We had a wonderful 2 weeks in St Martin. This was a special trip for Alice and I because she was celebrating her 60th birthday on October 22nd. Our son, his wife and 2 children plus our daughter and her boyfriend came down to surprise Alice for her birthday. The planning had been going on for 4 months, with whispered phone calls and e-mails. The smart betting was that she would find out. There were several weak spots in the plan. First of all, even though we were all arriving from different airports, we were all getting to SXM within a 30 minute span (1:45 to 2:15). Avoiding each other in the airport and at the car rental (all from Unity) was critical. Well our son's flight from Philly was on time (1:45) But Patti's AA flight from Miami landed 15 minutes late, just before our Spirit flight from Fort Lauderdale got in at 2:15. But by being careful in immigration and baggage pick-up we were able to get out of the terminal undetected. I had called Michael at Unity from home to request his help. He was fantastic. He personally picked up Alice and I as we came out of the terminal and whisked us away so fast I don't think Alice's feet touched St Maarten soil until we got to Unity's yard. Thanks you Michael you are the best.
The family surprised Alice at Ti Bouchon that evening. She was shocked and pleased. MoMo served a fantastic dinner, as always, and gave us personal attention all evening.
Although Alice and I stayed at Les Cottages de Lonvilliers we rented 2 apartments for the children at The Doves Nest. I picked this because of the good reviews I had read on this site. The children had a one and a two bedroom apartment. The Doves Nest far exceeded my expectations the rooms we large and well furnished, the owners Emile and Suzy were just wonderful, the views from the balconies was some of the best you could have in St Martin, and the price was very reasonable. To top it all off Emile and Suzy and their children invited all their guests, plus Alice and I, to a (free) homemade lobster dinner on Thursday. It was fantastic. I believe it is a weekly event if they have enough guests. Although, this dinner was in their home I think in the near future they will be having it in a new BBQ area they are constructing outside. We liked the place so much that Alice and I plan to extend our trip next year and stay there ourselves for a week.
The children stayed 1 week during which we picked out family friendly restaurants because of the grandchildren (2 1/2 and 6 months old) Sky’s the Limit, Calmos Cafe, Au Grain de Sel. On their last night we splurged at Spiga. Our son wanted to go and Alice and I had never been there. It was very good and not that expensive ($1 for E1). We will go back again.
The second week "sans kids" we hit our other regular spots, Villa Pizza, The Gut Side, Yvettes, La Frigate. Then we ate in several nights which usually happens during the second week.
In Anse Marcel both hotels are closed although Le Domaine is scheduled to open for the season Dec. 1st. The Radisson is supposed to open July 2008 but I am very doubtful, they still have a lot of work to do. Because of this the beach at Anse Marcel was empty and we practically had it to ourselves for 2 weeks. We did go to Orient several days and unless cruise ships were in it was very empty. We also went to Happy Bay and le Gallion.
Traffic was the worse I have seen in the 15 years we have been going down. It was partially caused by road work in Marigot and the new traffic pattern it created. It took us 3 hours to get from Phillipsburg to Anse Marcel on Monday the 22nd. To be honest it was partially caused by my turning back from a long very slow moving line at Bay Nettle on the way to Marigot and then getting stuck in a slow moving line at the airport going the other way. For the rest of the stay we avoided early morning and late afternoon (rush hour) trips to the Dutch side or to Marigot.
The weather was good except for overcast and some heavy rain on 26th, 27th and 28th. But it did not stop us from having fun.
On Halloween we went to the Plaza de Orient for a concert at La Chappel by a group "Feed The Cat" made up of 2 people from Les Cottages de Lonvilliers plus 3 friends. It was terrific. The Plaza was filled with children having a ball. I believe every little girl on the French Side we a witch. They partied till at least 11:00.
A quick comment on Spirit Airlines. It was our first time using them, but we would use them again if the cost savings justified it. You can feel the difference between them and the larger carriers. Our only close call came when after leaving SXM late and having a long line at immigration at Fort Lauderdale (with a short 1 1/2 hour original connection); they had to hold the plane to ACY for 20 minutes to allow us to catch it. However, we did catch it and Sprit didn't cause us to regret our choice.
Well this was not one of my normal "The weather is here. I wish you were beautiful" trip reports but I wanted to complement Michael at Unity, MoMo at Ti Bouchon and Emile and Suzy at The Doves Nest for making the trip something very special for Alice and I and our family.
Jim