St Martin Jan 28 – Feb 14
Winter Tour of 16, Sun, Fun and Rhum – if the Stones can name their tours, I can name our vacations.

WestJet nonstop from Toronto. Flights there and back were both full. We had booked last March. Around New Year’s I looked at both flights, lots of seats, however by mid Jan both flights were sold out. I was amazed at the number of last minute bookings, especially with the Cdn $ in Dec / Jan.

TTOL sponsors were great as always – Wilfred Brooks picked us up and returned us to the airport for our flight home. A friend had asked for a specific souvenir, Wilfred was able help. Groceries from Jeannie of Shop n Drop, little hiccup at check in, not her issue or fault, pretty sure Jeannie was a little stressed over it, but Jeannie, it’s OK! Car from AAA, Myra dropped the car at our unit and picked it up, great service. Our thanks to all three.

Do overs – squeezable coco cream from Petit Casino, blender drinks just got better. Croc flops instead of regular flops, why did I wait so long? Eye glass wet wipes – little towelets in a foil pack, great tip from two regulars who camped out daily by Pedro’s – great to clean your glasses while on the beach. We found a box of 30 at Petit Casino for 1.50 euro’s. Given we were on a ground floor unit we took some mosquito coils. Only saw 2 mosquitoes, but my wife was bitten occasionally by little black bugs. Lighting a coil on the covered patio solved the problem and the light wind kept any smell to our patio. We take a power bar for various electronics and sharp kitchen knife just in case. First time ever we took meat! One lb beef tenderloins vacuum packed by our butcher, frozen and packed in our luggage in our cooler bag that held our 2 frozen freezer packs – still rock solid when we unpacked. Pre mix for beach cocktails – in a water bottle, build you planteur of choice stronger than normal. In our beach bag pack a container of ice cubes and a can of club soda and 2 red plastic cups. Cups, ice, split the planteur pre mix and top with club soda and enjoy! I keep a splitter for ear buds in my bag – useful when we used the WestJet app to watch movies on my Surface 3 and BB Priv – you need to download the app before you board!

Stayed in a 1 bed ground floor unit right behind Kakao. Found it on VRBO - Laurie, nice, clean, good bed and exactly as presented. Out the door, through a locked gate, cross the road and on the beach. Or go the other way, past Alamanda through the square to village shops – or the square for dinner, just minutes. We had a car for part of out stay, but loved that we just walked out the door to the beach without a drive or worrying can I have a drink at lunch – hence the invention of pre mix now that I was no longer a DD.

Shops in the village [all were 1:1] – Macaron beside Yellow Sub, bakery goods, macarons [of course] and rotisserie chicken. You order your chicken and pay in the morning and let them know when you will pick it up. Seemed almost illegal, … I’m here for the [furtive glance] “chicken”, John sent me… you get handed a package in a bag. Chicken was great, we got the 17 euro free range version. About half was dinner, balance for left overs or part of next days baguette lunch. Other go to for my end of morning walk was Good Morning café, un baguette, deux croissants and un café au lait. Carried the croissants and baguette in my Shay Gourmet bag from same deli on Merton St in Toronto [from years ago]. With the baguette peeking out of the bag, felt un peu francais. Petit Casino nice little shop with a good selection for what we needed for lunch beach baguettes once our Jeannie supplies ran out. Found a container of salad greens from France for 4.50? euros, very fresh, we used it often for salads or supplies for our beach baguette lunches ie deli meats, duck pate, cheese at al. Good wine selection, rum / rhum choice not so much, but we looked after that. They also sold local eggs! Bruno was often in the story early facing the shelves, showed, as the store was always well presented.

Village restaurants [all charged in Euro’s]– Little Italie, pizza 1st night, OK, would have gone back except both the bill and server noted service not included. Tai Chi, good BoBun salad, sushi was ok, checking other plates, would have gone a different direction than the sushi. Cotes Plages, went for their Thursday mussel night – you need to reserve, we showed up about 6:30 and got the last 2 unreserved portions, good meal. L’Ptit Bistro – good meal, loved the Wahoo trilogy, fish served 3 ways, carpaccio, tartar and a fillet that cooked on a hot stone while you ate. Too much for one, but we shared it, just right for two. La Voile Blanche, excellent meal, my wife’s lamb was fabulous as was my grouper. Le PIment was also excellent, lamb again for my wife, tough call which was better, tons of flavour in my seafood risotto. Pizza, Rancho del Sol – they deliver, Yellow Sub good pizza as was the “Orange Fever” from Mimo at the Cadisco station.

