Hi all!
Since I can never seem to time my registration correctly, I'm going to just post this now and register later.
This is my first trip report despite being a six year lurker on TTOL. Thought it was about time to give something back since you have all been such a valuable resource to us. This was our third trip and definitely better than the previous as I was pregnant the last time were on the island. No fun when you can’t drink! Our first trip was our Honeymoon, second was our 1st Anniversary, and this trip our 6th Anniversary! Looks to be a tradition in the making.
Flights
Not much to report. AA was on time out of Newark and we never experienced a wait in the airport in SXM. I definitely think that flying on week days is the way to go. Thumbs up for $2 Presidente in the gate area. Nice to drink a beer right at your seat while waiting to board!
Car Rental
Went with Thrifty this time simply because it was the best quote we got. Easy and quick airport pick-up and once back on their lot, we were in our silver Hyundai within 10 minutes. The car was clean with working AC. It was given to us with ¾ tank of gas but we figured out that $20 was enough to replace the ½ tank that we used.
Hotel
L’Hoste
Lovely little place and the perfect location for us! Breakfast was more than adequate as we really don’t require that much more than what they had: pastries, cereal, yogurt fresh fruit, assortment of juices, coffee, tea, ham, cheese, bread to make a sandwich, etc… And we looked forward to this leisurely meal each day. It was nicely set up and felt very comfortable and casual. The staff was also very sincere and helpful with our phone card situation (to be explained later). The bed was harder than we’re used to and the pillows a bit too small but overall, the room was spacious and well kept. Sure there is some wear but we wouldn’t have it any other way. It adds to the charm as we’d much rather stay in a place like this than a big shiny new American style place. We did notice that the AC must be recycled air as the room was cool but very humid so nothing would dry out – including the bathroom. But this was by no means a detractor as I’d rather see energy conserved than not. When we get back to SXM, we’ll certainly choose L’Hoste. Linda runs a great place!
Eats
We ended up not having big meals on this trip simply out of laziness. Too tired at the end of the day to sit for a long meal.
First Night: Tap Five for pizza and salad. Good pizza and quick service.
Second night: The Fish Pot or Fish something in Orient Village Hubby’s fish only okay and my burger just adequate with an overly greasy roll. Won’t bother going back. Ketchup was also of the spicy weird soy sauce variety and not conducive to a good burger and fries.
Third Night: Talk of the Town: rib plate for hubby and chicken plate for me. Upon reflection we figured out that it was better to order things individually rather than the plate of food. Hubby wanted more ribs and I wasn’t thrilled with my chicken as it was dark meat.
Fourth Night: Sky’s the Limit. Ribs and bad bad bad corn for hubby. Garlic Shrimp and fries for me. Garlic shrimp was awesome! A must try for any of you wondering. Dollar beers as well!
Fifth Night: Tap 5 for take-out.
Sixth Night: The Pub (I think) in Grand Case for pizza take-out for me. It was not as good as Tap 5 so I wouldn’t order it again just for pizza. Hubby had to have ribs, fish cakes and other assorted things from Talk of the Town. He didn’t much care for the fishcakes but everything else was good. Brought everything back to our room to eat.
Next trip we will have to force ourselves to sit down for a decent meal. We happen to live in an area with primo Italian food so my goal was to avoid eating what I would be able to get here. The only problem with eating French is that I’m not lover of exotics and many of the French dishes don’t appeal to me. But in case any of you were wondering what we did for lunch, we skipped it due to the frozen and very filling drinks obtained at the Perch during happy hour. Also, we stopped at Match on our way to L’Hoste for goat cheese and snacks so that in conjunction with a big breakfast was enough for us.
Beaches
Orient for three days and only on Club O side. We loved the walk down and back each day. Despite not going totally nude (hubby does though), this is simply the best part of the beach for us. The people are the best and since we snorkel, there’s a little to see here. Lots of variety of both large and small fish. And we even saw a few exotic fish we’ve never seen before. Very cool!
Happy Bay for a few hours. This is a beautiful beach and worth the walk. The only thing that had me slightly nervous was a local hanging around without purpose. He told another beach-goer that he had chairs to rent at the far end of the beach but yet never solicited anyone. And this beach wasn’t exactly empty so I thought it was odd that he walked around at times with pants on, then nude, then close to where people were sitting, etc… When we were the last on that beach, I started to get a bit concerned. I’m sure I overreacted but the whole thing was a bit creepy and I didn’t want to take any chances. I especially wasn’t fond of that walk through the scrub. But it turned out to be totally safe.
Friars for a few hours. Snorkeling here was very good. The reef is starting to regenerate and we saw a good variety of fish, found the entire hermit crab population, saw two big octopuses, etc…
We skipped Baie Rouge this year. Friars and Happy Bay proved to be enough for the day. There’s little to Cupecoy and since we live near an airbase, we see enough big planes flying around.
