly. At the lot, we met Myra, who put us in a Suzuki Ignis. Although some have commented (correctly) on the limited power of this car, we found it perfectly fine. Plus, it was easier navigating narrow roads and it was quite easy to park in small spaces. I would not want a bigger car. The rental cost was $162 for the week; to refill the car with gas before turning it back in cost us $26 (it was about $4.50 per gallon at Shell station near airport). So, we had total transportation cost of $182 for week. Taxi fares with tips would have been at least $300 if we had done the same travel and the convenience of the car made things much easier. One concern with the car turned out fine. The first morning we were in SXM, when we went out to car, we noticed that the right rear wheel was missing a hubcap – we thought it had come off when we had the car because neither of us remembered missing a hubcap when we rented car. When we turned in the car, I told Myra about the missing hubcap and the fact that I did not think I had done anything to cause it to come off and thought maybe it had been stolen. Myra said to wait a minute – checked her records – and told us that the car had not had the hubcap when she gave it to us. We had not even noticed the lack of hubcap when getting car – even though Myra had me walk around the car with her to look it over when we got it. I obviously was dozing through that. A less honest person might have simply gone with my assumption that I had lost it and charged us, but Myra obviously is not that kind of person. I certainly can recommend AAA from our experience. We followed the rule of NEVER leaving anything in car. When we stopped at the supermarket (Grand Marche) after our arrival on the way to Alamanda, the wife stayed with the car. We simply never left anything in the car. We quickly learned another rule: NEVER drive through Phillipsburg if you are not going to Phillipsburg and stay as far away from Phillipsburg as possible on all trips. When going to TTOL party on Saturday evening at Los Gauchos we violated this rule for the second and last time and paid for it big time.
The Phone from Sharon: we picked up the phone from Sharon at Royal Palm after arrival and it worked great all over island. With the changes that have occurred, we had great service at Alamanda, even in the room. Last year, I had to stand on my toes leaning out over the balcony to have a decent connection – this year the service was as good as my cell at home. Next time, I will plan to stay in closer touch with things here and stay longer – at least that is my plan. The phone was $30 – including the $15 air time - and I bought another $10 card and added that time. Incoming calls are free so I had time to burn for the week. Sharon is extremely friendly and helpful; I cannot imagine that there is any easier way to go regarding a phone. I again did not use email all week. I learned that Alamanda does indeed have wireless for which they charge $35 (or is it euro’s?) a week for the access. I talked with one guy using it about range and he indicated that he had trouble connecting in his room, but had no trouble in lobby or patio. Next time I will bring the laptop if I return to Alamanda – also part of my stay longer plan. Alamanda has one computer work station in the lobby that you can use for a reasonable price, but I forget details and it was usually being used by someone else when I would have wanted to use it.
Alamanda Resort: we again enjoyed our stay at the Alamanda. The folks working reception were helpful and friendly. Housekeeping was very good. I tipped our maid $20 on our last morning and she almost had a heart attack – I would guess that she does not get many tips. After I gave her the tip, she asked about when we were leaving and made it clear that she did not care if we made the 12 Noon check out time – “take your time.” The front desk clerk also seemed pretty relaxed about the Noon check out time. As it turned out, in any event, we checked out right at Noon – had the weather been better that morning, we might have tried checking out later. At Alamanda, there was no problem parking right outside the front door every day. The included continental breakfasts were fine – fruit cup, bread/pastry, tea/coffee, orange juice – quick and friendly service. We had breakfast at Alamanda every morning except on Monday, when we were on Celine, and on Wednesday, our last morning, when we ate at Baywatch. I added the bacon and eggs ($5.50 more) to my breakfast each morning at Alamanda. Breakfast was served between 7:30 and 10:30 a.m. They have tightened up on their towel control – which they needed to do because we observed some people abusing the easy availability of the towels that existed in May this year. You cannot blame them for not wanting people to take a bunch of towels and then leave them on beach. They now give you cards – which you turn in for the towels and then get back when you turn the towels in. If you wanted more than two, you could just ask and it was not a problem with us – not sure what “official” policy on number of towels is or whether, if any policy exists, it is sometimes enforced. The “Topless is Not Authorized” sign is still at pool, although pretty covered up with plants. We spent almost zero time in pool area and neither saw any topless use nor asked about it. I find it very hard to believe anyone would care about topless, and have read here that topless use occurs there, but I do not know the story myself. Our only problem at Alamanda was that there was no water at times on first two days. This was not an Alamanda problem but a general problem in the area. On Thursday evening, we were a little annoyed when the guy did his chlorine shock treatment to pool just before we were going there to take a dip when we could not shower – but, oh well. Alamanda has the free chairs and umbrellas at KKO – in the “ghetto section” as some of guests have called it, but we never went there. In the bathroom they have put in a rod and shower curtain to keep the water in the tub – good idea! I did not flood the floor of the bathroom with every shower this time. The little kitchen area has hot plate stove and microwave, but we never used them.
