TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Days 28 & 29 Back to St. Maarten

27 /2/11 Sunday
After breakfast at the hotel, he drove into The Valley to find a souvenir shop, being Sunday there wasn’t much open. We drove out to Cove Bay hoping it would be calm enough to snorkel but the sea was still rough. I walked the long beach while Kim got some rays.

I didn’t find any sea glass, but there were 6 unopened cans of Caribe floating in the surf. I stood them up above the high watermark where a fisherman had some gear stored. We went to Smokeys for lunch; I had the Smokeys Burger I think it’s called, it was good and cooked as ordered, but the fries where the frozen variety. Kim had the chicken fingers, 5 breaded breast strips served with a dipping sauce, wouldn’t order them again. The bill with 2 drinks, water and service charge was $62, oh how I miss the windwards. We drove over to the ferry dock and left the car in the lot as instructed as because Monsel was at church. The ferry ride was uneventful and we departed at Marigot with no delays. We met a young American couple that were low on cash, they didn’t realize the $15 fare was only one way, and were unaware of the departure tax. Someone in line, coming from Cuisinart, paid both for them. They didn’t have enough money for a cab and since we were going to Philipsburg anyways, we had them follow us on the bus, I talked to the driver and he agreed to drop them off at the ship for $5 each. They were heading to St. Lucia and Grenada so we gave them some ideas for each island. Checked into the Horizon View Hotel, the room looks better on the inside than the building does on the outside; but it’s certainly not the PMR….grrrrr. We dropped off what little luggage we had, since our laundry and duffle bags are still on the boat, and grabbed a bus to Simpson Bay in time for the first bridge opening. We stayed around long enough to see the second opening and walked down to Jimbos for drinks. We had just been served when friends Ken and Kay walked in, Kay climbed Gros Piton with us last year. They had just arrived from Antigua and were looking forward to a meal ashore; their boat, Coyote 2, is entered in the regatta again this year. We didn’t know it was happy hour until the bartender asked if we were ready for our second drinks.

The frozen daiquiris are normally $8 so it was quite a deal. We were getting hungry and went to Pizza Galley for dinner, the toppings were fine but the crust too thin for my liking, pizza with 4 toppings, $16. We were thinking of going to La Bomba for the live music but Kim was getting cold from the strong wind and didn’t have her jacket. We took the bus back to Philipsburg and called it a night.
28/2/11 Monday
Main order of business for the day was get a cell phone, get our luggage, and deal with a work issue. I couldn’t find free wifi near the hotel so I took the bus to Marigot did my internet at La Sucriere while having coffee and a pain au chocolat. Went back to the hotel and then the both of us took the bus to Simpson Bay. I got Kim set up on the beach near the Buccaneer Bar and headed off to attend to business. They were out of phones at Sharons, should have reserved one, live and learn. I then did a little recon to see if Bonita Cantina was still open, ran into ken and Kay again at the yacht club waiting for the bridge to close. After I got back we walked up to Abu Gazi for some shwarma, they pitas were stuffed full of meat and that great sauce, $6 ea, the fries, $2 an order, were large enough that we could have split one between us. We bused back to the hotel and then went down to the beach. There were 5 cruise ships in town, 1 was small though, but we were still able to find a spot for our towel.

Kim got more sun while I went in search of a tee shirt; Kim’s suggestion since all my clean stuff is still on the boat. After a while we went back to the room and took showers, then took the bus to Cole Bay for a stop at Lagoonnies for a drink. After there we headed to Jimbos in anticipation of our 2 for 1 daiquiris, they have stopped the happy hour special for regatta week, some places they might call that price gouging, but no big deal there are many other places to choose from that don’t eliminate the deals just because it is going to be busy. We went to Bonita Cantina for the Monday night pigout, half rack of ribs, pulled pork and a side for $15; it went up from last year but was still a good deal. The BBQ is very much to our liking and brought back memories of our backyard BBQs in at home. We strolled around a little then took the bus back to the hotel about 9:00 and called it a night.