Tiko Tiko
Cannot believe I almost missed this cruise. Hubby mentioned it months before we left but I was pretty melancholy about it. WOW! Double WOW! It turned out to be my favorite part of the vacation. I didn’t expect it to be that good and cannot say enough about it. And Tintamarre is simply beautiful. I read here that someone said the island was only mediocre so that’s why I didn’t think it was really worth it. WRONG!!!! The sand has a pink cast and there’s nothing like being virtually alone. I seriously didn’t think the scenery could get more beautiful than Orient Beach but it did on this island. The weather was picture perfect and there wasn’t much haze to obscure Saba and St. Bart’s. It was really jaw dropping to having that cover your peripheral vision. Sort of like going to the Grand Canyon for the first time – nothing else in your field of vision but staggeringly blue water. We were also blown away by the meal served. I had no idea it would be served with linen, champagne, wine, coffee, etc… I had read about it but never paid much attention. We snorkeled out to the front of the island and started to fight the current. We decided to turn back because we weren’t in anyone’s view. Had we gone farther around, we’d have to really do some swimming. I can only imagine what that coral must have looked like before the storm damage. It must have been magnificent at one time. The fan coral is starting to come back so that was great to see. This cruise is now on our “must do” list when we get there again. The people on the cruise were a hoot and fun to hang out with too. Just a lovely day!
Intercard Phone Card from Dauphine
Okay so these phone cards don’t work within the hotel loop – at least it didn’t at L”Hoste. We could call from the desk phone’s main number but not from the room. This was very frustrating for the first two days until Kelly told us that we could in fact use it from the room but had to dial the local number on the card that would accrue additional hotel phone charges that were unknown. So we finally found that this card works from pay phones that have blue handles. We read the blue vs. brown before we left but it wasn’t quite clear until we actually did it. So if you do buy these cards (dirt cheap at about $4 for 60 minutes), they will work from pay phones that say France Tele. And these phones were plentiful to find once we knew what to look for. Grandparents had the kids so phoning home was a big deal to me.
Ma Dou Do Factory
Don’t miss this shack. The pricing is better than the stores and we also bought hot sauce, vanilla, and coconut body lotion for me It was a bit of a challenge getting all that glass home on the carry-on’s but we did it. And I mean a lot of glass! Yikes! This was my only store that was on the ‘must hit” for this trip since we missed it 5 years ago.
Other
This was our first trip staying on OB and on the French side. We will only stay on the French side going forward.
Sunset Beach Bar: Too bad they are ripping people off with $4 beers. We had some time to kill before our flight and it was on our route so we stopped by. We had been there only once before and it wasn’t “all that” the last time we were there either. I had read about all the trouble but decided to stop anyway. Rather shocking when you pay more for beer outside the airport than you do inside. Won’t ever bother with that place again.
Went to Rimas. It was worth the trip We skipped Marigot and Phillipsburg completely because we just didn’t feel like putting in a day there with only having 5 beach days. The weather was just too good. I know there’s a better selection of stuff at the market but I’d go to Rima’s again. Some nice plane golf shirts of good quality for very cheap pricing.
Met a few other TTOL members on the beach and Tiko Tiko. Genuine good people! We would have enjoyed having drinks with you after dinner but we were just too wiped out by day’s end. We really needed to rest on this vacation so we were in bed by 10pm each night.
I spent several hours each day shaking my head in disgust at the cruise ship gawkers. I just don’t get what the big deal is about nudity (even though I don’t go totally nude). I’m so not looking forward to spending my weekends at the Jersey Shore feeling all self conscience again. Bathing suits and provocative clothing are more titillating than a nude beach. Sheesh!
Made it through the week without a bottle opener. Meant to get one but kept forgetting. So for those who may find themselves with a cold Carib and nothing to open it with, the closer mechanism at the top of your yellow rented umbrella can be coaxed to open beer bottles in an emergency – with no harm to the umbrella of course.
Line up at the Perch by 12:45. Not only does that ensure less time waiting for your drinks, but it was quite amusing to see the build up of this very busy and serious happy hour begin. Apologies as I didn’t catch the lady’s name but we spent some time watching her and then she turned up the music, and let out a loud “Let’s Do It” yell while she rang the bell with great force.
Incidentally, I am never without a watch. My life requires me to live by the clock so I found it quite unnerving the first day. However, if you sit on Club O’s beach, you can pretty much gauge the time. If the Tiko Tiko boat is gone it's after 9:30. If there is a line at the Perch it's between 12:20 and 1:30. When you see the last of the day trip cruise gawkers, it’s about 3pm. When the Tiko Tiko is motoring back it's about 5.
A word about feeding the Angel Fish in the shallows of Club O Beach. Before I get flamed for interfering with nature, I do have an environmental degree and just wanted to try this one time. We’ve seen this a few times on previous trips and it’s not done religiously so the fish are in no danger of starving. These are gentle fish but swim away once you whip them into frenzy with your baguette of bread. Otherwise, expect to have other sensitive body parts nibbled on as well. OUCH! Plan to skip this next trip. Nuff said!
That’s about it folks. We love St. Martin and cannot wait to get back. Not sure when we’ll have the chance again but until then, we’ll live vicariously through all of your trip reports. This board really is an invaluable resource. Thanks to all of you for sharing such in depth info about the island!
Cheers!
Jeanne & Andy
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