On Sunday we had ham and eggs here for breakfast and headed out to Super U at 9:30 AM. Wow, what a breeze of a trip over to Marigot!! Great time to go anywhere on island without worrying about traffic!! We got some wine, but not a couple of other things we really wanted, which was some onion dip and some lettuce, so headed back to Carrefour in Cole Bay for those. I personally don't like that Carrefour, as it always seems to smell like FISH to me. As you can tell by these trip reports, Eric is a big FISH fan. Me? Not so much.. From there, we went through Simpson Bay and stopped by Le Suciere for some of their yummy ham and cheese quiches, and some desserts for later.


So, after that little sojourn, we got back to the 'house' and I posted the first section of the trip report. We lazed away the day, reading, hanging out on the deck, watched the passing boat parade,









watched some football, took a nap, all the important things! Lunch was some snacks and leftover pizza from the other night. It was just as good, re-warmed in the oven.



Around 6:30-7:00, we headed over to Mark's for dinner. Eric had actually not been there for quite a while. I had been there quite a few times with the Regatta crew when Eric didn't come, so I had been there recently. There were maybe a half dozen tables occupied, mostly locals, including a LARGE group of folks, many of whom ordered the mussels, which were one of the specials, plus ribs. When they left, it seemed that ALL of them carried a 'to go' box.

If you're not familiar with Mark's, be prepared for HUGE portions, and LOTS of garlic. I almost always get what I think they call chicken pasta. It's a HUGE plate of fettucine al fredo with tons of chicken on it. Usually I find it's enough for two meals, often three. But I wanted to try something different this time. I knew I had to get their garlic bread though. This is literally the best garlic bread I have ever had. (So long as you like garlic, that is!!) I dithered for a while over the menu and finally ended up with the grilled pork chops.



It came on a HUGE plate, which was stuffed to the brim with two large chops, smothered with delicious grilled onions, lots of fries and a salad. The totally awesome garlid bread is in the picture also. The waitress came over and checked on me and thought I didn't like the meal, as it didn't look like I had eaten anything. I brought home most of the pork chops, and of course, the remaining pieces of garlic bread!

Eric got the shrimp marinara.


His was a huge plate also, but he opted to just eat all the shrimp out of the dish and leave the rest of the pasta.

They gave us a carry out menu when we left. I uploaded pictures of it to the picture gallery, for anyone that is interested. At the restaurant, they DON'T charge service charge, but we noted on the carry out menu, they do charge a service charge.

So, we headed home, and enjoyed our LeSuciere desserts, a chocolate eclair and a piece of cheesecake which we split. Sorry, forgot to take any pictures of them, just scarfed them down!! After, we watched a bit of the football game, and off to another early sleep.

Monday
Monday we enjoyed our lovely quiche from Le Suciere for breakfast.



We hung out here for Monday morning and then headed over toward the French side around noon. We decided to do sort of a circumnavigation of the island, heading from here through Maho, through Sandy Ground and the back side of Marigot. As we were passing by Mullet, we noted a bus, which I thought odd, but it didn't really register. Then, when we got to Marigot, we again noticed a bus, and the vendors were open, so deduced there must be a ship in port. There had been ships floating around out front the whole time like this one



but none in port to date that we had been aware of. At which point, I consulted the Daily Herald we had bought that morning and saw that the Celebrity Equinox was in port.


I'm not sure how cruise ship passengers are handled for sure now, but have heard that most or all ships are doing the 'bubble' tours, which means that you can only get off the ship to do a ship sponsored shore excursion. Count me OUT on that!!!! I am curious as to how they enforce that though?? When they take people to Mullet or to Marigot, how do they make sure people don't make a run for it??? Maybe you can't get back IN to the port, unless you are on a ship sponsored transport?? Anyone that has been on a ship that stopped in SXM since the pandemic, I would be interested to hear how that happens. On Wednesday, we made a trip through town and saw folks walking through town down Front Street on their own, so at least some of the time people are on their own, I guess.


So, on to Grand Case. I had wanted to try Sunset Cafe at Grand Case Beach Club, but it was not to be. We had intended to make the right turn halfway through town to got to GCBC, but the road was blocked and there was a HUGE hole in the middle of the road. So, we thought we'd take a chance and make a right and go the wrong way down the street at the corner by Bistrot Cariabes. Another car had done just that, right in front of us. Unfortunately as we started to do likewise, that car started backing up, as a CONCRETE TRUCK was coming down the street. OK, let's turn left then!!! At that point, we kind of figured it was a sign that GCBC was not to be. We could have tried to get there from the airport road, but just decided to head to Orient. If I had known almost nothing was open on Orient, we probably would have gone back to Marigot.

So, on to Orient. Unfortunately, of the big 5 restaurants, the ONLY one open was La Playa. We weren't excited with LaPlaya in general, as they focus very much on sushi. The only other places that were open were Yellow Sub (perhaps Le Telegraphe, not sure), Chez Leandra, and Orange Fever. The rest looked like they were closed for vacation, as many didn't even have their signs out front. So, we headed to La Playa. LaPlaya was moderately busy, since they were the only game in town. I decided on an old favorite, bo bun nem salad.



This one was OK, but not nearly as good as Bruno's was. Eric ordered tuna, which wasn't really what he expected.

So, overall, not a home run, but we were in SXM, with a beautiful view over Orient Beach, so one can hardly complain too much..








After lunch, we made a short detour back to Leader Price, which we had 'discovered' on our trip in June 2019. They have a small selection of very nicely priced wines, and other items of interest. We picked up a couple of bottles of wine. We also got a 'you bake' mini baguette package for around $3, and a package of chocolate croissants for about the same. You heat the baguette in the oven for 12 minutes at 400 degrees, PERFECT! No need to go out in the morning to buy fresh baguette!

(Subsequently, I found out you can buy almost the same thing at Carrefour for $1.20. That's cheaper.. )


After Leader Price, we headed toward Orleans, and up over the hill toward P'burg. It's been a LONG time since we stopped on the hill to take the obligatory picture of the cruise ship in port, so we should be forgiven for stopping at the wrong place and got only a so-so picture of the Equinox in port.



Coming this time of year, I am surprised at how early sunset is, at 6 PM! So, once we were home, we waited for the Equinox to leave port, but it was dark by the time they left, and they left at a weird angle, almost straight out from port, so not a particularly good picture, but here it is anyway.



It was so nice to see a ship actually with passengers onboard. We have seen several ships just 'floating' this week, but good to see one with passengers.

Thus endeth another successful day, of doing not much of anything...