This is my second go at writing up some observations from our trip 07/13 – 07/27th. My first attempt timed out and everything disappeared. Bummer!

Rather than a detailed trip report, I thought I would simply give you some observations we made during our summer sojourn to SXM.

Observation #1 – We flew Continental via DTW to EWR to SXM. This was a first for us on this airline. It is true that they are an on time airlines. Sailed through Customs and “miracle of miracles”, our luggage was not last off the plane ….it usually is. Myra was there from AAA to pick us up and we headed off to do the paperwork ….glad we were heading away from the airport, as traffic was backed up to the old Hot Tomato’s.

#2 – Met a newlywed couple Jerry & Melody from San Diego and offered to take them to Boo Boo Jam’s with us Friday evening. Not sure initially how they would feel about “hanging with the locals” … but they had some fun with the music and “hot” dancing. We had headed down to Boo Boo’s at 9:30 p.m. ….things really don’t get hopping until 11 p.m. ….by that time we are usually pulling down the covers …. So it was an early night.

#3 – There has been a lot of negativity directed towards SSBB. We managed to hit it Saturday & Sunday to watch Percy Rankin & his Bonfire Band play his usual “jammin” tunes. Service was good and prices even better as one of our friends, a “local” bought the drinks ….they get drinks for ½ price. Finally, a good idea to bring the locals back to this watering hole.

#4 – For those of you who travel from Oyster Pond to Orient, there is a newly paved road from the small bridge to the corner of Orleans.

#5 – The “dreaded” road to Club O ….I laugh when people write and say it’s worse than ever …to me it simply hasn’t changed in 5 years …. But hold onto your horses …. A pile of “something” was dumped into the big hole by the main road to fill the largest pothole, alb eight with a few beer bottles thrown in for good measure ….mind you it did take 4-5 days before it was smoothed down … beer bottles simply pushed off to the side of the road. I honestly think that the ride behind the beach bars over to Bikini is far more bumpier than the Club O road …I have gotten the Club O road down to an exact science, complete with the best zig zags. The rest of the road was graded during the week too!

#6 – Hit the Perch Friday a.m. hoping to see Willie, but alas she was not there ….sick with what one of the locals told me was the “dengue fever”. This is from mosquitoes and causes your muscles and joints severe pain. Most of the locals said they have had it for at least 2 weeks. The French side does spray for mosquitoes, but ironically it was people who live on the French side that I had talked with that had contacted it. Willie was then off to the Dominican Republic for vacation. I was very interested in checking with her to see if she received a cd (new Shaggy) that I had burned for her and sent in the mail. I had promised to send it to her after our visit in March.

#7 – No two meals are the same …. I had grouper on back to back nights and can officially confirm they can be different ….first at Skipjack’s with a Creole sauce, then at Halsey’s with the blue crab and lobster sauce. Owner at Halsey’s told me two interesting things …#1 they are now buying their lamb from Colorado (said it is cheaper and tastes great) and #2 .. Grouper is being over fished and they are having a hard time getting it …I hope that this is not the case as it is one great tasting fish!

#8 – Shame looking down at Mt. Vernon …it looks so forlorn sitting there empty. There are some people staying there, probably to make sure it is not vandalized or looted.

#9 – Gas prices were pretty good at the Gess station in Orleans. Alain from AAA owns this station and prices were 95 euros a litre with a 1=1 exchange. Someone had mentioned that SXM gets its oil from Venezuela. Prices are only locked in until October 31st though, so who knows how much it will be for you Nov/Dec visitors.

#10 – Someone had written a few weeks back that they thought Friars Bay smelled of raw sewage. We second that opinion and promptly left. The road that leads to Friar’s Bay is very bad at the present time.

#11 – We went to Cupecoy for the first and probably last time … there is very limited beach, but it was the famous “cliff boys” that were most annoying. Probably about 6 hanging around which outnumbered the people on the beach. There is a growing number of “beach boys” at Club O these days, but no one seems to be bothered as much with their presence, maybe because of the security guards.

