Posted By: fabila
Trip report 3/29-4/5 - 04/09/2022 08:17 PM
Flights
JetBlue direct round trip from JFK.
Inbound
Our flight departed Tuesday at 7:30 am and arrived at 11:12 am. Plane was ¼ filled so we were able to have the row to ourselves. Nice flight and easy check- in through immigrations. We were the only plane upon arrival.
Outbound
Flight departed at 12:29 pm and arrived 4:48 pm. Again, a fairly empty plane so we had a row to ourselves. We typically fly on a Friday or Saturday inbound and Saturday or Sunday outbound. This plane was big, it had 4 bathrooms – 1 in front, 1 in the middle and 2 in the back. Getting through customers and immigration was seamless on a Tuesday return. Bought sandwich and a Johnny Cake at Zee Best to take on flight. Still extremely limited “eats” at airport. Flight was good until we got halfway home and then very turbulent. Took me most of the evening to feel well after that ride.
Car Rental – SAX for us. Happy with the service, price and owners, Anil & Cindy are nice hard working people.
Accommodations
Beachside Villas on White Sands Road in Beacon Hill offers waterfront Villas. We are repeats guests having discovered this gem in 2008. Wish it had been sooner but since then we only stay here. Two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen with stove/oven, full size refrigerator. Coffee maker, toaster, blender, microwave is provided. As well as cooking pots and pans, bowls, plates, several size drinking cups in both plastic and glass. There are a lot of baking tins and skillets and utensils. They also provide storage containers of varying sizes.
As a welcome gesture, which is appreciated and convenient they stock your refig with several cans of beer, soda, and water. House cleaning service is provided daily, onsite parking with an electronic security gate where you use the keypad to enter the property. A security guard walks the property and beach every evening until the wee hours. Maintenance staff rack the sand every day, when needed. Lovely fauna and Palm trees surround the grounds. If you want to BBQ, they provide gas propane grills which maintenance will wheel over to your Villa. The Bedrooms and communal area: living room, kitchen, atrium is enclosed with air conditioned. If you want to leave the sliders open in the living room, with screen doors closed as we often do there is a nice breeze.
A big inground pool is at the end of the property with a gazebo should you want or need shade. Floats and water noodles are provided.
Rates are very reasonable for all they provide; you check their site for information on seasonal rates. We want for nothing while we are there. Love hearing the ocean when we sleep and opening the sliding doors from either living room or bedroom to step onto the deck and then down the stairs onto Simpson Bay beach. They also have an observation deck where you can watch the planes arrive and departure. The large planes do not typically land early or depart late so flight noise is not an issue for us.
EXCURSIONS – Rhino Safari is such a blast. I did it for the first-time last November, but my husband and friends have done it several times. I decided to stay back at the Villa to read and sunbath while David and friends went on the Rhino’s. The excursion is typically with a group of other people, but you can book a private (higher cost) ride and customize. The excursion is about 3 hours long where you see the island from a water perspective. The route normally is through Simpson Bay marina under the causeway to Cupecoy, pass by Happy Bay and Friar Bay onto Marigot to Grand Case to Creole Rock where you snorkel and then return practically the same route.
Beaches
Simpson Bay, Maho and Mullet. Maho and Mullet were calm the days we went. Do you know after 20 years and 28+ visits I never swam at Maho? My first time and it was glorious.
FOOD
Breakfast – Just the one breakfast out at SMYC. Bloody Mary’s, eggs benedict and many other items on the menu as we were a party of six. We did pick up some croissants at Jules in Jordan Village on a couple of occasions. I still like the almond croissant best from Zee Best which we picked up on Airport Rd before our departure.
Lunch
Mary’s Boon – WOW it’s been quite a while since I’ve been back. We used to stay there until we discovered BSV. Still has the splendid view and old world Caribbean charm. Mark was onsite and came over to greet us which I appreciated.
A Burger and pina colada for Mike (aka Wingman) and the daily special crab and shrimp avocado salad for me. Pina coladas were good. For those who loved their lobster salad they no longer have it on the menu. [sigh] My salad was fresh with 5 huge grilled shrimp and lots of “real” crabmeat. At $18 I thought it was a bargain. The tempura shrimp appetizer had a heavy batter on them which I didn’t care for. 15% service charge was included in the bill. We both enjoyed our meals.