General - Club O: Club O remains a great place and we again did not perceive even the slightest hint that we were not welcome as day guests. To the contrary, everyone is very friendly and welcoming. I got drinks and snacks from the Store every day we were there and the Store personnel were very friendly as always. One woman in the Store took note on several occasions of the mask marks on my face and chatted with me about the snorkeling of the day; she herself was a regular swimmer/snorkeller. We walked down to Club O every day from Alamanda and therefore had no parking issue – I do not think they implemented the new policy of charging for parking until after we had left, in any event. The beach seemed slightly narrower from what it was in May this year, but no significant difference that we could see. There still are no water taxi services from Watersports.
Wednesday Night: we ate at Le Fish Bar – had some very good Salmon with pasta. Diet Coke and glass of Chardonnay. $30 total bill with tip. My Royal Caribbean water wallet which I have used for years broke when I opened it to pay the bill and we went over to an shop in Village to try to find a replacement water wallet. Shop had one of bigger square water wallets – which was a piece of junk and did not work very well. Oh, well – people will accept pretty damp money if it is all you have – although I find it kind of embarrassing to hand people wet bills.
Thursday: I walked on beach every morning very early, starting no later than 6, every morning except Monday, Celine day, and it was an abbreviated walk on Wednesday. Sometimes wife would join me after a time, sometimes not. After walk, we would have breakfast. This morning, as is our normal practice on Orient, we set up our base camp at Club O and then swam over to Green Cay, taking various stuff with us. The changes to Green Cay are always interesting. A large sand spit is developing again at southwest corner. We brought over water shoes this first trip and walked along eastern beach to ruined lighthouse at North end of Cay before trying any snorkeling. Although water did not look too rough, the water was very sandy and murky, very poor visibility, and I was very disappointed at how bad the snorkeling was. Later in day I talked with the woman at L’Boutique, who told me that visibility was very poor throughout bay and had been for a few days because of water action. Part of my bad attitude that I developed on this day about snorkeling at Green Cay was that cruise pax were coming over in groups of 10 on a banana boat and snorkeling. They would snorkel briefly and then come onto Cay for a drink, before heading back on banana boat. They occupied our usual cave hangout. Unlike our last couple trips, we not only were not alone, but felt inundated with loud people. A very nice couple that had come over on an inflatable kayak, which they had brought as checked luggage, and was rather interesting as a kayak, got disgusted with the crowd of cruise pax and left earlier than they otherwise would have. We ate lunch on Green Cay and then fairly early in afternoon swam back to Club O. We ate at Le Piment in Village and had a good salad and pizza. Total bill was again about $30.
