Trip report Part 4
Thursday, July 6
Thursday was a relaxation day. We caught up on drafting our trip reports and then went to Ric’s Place for lunch and the Internet connection. Larry had a half order of the Nachos Grande and Gretchen had the Chicken Salad. Both were worth a return visit. Larry’s mouth was watering for one of the desserts (Darn if I can remember what it was) but they were out of that. We settled for the Banana Chocolate Cake which was good but not outstanding.
We returned to our Condo and read and killed time until the TTOL party at BBB. We had a great time visiting with lots of folks and enjoyed some sample slices of BBB Pizza. Thank you, Berne and Gary, for hosting a great party. The name tags they gave us were beach appropriate stickers of mermaids and crabs with real name and TTOL screen name listed below which was helpful in identifying people. Gretchen thought it especially appropriate that Larry got a crab! We ordered two of the BBB pizzas to take back to our unit for dinner. Larry ordered the Buccaneer (everything on it) and Gretchen got the Vegetarian. The Pizzas lasted us for three days. BBB Pizzas are a thin crust Pizza. Gretchen says she will be more than willing to get another. Larry found them to be Okay but not his favorite style of Pizza and will keep looking
Friday
Friday morning began with a late breakfast in followed by a trip to the Simpson Bay Pharmacy where Gretchen continued her search for the perfect Sunscreen. She says she found it: A Sunscreen with an SPF of 60 and added protection for sun sensitive skin. Gretchen has been using a combination of sunscreen and skin treatment to treat a sun caused rash. This sunscreen appears to offer the protection that lets her avoid the skin lotion.
From the drug store, we made a quick trip to Orient beach where we spent the day in the sun, leaving a little earlier than normal for a visit to the Grand Marche to stock up on groceries and get dessert for our contribution to our friends’ B building BBQ.
Dinner with friends was on the balcony of the upper B building at Pelican where we shared a home cooked dinner equal to any of the finest restaurants. The dinner of chips with dip, Salad, Grilled steak, baked potatoes, chicken, ribs, Fruit topped cake and Italian Pistachio ice cream left everyone sated and happy.
Saturday
Saturday was a quiet beach day. After a breakfast of leftover Pizza and yogurt, we were off to Orient beach. Gretchen decided to have the Perch chicken lunch but refused to share so I had to order the ribs. Both were very good. I like their ribs better than Lidos which were OK but pre-cooked and stored so they tend to be a bit dried out. I found the Perch ribs much more copious, fresh, moist and tender. The lunches at the Perch continue to be quite good, though they have replaced the red cabbage and onion salad they included last year with a cup of cole slaw which does not have the same ambiance.
After that good lunch, we chose to relax with a light dinner in.
Sunday
It’s moving day at Pelican. We own three weeks, one week in one unit and two more in the unit next door. The move is fairly painless. At 8:15 in the morning, they delivered new keys to the unit next door and instructions that we can move between 10:30 ad 11. At about 10:45, we hauled all of our stuff next door and chatted with the housekeeping person who was still cleaning our new unit. We relaxed in our old unit while she finished cleaning the new one and then we shifted rooms. We organized a few things and then it was off to the beach.
It’s World Cup day and Gretchen wants to see the French celebrate as their team does well, recalling a few years ago when the celebration followed the French win. It was not to be, as we saw only a few cars waving Italian flags on our way home.
We did go to Kon Tiki for a late lunch to see the crowds watching the game. Gretchen had a Tropical Salad which contained coconut shrimp and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including melon, cantaloupe, tomato, kiwi, apple, mango, mint, pineapple, and cucumber. Larry had a “Traditional French Lamb stew”. Both were very good. When combined with two Quavaberry Coladas and a BBC, the total for lunch was $65.00. This was the first time I saw the wait person bring a portable credit card machine to the table to record the transaction. I am curious to see what happens when we get our bill. She asked if I wanted to include a tip on the charged and how much. I told her, but the charge she recorded did not include the tip. When I asked, she said she would “take care of it.”
Following lunch, we went to Orient Beach to get some sun and then back to our condo for another light dinner in, reading and an early bed time.
As a side note, I carry a cell phone from home with wi-fi built in and access to my email. With the wi-fi turned on, it sounds a notice whenever an available wi-fi signal is within range. It makes a lot of noise. We were able to access email at Kon Tiki and every day when we park at Club O and walk to the beach it makes contact to a signal somewhere and downloads current mail. I suspect it’s the signal from the Villa at Club O but have not confirmed that. The disappointing side is that no-one has sent us any interesting mail!
The weather on this trip has been mixed. Sunday night brought a lot of fireworks in the sky with a doozey of a thunderstorm. We’ve had mostly days with partly cloudy skies and a few intermittent showers that visited in the afternoon. Winds have mostly been light with a few brief exceptions. Today, Monday, has been cloudy and hazey with a light breeze. We’ve decreed this a relaxation day for reading and a likely trip this evening to a restaurant with Internet Access, tentatively Shrimpy’s as we have not tried that yet. So far this trip, we’ve each read four books and are working on book 5.
We do note that Pelican has added The Weather Channel since last year
One of the advantages of visiting St. Martin at the same every year is that we see a lot of familiar faces and have a chance to make lots of friends and share discoveries in person as well as through our trip reports.
