SXM Day 7 Saturday June 10, 2006

Got up about 6AM, had some of the French coffee we bought at Grand Marche, and headed to Baie Orient. Took a wrong turn towards Marigot, and headed the wrong direction for a while and had to turn around. Just when I thought I knew my way around......We made it to Orient Beach at about 9:30, and set up camp at the Bikini Beach Bar. We were the first on the beach there, and we rented two blue padded beach chairs and an umbrella for $15.

Perfect weather, sunny with an all-day, strong breeze blowing directly off the ocean. Hardly broke a sweat all day! Despite the wind, the surf was very calm.We had put off going to Orient Beach for fear of not wanting to go anywhere else, and now I can see why all the hype. The beach itself is beautiful, a long white sand strip extending equally in both directions from our vantage point, the Club Orient end to our right thick with the different colored chairs and umbrellas of the many bars and grills. To our left, there was much less activity, and the beach curves toward the ocean to it's end in the distance with a mountainous backdrop. The water is electric blue and there were 3 islands in the distance to provide contrast. You can see beaches on the closest two islands. Hopefully, next time, we'll get to visit at least one of those islands, I would love to see St. Martin from there.

We were more than content to lay back and let the sand gravity take hold. The parade of topless beachgoers made for a welcome diversion and accentuated the beauty of the surroundings. By this time in the vacation, Lynn was using a 15 SPF, and I started pushing the envelop and went with the 8. It was really nice to lay out all day long and not have to get in the water every 45 minutes because of the heat. The breeze was wonderful!

Decided to take a walk towards Club Orient after a few hours, to explore and to get some sun on my back. I walked past all of the great places I had seen and read about on TTOL. I would love to do a pub crawl down the beach, hitting a bunch of the bars to check them all out and find some favorites - looks like I've started a new "to do" list for next time...........! I walked all the way to the rocky outcropping that separates Club Orient from the rest of the beach, and decided to go all the way to the end of the beach. It was a somewhat odd feeling being the only textiled person in sight, but no biggy. The morning stroll confirmed all the great things I had read about Orient. You could spend your entire vacation there, and experience something different every day. There are a lot of places I would still like to see on St. Martin, but we'll allot more time for Orient Beach next time.

After the long walk, I had worked up a little sweat, so I took a dip, and headed back to the chair. Talked to Lynn about what I had seen, and at about 1:00 we went to the Bikini for lunch. The Beach Bar is situated under a grove of palm trees that provide enough shade to drop the temperature at least 15 degrees. It was very tempting to just hang out there and enjoy the view, but there were rays to be copped......... :>) I had shrimp and scallops in a sweet Thai sauce with shredded veggies and rice - VERY GOOD! I'd never had anything quite like the Thai sauce. Lynn had what was essentially Happy Family like you would order from your local Chinese resturant.

Back to the beach.........ahhhhh! Took an afternoon walk to the other end of the beach. Passed Coco Beach which sits right next to a little rocky hill with all kinds of flora, including some really colorful cacti. Continued on past the Mystery Building, and Boo Boo Jam, somewhere I'd like to spend some time in the future. When I got to the end of the beach, I took a dip and noticed how much closer the island facing St. Martin seemed - gotta go there next time! Back to the Bikini and major lounging, happy hour, and rum punches - man, life was tough!

We headed out at about 5:00, and the trip back to the Flamingo was a breeze. I was hell-bent to get a picture of the Rum Jumbie billboard at the Marigot, Phillipsburg, Simpson Bay 3-way intersection that was generally controlled chaos. Lynn tried to snap a shot as I maneuvered the left, but our quirky camera snapped a little slow. I don't know what it was, but that billboard represented a lot of the flavor of the island in my mind. We'll get it next time.......

Back at the Flamingo, I doctored up the rum punch while Lynn showered and then we hit the beach to take in the best sunset we saw while at the resort. We tried to figure out where we wanted to go out to eat, and hit the strip at Simpson Lagoon. Found a parking place in a construction area and walked by Halsey's ( looked good but dead ), Lee's ( a possibility ), the Boathouse, where we had originally set out for ( but the lame one man reggae band would have made digestion impossible ), and finally, The Wharf. A guy out front greeted us and said, "just come in and take a look at our dining room, the most beautiful on the island!" So we did, and it was very nice, indeed. Not crowded at all, 2-man reggae band, pretty good. Tastefully done decor, on the lagoon, table on the water looking out at the lights on the mountains. Somehow, we didn't expect much but both of our meals were very good. Lynn had shrimp in a creamy garlic sauce and I had blackened Mahi Mahi. We watched a little Hispanic girl who took turns learning to dance with her two female adult companions - very cute. They gave us a shot of banana spiced rum to top off the meal, a nice touch..........Back to the studio, exhausted, with a full belly after a full day in the sun, in bed by 10:30.