TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Weekend in Paradise Trip Report

For a variety of reasons, Hubby and I had to settle for a mere 4 days, 3 nights in Saint Martin for our warm weather break 2003. As it is a 4+ hour flight each way, what that really amounted to was a Weekend in Paradise, January 10-13, 2003. Without further adieu, and in no particular order:<br><br>Air Travel: Departing Newark Liberty Airport on Continental Flight 871 at 8:45 am meant arriving at EWR at 5:45 per Continental's latest recommendations for Friday, International Departure. All ticket counters open, got boarding passes in about 10 minutes, as we did not check any luggage. Proceeded to the security checkpoint where we found 5 or 6 x-ray machine/search teams waiting for us sleepy travelers. We waiting only a few minutes to get to a machine, but could see that this could be a bottleneck during busier hours. I was pulled aside for a hand search of my bag because I was bringing sausages and bacon down to Dicky in an aluminum lined cold bag together with a bunch of other bottles inside our soft sided Coleman cooler inside my carry-on. This took a few more minutes and we were on our way. By 6:30 we had checked in, passed security, gotten coffee and rolls, and were done. Plane left on time and we were on our way.<br><br>On the return flight, we arrived at Princess Julianna International Airport at 12:30 for our 2:30 flight. Continental's desk is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and there were a few people in line ahead of us. The checked bags were being hand searched. Because we were not checking our bags, they were not searched there, but we had to wait in the line until the people in front of us (with Monstrous sized bags) were searched. No problems, paid our Departure Tax and were sitting upstairs in the airport restaurant by 12:45. We were asked to be at the Gate at 1:30. We got to the x-ray machine at 1:45 p.m. after last minute liquor purchase and stood for a short wait (there were WinAir flights going out ahead of ours) on line. The corkscrew that passed security in Newark was pulled out of our luggage at PJIA and confiscated. Go figure! Our bags and my knapsack were hand searched again immediately before we went out the door to board the bus that took us to the plane. Everything moved along nicely.<br><br>Richard (a.k.a. Dicky): By prior arrangement, Richard met us at the airport with Frank. Frank is a shy guy who warmed up slowly with me. Dicky was just the opposite. This lovely, soft spoken man with a million stories drove us to the Boat Bar where we met Frank's friend Andreas, the Swedish bar tender (I'm sorry, but I can't remember her name) and watched the planes land. Standing talking to Richard and drinking Presidentes in the sun was a lovely way to down=shift and ease into our vacation. I'm sorry we didn't get to hang out more.<br><br>I had offered to bring Richard Irish sausage and bacon and U.K. made H.P. Sauce in exchange for transit to Cap Caraibes. At the suggestion of KevinNYC, we also brought him a bottle of Branston Pickle. While I divined that the bangers were a bit of a disappointment, Richard appeared to be genuinely delighted with the Branston Pickle, opening the jar on the spot and offering us a taste of the elixir. I was pleased that I was able to please this lovely man.<br><br>Impressions of the Island: Because of the bridge project, Richard drove us to Orient Beach via Mullet, Lowlands, Terre Basse, Sandy Ground, around the waterfront in Marigot, passed Grand Case and around to O.B. Saw building of more units at Maho Beach Resort, smelled the stink at the Le Flamboyant end of Simpson's Lagoon, lots of building in French Cul de Sac, and gasped as we came over the rise and saw the panorama of Orient Bay below. Everything is so green and lush looking as compared to Feb. 2002! Simply gorgeous and literally breathtaking. Lots of building in Orient Bay aside from Le Village d'Orient. <br><br>I need to correct an earlier post about how to get to Cap Caraibes-- all road into Orient Beach from the Main Road lead to the beach and hence you can reach Cap Caraibes no matter which one you use.<br><br>Cap Caraibes: Jim and Mary Ruos of Caribbean Island Travel Service booked us a second floor room at Cap Caraibes and asked for a room at the south end of the property for us, near the entrance leading to Waikiki (access to the beach). Celine at reception lead us to Room 512, the MOST southern room on the second floor, the "corner" room at the end of building 5. Each of the 5 buildings consists of 3 floors (3 ground floor rooms, 3 second floor rooms, and 1 top floor room), connected by a walkway at the ground floor level. Room 512 on the second floor is named Canne a Sucre (Sugar Cane) and was as sweet.<br><br>Because of the lush foliage in Waikiki's jungle garden, we could not actually see the beach from the balcony of our "ocean view" room. No problem for us, we could certainly hear the surf, the most relaxing sound in the universe for me. <br>We used the kitchenette's facilities for breakfast each morning, but could not figure out the toaster. The maids washed up our dishes each day and kept the room immaculately clean. There were plenty of little bottles of shampoo and bath gel, and a welcome basket with little jars of jam, packets of sugar, little biscuits, instant coffee and tea bags, etc.