Zach & Renee’s Trip Report
June 27 – July 4, 2009
Flights:
Jet Blue – BOS to SXM

We enjoyed a direct flight from Logan Airport to SXM – no problems on the flight to St. Martin. Unfortunately St. Martin currently has a fuel shortage and since Jet Blue is not Dutch, they don’t get priority refueling. Therefore our return flight home was not a direct flight. We ended up having to fly to San Juan, PR to refuel the plane for our flight home to Boston.


Accommodations:
O Paradis (Paradise Bungalows) Orient Beach

We enjoyed a studio for the week. The addition of the swimming pool at Bruno’s Paradise Bungalows is absolutely wonderful! Since Bruno was on vacation the week prior to our arrival, they weren’t taking reservations. Fortunately for us, our dates worked perfectly into their vacation plans and we ended up having the bungalows all to ourselves – which meant we had a private pool for the week!

Car Rental:Kenny’s Car Rental
Lesley Bruce – smooth sailing as always on both ends of the vacation. Never an issue with the best car rental company on the island…

Weather:Absolutely perfect weather! After 3 weeks of rain and temps in the 60’s in New England it was great to have 7 days of sun in the upper 80’s. We had 1 shower during the week that lasted 20 minutes. We had never visited the island during this time of the year and we were pleasantly surprised with the weather. The water temperatures were also noticeably warmer (both the pool and the ocean).

Traffic:What traffic? OK, well we this trip we stayed entirely on the French side of the island. As a result, we didn’t encounter any issues with the bridge closings, etc. Even the traffic in Marigot was no problem.

Crime:
In 10 trips to the island… all have been crime free <knock on wood> including this one. We never felt unsafe, nor did we put ourselves in a position to be victims of crime. We avoided Happy Bay & late night travel on the island. Also the presence of more Gendarmes was very apparent. Hopefully they continue to make a difference.

Geocaching (Hiking with a purpose):
We enjoyed geocaching on both St. Martin and Anguilla. Found geocaches on Pinel, Cul de Sac, Orient, Friar’s Bay, Marigot & Lotterie Farm. Of course we left a few to be found on our next trip!

Anguilla:2 years ago we made the trip over to Anguilla to see Jimmy Buffett perform. That trip was on a catamaran and we only got to see shoal bay west. We decided there was more to explore on this small island so we took the ferry out of Marigot and rented a car from Andy’s at Blowing Point. Driving on the left side of the road (while sitting on the right side of the car) was an interesting experience. Kept turning on the windshield wipers when using the directional, and the rotaries were challenging as we had to negotiate them backwards. LOL! We ended up visiting Shoal Bay East & West, the Dune Preserve (Bankie Banx was in Jamaica recording his upcoming CD), and the hydroponic garden at Cuisinart. We showed up to the hydroponic garden late in the day and actually caught Dr. Howard Resh as he was leaving the facility. Dr. Resh gave us an informal tour of the garden which was breathtaking. We agreed that Shoal Bay East is one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. The white sand beaches and green and blue water was so beautiful. While wading in the shallow waters, we spotted a 3 foot sand shark swimming nearby. We will definitely return to this little slice of paradise for a 1 or 2 night stay in the future.

Restaurants:

Breakfasts:Most breakfasts were in our studio. We enjoyed fresh croissants, yogurts and coffee on our front porch each morning.

Le Croissanterie (Marigot Marina) – A fantastic new find for us this year! Why did it take us 10 trips to find this place for breakfast? We stopped here twice for ham, egg & cheese croissants, home fries and freshly squeezed orange juice. The croissants here were the best we’ve had! The only thing that would make this menu better would be the option of having mimosa’s at the Marina. They were offering 1 to 1 and both breakfasts were $21.00 including tip.

Lunches:
Baywatch – Andy, Cheryl, Adrian & Ross continue to do what they do best. Enjoyed their world famous mussels and ribs! Found both the small and larger geocache here.

Bikini Beach – great burgers and appetizers here as usual. Love their sangria!

Kali’s Beach Bar (Friar’s Bay) – After finding the geocache in this area we decided to get a bite to each before returning to pack for the trip home later that afternoon. We enjoyed great conversation with Kali and Steve (our French teacher for the day). Lunch was creole chicken kabobs and a cheeseburger with Mojito’s. As we sat and enjoyed the picturesque view and lunch we asked ourselves why we didn’t spend more time at this beach. We’ll definitely spend at least a day on this beach next trip. Kali mentioned that when it’s very windy on Orient, it is always calm at Friars.

Karibuni – lunch on Pinel – this is the place to go! For lunch we had Oisseau and Creole Chicken. Love their complimentary rum shots after lunch! After lunch we hiked up to the top of this little island to find the geocache here and enjoy the views. This is always a fun way to spend the day on St. Martin.

Gwen’s Reggae Café (Anguilla) – They were right! Best pasta salad ever! Views are unmatched, service was good and the food was great! Try the chicken and rib plate.

