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techno music RonDon 4 hours ago good news for those of us that don't want to hear Techno blaring.

Heineken Green Zone will have the only Techno, electronic dance music during the regatta. It will be located at Rainforest Park (near Emilio's) where there are zip lines and gondolas.

Will you attend Whaletail? lol

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days 6,7 Poupette, PardonMyFrench, No1SXm, LilJ, Tortuga the captain 16 hours ago Hope Estate, La Galion, Pardon my French, NO1SXM, Jerusalem and Pollos Hermanos

Each day began with an iced coffee from the Deli in Maho before departing the room. Today, we headed up to La Galion beach. But on our way there, I saw Chez Poupette was open and could not resist. She rushed this VERY local Lolo, wf you want to call it that. Just north of Marigot, past the McDonalds but before that roundabout on the right side. $14 for a platter of griot, rice, avocado and a small side salad. She cooks it fresh on the spot. So ...damn, good. I asked for it to go so we'd eat at the beach.
Then a quick stop at Hope Estate to the Going out of Business GrapeWine store. (Thanks erb/erp for that tip!) Picked up a few bottles on Chateuneuf du Pape for 40% off. Spirits were 50% off and while I was eyeballing a bottle of JW Blue for $120, I let that ride for someone else.

(Last time up this way, I remember visiting Bacchus so I drove around the corner and fell upon "L'Epicurie" across the street. ) I popped in and found my ST. Marcellin Cheese FINALLY. We grabbed a small wheel of this, some crackers and off to La Galion beach.

Lots of sargassum, very light rolling waves and a VERY quiet beach where you bring everything in and out. Been visiting it for 19 years and it's so peaceful. light breeze, soft cheese, lots of sun. Fabulous.

We kept today free of reservations. The cheese and crackers at the beach was our main meal of the day. Once we left the beach, we headed towards....NOwhere Special to park and have a few cocktails at PardonMyFrench in Simpson Bay. We weren't hungry and while the menu looked awesome, we werent' ready for dinner yet and the ladies didnt love the dinner menu options. But we agreed the cocktails were excellent and we'd return for dessert.

Sunset cruise on No1 SXM was a nice deviation from our usual where we charter a boat for 8 hrs.

Shwarma and chicken from Little J ( they were packed!) and Pollos Hermanos (Colour!!!) made for a relatively health conscious evening

Day 7 - Stopped into Marigot knowing Comptiors didnt have St Marcellin but grabbed 2 raclettes cheeses. I wanted to bring these back home in flight. When asked, she said they were semi hard and she shrink wrapped them and there were OK for flight. Further, We grabbed a healthy serving of the truffled brie cheese. She packed it and we headed off to.....GALION beach again! It's so quiet with a nice balance of sun and shade.

After a few hours, a stop into P'burg for scotch, gelato and back to Maho ,for a shower and dinner at La Tortuga. A perfect sunset that made for the night we would have had a Teresse. Really nice meal and cocktails there as well!

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What’s the best restaurant in Orient Village Kennys 17 hours ago Please for good heads up ⬆️ 👍😊

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Days 4 to 5, all things French, and a greek the captain 19 hours ago So finally home and back after a week of seeing patients.

day 4: TUES, began with a ride to Marigot to see how much $ my wife and daughter could use to prop up the economy on SXM. I was on the hunt for St. Marcellin cheese so I walked up and down the dockside, starting at Comptoirs des Fromages. While they didnt have it yet (it comes right off the plane from France) he suggested a goat cheese called Pelardon in a cooler we rented from Craig and off we went. He also told me to call him Thursday AM to see if Air France brings in a new Bach of St. Marcellin. Also popped into Bacchus and was surprised at their extensive Rhum collection!

We packed our Pelardon and made our way to Grand Case for lunch at Le Cool Heure. It was once of the best meals we had. It was the place where it seems like all the workers came for lunch....my kind of place. I dont know how this guy is only open 11;45-14:00 and makes a killing feeding the locals. This place is a local gem. While I read the menu en franchise, the owner was happy to explain it in anglais as well. Our daughter chose a baked Roblechon served with finger foods. I had the duck and my wife had the tuna steak. Really excellent way to start our day! I thank you guys again for the recommendation! I would go back in a heartbeat. OH< one negative. They include these puff pastries w the bill. I included a pic of 6 of them. They were surprisingly TASTELESS. I mean, no taste at all. C'est la vie! Oh, and when you're done, it's not the kind of place where you get the bill. You go up to the counter to pay. We had no idea.

From there, we set up camp at Friars Bay Beach and relaxed for a few hours. Their beach cafe was closed (Mardi Gras?!) but armed with our cooler, cheese and goodies, we were set. Nice relaxing, very low winds and rolling waves. What a glorious day. BTW , we love the blue topped homes on the hill. Anyone know about them?

Once it got a touch cloudy, we headed back to Maho to relax poolside. As we drove south, the streets were lined with locals waiting for the Mardi Gras carnival parade. Luckily we beat that traffic again.
Our original dinner plans were reservations at La Terasse Rooftop. But after 2 french meals, the ladies saw the menu and declined & luckily, as we got to Maho and looked north, we could see the clouds caved in and the skies opened over the French side. We dodged that rain, the parade (likely soggy now) and it stayed dry at Maho until dark.