Friday: Anguilla day. We drove to Marigot, parked easily near ferry terminal, and took the next ferry to Anguilla. You sign up at one window , showing your passport and getting a boarding pass. You then go over two windows and pay the departure tax of $3 per person. When boarding, you give the fellow your boarding pass and then, on board, you pay the $12 per person fare. Arriving in Anguilla, you go through immigration and customs, which amounts to nothing more than showing your passport and stating that you are just there for the day, if you are obvious tourists such as we are. Coming back from Anguilla to Marigot, the routine is slightly different in that you pay the $12 person fare when signing up at the window at the terminal, not on board. You then get the boarding pass which you use to board. You also move to another window to pay the $3 person departure tax from Anguilla. So, each way, it is $15 per person. The trip is between 20 and 30 minutes. When we arrived in Anguilla, it was raining. We decided to go ahead and get a taxi to Shoal Bay East. When we got to Shoal Bay East it was raining and the water was very rough. The taxi driver said that although we could expect the rain to stop and the weather to clear up by 1, if not by Noon, the snorkeling would not be good all day. So, we took a quick look around the beach to at least see it (and it is a beautiful place) and then headed back to Rendezvous Bay on opposite side, which taxi driver thought was best choice to get good conditions for snorkelling. He dropped us off next to Great House Resort. The taxi driver charged us $22 for each ride – the one out to Shoal Bay and the one back to Rendezvous Bay, for a total of $44, which I thought was a little unfair, but that was the deal, so I paid it without complaining to the driver. It continued to rain for a while at Rendezvous Bay but soon stopped and it was very pretty there. We walked southeast along beach, past Cuisinart to the point and snorkeled there; there was a good reef and we had some good snorkeling. Certainly, it was much better than Green Cay the day before, which had been really lousy. We ate lunch on the beach with stuff we had brought with us, getting some drinks from a beach bar next to Cuisinart. We had arranged a 3:30 pm pickup, but got to spot well before 3. So, we went to the Great House restaurant and ordered some drinks, inviting a woman finishing lunch to join us, whom we had seen out snorkeling by herself in same area we were in. She was quite a traveler and very interesting. The taxi driver walked up to us about 3:15 and I invited him to join us and bought him a drink. The Great House Resort seemed a very charming place. We chatted til about 3:30 and then gifting our almost full water bottle to our new friend, we headed back to the ferry terminal, where we caught the next ferry. We had been snacking all day and were not too hungry, so we went to Le Piment again in Village and had a small dinner.
Saturday: Dawn Beach Day: after the morning routine, we drove to Dawn beach, where we parked at Mr. Busby’s. We walked over to Ms. B’s and got chairs and an umbrella – he just charged us $10 for both chairs and the umbrella. I quickly learned (which I had forgotten) that they did not cook on Saturdays because it was so quiet. Darn! Mutter, mutter. So, we had lunch at Mr. Busby’s and had some good burgers. Looking out at the water from the beach chairs or from Mr. Busby’s it was a gorgeous day, sunny and clear. The water was a little rough but the snorkeling was OK and the reef seemed in pretty good shape. We had not been to Dawn in some time and it was strange to see the open area where the hotel is going to go and the condo’s going up behind Ms. B’s and Mr. Busby’s. We still remember going to the Dawn Beach Hotel in the early 90’s (on port of call stops off cruise ships) with our daughters, who liked the pool and the ducks, not necessarily in that order. What a different place it was then! We missed Scavenger’s, a later addition to beach, which had been one of our favorite beach bars and the only one from which we still have t-shirts in good condition. After a stop at Alamanda to shower and change, we headed over to Los Gauchos for the TTOL party.
TTOL Party: WOW! What some people are willing to do for relative strangers. Kathy, Vicki, and Liesa are remarkable people and we thank them so very much for their work and their kindness. The name tags were incredible. The food was incredible. I, as usual, showed no shame in making a large meal out of the hors d’oeuvres. We enjoyed meeting a number of folks and it was interesting to put some faces to names. I would have liked to think that we would go to eat at Los Gauchos and repay the kindness, but in reality we are very unlikely to go over to the Dutch side from the French side to eat at night – we never have, yet. I can say, though, that the food was excellent. No dinner was necessary this night except for Sandy’s bottle of wine that was there for us when we got back to the room. It was good, thanks, Sandy.
