Remember When?

I have not posted this in YEARS!

Remember when.................

Mullet Bay Resort was open

Timeshare was Pelican

The breakfast buffet at La Belle Creole Hotel

You drank a Sam's Slam Five on Front Street, and then got the T-shirt

Trivia Night at David's Pub in Marigot

All U can eat ribs at Zachery's in Pointe Blanche

The Peacock Casino in Philipsburg

Fandago Restaurant on Front Street

Byron's Paradise Cafe in Maho

Coconuts Comedy Club in the old Maho Beach (concorde) Hotel

The Sint Maarten Yacht Club was a couple of containers

Lee's Place was a BBQ grill and a beer cooler

Snoopy Island was a pile of sand

The Cupecoy road was unpaved

The goats ruled the roads in Marigot on Sundays

K-Dis Supermarche in Marigot

The one lane draw bridge in Sandy Ground

They were filming the movie Speed II on the Island

Callaloo Restaurant in Philipsburg had great Pizza

Seafood Galley Restaurant in Bobby's Marina

Sandy Ground was actualy Sandy Ground, no hotels

Mullet Bay had a Chinese Restaurant

"Tiffany's" grocery store in Mullet Bay

Orient Beach was Orient Beach Hotel and Pedro's Restaurant only

Sunday Brunch at Galion Beach Hotel

Burger King was only on wheels

Le Perroquet Restaurant ond it's wild menu

The Sunday crowd at Surf Club in Grand Case

Cha Cha Cha and it's beer garden

Vince & Julie at Konga Cafe

You are truly dating yourself, Neil! 😊😊 And all the rest of us that remember these things, too.............aren’t we the lucky ones?

Remember when:

there was nothing on Orient but sea grapes and Club O - if you could find Orient in the first place?

arguably the best ribs on the island were at Zachary’s?

the road over the hill was being built?

the bridge before the current bridge at Simpson Bay was floated into place?

and the list goes on and on and in.............

Good to see you around again Neil.

I remember well over half of what you mentioned. First visit was 1991 and stay over was 1994 at Divi.

Callaloo did have some good pizza.

Remember Ric's Place when it was back off of Olde Street? They then moved to Front St. and Kathy would advertise the $1 Miller Lite's while standing at the entrance.

First visit for us was 1989 and stay over 1999. Pinel was just a beach with no amenities.

Coconut cart with the monkey in the cage in P.burg.

Wendell

Neil--lots of great memories for us too on that list!! We first started visiting SXM on ships in 1987, first trip didn't leave Front Street. Spent the whole time shopping! Second trip, Eric HAD to have us check out that nude beach thing! And Vince and Julie's Conga Café! It's been a long time since I thought about that place--great food! And our first sunset cruise on island, which would up being a private cruise for the two of us on a sailboat. We found out about it at Surf Club South, by means of a paper plate stapled to a palm tree which said "sunset cruise-see bartender". Truthfully, lots of things are way better now than they were then, but it's fun remembering!

La Perroquete restaurant for ostrich. Thanks Neil that was the other place I couldn't think of the name.

Also I'm old enough to remember all that you mentioned----and more!

Thanks for posting.

Neil, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Don't forget Neil's bar with da toilet on it, the Frigate stake house which came to be our first night meal where we feasted on the steaks and the mosquito's feasted on me and the Mullet Bay casino where they would close down a section of the machines if they were paying too much. Prior to the Frigate for our first meal at Frigate, we would eat at a Lolo in the Maho/Simpson Bay area. They would serve all you can eat chicken and ribs.

We discovered La Frigate, loved it then year after found it had become something else and not as good.

HA! Yes. All of it.

Gosh, I remember Marigot pre Speed 2.

La Vie en Rose

Lynette's with King Beau Beau and the Beaubettes

La Romana store on Mullet

Brigitte's clothing store where pharmacy is now

Turtle Pier Bar and all the parrots

And Rosemary's jewelry shack. Wonder if that's the same Rosemary that runs a restaurant between dock area and the local open-air market? Great snapper dish there for a great price.

YES! I always felt so "Don't Stop the Carnival" when I was at Turtle Pier.