SMYC – ate here after Rhino Rides. Since it was a Friday during Lent, we do not eat meat so Grouper Fingers which are no longer called grouper fingers but same thing and coconut shrimp. Both were fried a bit more than we would have liked but both the fish and shrimp were still moist. Anna makes a great frozen lemon drop BTW.
Rosie’s Mullet – I’ll probably take a lot of heat for this but I’m not crazy about the ribs. Small and not a lot of meat and definitely the meat didn’t fall off the bone. I’ve had their chicken and ribs on more than several occasions and they are always close to being overcooked. If you like it great, my report my opinion. I think I’ll stick with the hot dog next time. David ate the hot dog after a recommendation from a friend. We agreed it was good. If you live on the east coast you know about Hummel big bite hot dogs. This was very similar. A condiment container included spicy fried onions that is outta this world. I got the half rack of ribs solo $8 and $4 for hot dog. Drinks are good.
Dinner
Spaghetti House – first night meal with friends was good. Pastas and wine and an enjoyable time. I did get the lasagna with beef sauce. It was extremely sauced so I might suggest if you order to ask her to lightly sauce or add some sauce to the side. Very tasty but too much tomato sauce. David had a pesto shrimp with gnocchi which he loved and other 3 had the spaghetti Carbonaro. Wine and beer only.
Courtside Café & Lobster House – Love this place and hope they get more people going to it. Still best lobster per pound deal on the island. In November it was $19.95 and this trip it was $21.95. Other places wanted $26 and $28 pp on Dutch side. I went for lobster and lobster is what I got. Also received Johnny Cakes to start meal. My 2.5 lobster was delicious, moist, and slathered in butter. Salad and rice & peas were my two side choice. My rice was a little dry so will try a different side dish next time. David ordered the seafood in tomato sauce over linguini. Wingman (aka Mike) ordered steak which is enjoyed. 15% tax added to the bill. When I questioned it the waitressed said the staff has to split it and only gets 5%. I said so it’s a service charge and she said no a tax. We have to pay a government tax. Just telling you about the conversation I had with her. She was a good server with a bubbly personality, so we left extra.
Navy Beach – only thing nice I will say is the place is very pretty. The mega yachts you view as you enter the restaurant are over the top extravagant. Many deck hands near boats and in the bar area playing pool or foosball. There is one pool table and two foosball tables after the bar but before the dining room.
I reserved dinner online. After I submitted the required form and uploaded my license, I received an approval email. The Security guard did not ask for the form (I had print screened it on my phone) he asked for my name, looked on his clipboard wrote down our license plate and let us enter.
Service was not good, food was either cold, overcooked or just meh. Dining room closes at 9:00 pm which we were made aware by the bartender while we were having a pre-dinner cocktail. By the time our food arrived, and we started eating the kitchen was starting to close down so we did not send the food back. A fried chicken with cornbread and small amount of cole slaw may have been good except the chicken was dry and overcooked. The best thing we shared was the chocolate cake but at $15 for the slice with a scoop of ice cream it wasn’t worth it. 15% service charge, we will not return.
Astra – what a pretty place, open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The ever outgoing Julio bartends and greets you with a warm hello and goodbye. We went one night for drinks and enjoyed speaking with him at the bar. The décor is chic and the location on the marina makes for good views. There is a nice area to the end where you can have a private party or a smoke away from other diners. An enjoyable meal starting with chicken nem and chicken lollipops for appetizers. Both good. Dinner for me was prawn stuffed grouper in a white cognac sauce accompanied by rice and a balsamic dressed salad. The fish was wrapped around a big prawn, 2 pieces. David had stuffed chicken with a porcini gravy and mashed potatoes and Mike a steak. We did manage to have dessert. Mike loves their fried Oreos with ice cream, and I had the Crème Brulé. 15% service charged added to bill.