Tap Five (Orient Village) – While this might not be the most glamorous place to get lunch, a couple of croque monsiours and a salad did the trick. We brought them back to our studio and enjoyed them with a bottle of Bordeaux… yummm…

Dinners:
Le Cottage (Grand Case) – One of the most memorable meals on the island. Bruno and his staff create an experience that combines culinary excellence & impeccable service that very few restaurants in the world have figured out. For us, this has become a must visit when on island.

Bistrot Caraibes (Grand Case)– Another of our most memorable meals on St. Martin. If you’ve been here before, then you know Thibeaut & Aumaury go out of their way to make your experience here a great one! The food here is consistent (we always get Chicken a la Contessa & the Veal house special) and their ginger rum continues to be our favorite on the island. Thibeaut is currently in France and Aumaury is doing a great job holding down the fort. We celebrated Renee’s birthday in style here.

Tai Chi (Orient Village)- This was a new restaurant for us. We were in the mood for something light and Bruno from Le Cottage had recommended Tai Chi to us for sushi. We were very impressed with the quality of the fish and the presentation of the sushi which was close to, if not the best sushi we’ve ever had. The Alaskan King Crab Roll and the Spicy Tuna Roll were among our favorites.

Zen It (Grand Case) – Alex (the owner of Calmos Café) has purchased the beach bar/restaurant next door to him and as a result Zen It was born. This was a nice new addition to the water side restaurants of Grand Case. They have great appetizers (similar to what’s on Calmos menu), and the rest of the menu was a bit different. For those that are looking for the atmosphere of Calmos, and also a change of scenery, try Zen It. This beach bar/restaurant is elevated above the beach, with stairs leading down to a picnic area on the beach. Emily (formerly of La Playa on Orient) is the manager.

Gutside (Friar’s Bay) – We stopped in during the week for lunch and Richard was closed. He was working on his new addition to the restaurant (the tree house) and yelled to us to come back on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We made our second attempt to visit his restaurant on Friday for lunch. Richard was again working in the tree house and informed us that the restaurant didn’t open until 6:30pm. He then said he was going to take a break from building and invited us in for a cold one. We enjoyed great conversation and said that we’d be back for dinner that night. During the week he is the chef at the school on the Dutch side and cooks for 600 kids! We arrived back at Gutside around 7:30 and Richard was happy to see us return and introduced us to “his better half” Lourdes. Lourdes kept us company on the front porch while Richard was busy in the kitchen. Dinner that evening was Garlic Shrimp, a whole Red Snapper w/rice and plantains, au gratin potatoes and a wonderful salad. We even received a lesson on how to eat the Red Snapper properly. Both meals were to die for! Afterwards Richard came out to the porch and we all enjoyed sharing our stories about the island and life in general. They are 2 of the nicest and genuine people! We definitely look forward to returning here on future visits to the island.

Pinot Star (Sandy Ground) – Prior to our trip, we had read in someone’s trip report that Cheryl from Baywatch recommended Pinot Star for authentic New York style pizza. We had returned that afternoon from Anguilla and were certainly not dressed for dinner. It was early and they weren’t quite open for business yet, however the chef and owner welcomed us into the restaurant (located next door to Mario’s Bistro). They cooked us up a couple of pizza’s and a salad to take with us. The pizza here is absolutely wonderful!!! It is the best on the island in our opinion. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of Rose while waiting for our pizza and watched the boats come and go. Next time, we’ll be back to enjoy dinner at the restaurant!

Odds and Ends:
• After dinner at Zen It we stopped into Blue Martini in Grand Case (the bartender there makes awesome mojitos by the way). The band Bob Wire (?) was playing with special guest Dread’I. They were a really tight reggae band and played many Bob Marley tunes along with some Sizzla & Beres Hammond. A couple of day’s later in the week, we saw Dread’I on Orient beach. It was great having the opportunity to talk with him and purchase a couple of his CD’s. If you have a chance to see Dread’I perform on St. Martin you should go!

• We find it so amazing that after 10 visits to this wonderful island, it still doesn’t get old. Every year we enjoy a mix of new restaurants we haven’t yet tried and a number of restaurants we continue to return to year after year. We enjoy spending time with old friends from the island and we continue to make great new friends that make our island experiences unique and exciting. We’ve also found that we have slowed down quite a bit compared to how we used to vacation here. In the past we would spend the nights in the clubs and casino’s and stay up to watch the sun rise, only to sleep the day away under a beach umbrella somewhere on Orient beach. This year we really wanted to make the trip about us. We didn’t travel with friends and family as we have the last few times to the island. We really enjoyed our time together on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and spent a considerable amount of time together at the pool. It was truly wonderful just falling in love all over again on our 10th honeymoon on the best island in the Caribbean. Now we’ll just start counting down the day’s until we can return on our 11th honeymoon!