Dinner was laissez faire....we ordered in from Opa Taverna and it was ....hate to say it,...meh. I ordered the chicken souvlaki which was OK. We ordered the ...spinach and lentil salad which was excellent. But the huge let down was the SPANAKOPITA. It made Costco's version look good. I honestly think they took frozen spanakopita and nuked it. It's too bad. No pics. But the service and grounds looked pretty and accommodating. I would try it again for the spinach salad and healthier grilled options like the chicken. Anyone know more about the house un the hill facing the airport with the huge red ape? I tried to buy me a red ape. No luck.

Day5: WEDS..took a ride up to Orient Beach:
A day at the beach,
sushi lunch at La Playa (Colour, great call!!) while I had the roasted Cauliflower w nuts at the KKO bar and a few cocktails. I can confirm that if you spend a day in Orient Beach but want to clean up before dinner, KKO has showers to rinse.
D'Atelier for dinner- We all agree that the SERVICE here was INCREDIBLE. The steaks were better cooked here than at Jax. We got a pair of the poached egg appetizers. I'd been wanting to try a proper scotched egg and did so on Long Island last month. This one was so much better that even my wife loved it. The pumpkin base made it.
We shared a Waygu Picanha steak and daughter had the Manhattan steak. Steaks were very good . The star were was the D'Atelier Ice Cream. It was GASTRONOMIC DEBAUCHERY. Ice cream with ...oats in it? crunchy? DELECTABLE. INCROYABLE!!!!

After dinner we explored Orient Village. It was a pleasant version of Maho Village on a much more intimate scale IMHO. The ladies window shopped.

Lastly, walking to the car we saw a place called the SAO Asian Factory. This dad asked his teen daughter if that's where they manufacture Asians.

She was not amused by my dad joke and I got the requisite eye roll.

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip. Thank YOU guys again for sharing the knowledge.

If you go to D'Atelier, get the ice cream. WOW. And talk to....Valentin at Comptoirs des Fromage. He made some solid recommendations. Nice guy.

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Grand Case Beach Buddyhog 20 hours ago Sounds like the beach is closed to swimming? Why and any idea for how long? Thx

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Last Trip Report, Baie Rouge, Orient Villiage, Friars Bay barryvabeach Yesterday at 11:21 PM Trip is winding down, surprised how quickly. Since the 23rd, Grand Case beach has been closed to swimming due to water issues, so we went to Baie Rouge again yesterday. The water was calm, great swimming, only downside was we left a little before 4 pm and did not get back to Grand Case till 5, the traffic was not bad through Marigot, then stopped most of the time as we got closer to Grand Case. We went to Orient Village to change things up. We picked Roasty's for no reason other than we had not tried it before. My wife got the mahi with rissoto which was quite good. I made a mistake and ordered the chicken parmigiana - it turned out to be a boneless chicken breast, with a slice of proscuitto,swimming in a red sauce with melted mozz. Service of the food was quite quick but it took about 20 minutes to get a check.

Grand Case beach was closed again today, so we decided to try Friar's Bay. I had heard the back dirt road had been regraded and was not that bad. It may be that it was regraded, but still pretty bumpy - we got through it in our compact rental car, but slow going. The morning was overcast - with occassional spitting rain off and on. The water was calm , though the loose rocks at the surf line made it a bit challenging to get in and out. We both took the hike to Happy Bay just for the exercise - that beach looked nice and not very crowded. Lunch was at Friar's Bay beach club. Service was excellent. My wife got the quiche special which she enjoyed, I chose a cheese burger which was okay.

Tonights dinner was a 4 cheese pizza from LA QUINTESSENCE in Grand Case. It was pretty good - hard to say what style, not New York or Neapolitan, more like a bar pizza - medium thick crust which is pretty pale.

Tomorrow we go by Sebastien's one last time before we head off the airport, and a stop at Zee Best for sandwiches.

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American Airlines MIA improvements BillDauterive Yesterday at 10:26 PM American announced a terminal renovation of Terminal D.

From the article:
All 17 gate areas will provide third-level connections to Concourse D’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility for international arrivals. Work is set to begin in 2027 and conclude by 2030.

Link to article

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Costa Rica singbeach Yesterday at 08:40 PM Can I ask where to stay in January? Resort on beach with pool near restaurants maybe music? Not a young couple looking to hike or swing in trees!

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SXM Entry Form Scam torch Yesterday at 04:33 PM Im not sure if this has been discussed before, and apologies if it has but my Son and Daughter in Law Googled SXM Entry form and the first site that popped up appears to be a scam. They filled in all the paperwork and then it asked them to pay $240. He called me at this point to ask if that sounded legitimate to which I replied no. He found the correct form but was nearly out $240. I had the same issue when I first googled it. I'm not sure what the algorithm is that Google uses to prioritize searches, but be careful

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Gilligan's Island On SXM? Whale Tail Yesterday at 03:37 PM You never know what you'll see on SXM.
We were having breakfast at SMYC this morning and the "cast" of Gilligan's Island showed up

I think they were going on a 3 day cruise

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