Sublime– Our best meal on the island. Sat outside overlooking Maho. Made it in time for Happy Hour which ends at 7 pm. A Porntini is a nice martini with a shot of Prosecco served on the side. It’s good and for $7 HH price you can’t beat it (certain drinks are half off). I ate the veal Osso Bucco which was delicious and fall off the bone. The risotto and vegetables where just as good. It was a stellar meal for me. My husband felt the same with his huge duck breast, same medley of vegetables and scallop potatoes. Those potatoes were divine. Our friend rated his rib eye 8 out of 10. No dessert because we were too stuffed. Portions are large. The raw oysters at $26 for ½ dozen was the steepest priced we saw at any restaurant we went to this trip. They were small a bit too briny for our taste since we are used to a plumper and sweeter East Coast oyster. 15% service charge
Greenhouse Simpson Bay Monday night is one of the two nights a week where they have prime rib, Queen or King cut. Neither is served on the bone. This may have been the only place we ate for dinner that did not add a 15% service charge to the bill. SMYC, I do not believe doesn’t either? Made it to happy hour for 2 for 1 drink then sat for dinner where we were joined by another couple living on the island. Johnny cakes to start are served warm. Not sure why I ordered my steak medium well, but I did so my fault that it was overdone. I didn’t feel right sending it back since it was cooked as I requested. I ate most of it with my two sides, salad, and plantains. David ate the Grouper.
Bucaneers– while we still like the location and they have added a lot more seating the food isn’t as good. We wanted a casual meal so all three of us ordered the burgers. They were good but not as good when it was previously owned. By 9:00 pm no one was at the bar. A shame because it is a good location with a a variety of food at reasonable prices. I do not believe a service charge was added.
Sandbar – we went to hear What the Funk play on Saturday night. They played 3 sets of current and some older music most you could dance too. Love this band who we first saw a couple years back at Buc’s. They also play at the Red Piano on Monday nights. We visited Sandbar twice this trip for drinks only. Love the location by the water and sand at your feet.
We had great weather, only rain was late evening or uber early morning which did not impact our days. Windy most days and water in Simpson Bay was choppy with big waves some days. No humidity and with the wind some nights you needed a lightweight sweater or wrap. It was a great trip, too short but we are returning for two weeks during the Fall so that made it a little easier to leave. Just a little bit!
This was our third trip to the island since the pandemic started. By far much less stressful to enter and exit given less paperwork and ease of entry because we are vaxed. We were asked to show our vax cards as well as EHAS preapproval form upon entry to SXM. We paid an extra $15 on JetBlue’s site to enter the expedited security at JFK. It was well worth it as we went right through security with no wait. We were tested one day prior to departure onsite at BSV. Very convenient and very reasonable priced. Far less than what we paid last November at one of the Dutch side labs.
JetBlue direct round trip from JFK.
Inbound
Our flight departed Tuesday at 7:30 am and arrived at 11:12 am. Plane was ¼ filled so we were able to have the row to ourselves. Nice flight and easy check- in through immigrations. We were the only plane upon arrival.
Outbound
Flight departed at 12:29 pm and arrived 4:48 pm. Again, a fairly empty plane so we had a row to ourselves. We typically fly on a Friday or Saturday inbound and Saturday or Sunday outbound. This plane was big, it had 4 bathrooms – 1 in front, 1 in the middle and 2 in the back. Getting through customers and immigration was seamless on a Tuesday return. Bought sandwich and a Johnny Cake at Zee Best to take on flight. Still extremely limited “eats” at airport. Flight was good until we got halfway home and then very turbulent. Took me most of the evening to feel well after that ride.
Car Rental – SAX for us. Happy with the service, price and owners, Anil & Cindy are nice hard working people.
Accommodations
Beachside Villas on White Sands Road in Beacon Hill offers waterfront Villas. We are repeats guests having discovered this gem in 2008. Wish it had been sooner but since then we only stay here. Two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen with stove/oven, full size refrigerator. Coffee maker, toaster, blender, microwave is provided. As well as cooking pots and pans, bowls, plates, several size drinking cups in both plastic and glass. There are a lot of baking tins and skillets and utensils. They also provide storage containers of varying sizes.
As a welcome gesture, which is appreciated and convenient they stock your refig with several cans of beer, soda, and water. House cleaning service is provided daily, onsite parking with an electronic security gate where you use the keypad to enter the property. A security guard walks the property and beach every evening until the wee hours. Maintenance staff rack the sand every day, when needed. Lovely fauna and Palm trees surround the grounds. If you want to BBQ, they provide gas propane grills which maintenance will wheel over to your Villa. The Bedrooms and communal area: living room, kitchen, atrium is enclosed with air conditioned. If you want to leave the sliders open in the living room, with screen doors closed as we often do there is a nice breeze.
A big inground pool is at the end of the property with a gazebo should you want or need shade. Floats and water noodles are provided.