Sunday: Baie Rouge and Cupecoy: we planned to go to Pinel, but when we went over to ferry dock to check it out around 9 (it does not begin running until 10), we saw how rough it looked and the guy who rented out kayaks, with whom we chatted briefly, told us that he expected lousy weather. We figured if the guy trying to rent out kayaks was admitting it was going to be lousy, it probably was. So, we headed over to Baie Rouge, instead. Baie Rouge was definitely calmer, but the water was a little murky. We got chairs and an umbrella, just before it started raining. It continued to rain for about 15 minutes. After the rain stopped, we swam and snorkeled over to and through Devil’s Hole, enjoying the trip through the Hole a couple times. Although it looked like it might be difficult to swim through, it really was quite easy once you knew that you could float over anything in the Hole. We rested on the small beach just past the Hole, to which there is no land access. The rock formations were very interesting – very stratified. After getting back to our chairs, we tried walking on beach but it is not a good walking beach and we gave that up pretty quick. We then headed to Raymond’s for lunch – what a lunch! We shared a salad and I got the ribs, which were great. Even better, it came with beans and rice, which I love, and other tasty items. One of the best meals I have had in SXM! I very highly recommend Raymond’s. After I could stand up, we took a quick dip and then headed over to Cupecoy. We parked near the hole in the wall and walked into the North part of beach – how depressing! Even knowing nothing about construction, it seemed blatantly obvious to any sentient human that the developer building there could not care less about the beach. It just looks absolutely horrible. The effect of seeing in person how it looks was pretty bad. Just unbelievable and viscerally shocking. We walked on over to the other part of the beach and got an umbrella and a couple chairs from Danny, whom I met for the first time and is indeed very nice. We chatted with him briefly when arriving and when leaving. I made my biggest mistake of week in few minutes after arriving, when I stepped hard on a jagged rock next to one of chairs and managed to do some damage to my left foot. Bothered me some the rest of the time in SXM but I was able to ignore it pretty well and was still able to do my morning walks. Getting my dress shoes on the first day back home was not pretty – I walked around in office with one shoe off all day – thank goodness I had nothing out of office. Sunday night we ate at Papagayo’s and, as has always been the case for us, had a great meal. The new look was interesting – I think they are going for a “classier” look – the most obvious thing being the removal of the parrots and the painted signs over the bar. I thought it looked better myself, although I hope they did not pay a decorator any real money to get the look they got. Again, as always, when the waiter asked me our number, I simply stated that we were not guests there and would pay cash – dollars. He responded that that was fine and showed not the slightest hesitation about it. Interestingly, on this night, most of the people in Papgayo’s were fully clothed. There was a table of French folks, who seemed perhaps to be two or three families that included athletes – what kind I do not know. They all were fully clothed, as well as a number of other tables. It made no difference to us, but it was kind of different. I got the skewer, the wife got the scallops – both were good. Service was excellent. This night and other nights we walked from Alamanda to Papagayo’s and then walked back after dinner. Although beach is dark, it is not pitch black. We felt completely safe making this walk – certainly less stress than driving though Marigot at night, with the horrible street conditions and the people crossing the street without regard to traffic. We never saw anyone while walking the beach at night that seemed the least suspicious. This is not to say that you need not be careful everywhere, but I really think that some concerns expressed about walking that part of Orient Beach at night are very much overstated.
Monday: Celine: Amy (ameless) had arranged for a Celine cruise on this Monday; $75 per person. Amy and her gang are all super people and we were very fortunate to be able to join them and all the others who came along for this cruise. Being able to pretend that we were close to Amy and her gang in age was very nice. Thank you, Amy, for arranging this and letting us join you! The drive over to the boat from the Alamanda was quite easy that early in the morning and we drove around a little in the Simpson Bay area, looking around, before getting to Turtle Pier about 7:15. Once through the drawbridge near Marigot the tough part of the cruise came with the roughly 2 and one-half hour cruise to Tintamarre. It was rough and one heck of a ride. I have been on a lot of boats in a lot of conditions (nothing really terrible) but the ride to Tintamarre on Celine was the most pitching, rolling, and yawing, I ever have experienced. I actually enjoyed it briefly, but the fun did not last. For the last fifteen minutes or so before getting into the shelter of Tintamarre, I did not think I would actually throw up, but given the increasing suicidal ideation that was only minor comfort. Fortunately, it was worth it, because after that ride, everything was very enjoyable. We snorkelled and had a good time, although it was rather rough. We walked around while some of others did the mud thing and then hung out on beach and in the water while waiting for the lunch bell. Lunch was great, with barbeque ribs, chicken, seafood something and other good stuff. After Tintamarre, we went to Creole Rock, but it looked too rough for good snorkeling and I think it was unanimous to just go on to Happy Bay. We enjoyed Happy Bay for awhile before heading on back. We had never been to Happy Bay before and enjoyed seeing it. Neil and his son, Graham, were great hosts and it was a very enjoyable day. I strongly recommend taking a cruise on the Celine! After the cruise, we went to the SSBB where everyone from Celine (I think everyone) went for burgers. We had never been to SSBB before and we thought the burgers were good. If you do not use a waitress, the system is to order the burgers and pay for them at the bar and then the bartender gives you a ticket with the order written on it to take over to the cooks. We only waited about 15 minutes or so before being able to get our burgers. Service was not a problem, at least not for us.