The "old" airport where you paid departure tax at a separate window.

The restaurant upstairs in the airport where you could get a last drink or burger and sit outside soaking up your final sun.

The great stories from the local charter boat captains!

Partying with the crews at Chesterfields and getting a signed Mount Gay hat worn for Anguilla Sailing Week. (when they were still cool with only 1 per boat)

Definitely the restaurant upstairs at the old airport, where you could actually SEE the planes, and had great food. However, I wasn't a big fan of having to lug my heavy carry on bags up that staircase!! As far as I know though, you couldn't sit outside up there, but downstairs at the other bar, definitely yes!. We definitely loved being able to sit outside with a cold one, and get those final rays of sun downstairs!!! The new airport was a big improvement though, in everything else!! ..pre Irma anyway...

We visited when the Speed II 'boat' was still there and I got in trouble with some security guards for taking pictures of it! It's a movie prop, for god's sake!!

Oh yes, having a/c at the new PJIA was great...and modern bathrooms.

At the "new" (now will be old/rebuilt..lol) I liked the restaurant upstairs that they have now taken away.

MUST have the Executive Lounge again....what we went through coming home again Tuesday was *#*Q)!!

Yeah, not sure what happened with that restaurant upstairs at the new airport, and the executive lounge was a big plus. Sorry to hear you had a bad trip coming home. I'm hoping you have a trip report in the works??? I sure hope so!!!

And you ran a great bar that catered to locals and repeat tourists who knew them. Since there were no cruise ships we had room to park, eat and drink.

And then there were the days when the cruise ships only deep-water moored and ferried the guests in to the pier.

And what is now the Greenhouse Restaurant was once the Rusty Pelican with the nasty monkey tethered to the tree?

And we mustn’t forget Midass Muffler as you turned up the hill .........

And on and on and on........

I remember......West Indian Tavern, Come As You Are middle of the night parties on Frontstreet, The Gandaulf [sp?] cement hull sailboat, Johnny's Cool Spot, Indiana, The Merengue Bar[again sp?], the rib restaurant on Frontstreet upstairs that the signature drink was a Piggly Wiggly [can't remember the name]...and so many more...:-) .........Oh and another restaurant that was where the health clinic in Maho is......again...can't remember the name, they used to have a singer with a really deep voice serenade the customers with island songs....he scared the living crap out of me one night, he snuck up behind me and started belting out a song...LOL Such good memories!!

Pat--Oh, I remembered MANY times coming in on a tender from a cruise ship to SXM. Of course back then the size of the ships was maybe 1200 pax, versus these behemoths that they have today!!! Oh, and I don't miss the Mida$$ Muffler at all!!! That roundabout at the bottom of the hill was one of the BEST things that ever happened to SXM!!

Remember When...

Great photos, Wendy, and some good memories. TY for posting them.

Yes, I remember most of those....... and Moose and you at Sunset Beach Bar!!

Remember when . . . . patrons at the Buccaneer Beach Bar would get 2-for-1 beers when wearing their TTOL caps.

I drove a friend crazy one year. Every time I ordered a beer, Wanda would serve up two. He kept asking why, and I told him it was because I was a good tipper. Wanda played along and just smiled. My friend never figured it out. LOL.

And remember the old airport with luggage retrieval being the hole in the wall. Sand pumping to create the beach at Pelican(SBRM). The bulldozer that is a part of the Pelican(SBRM) breakwater. The old road to Dawn Beach. Marina Royale in its prime. The old Marigot waterfront. Philipsburg before the boardwalk. Ric's Place in Philipsburg on the water. The Japanese fishing boats at Point Blanche.

Remember the OLD Sunset Beach Bar, that was just the little original bar, and more recent history, Peg Leg Pub, at the beginning, when Neil ran it, and Buccaneer, when Neil ran it. You started some great stuff on SXM, Neil!

I remember when a bus took you to your hotel and a sort of garbage truck brought your luggage way, way, way later. That's when we discovered West Indies Tavern and their .99 drink special. We'd check in to Great Bay Hotel, walk to the tavern, drink on the veranda, get lectured about the perils of drink by a local passing minister whom we'd tell that after this drink we'd have no more. Once he passed we'd ad: Until the next one. Then we'd stagger back to hotel and find our luggage piled in th foyer with the rest.