Rates are very reasonable for all they provide; you check their site for information on seasonal rates. We want for nothing while we are there. Love hearing the ocean when we sleep and opening the sliding doors from either living room or bedroom to step onto the deck and then down the stairs onto Simpson Bay beach. They also have an observation deck where you can watch the planes arrive and departure. The large planes do not typically land early or depart late so flight noise is not an issue for us.
EXCURSIONS – Rhino Safari is such a blast. I did it for the first-time last November, but my husband and friends have done it several times. I decided to stay back at the Villa to read and sunbath while David and friends went on the Rhino’s. The excursion is typically with a group of other people, but you can book a private (higher cost) ride and customize. The excursion is about 3 hours long where you see the island from a water perspective. The route normally is through Simpson Bay marina under the causeway to Cupecoy, pass by Happy Bay and Friar Bay onto Marigot to Grand Case to Creole Rock where you snorkel and then return practically the same route.
Beaches
Simpson Bay, Maho and Mullet. Maho and Mullet were calm the days we went. Do you know after 20 years and 28+ visits I never swam at Maho? My first time and it was glorious.
FOOD
Breakfast – Just the one breakfast out at SMYC. Bloody Mary’s, eggs benedict and many other items on the menu as we were a party of six. We did pick up some croissants at Jules in Jordan Village on a couple of occasions. I still like the almond croissant best from Zee Best which we picked up on Airport Rd before our departure.
Lunch
Mary’s Boon – WOW it’s been quite a while since I’ve been back. We used to stay there until we discovered BSV. Still has the splendid view and old world Caribbean charm. Mark was onsite and came over to greet us which I appreciated.
A Burger and pina colada for Mike (aka Wingman) and the daily special crab and shrimp avocado salad for me. Pina coladas were good. For those who loved their lobster salad they no longer have it on the menu. [sigh] My salad was fresh with 5 huge grilled shrimp and lots of “real” crabmeat. At $18 I thought it was a bargain. The tempura shrimp appetizer had a heavy batter on them which I didn’t care for. 15% service charge was included in the bill. We both enjoyed our meals.
SMYC – ate here after Rhino Rides. Since it was a Friday during Lent, we do not eat meat so Grouper Fingers which are no longer called grouper fingers but same thing and coconut shrimp. Both were fried a bit more than we would have liked but both the fish and shrimp were still moist. Anna makes a great frozen lemon drop BTW.
Rosie’s Mullet – I’ll probably take a lot of heat for this but I’m not crazy about the ribs. Small and not a lot of meat and definitely the meat didn’t fall off the bone. I’ve had their chicken and ribs on more than several occasions and they are always close to being overcooked. If you like it great, my report my opinion. I think I’ll stick with the hot dog next time. David ate the hot dog after a recommendation from a friend. We agreed it was good. If you live on the east coast you know about Hummel big bite hot dogs. This was very similar. A condiment container included spicy fried onions that is outta this world. I got the half rack of ribs solo $8 and $4 for hot dog. Drinks are good.
Dinner
Spaghetti House – first night meal with friends was good. Pastas and wine and an enjoyable time. I did get the lasagna with beef sauce. It was extremely sauced so I might suggest if you order to ask her to lightly sauce or add some sauce to the side. Very tasty but too much tomato sauce. David had a pesto shrimp with gnocchi which he loved and other 3 had the spaghetti Carbonaro. Wine and beer only.
Courtside Café & Lobster House – Love this place and hope they get more people going to it. Still best lobster per pound deal on the island. In November it was $19.95 and this trip it was $21.95. Other places wanted $26 and $28 pp on Dutch side. I went for lobster and lobster is what I got. Also received Johnny Cakes to start meal. My 2.5 lobster was delicious, moist, and slathered in butter. Salad and rice & peas were my two side choice. My rice was a little dry so will try a different side dish next time. David ordered the seafood in tomato sauce over linguini. Wingman (aka Mike) ordered steak which is enjoyed. 15% tax added to the bill. When I questioned it the waitressed said the staff has to split it and only gets 5%. I said so it’s a service charge and she said no a tax. We have to pay a government tax. Just telling you about the conversation I had with her. She was a good server with a bubbly personality, so we left extra.
Navy Beach – only thing nice I will say is the place is very pretty. The mega yachts you view as you enter the restaurant are over the top extravagant. Many deck hands near boats and in the bar area playing pool or foosball. There is one pool table and two foosball tables after the bar but before the dining room.
