SXM Part 2 (February 21-27)

Woke up very early to a really dark bedroom, took me a second to realize where I was! I didn’t see any kind of sunlight so I forced myself to try to sleep a little longer, however after maybe an hour I gave up and quietly moved to the living area. Our NBBC unit had front and rear sliding glass doors and a separate double hurricane shutter doors. We were instructed by the owner Marie to secure these shutters when we went to bed and we did. She said everyone in the complex closes these shutters for added security late at night. As I opened the glass sliders and then pushed the metal shutters aside I realized that the sun had already rose above the island, I probably missed the full sunrise by ½ hour which is unusual for me. As you can see from this first photo of the day I don’t think we missed much with the clouds and fast moving squall.




My wife would soon join me for coffee and tea and we watched the rain move in, didn’t really concern us WE WERE IN THE ISLANDS! After a while we realized that the rain was going to stick around for a while so we hopped in the car and headed into Marigot for breakfast. We found ample parking in town and chose Sarafina for breakfast. This is a great French bakery!! We enjoyed fruit, yogurt and fresh bread here while chickens walked around our table. The rain continued so we took our time and really relaxed at Sarafina watching the town wake up.




After breakfast we ran to the car and decided to drive around the island, no particular destination in mind. We zig zagged through the streets of Marigot then over the hill to Grand Case and navigated the side streets there. The rain was really coming down and the streets were becoming small rivers. We continued on from Grand Case and ended up seeing a sign for Orient Beach….sounds good! We drove as far as we could and eventually parked in a puddle filled parking lot on the beach. With rain continuing we leaped from the car and darted into the first bar we saw, ALOHA! This impromptu stop would prove to be just what we needed. ALOHA is our kind of beach bar! The staff here is young and personable and made us feel right at home. There were only a few people here. We chatted with locals, a guy from a cruise ship avoiding the crowds and a nice couple from Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I noticed a boat in the bay that was partially sunk (photo below). A local guy said it took on water that morning and they had been trying to reach the owner. It was a pricey parasailing boat, very bad day for the owner. Everyone in the bar was saying the day would be a wash out with this rain…….









We’ve been coming to the islands for 30+ years and we never assume the weather will wreck a whole day. After a few Presidente’s and small talk we noticed a break in the rain, then the sun and blue skies soon followed! The bar staff began raising the plastic windows exposing a beautiful ocean view.





We paid up our tab and stretched our legs along the long beach here at Orient. The sand felt great on our bare feet as we walked end to end. There weren’t many people out at the start, but by the time we were returning from the far end the beach was buzzing with activity. We poked our head in several of the beach front restaurant/bars, which anyone of them would be a great place to hang out for a day or two. We were getting hungry and tried to decide where to plant ourselves, would you believe we ended up right back at ALOHA! Like I said, the staff made us feel so comfortable that morning we decided to grab a beach front table for 2!









We spent a few hours soaking up the rays at ALOHA! but it was time to motor on. I wasn't sure what to expect of Orient from all the photo's I've seen showing large crowds of people, but I have a better appreciation of it now that I've spent a day there, it's a great beach! ALOHA!!!

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Again, with no particular destination in mind we mozzied on. Speaking of mozzies, we didn't experience any mosquito issues the entire trip, except for one bathroom near some woods. Our first detour would be at the Pinel Island Ferry dock where nothing was happening, then up a hill towards French Cul De Sac where we would find pastures filled with horses and donkeys...ok let's stop! Beautiful views of Grandes Cayes and Ilet Pinel along this route. A few people were along the pastures fence line feeding the animals and several joggers were enjoying this stretch of road.

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After visiting with our four legged friends we continued down and around to the end of a dirt road. There is a trail head here that takes you UP to Red Rock, that is on the list for our next trip! We also found a trail head that leads from Grande Cayes passing Petite Cayes all the way around to Anse Marcel, an interesting looking hike along semi arid beaches, bet the sea glass hunting on these beaches is awesome.

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Sun was starting to set so we continued on to lovely Anse Marcel. This is our kind of beach for sure, beautiful calm turquoise waters to swim in. I missed photographing the sunset here but the skies were a wonderful mix of blue and pink hues. We walked around the resorts and small marina located here, it's a beautiful setting for sure. Another item for the bucket list!

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Just after sunset we started our drive back towards Nettle Bay. We passed by Grand Case and considered finding a restaurant, but we had no reference points at night and we had already had a looooong day, so we decided to eat closer to home. Funny thing, we apparently made a wrong turn in Marigot....we caught it early but said what the heck keep going and see what we will see. We ended up driving over the Simpson Bay/Cole Bay Bridge towards the airport. The lights of the marina and surrounding area is a marvelous sight.

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Once back at NBBC we cleaned up and walked the beach to Ma Ti for dinner. It is very nice to have these wonderful restaurants as an option just a short stroll from our villa. My wife wasn't very hungry and simply had a great bowl of French onion soup and I had seared tuna, fantastic! oh and red wine which was fantasticerrrr! What looked like a dreary day turned out to be a highlight day of our trip!

To be continued.... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />