Background Notes:<br><br>My husband Jim and I traveled to St. Martin from Philadelphia December 7 – 13. We're both professionals in our early 30’s with no children. This was our second trip to SXM -- the first trip being this past February – and our fourth trip to the Caribbean together. (We’ve previously visited Bonaire, Curacao, Guadaloupe and St. Thomas together – sometimes going to two islands in one trip.) Although we usually travel in high season, we decided to travel in December this time to take advantage of low season rates (but still miss hurricane season) and a 30% off sale being offered by American Airline Vacations. The sale required that we select from a limited number of hotels; we chose the Meridien in French Cul de Sac because it seemed to have a good choice of amenities and yet was near Orient Beach. <br><br>Now that we’re back and trying to cram all of our holiday planning and preparations into a little over a week, I’m not sure that we would go in December again. Although the rates were great, and we had no problems with needing restaurant reservations, there’s just this strange disconnect of being back from vacation and relaxed, and finding that everyone at work finished their projects while we were gone and are now in the holiday down-time, while we’re rushing to catch up.<br><br>Finally, thanks to everyone on TTOL for their many trip reports and recommendations. It was great to be in the mood for something specific (take out pizza, a nice restaurant, etc.) and be able to know where to go that would be good.<br><br><br><br>Detailed trip report<br><br>Thursday, December 7<br>Woke at 4:15. Left the house by 5:15 – it was snowing all the way to the airport. Had no problem checking in. Took minimal carry-ons to simplify walking around the airport. Got a bagel and sat at the gate for our flight. Boarded the plane, passing people who the flight attendant wouldn’t allow to board because their row hadn’t been called – cool! Our seats were behind the wing. We pulled a few feet away from the gate, and then sat for a long time. The captain explained that ‘contamination’ on the plane had to be removed before we left – aka the plane was being de-iced. We left about 30-40 minutes late. Uneventful flight to San Juan – the people in front of us were playing travel Scrabble – with a full size dictionary.<br><br>Arrived at SJU about 40 minutes later due to the de-icing; were a little worried about making our connection. Rushed to our gate immediately for the next leg to SXM, and were told the flight was delayed 45 minutes. Took a few minutes to collect ourselves, went back to the gate and were told it was delayed another 45 minutes. Then, were told the flight was delayed another 2 hours while they tried to fix a mechanical problem. They gave us vouchers for the terrible cafeteria – when we came back they had finally canceled the flight. We were supposed to leave for SXM at 1:00 – and eventually got pushed to a 6:00 flight. Unfortunately we didn’t ever have a large enough chunk of time to even think about exploring San Juan – we wished they had just cancelled the flight originally. To board the plane we took a bus to the plane. We had the front two seats on the left. Uneventful flight to SXM – cleared immigration with barely a glance, got our bags, and picked up our Hertz car.<br><br>Everything is decorated for Christmas – from icicle lights to deer. When we drove through Marigot there were special decoration on the lamp posts. We saw an illuminated life size nativity scene. For some reason we weren’t expecting this – being from the Northern U.S., I guess we associate Christmas with cold weather.<br><br>Drove up and down the windy roads to Le Meridien L’Habitation. Pulled up at the reception –the valet parked our car in a gated lot, put our bags on a cart and took us to a room. (Parking was $3 a day if we wanted to park close to the hotel.) The reception area was large, and red and white – not what you normally see in a hotel. Settled into the room, changed, and looked for food near our room. Our daily update said there was a beach BBQ dinner – but it wasn’t there – just a trio playing music at the pool bar. Didn’t feel like the fancy French restaurant near the pool – so went exploring at the shops across the street. <br><br>Found Le Calypso which wasn’t pretentious. Before our appetizers the wind and rain picked up. We moved our table further under the roof to try to stay dry. We had (French) Onion Soup and Tomato-Mozzarella salad for appetizers. ½ a carafe of house wine. This arrived with a cat who eventually sat in a chair of the table next to us. He pawed the woman’s plate and she put some chicken on the ground for him. For dinner we had curry chicken and red snapper. The chicken came without a vegetable and the fish was fully filleted. Ambience was 60-70’s American music and a bright bar. The food suited our needs – although it was not a restaurant we would recommend or come back to unless we had to. $46 total plus tip for the entire meal.<br><br><br>Friday, December 8<br><br>Had the buffet at our hotel for breakfast. It was very cloudy and we eventually got caught in quite a downpour while eating – had to move our table more under the roof to stay dry, for the second meal in a row. The buffet was pretty good – pancakes, hash browns, lots of whole and cut-up fruit, breads (including pain au chocolat). We pigged out and made alternative plans for a rainy day. Toured our hotel complex in daylight – found the paths to the beach, pools, restaurant, mini-golf, etc. . Our resort is beautiful, very landscaped. But it feels more French then Caribbean – not very laid back. For example we have to use a magnetic card to get in and OUT of our parking lot. By the time we were ready to go it was a bright sunny day so we headed for the beach at Club O – slathering on sun screen first.<br><br>The beach was windy and hot, with lots of choice in chairs/umbrellas. Left the beach to shop for a little bit when it became unbelievably windy. Bought a 2 piece dress – all the vendors seemed more hawkish then previously. Back to the beach where the wind had become a stiff breeze. Discovered the bathrooms were gone at the Club O bar. (anyone know when they were removed?) And no waitress on the beach – but it’s low season. <br><br>Left the beach at 3:30 to get lunch. BayWatch was no longer serving food – and we didn’t feel like a Pedro’s burger. So went the grocery at Orientique. Got ham, cheese, and crackers. The bread was frozen so we couldn’t make ourselves sandwiches. Back to our hotel over the treacherous roads.<br><br>Ate lunch on our patio. Heard and eventually found the caged squawking parrot.<br><br>Went to the hotel’s activity desk and booked a trip to Anguilla for Sunday. And got our safe fixed so we could use it – maintenance had to come in. (The maintenance man didn’t speak English – it was a VERY French resort.) Relaxed with a beer. Showered, dressed and headed out to dinner at Captain Oliver’s – drove on a relatively deserted road to get there. Decided it would be better to go on the new road towards Phillipsburg on the way back. <br><br>At Oliver’s we sat over the tank and the fish were swimming below us. A duo and drum machine is entertaining us. A third has joined and is playing silverware; we originally thought we was a tourist. When the duo took a break the silver ware player sang French songs, played the trumpet, sax, etc – he is truly part of the act, perhaps the owner? Dinner: Pina Colada, Daiquiri, Lobster Bisque, Shrimp & Scallops Flambe, and Fisherman’s Platter. $60. The meal was okay, but we were mostly paying for the ambiance.<br><br>After dinner went to the bar for two Red Stripes. Sat between the on-break duo and some very drunk people. It was very windy and raining a little, and we considered leaving. Looked at the caged animals outside the restaurant. Got one more beer and then danced. One of the band members drank a shot called flatliner right before the set: Sambuca, tobasco sauce and vodka dispersed over top. He offered us one; we declined. We danced to Bob Marley and some popular American songs.<br> <br>Got a little lost on the way home (the new road wasn’t on our map, and we weren’t sure where we ended up after we took it), but made it home by 11:00. Resting up for the Marigot Market tomorrow.<br><br><br>Saturday, December 9<br><br>Freshened up in the morning and headed for Marigot to do some Christmas shopping. Had a little trouble finding a parking space because we got here late (10 or so). Pulled into a spot after an SUV left. Shopped in the town more than the market. Jim got new Ray-Ban’s. I got perfume for mom. Picked up some post cards and Christmas cards. Zee Best was packed and out of pain au chocolat. Kept walking to find La Croissanterie for a late breakfast. Jim got an omelette. A woman at breakfast had two tiny dogs. When she went to leave one of them was too little to do the steps. She picked him up by his leash and put him in her bag. We saw her later walking around Marigot, one dog in the bag, one walking. After we breakfast we continued shopping. It was cloudy, but it didn’t rain. Stopped at La Vie En Rose for a drink before heading back. Stopped at Match to get more food – cereal and milk for breakfast, soda, beer, etc.<br><br>On the way back to the hotel we picked up two hitchhiking women right outside the entrance to our hotel – it’s an eight minute drive from the entrance to the beach and very hilly. They were a Swede and Brit. Very nice.<br><br>It was getting late in the day to go to Orient, so we packed up some food and headed for the beach at our hotel. It was very overcast and breezy – almost too cold for the beach. We had to go pretty far down the beach to get away from the hotel pools so I felt comfortable enough to lay out topless.