I reserved dinner online. After I submitted the required form and uploaded my license, I received an approval email. The Security guard did not ask for the form (I had print screened it on my phone) he asked for my name, looked on his clipboard wrote down our license plate and let us enter.
Service was not good, food was either cold, overcooked or just meh. Dining room closes at 9:00 pm which we were made aware by the bartender while we were having a pre-dinner cocktail. By the time our food arrived, and we started eating the kitchen was starting to close down so we did not send the food back. A fried chicken with cornbread and small amount of cole slaw may have been good except the chicken was dry and overcooked. The best thing we shared was the chocolate cake but at $15 for the slice with a scoop of ice cream it wasn’t worth it. 15% service charge, we will not return.
Astra – what a pretty place, open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The ever outgoing Julio bartends and greets you with a warm hello and goodbye. We went one night for drinks and enjoyed speaking with him at the bar. The décor is chic and the location on the marina makes for good views. There is a nice area to the end where you can have a private party or a smoke away from other diners. An enjoyable meal starting with chicken nem and chicken lollipops for appetizers. Both good. Dinner for me was prawn stuffed grouper in a white cognac sauce accompanied by rice and a balsamic dressed salad. The fish was wrapped around a big prawn, 2 pieces. David had stuffed chicken with a porcini gravy and mashed potatoes and Mike a steak. We did manage to have dessert. Mike loves their fried Oreos with ice cream, and I had the Crème Brulé. 15% service charged added to bill.
Sublime– Our best meal on the island. Sat outside overlooking Maho. Made it in time for Happy Hour which ends at 7 pm. A Porntini is a nice martini with a shot of Prosecco served on the side. It’s good and for $7 HH price you can’t beat it (certain drinks are half off). I ate the veal Osso Bucco which was delicious and fall off the bone. The risotto and vegetables where just as good. It was a stellar meal for me. My husband felt the same with his huge duck breast, same medley of vegetables and scallop potatoes. Those potatoes were divine. Our friend rated his rib eye 8 out of 10. No dessert because we were too stuffed. Portions are large. The raw oysters at $26 for ½ dozen was the steepest priced we saw at any restaurant we went to this trip. They were small a bit too briny for our taste since we are used to a plumper and sweeter East Coast oyster. 15% service charge
Greenhouse Simpson Bay Monday night is one of the two nights a week where they have prime rib, Queen or King cut. Neither is served on the bone. This may have been the only place we ate for dinner that did not add a 15% service charge to the bill. SMYC, I do not believe doesn’t either? Made it to happy hour for 2 for 1 drink then sat for dinner where we were joined by another couple living on the island. Johnny cakes to start are served warm. Not sure why I ordered my steak medium well, but I did so my fault that it was overdone. I didn’t feel right sending it back since it was cooked as I requested. I ate most of it with my two sides, salad, and plantains. David ate the Grouper.
Bucaneers– while we still like the location and they have added a lot more seating the food isn’t as good. We wanted a casual meal so all three of us ordered the burgers. They were good but not as good when it was previously owned. By 9:00 pm no one was at the bar. A shame because it is a good location with a a variety of food at reasonable prices. I do not believe a service charge was added.
Sandbar – we went to hear What the Funk play on Saturday night. They played 3 sets of current and some older music most you could dance too. Love this band who we first saw a couple years back at Buc’s. They also play at the Red Piano on Monday nights. We visited Sandbar twice this trip for drinks only. Love the location by the water and sand at your feet.
We had great weather, only rain was late evening or uber early morning which did not impact our days. Windy most days and water in Simpson Bay was choppy with big waves some days. No humidity and with the wind some nights you needed a lightweight sweater or wrap. It was a great trip, too short but we are returning for two weeks during the Fall so that made it a little easier to leave. Just a little bit!
This was our third trip to the island since the pandemic started. By far much less stressful to enter and exit given less paperwork and ease of entry because we are vaxed. We were asked to show our vax cards as well as EHAS preapproval form upon entry to SXM. We paid an extra $15 on JetBlue’s site to enter the expedited security at JFK. It was well worth it as we went right through security with no wait. We were tested one day prior to departure onsite at BSV. Very convenient and very reasonable priced. Far less than what we paid last November at one of the Dutch side labs.
