KONRAD’S SXM TRIP REPORT
May 17-24, 2008

Smooth Flight from FLL to SXM. This was our fourth trip to SXM. We bought Spirit promotional tickets (the advertised $129 fare turned out to be one-way, plus tax = $344 pp rt X 2 = $688). We originally scheduled the trip for 11/07, but sickness caused us to re-schedule to 5/08 (add another $40 or so). During that time, Spirit instituted a nominal baggage charge, which was by the time we flew increased to $20/checked bag (add another $80). So our “cheap” promo fare ended up being nearly $400 each rt. Jim Ruos made our Hertz and Esmeralda reservations and we heartily recommend him. Keep in mind that Saturdays are extremely busy travel days for Spirit in south Florida. On Sat. 5/17 we arrived at the FLL terminal over two hours before flight time and found over 100 travelers in the line going outside the terminal door and far down the sidewalk! Spirit had 19 windows open and the line went well, but not quick. Our non-stop flight on the nearly new Airbus A319 was on-time and smooth. We had seats just behind the first class section, giving us comfortable leg room.

The Future of Air Travel? Spirit’s a la carte approach to airline service and pricing is, I guess, the wave of the future. American is following suit with the baggage fees. Seat assignment fees are imminent. We can thus expect online price comparisons to be rendered very difficult and more like the complexities of buying cell phone or health care coverage. I especially dislike Spirit’s requirement that onboard water, cokes, drinks and snacks must be paid for only by credit or debit card – no cash permitted. This seems to me to be an example of things done for the airline’s convenience at the passenger’s expense. I sure hope we don’t see more of that.

Car Rental. Hertz had a silver Corolla for us and we were pleased with their service. While driving in French Cul-de-Sac, on the first evening, we heard a very loud thump on the windshield. Initially it seemed that we had hit a large bird, then it looked like someone had thrown a juicy mango directly at us – made quite a mess. Direct center of the hit was surrounded by very thin craze lines and we feared the windshield had been cracked. The next day we took it to Hertz and they washed the entire car off with a pressure washer. Turned out that it was an egg they had thrown and we were pleased that the windshield was not cracked at all.

Car traffic on the island was sparse, the least we have seen. There were very few cruise ships in most of the week, mostly just one on Thursday. That meant less traffic everywhere – YEA!. Except on Saturdays, traffic hardly stopped at all in Marigot. Believe it or not, driving down Phillipsburg’s Front Street was not only possible, but easy. The merchants there were bored, bored, bored. Unfortunately, fewer cars also meant that locals drove faster than ever everywhere, even the suicycles down their specially designated lane, the center line. One fellow plane passenger told us a car had a blowout as it rounded a turn and the out of control car collided head-on into his car. Our passenger gave evidence of several inches of stitches on his head, but apparently had no other injuries. Our car did well and we had no difficulty getting around the island. Roads were in better shape than we ever saw them. We only used about three-fourths of a tank of gas and gassed up at Cadisco near Orient Bay (Euro 1.19/L with 1:1 for cash) so about $40 covered our week’s driving.

Hotel Esmeralda. We haven’t stayed at the Es since our first trip in 2001. Our end unit 546 was very accommodating and offered a bit more privacy since it was not visible to the main road traffic. There were a few others in our villa, but never over one couple by the pool at a time. We were pleased with the hotel but prefer to be a bit closer to Club O where we walked for BBCs at happy hour. Considerable drought was evident and grass around the Esmeralda pool was quite tall and weedy until the last few days of our stay. Otherwise, the grounds and pool were well-kept and the flowering shrubs were gorgeous. On entering Coco’s area by walk from the grounds, the sign notes that “A String is Obligatory.” Most mornings on our veranda we had breakfast of Dutch coffee, French butter or creamy Emmenthaler cheese on fresh brioche with fruit and nuts. After shopping at Grande Marche in Cole Bay we were ready to have a few simple meals (grilled rib eye steaks, grilled chicken, and pasta with marinara sauce) at Konrad’s Kitchen (in our room). It was easy to bake potatoes and fix a simple mixed salad with a fresh baguette and a dry Bordeaux. All week we made rum punches (Malibu coconut rum, 5 year old Cruzan dark rum, and tropical fruit punch). Good thing our drinking glasses were very small; rum was gone by week’s end. Grande Marche at Cole Bay had a great “Promotion” on Caribs, $4.75 per six pack. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

Weather. It seemed to us that the weather during the entire week was more pleasant than we recall in past trips in October. Although warm, the humidity seemed much more tolerable and there were more breezes evident. On a few days there were clouds enough to keep it cooler but there was only rain for a few minutes on one or two days and during the night. The island showed signs of considerable drought, with brown grass much in evidence on sunnier slopes.

Orient Beach. The beach and surf were gorgeous. There was plenty of beach available for multiple rows of chairs and more people than we recall seeing in our prior fall trips. We saw no nudity at Coco’s by the rocks. Morning and evening walks were a highlight of our day. Each morning the nude beach walkers were considerable and a few were still evident as late as 9:30 am. We saw very few nude beach walkers after 6 pm. We were usually elsewhere on the island during mid-day.