Tuesday: Green Cay: after the morning routine, we set up the base camp at CO and then swam over to Green Cay. Despite some strong currents encountered in getting over, the snorkeling along the Cay this day was excellent; visibility was very good. My attitude about the reef there improved greatly over what I had thought the previous Thursday and we had a good time. With the currents, the wife did have a hard time getting over to Cay from beach wearing her back pack and I did get a little concerned when she did not show up after I arrived and I could not be sure if I could see her out there or not. Met a nice couple who had kayaked over from Watersports, I started talking with them, and his eyesight was better than mine (mine not being all that good with my contacts instead of glasses) and he could tell it was the wife out in the water heading over. I swam back out and brought the backpack in. Without that, which gets very heavy after a few minutes in water, she had no problem. The banana boat people were there at Green Cay again, but they left well before 1 p.m. and after that, it was very pleasant on the cay. Dinner was at Papagayo’s again this night and we had another great meal. As I had overtipped the waiter on Sunday night (I enjoy overtipping on vacation in SXM at places I enjoy and I don’t care about the service included not included issue), he filled my wine glass to the very top and treated us very well. The sights this night were very interesting, reminding us of the group at CO in May that included a number of college students (I learned later that they were a college group with a professor) who lowered the average age big time. Two young women seated at the table next to us this night were models, discussing preparation for a photo shoot of an interesting nature, who were what one might call extremely attractive, if one were to notice such things. Their open discussion of certain surgery they had had was rather interesting, as well. We agreed that even if not real, they were spectacular.
Wednesday: Last Day: this morning, my foot was bothering me, so I just walked down to Baywatch to have some tea and get a bottle of water. I had thought that Baywatch was “open” but Andy told me that although somewhat open he did not really open until 7:45 or so and until then I could just come on in and get my own tea. I was a little slow figuring out how to find all the stuff and make my tea and Andy was really nice about it, patiently showing me where everything was and getting me set. He really is a very nice guy. I sat at a table out front with my tea and watched for the wife who was going to be walking down the beach. When she came along we went on over to CO and then swam over to Green Cay. It was extremely rough on this morning, with very strong cross currents between the beach and the Cay. Even without the backpack, the wife had a tough time getting over and it was a bit of a swim for me. We both saw a spotted ray on the way over, which compensated for the currents. We did not even try to snorkel along the Cay, but just rested a bit on the beach and in the water, and then swam back. Swimming back was much easier as the current was with us far more this direction. We then ate breakfast at Baywatch – which was great! After that, we went back over to CO and chatted with various folks before having to leave. Recognized some folks we had met last December – some visit the same week every year – and we very much enjoyed visiting briefly with them as well as those we met this December, all very nice people who seem willing to put up with us. Got back to the Alamanda, got ready to go, checked out around Noon, and headed out. We drove first to the Royal Palm and turned in phone; we then drove to the airport, parked in lot, and checked in. We checked in about 1:10 p.m. or so for our 4:45 p.m. flight and no one else was there. Great way to do it! US Air collected the departure tax of $30 each so we did not need to go to window. We then drove to Uncle Harry’s for lunch – having forgotten that Uncle Harry’s does not open until 4. Oh, well. We then went to Turtle Pier Restaurant for lunch, which was good. After lunch, we drove over to AAA lot, found Myra, and turned in the car. Myra then drove us to airport. We looked around shops at airport and bought a few trinkets and a bottle of rum. Thought about paying the $20 per person to be with the rich folks, but it was probably no more than a hour before boarding at that point and we figured we would just hang out with our own kind. The flight back was uneventful, but getting back to real life has really, really sucked.
.
