We just returned from a 2 week trip to St Martin and had a wonderful time. The weather was great and the water warm.
I am not good at long reports but there are several thing I want to share.
Our flight from PHL on USAir on Sat. the 28th was overbooked and we offered to be bumped. I do know to make sure the voucher for the free ticket states that it is good for the Caribbean but, I did not think to ask before volunteering if we would have confirmed seats on the flight they were putting us on. Well as we were to find out they could not confirm us a seat on the connecting flight from Charlotte the next day. But all ended up fine and USAir redeemed themselves because after asking them to find us another flight we ended up 1st Class on a flight at 5:30 p.m. Sat. to San Juan with an overnight hotel at the SJ airport (breakfast lunch & dinner vouchers and 2 phone cards good for long distance calls) and a 7:40 a.m. Caribbean Sun flight to St Maartin on Sun. which arrived at 9:10 a.m.
We rented from Michael at Unity and he and his people are always excellent. When we realized that we would not be there Sat. we called his 800 # and he answered and told us everything was fine and he would meet us upon our arrival, and of course he did.
We stay in Anse Marcel at les Cottages de Lonvilliers and enjoy meeting the guest from America and Europe (mostly France). The management and guests are always great. They have weekly dinner party for the guests catered by "Le Taitu" in Mont Vernon which was great.
The news in Anse Marcel is that the Meridian has been sold, as I am sure you already know. It will close early in 2006 (although by the number of guests it is pratically closed now). It will reopen, as a Radison (I believe) at the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007, as a luxery hotel. Le Domaine which has been undergoing renovations for about a year will reopen December 1st 2005.
We swam at Anse Marcel more this trip because we pratically had the beach to ourselves. Also we went to Orient where the water was rough and a strong undertow near Boo Boo Jam and Happy Bay. We rented a kayak to snorkel at Creole Rock. The water is very clear there and we saw more fish than ever before.
We enjoyed meals at our usual restaurants:
Yvettes in French Quarter (Love the island flavor)
La Frigate in Oyster Pond (Very Good)
Au Grain de Sel in Cul de Sac (moved this summer down the road 200 yards to where the "Cotonier" used to be. It is bigger and has parking. (Very Good)
Villa Pizza in Cul de Sac (Very Good)
Calmos Cafe in Grand Case (Had tapas & wine on the beach)
La Case de Rhum in Grand Case (Excellent) Our first time here. It is next to the Lolo's and you can sit on the porch overlooking the beach). This will now be a regular for us.
There is to be a new restaurant in the loctaion that used to be Picalo Cafe in Cul de Sac. We talked to the owner who was working on the reconstruction. He said it will open November 25th as the "Bistro Keys" and include a dinner restaurant, cigar club and wine bar. The owner said the menu will be French, Creole, Asian & Thai. His name is Bobo (Spelling ?) and he said he also owns the Tap 5 in Orient.
Traffic seemed heavier than usual on the French Side near Marigot. A lot was due to some utility work on the hill into Marigot from Grand Case. But traffic in Marigot itself was very heavy just about every day.
Beacuse we were there on St Martin's Day, November 11th, we went to the celebration in Philipsburg. The island residence know how to have fun. It was great to see so many people eating, dancing and playing music.
Well that all for now. We look forward to our next trip in March.
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