Restaurants. We visited several places heretofore unsampled, plus a few old favorites:

1.Baywatch. Andy was closed in October during our prior trips so it was good to meet him. For breakfast, we had western omelets with coffee and nearly burned toast. Good diner fare at fair prices - about $20. Reading the license plates was a hoot and I forgot to take one to him.
2.Le Parisienne. This nice little sidewalk deli in Marigot is one of our old favorites; located across from the court house, appropriately at the corner of Liberty Avenue and Rue de Justice. We had an Indian and an Italian Panini with a beer and a coke; about $22. Nothing special here, we just like the bistro atmosphere and on that day, the wonderful breeze.
3.Au Grain du Sel. We think this used to be called Le Petit Pizzeria, but the wait staff seemed sure it had never been called that. We were on our way here in Cul-de-Sac when we were egged on our first night. We noticed several stopping by to pick up pizza to go; very few diners in. Their hand-made pizza dough is as fresh and thin and as good as it gets. We got the medium artichoke, ham, mushroom and cheese pizza for E12, plus wine and beer. Service was good and food was excellent and fast. So good I got a large size one to go a few nights later; think it was E18.
4.Bistro Caribe. This is our favorite restaurant in Grand Case, not that we have tried that many. We have never had a meal here that was not just outstanding. Others there I am sure cost much more but this always seems to be a consistently excellent value. I had “au gratinized” (mozzarella) veal scallopini in a tomato and eggplant reduction sauce with au gratin potatoes. Ms M had their lightly grilled salmon with a basil and butter sauce with tomato. Our pinot noir and merlot were both excellent. About $72. Maybe someday we’ll try their lobster.
5.Greenhouse. As much and as long as I have heard of this place, this was our first time. We had excellent grilled mahi sandwiches with fries and beer for lunch (about $27). Disappointed that we had only one meal here, especially wanted to try their happy hour (two for one drinks & $3 off certain appetizers).
6.Bikini Beach Bar - $40 for 2 hamburgers, a beer and a coke. We went there after dark one evening when almost no one was there. We were both starving and dying for a hamburger, which was menu-priced at 11.00. Mine had mushrooms and guacamole as extras. I had a beer and my wife had a coke. Imagine my surprise that the total price was $40. It turns out that the menu at the very bottom did say that all prices were in Euros, though each individual price was un-designated. The hamburger and the frites were large. The burger had lettuce, onion, tomato and included pickle, but was overcooked and quite dry. Later I recalled other TTOLers saying the same thing about Bikini’s prices! Be warned: a high price does not guarantee high quality.
7.Cocos. We had breakfast here on our last day. Their buttered and pan-browned baguettes with jelly were excellent. The two-egg omelet with bacon was good. Coffee was not the full-bodied French roast I recall from the past but they graciously offered seconds. Also unlike the past, the service was prompt and attentive. About $24.
8.Chesterfield’s. Chesty’s is our old stand-by when in Phillipsburg. Our breakfast included omelets with toast and hash browns with coffee. About $22.

Island Safety. We had our misgivings about safety on the island. We saw a few more gendarmes than usual and felt safe at all times. We saw a couple walking over to Happy Bay from Kali’s at Friar’s Bay and wished we could join them but were unable at the time. We were not on the Dutch side at night, nor at the casinos. Kept the car locked at all times, as Hertz recommended; never left anything of value in there. Not happy about our car being egged but I chalked it up to kids out on a Saturday night blowing off steam and saw no need to report it except to Hertz.

TTOL Party. On May 19, SXM Norm and Betty from MO hosted our party at the Dinghy Dock at Oyster Bay, beginning around 4 when Happy Hour began. For simple drinks, you tell the bartender what you want and he places a glass with ice, the liquor bottle and mixer (if any) in front of you and you pour it yourself; he kept a tab. Two bourbon and waters and two BBCs were $14. Strangely, he made the BBC with Cointreau! The other TTOLers, just like us, are great people to be around! Forgive me if I forgot a few, but there were: Joan & Jerry from CO, Steve & Sue from PA, Indi & Matt from WI, Ken & Deb from PA, Mike & Linda, and Dan &Kristin. Unfortunately, we did not make the other TTOL party at the Peg Leg Pub, held the following Friday. It was great meeting everyone. Norm, thanks for arranging it.

Repeated Delays in Flight From SXM to FLL. We turned in our car at Hertz and checked bags in over two hours before flight time of 2:50 pm. The new airport is beautiful. After chicken with rice and vegetables at the Teriyaki Experience (quite good) we went upstairs for security and that’s where the fun began. We have generally been fortunate in having smooth flights, but this was not one of them. Long lines through only two security checkpoints took over 45 minutes. Flight left generally on time and was smooth until near FLL area where severe thunderstorms with hail and 50+ mph gusts prevented landings, so off to Ft. Myers we went to land, gas up, and wait for the weather to clear. Flew back to Ft. Lauderdale but meanwhile so many landings and departures there had been delayed we had considerable waiting in air (over 30 minutes) circling over and over south Florida to get cleared for landing. Almost all connecting flights had been cancelled so many of our passengers presumably had to stay in the area overnight. This was one of those flights that when you finally touch down, everyone claps.

Through no fault of Spirit, our scheduled FLL arrival time of 6:00 pm was past 9:00pm. It appeared to be ICE’s fault that none of our flight’s checked baggage was on the carousel until we had all waited another 40 minutes. ICE did try to help by forgoing the requirement that we show our passports again (about five times per flight), just our declarations. Then we took the bus to the car rental desk and we were off. We had more airline hassle than ever before, but overall it was a most enjoyable trip! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Konrad