<br><br>Decided to try Mario’s for dinner, based on the recommendations on TTOL. Had difficulty finding it – actually stopped and asked someone. It’s not on the main street. And you can’t see it when heading from Marigot towards Sandy Ground. Finally found the place, and we were given the last table – under the condition that we would leave our table by 9:30. (Which was fine -- it was only 8:00) Later we were told that the next reservation canceled, and that we’d have time for dessert. We got the corner table facing the lift bridge. It wasn’t too cool; just a good Caribbean breeze. We had 6 oysters on the half shell as an appetizer with a wonderful tomato / sweet pepper accompaniment. It was wonderful – really whetted the appetite for more. For dinner we had the veal and ostrich. Both were excellent and came with a side dish of pasta cheese for the veal and scalloped potato for the ostrich. We had a glass of house wine each and shared the apple oven puff pastry for dessert. The total check was $86. Several times during dinner we were asked by a woman if everything was OK; we eventually stopped her and learned that she was Marty the owner. Overall the service and food were excellent – our vote for best on the island.<br><br>Left Mario’s and went to the Princess Casino to play video poker. I lost $20 in about 20 minutes, while Jim won $105 in about the same time. Decided to leave while we were ahead, although we had to have the money counted twice at the cashier stand as the first count came out $15 short. The slot machine also had crevices that held $1.00. Spent a few minutes playing the horse racing game – quickly lost interest. Went home to prepare for our trip to Anguilla the next day. <br><br><br>Sunday, December 10<br><br>Ate cereal in our room, then to the activity desk at our hotel for our 8:15 check-in. We gave them our name and showed our passports, and about 8:30 walked to the beach to get aboard Scoobidoo. The boat didn’t come completely to shore, and we had to take off our shoes and wade through the water to climb a stairway up onto the boat. They immediately took our shoes and put them in a bin for the duration of the trip – shouldn’t have bothered to bring them. The boat left the Meridien and went to Grand Case Beach Club to pick up another dozen or so people, giving us 25 or so on the trip. The boat had a captain, and Stephanie who did everything else. We were separated into two groups by our primary language – French or English – and given instructions and a summary of our day. That we headed for Shoal Bay, going around the east side of Anguilla via the Atlantic. The sea was very choppy, windy and quite wet – everyone on the boat got wet, I got a little sick once, and everyone else was staring at the horizon to not get sick. But it still wasn’t as bad as when we had gone whale watching in Maine, when everyone on the boat got sick. Finally rounded the edge of Anguilla and had smoother seas on our way to Shoal Bay. The boat anchored fairly far out, and we were told that we could either get off the boat and go snorkeling in the deep water, or take a small boat to shore and then walk out a little to snorkel one other place. I tried snorkeling in two spots but the water was really rough and I gave up without seeing very much. Jim tried to snorkel from the boat, decided it was too rough and immediately headed for shore. Tried to spend a little time on the beach, but it was too windy and we were getting sand blasted. Not fun.<br><br>Lunch was at 12:30, and was actually pretty good. We had our choice of barbeque chicken and/or ribs, a side dish, and a single beer. (Apparently open bar is only when we’re on the catamaran) At lunch we were told that we would be leaving early to take a longer but smoother way home (via the Caribbean side). No one complained since there wasn’t much else to do since we couldn’t snorkel or lie on the beach. We spent a few more minutes snorkeling at a small reef only about 20 yards from shore, and saw lots of small pretty fish. We took the rubber motor boat to the catamaran, and then took off. After a few minutes they turned off the engines, put up the sails, and we sailed along the north coast of Anguilla. It was very nice and peaceful, especially when they served banana bread and rum punch. Definitely made up for the bad trip out in the morning. Dropped our shipmates off at Grand Case, returned to Le Meridien by about 4:30. Immediately showered, then decompressed on the balcony while watching the bats dive for bugs and tried to decide what to do for dinner.<br><br>Decided to go to the Simpson Bay area near the airport for dinner. Tried Sunset Beach Bar, but their grill closed at 8 and it was 8:30. They had a nice reggae band – but we needed food. Looked at the menu at Pizza Pasta –but decided to try Cheri’s instead. Sue had seafood pasta. Jim got the lobster surf and turf. The food was not very good (the seafood pasta was very salty, the surf and turf wasn’t fresh). Sue had 3 cocktails while Jim had one cocktail and two beers. The bill was $74 and we left a tip on the table.<br><br>The entertainment was interesting. They sang a song with ‘LuLu’ substituted for ‘Dogs’ in ‘Who Let the _____ Out.’ LuLu was a man dressed as a large black woman – a la Eddie Murphy. They did several other stupid silly things. We got hand clacker noisemakers. It was bizarre, but mildly entertaining. There were two 15 year olds at a table next to us who had obviously picked up some men – again, mildly entertaining. Left there around 10:30 and checked out Royale Casino, which was closed on our February trip. We lost $30 total – but were handed a cake.