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St. Martin Trip Report: The “We Play Easy” Edition Turf 4 hours ago Per the suggestion of Carol - here is my first ever trip report

(December 21 → January 1)

A Little Background
I recently discovered I’ve been a TTOL member for 19 years and have posted… 10 times. That’s an average of one post every 1.7 years. At this pace, I’ll hit 20 posts sometime around 2055. Stay tuned.

My wife and I have loved St. Martin for ages, though we haven’t always been consistent visitors. For years we cruised with Royal Caribbean, and St. Martin was always the port where we said, “Why don’t we just come here instead of sitting on a boat with 4,000 strangers?” Eventually we listened to ourselves.

Then life happened. We had a child. Then my job moved us to China for six years. (Automotive industry—lots of meetings, lots of smog, zero beaches.)

We still took beach trips, but they shifted to Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Boracay remains my all‑time favorite beach—beautiful water, soft sand, and the ability to walk 50 yards out before the ocean reaches your head. It also wins “Most Terrifying Beach Moment” thanks to the time a monkey attacked my daughter. But that’s a story for another post… maybe in 2030.

My wife and I work hard, but we do *not* play hard. We play “easy.” So if you’re looking for a day‑by‑day adventure log, this isn’t it. Our vacations follow the same instructions as shampoo: wash, rinse, repeat.

Our Routine
Arrive → Vacation → Depart
A masterpiece of simplicity.

Arrive
We fly DAY → CLT → SXM. Because airlines now treat schedules as loose suggestions, we no longer risk tight connections. Our DAY–CLT flight was delayed 3.5 hours, but we had already planned to overnight in Charlotte. Zero stress. Highly recommend.

CLT–SXM was smooth. Immigration kiosks were a dream. One screen even told me my SXM entry form had been “located,” which was the first time I realized those forms actually do something.

We found Kenny immediately—he’s like a rental‑car ninja—and headed to Alamanda at Orient Bay. Same room as always. We’re basically squatters at this point. Shout-out to LLPM Rentals. Great crew to work with.

We grabbed groceries at Monoprix (Sunday hours = scavenger hunt), then ended the night with a beer and burger at Peter McCool’s. Solid burger. Zero complaints.

Vacation
This is where the plot thickens… or rather, stays exactly the same for ten straight days.

Every morning, my wife walked to Good Morning Café and returned with two croissants and a baguette. That was my alarm clock. When she walked in, I got up. No snooze button needed.

By 10:00 AM we were in our recliners at Wai Place. JR and Flo, the beach boys, have been there for years and treat us like returning regulars—which we are, because we sit in the same chairs every day like two retirees who lost track of time - but we are not retirees yet.

Lunch was a bucket of Carib and a Chicken Caesar Salad. Every. Single. Day. If consistency were a sport, we’d medal.

We walked 1.9 miles in the morning and 1.5 miles in the afternoon. That’s 3.4 miles of exercise daily, which fully offsets the beer, rosé, and croissants. (Science may disagree, but I don’t.)

At 4:00 PM we’d pack up, walk 50 yards to our room, and sometimes dip in the pool. Sometimes not. We live on the edge.

Orient Beach Conditions
- Sargassum: present but not dramatic
- Erosion: worse than before
- Crowds: strong
- People‑watching: Olympic level
- The weather was great, though varied—some days breezy, some calm. When the breeze disappeared, the sun made its presence known.

I confirmed that I can sit in a recliner for six hours a day without reading, scrolling, or listening to anything. Just observing humanity. Highly entertaining.

Restaurants We Visited
- Peau De Vache – average to above average
- Rancho Del Sol – average
- L’Atelier – above average
- Bona Mama – always great
- Peter McCool – average
- Yellow Sub – below average

The list is short because my wife spent four days deciding whether she had food poisoning or a virus. During that time, I survived on Italian hard salami. Not glamorous, but surprisingly satisfying. Also cheap. Silver linings.

Departure
Checkout was easy. We drove around, visited a few forum‑recommended spots, then killed time at Maho Beach watching planes and eating.

Security was long but fine. The area *after* security but *before* immigration was absolute chaos—like someone had combined a theme park line with a flash mob. I assume the airport will eventually fix this.

Our SXM–CLT flight left an hour late due to what I’ll politely call “gate confusion,” but the pilot made up 30 minutes. Bags took forever in Charlotte. I wasn’t worried about us making the connection—I was worried about our luggage making it.

We had to exit and re‑enter security, which felt like a prank, but it was quick. CLT–DAY was 20% full, so we stretched out like royalty.