Carol.Remember being neighbors at Green Cay? I think you had a party at Peg Leg that week.Sunset beach bar was just a big deck .Its all coming back to me now! HA!

I vividly remember when there was no Sunset Beach Bar, No Royal Islander and almost nothing else out there but an open expanse of beach all the way to the original Caravanserai before it was first developed into timeshare under various different names. We used to walk the golf course after dinner at any of the many MBR & C eateries and check out the late American flight before walking back to our unit. A great way to work off some of those great meals.

We also happened to be on island in I think 1984 when Neil got his first sets of plastic deck tables and chairs at the PLP. We wandered in for dinner as he and Sean were sitting at the bar and they let us dine on the new deck area. I think we were among the first to have dined al fresco at the Peg Leg Pub.

Kenny--uhmn, geez.. OK.. Definitely remember Green Cay several times and we definitely had several parties at Peg Leg. Sorry, I'm getting old and CRS setting in!!

Dawn Beach Hotel and Scavengers

Not sure when original SSBB opened, but surely remember my first trip to sxm and the first thing my friend and I did was a stop here...all locals seated at the bar with a raggae song playing and all heads at the bar bopping and swaying back and forth at the same time in rhythm....we sat down and joined the bar crowd and had a fabulous time!!....Neil introduced himself to us and our first touchdown visit had me hooked

Thanks for your post Neil....We remember meeting you way back when.. When we owned at Mullet Bay and visited you at the "new" SSBB when it was the octogonal structure which first had a guy with a huge cooler in the middle selling beers. We remember...You and Brad and Wanda serving us so enthusiastically and Andrew cooking up those great burgers. We remember...telling you about our kids and their Hyatt hospitality careers. Our son still "in it" as a senior resort manager in Siesta Key a short distance from us in SW Florida. Yeah, we remember the "good old days" in SXM that you have mentioned above. We miss those days. We miss you too! Take care of yourself. Jim and Liz (formerly from Wisconsin)

I remember when Dawn Beach still looked like it was on a Caribbean island

Portofino of Laura and Tom had the best pizza.
Risdon was the car rental agency and the ice cream seller.
Studio Seven was at the old Maho
Mullet bay Casino was by the seaside
Callaloo was a great place for steaks
The liquor store was Cannagieter
The Why Not was a great place for live music

Club Orient in 1983 had no hot water and I would fill up a camping solar bag and hang it in the sun for a hot shower. The studio had a hot plate and bar refrigerator.
There was no Wi-Fi, no phones except in the front office and no A/C. The chairs were tri-fold rachet chaises that you had to bring to the beach everyday.
There was no chair rentals or umbrellas.

I have great memories of many of these and in particular Trivia night at Davids in Marigot. A group from Pelican would try to beat the :barflies" I still have 2 winning teeshirts signed by David himself.

Here is my time line on SXM

Arrived at La Belle Creole September 01, 1988
Opened Sunset Beach Bar September 01, 1996
Lost Lighthouse Restaurant, after being open for 13 days, November 18, 1999. Screw you Lenny.
Sold Sunset Beach Bar and opened Peg Leg Pub August 30, 2001. Sold it a year later
Opened Buccaneer Beach Bar December 2002.
Reopened SMYC as Spinnaker Bar & Grill 2004
Built Rum Jumbie Bar in new airport terminal 2005
Departed September 2007

And the date the islands first web cam became active?

Wendell

Orient Express in Maho
Lobster, Chicken and Ribs, Cocktails. Bottle of Water, and the waiter went across the street for a pack of cigarettes---all for $20.00
Le Gallion did not have seaweed
Bay Rouge had only Gus Beach Bar

Anyone have a photo(s) of Le Pavillon restaurant on Simpson Beach?

La Belle Creole had several buffets. Including breakfast, they had "Treasures of the Caribbean Sea" (Thurs. night, I believe). AYCE langostas & other shellfish, etc.