<br><br><br>Monday, December 11<br><br>Stopped at the butterfly farm in the morning. Two bus loads from ships were there. I wasn’t feeling so good (three cocktails!) so we missed the guided tour and just walked around inside the farm. They had moths this time which I didn’t remember from February.<br><br>Went to Orient Beach, watched tourists who weren’t nude taking pictures. A nudist just told them to stop taking pictures on the beach. They’re still not leaving – making fun of her for giving them a hard time. Sigh.<br><br>Went to Papagayo’s for lunch. I couldn’t eat and got sick just outside the restaurant. Left the beach at 3:30 – back to the hotel room. Napped a little then Jim got sick. Not sure if it was too many cocktails or the sea water from snorkeling. Decided on a cheap dinner. We got a medium pizza with four toppings for $8 at the pizza place/Italian restaurant in Cul de Sac, and took it back to our hotel. A convenience store next door had cards, Pepto, Sprite. Back to the room for an HBO movie. Decided never again to snorkel in rough water. (Interestingly, we had also both gotten sick at the same time during our first visit to SXM. Not sure what’s causing it. Are hoping its the snorkeling and not something on SXM – but we haven’t had this problem while snorkeling on other islands.)<br><br><br>Tuesday, December 12<br><br>Stopped at the View Point Souvenir shops on the way to the beach. Several busloads of tourists were there, but we fought through them to get some stocking stuffers. Jim tried Ma-Dou-Dou rum – we had stopped at the actual ‘factory’ on Sunday but found no one home, and weren’t up for rum yesterday. Decided it was more of a shot drink – which we don’t do.<br><br>Got to the beach around 10:30 for our last full day of beaching – and then a large storm cloud came in around 12:30 – we vacated the beach quickly. Many of the beach bars also closed due to the rain, had to go to Kon Tiki to get lunch. It’s much more of a dinner menu – not really appropriate for a casual lunch on the beach. We got two appetizers and two sodas for $26. Trying the beach again but the storm clouds are back.<br><br>Left the beach, filled the gas tank (full-service, $17). Went to the deserted zoo. The animals were happy for visitors. Lots of strutting peacocks (tails up). There were monkeys, ocelot, capybara, and a raccoon cage (although we didn’t see the raccoon). We left money at the gate – but were never actually ticketed. After the zoo we went shopping in Phillipsburg. There were five cruise ships in. Jim bought me tanzanite earrings as a Christmas gift and we got more pareos. Stopped at the beach – which was wider and nicer than we expected.<br><br>Planned dinner in Grand Case so we could go to the Sexy Fruits store and to another great gift shop. Had dinner at Tastevin for $126. Jim got lobster stuffed chicken, I got shrimp and scallops. Service was excellent. We had a bottle of wine and salads with dinner. Mario’s probably spoiled us – but this dinner was also excellent.<br><br><br>Wednesday, December 13<br><br>Got up early and asked the hotel for late check-out at 2:00. Went to the pool- then to the beach- and back to the pool (Jim and I didn’t agree on where to go). The beach was filled with reddish-brown seaweed – probably washing up because of yesterday’s storms. The seas were still very rough, but it was bright and sunny – probably the best weather during our entire trip, of course. Showered, packed, and checked out. The check-out procedure was excessively complex. It took 30 minutes from the moment I got in line.<br><br>We were stuck behind a heavy truck on the road from Grand Case to Marigot – going 5 mph up hill. In Marigot the road was closed so we drove through back roads – losing the truck. We were starving so we stopped at the Burger King closest to the airport – which is actually a truck. Got burgers and fries and went to Hertz. Returned the car and went to the airport. Ate while waiting for check-in. Our flight out of SXM was delayed ½ hour, causing most of our fellow passengers to potentially miss their connections, but luckily? our connection from SJU to PHL was also delayed so we had plenty of time. So we would be spending the day in airports again. <br><br>Things were a little frantic on the plane and once we got to the lines for immigration – everyone was worried about missing their flights and were changing seats / running / pushing to get in front of each other. These were people that were just leaving SXM – I would have hoped they would be more relaxed, but I guess they wanted to get home. We knew we had plenty of time and just tried to stay out of everyone’s way. We later learned that a storm in Dallas delayed the arrival of our plane in San Juan, which is why our flight to PHL was delayed. We met a couple in San Juan who had come from St. Louis where they had received 24” of snow – saw that the storm was headed for Philly and hoped we would beat it. Landed in Philly at 10:30 – no precipitation yet, but ice and snow were in the forecast. Can’t wait to go back.<br><br>Sue (posted on TTOL by Jim)<br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 1/15/01 03:32 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
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