#12 – Martine at La Fregate now has a gentleman waiting around at the end of the evenings to give her a little security. I am sure this is because of her mugging a while back. If you love pasta carbonnara, this is the place to have it at. Delightful

#13 – We had to hit Yvette’s a couple of times of course. Corinthia, her niece Sharmalee and her uncle Felix are just the greatest. Felix shared his Creole sauce recipe with me, so I am hoping to duplicate it next week. Two of my favourites here, are the Conch and dumplings and of course the Red Snapper pan fried with an onion topping. Finished off the meal with his coconut tart.

#14 – Robberies from cars are still occurring. A nice couple from New Orleans or is it NawOrleans??? had just arrived a week ago Wednesday and went to the SSBB for a drink and had all their luggage lifted from their jeep. He did admit that it was very stupid on his part as they simply pushed in the plastic cover and took everything. I really felt sorry for them as this is no way to start off a vacation. Had he stayed at Club O he probably wouldn’t have had to replace as much ….????

#15 – The Island is still having problems with water/hydro. While it occurs more on the French side, it seems that the Dutch side doesn’t want to be left out so they too are having similar problems. The new desalination plant is projected to be finished by September (never sure which September though) and this will supposedly end these water problems.

#16 – Banana’s officially closed a week ago Friday. Rent was doubled, so the owner simply closed up shop.

#17 – The garbage on the beach at Club O is terrible. I do not remember seeing so many plastic glasses, straws, and cigarette butts mixed into the sand like this summer. To all you smokers, I am sure many of us would appreciate if you could butt your cigarettes into a container to be thrown out.

#18 – Shrimpy’s … our new favourite hangout. Contessa had mentioned this a few weeks/months??? back, and we agree. We had discovered it last year, but managed to drop in for their $3.50 colada’s and their “crumbed” and fried shrimp meal. Next time the coconut shrimp are on our list.

#19 – Continental pays the departure tax even when you use an agency such as Hotwire. That was an added bonus …an extra $60 in my pocket that I had expected to pay.

#20 – Best laughs of the 2 weeks ….the “Running Man” ….I’m sure many of you have seen him there. He hangs out by the garbage can near the Club O sign …drops his towel and sprints into the water when no one is near. He then sprints out of the water doing a little hop up onto the beach and quickly picks up his towel and wraps it around. He then proceeds to comb his hair, squirt a gob of suntan lotion on his back, sometimes leaving it as a gob, other times smoothing it out with his flip flops and sprinting back into the water ….he does this all day. After a while we were getting evil thoughts such as moving his towel or running over and standing in his way on his way out of the water. Glad we showed some restraint here …very weird!!!!
Laugh #2 came courtesy of my wife … a fellow from down the other end of the beach always made a habit of walking down to Club O to show off his brightly coloured g-string jock straps. One day he had on this royal blue get up. My wife said to him that she thought it was nice and matched his eye colour…he was wearing sunglasses at the time and didn’t get it.

#21 – Best part of the trip was meeting “old” friends and making “new” ones. We met up with Ron & Gina and their friends Jerry & Eileen. We just had a blast with them whether on the beach, out to dinner or at the casino. They are truly great people. Our “new” friends were the famous Tony & Cheri who we met one night at Happy Hour at the Dinghy Dock. These are truly two of the nicest people you could ever meet. We had lots of fun chatting with them and swimming at Captain Oliver’s. These friendships are the memories you lock away for ever.

As a side note, we too managed to get caught up in the stormy weather on our return home. We made it to EWR where we were told that our flight to DTW was cancelled. We were told to stand in the transfer line which looked similar to the lines I stood in at U of Michigan football games. I guesstimated that it would take 2 hours to get to the head of the line ….I was wrong …it was 3 hours, only to be told what I already knew that our flight was rebooked for the next day and here were two hotel and meal vouchers. We finally got to be at 11:30 p.m. only to have to be up at 4:30 a.m. to head back to the airport. Whew! I guess we can live with this hiccup …although I’m not sure I would have been this happy had this occurred in March.

Hopefully, this info was useful or amusing to at least a few of you out there. We always seem to get something out of everyone’s trip report that makes our next visit to SXM even better.

Susan and Rick