Changes for 2026
- New Year’s Eve was fun… until the DJ was still going at 3:00 AM, 50 yards from our patio. Next year we’ll leave on the 31st or the 2nd.
- We love Kenny, but we’ll probably skip the rental car. We barely used it. With Petit Casino Market in Orient Village and Uber for Grand Case dinners, it’s unnecessary.
- Eleven nights was perfect, but we’ll add a day trip to St. Barts for variety.
- Mosquitoes were aggressive this year. We’re bringing the proven spray next time.

Another fantastic trip. We’ll be back next holiday season. I’m ready to book, but American Airlines hasn’t released December flights yet, so I’ll wait.

Thanks for reading my 11th post in 19 years. At this rate, you’ll get the next one in January 2028. Mark your calendars.

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A Few Pics From Today Whale Tail 4 hours ago A few sunset pics from today. The pic of the building under construction is right across the road from the Rib Shack, don't know what is going in there.

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Fondue Night At Juliettes Whale Tail 4 hours ago Friday night at Juliettes is fondue night, $35 for a cheese fondue for 2 and a bottle of wine. I had 6 escargot and my wife had crab croquets then the fondue. A nice light dinner with a musician playing the horn and singing in the background. Very nice.

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How reliable TooSim is in Europe? Moosha Yesterday at 09:10 PM Hi everyone.
I’m heading to Europe next month with a friend and looking at TooSim for navigation and train tickets. We’ll be driving between Germany, Italy, and Austria. Airalo felt overpriced for what we got, while TooSim has more pleasant prices, but we're not sure if they're reliable enough. Thanks in advance.

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Botnay Bay TomSW Yesterday at 09:05 PM I read that there was maybe some commercial building taking place in or around the Botnay Bay residential community. Any chance of there being a restaurant nearby?

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eSim for use in St Martin IslandBound9 Yesterday at 02:02 AM Happy new year everyone!

We will be visiting in two weeks staying in Orient Village. On past trips I've paid for our US mobile provider's international day pass. This time I'd like to try an eSim which appears to be a more cost efficient alternative. Is there anyone that has used this option that can comment on how it worked or recommend a vendor/supplier?

Many thanks for any input
Ellie

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restaurants orient village RonDon 01/01/2026 09:16 PM If I could go to only one restaurant in Orient Village what are the recommendations based upon tastes? Is any one better than the others?

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Philipsburg Day Whale Tail 01/01/2026 01:31 PM Yesterday was our first trip into Philipsburg on this visit. There were 2 small ships and 2 bigger ships in port but no monster ships. Our plan was a little shopping, have lunch and mostly to visit our friends there.
We left Simpson Bay around 10am and returned around 3pm and the drive was smooth, both ways with the occasional stop and go along the way.

We parked at Bobby's Marina and proceeded down Front St. The first thing I noticed was that the road was closed to traffic well pass the Court House!! What a great idea, makes for a safe walk without the worry of dealing with crazy drivers. After we finished with Front St we made our way to The Boardwalk. The first thing I noticed there was the beach seemed to be smaller, maybe it was high tide. We made our way to Nu Love restaurant beside the Holland House where we were greeted by Alex the bartender there, yes it is still The Friendly Island. We found that same vibe from most of the shops we went into. It's not a greeting of oh you're back on island but rather it's hugs and wanting to know how is everything going in your life.

Then we made our way to Juggies for an extended visit with him. A big part of visiting Juggies is meeting fellow travelers and talking to them. Now a visit to Juggies is not complete without having a Krave burger and fries and he now offers thin crust pizzas, we brought one home with us because we didn't feel like going out for a big New Years Eve dinner. It was very good. Now back to the Krave burger, we each had a burger and shared an order of fries. At first bite we both noticed something was different and it was the lack of beef. They used to be meaty but not this time, I think it's a cost cutting measure but we then noticed he offers a double patty option which is probably closer to the original. Next time we'll order the double patty because they are really good.

Now a side story on our trip to Philipsburg. Last year 2 months after leaving the island my wife had a $30 charge to her credit card from a vendor that we shop at. Now I don't know if the vendor was slow in their paperwork or if it was fraud but the CC removed the charge and gave her a new card. So on this trip I wanted to check something out and I was right. There are alot of stores on Front St that have a security camera right above the cash register so your pin number could be recorded if you're not careful. We are now extra careful.
I've also added a sunset picture from SBR last night

Today I'm planning on a do nothing day. I need it

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Best place to get Mofongo? IslandVet88 01/01/2026 04:30 AM Heading to Puerto Rico in a few weeks for the first time and looking for a good place to get mofongo. Any suggestions, been following this guide but need more options. So far the best option seems to be Punto de Vista, anyone have any experience there?

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Maho screwed up Kennys 01/01/2026 04:24 AM No major Fire works 😡

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