Out and About – Marigot for shopping, French linens, beach jewellery and found the secret spot for a tee shirt. Kalina had no hot sauce, what he had made was too hot and he wouldn’t sell it. Near the fish area, found Kevin and Olive selling homemade sauces. Kevin let us taste, we bought two – the bottles are decorated and signed by Olive. Also had some handmade gelato from the little frozen ice table set up in the same area. We saw a group of Harleys’ at Marigot, learned later through TTOL they were from a cruise ship. Later that day, when we just going into Captain Frenchy’s for lunch, they roared through Grande Case. Frenchy’s was a great lunch with a nice view.
Beached at Mullet and for the 1st time Baie Rouge. Liked Baie Rouge, will be back. Noticed 2 security guards walking on Mullet, only saw them once so maybe they were walking to or from? Post beach hit the Yacht Club for happy hour, yachts and grouper fingers. Went to Skipjacks to pick up fresh grouper for dinner – seasoned and pan fried in a wine butter sauce, yum. On our way to the Yacht Club, stopped in Maho, Sunset was a zoo, the roundabout almost unusable that day. Drink at Driftwood and on our way. Sonesta Maho restricts the hotel to guests with wrist band, no service to others. Made it to the Iguana bar in Oyster Pond for SXM Norm’s TTOL happy hour – thanks to Norm and Betty for organizing. Shopping at Simply in Hope Estate was a waste of time, shelves not stocked. Jeannies, Petit Casino, Super U and Bacchus worked for us. Made our annual trip to see Bernadette, to donate and gladly over pay for guava berry rum - A labour of love worth supporting.
On one of two ill fated trips to Simply, met two fellow Canadians in the parking lot who had just locked all in the trunk of their Hertz rental, phone, keys, rental agreement, groceries - everything. Their plan to stop at Rancho for a beer prior to joining their wives were foiled! Called my Cdn office on the 1 – 800 # [works in SXM – who knew!] got the Hertz island #’S, called and Hertz came to their rescue! – I was all out of hero cookies, so rhum had to substitute.

Orient Beach – just our feeling, but the beach was a lot slower than last year[s]. Club O on the other hand was hoping. Happy hour at the Perch had long lines, met Andy of DAS cigars, bought several for soon to be son in law, learned to order 2 for 1 using used beer 6 packs and met the sand sculptor – don’t know his name, best description is he wears a red visor – fabulous daily sand sculptures.
We often camped out in front of what will be Brothers – 2nd from Pedro’s, yellow loungers, 2 chairs and a broli for $15 – met Monique the owner, liked chatting with him, nice guy – Ruben was looking after the chairs. My only comment on this report re the new buildings is they were designed / built with a limited understanding of what was required for the beach bar / resto’s – ok, one more, what was the point of the government delaying the rent payment from mid Jan to March 1 when the utilities were not turned on until late Feb??? . We were excited one day to find out there was going to be kite surfing race / contest, counted almost 30 getting ready on the beach –only to find about 15 raced way, way out. Only one day of seaweed near Pedro’s, next day gone. Question – what is the black pipe [2 inch dia?] that goes into the ocean in front of Kakao or Bikini?. Was a little troubled to watch the gift shop owner next to what should be Chez Leandra, clean a paint brush in the ocean. Good Time Charlies was open, had to buy some drinks to support. Two days in a row Johnny Carib played there to good crowds, later that wk he played at Pedro’s. Not so sure the Pedro’s crowd got it. The mohito man was around several days serving samples on the beach - delish.
Couple of days watched paragliders jump off the east end of Mt Vernon and soar overhead, not sure where they ended up – seemed over to Grand Case. Often short showers, nooverall issues with rain.

Overall – loved the Fr side, most days just walking out the door to beach. Great food without having to drive. Just a nice balance for us – longer report than I meant!

J&B

Enjoyed your report. Will be there soon. Staying in a small villa behind Orient. We love the restaurants in the Village. I'm hoping I will like the next buildings on Orient. Loved the old places and the uniqueness of each one. Can't wait for happy hour at the Perch. You put me in the mood! Thanks for taking the time to post.

Thanks for the report. We leave in 10 days, staying in Laure's 2 bedroom this time after several times in her one BRs. She does a great job, the rooms are super, and she makes the best planteurs punch we have had. Looks like you tried all the village restaurants except Antoine's, one of our favorites. Agreed with all you wrote -Bruno's Petite Casino is such an improvement over Tap 5. Thanks again, you have really whetted the appetites for our trip. Dan.

Thanks for the report!

To answer your question about the pipe running from the sea in front of Kakao: it's bringing fresh sea water in to their lobster tank. It's always been there, but the sand over it was washed away, and I guess it still hasn't returned.

Great report. La Voile Blanche, was that in the "Village?" Sounded great. Did you need rsvp? We'd like to try it this week.

Sounds like a great trip. So glad you took the time and shared it with those of us wishing we were there, too. Thank you.......

La Voile Blanche is in the village, beside Le Piment. We tended to eat early, arriving around 6:30. If later, I would make a reservation for sure.
J&B

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a great trip.

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

Very nice report & sounds like a great time. Thanks! We also love Macaron & Good Morning.

Thanks for taking the time to share a very interesting trip report. We were there the same time as you were and we regrettably missed meeting you at Norms party. We will have to try harder next year if you are back. We agree that Orient Village has become a nice area with very good restaurants etc. Le Piment being our favorite, love the lamb chops.

Thanks again for some good new information,

Bruce and Susan