<br><br>Cap Caraibes has a notice in the rooms that states that it is not a nudist property and nudity is not permitted in the public areas, but topless is OK. Additionally, swimsuits must be worn in the pool. We didn't use the pool this time, but we made sure to wear something when walking through the property to get to the beach access to Waikiki for our morning au naturel strolls. Hubby bought me a pareo at Sexy Fruits which worked well for these purposes. Sunbathed sans cullotes on the balcony without comment from the staff at the hotel.<br><br>Environs: Each day we went to Tap Five, the grocery store on what I came to call Le Boulevard Village d'Orient (I have no idea what the street name actually is), to get freshly baked baguettes. We stocked up on Grand Mere Bonne Nuit (decaf) coffee, Evian water for drinking on the beach, wine, butter, champagne, O.J., milk, Ma DouDou , Rum Jumbie, and other essentials. They also make sandwiches and their beautiful pastries stries and other breads are made fresh on the premises. Yummy!<br>We cut through L'Hoste and La Playa to get to our room from Tap Five without walking on the hot road with our tender barefeet. The garden/courtyard at L'Hoste was lush and green, with the coconut palms forming a cooling thatched roof above you. Everywhere we looked, it was green, green, green.<br><br>We explored the rapidly expanding Le Village d'Orient a bit. I will be posting the photos we took of the areas under construction and finished but not occupied yet on SXM Photos in the next day or two. Across le Boulevard Village d'Orient from Tap Five, Bistro Belge and the Tabac and beauty spa, is La Place, a mediterrean village-style plaza. The plaza has a fountain and plenty of room to play boules and ride bicycles, activities we observed in action on Sunday night. On Le Place is a sales office, Le Fish Bar restaurant, a wine store/wine bar with tables outside where one can have charcuterie or cheese with your wine, Le Glacierie, an ice cream shop, Cote Plages restaurant, and places for more businesses to move in. Upstairs was Halt Gym Fitness. I didn't get a chance to find out if it was open to the public as well as residents of Village d'Orient and if so what the fee was, sorry.<br><br>Eating: With such a short time there, we made each meal count. We ate at Bikini Beach on our first evening and got to meet Elisa Cohen and her companions, Toby and Tyson . I had baked garlic mussels and lamb chops with oyster mushrooms and Hubby had Edadame (weird) and a huge crock of steamed mussels with a fragrant white wine marinade and frites. Gorgeous! Too tired and full for dessert, we retired to our balcony with coffee and listened to the party going on at La Playa. We continued to listen to that party until about 4:00 in the morning. Boy did it sound like they had a good time !<br><br>Saturday lunch we had at La Playa. I had the TiMonn sandwich (chicken salad, goat cheese and mango) and Hubby had the Islander club (I can't remember what was in it, but it was good). The manager confirmed that the party the night before broke up at 5:00 a.m. and apologized for the noise. He said that La Playa was having a party Sunday night with dance music and we were welcome to come and enjoy ourselves. We would have gone if we could have mustered the energy. Boy, we're getting old...<br><br>Saturday dinner was at Le Fish Bar. Wonderful and innovative fish dishes. For my main course, I had fish fondue: A fondue pot of fragrant broth was brought to the table and plugged in and I was presented with The Forks and a platter of 3 kinds of fish (salmon, mahi-mahi and wahoo) in cubes with 4 kinds of dipping sauces (mayonnaise, tartar sauce, vinaigrette, and tangy teriyaki). Had a great time cooking, dipping, offering Hubby tastes, and stuffing myself to the gills. Unfortunately didn't leave room for the Trois Creme Brulee, but I have something to look forward to next time. Prices were very very reasonable and they took my American Express travelers check without batting an eye. They also offer breakfast and lunch.<br><br>Sunday morning I ordered a fruit platter loungechair-side at Waikiki, which was wonderful. Mango, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, kiwi, white and red grapes, and yogurt for dipping. Hubby was tres cool and had an espresso while I was drinking tomato juice sans alcool (Honest!!!). Delphine and Jason of Waikiki took great care of us.<br><br>Sunday lunch was at Kontiki. It's amazing the food you can get on the beach. I had a fantastic salad with fois gras and smoked duck breast and Hubby had scrumptous fried calamari for appetizers. For the main course I had escargot in a casserole that was fantastic and Hubby had lobster salad with mango. All washed down with many many Caribs and finished off with Passion Fruit rum. Very friendly and attentive service made it a most enjoyable experience. <br><br>Sunday dinner was at Cote Plages. I adore eating in open air restaurants (Rome and Paris are my favorite places to eat) and the relaxed service and family atmosphere of Cote Plages was wonderful. I had caesar salad and gnocchi with pesto sauce and Hubby had something equally good (too much wine, I gotta learn to write this stuff down).<br><br>Conditions at Orient Beach: As you can see from the photos previously posted, Pedro's has 15 feet of rock in front of it, but no sand. In front of Baywatch, the sand is barely deeper than a loungechair. The water was up to the front of Paradisio's bar and lapped at the front steps at Kontiki. North of that, the beach was normal depth, with plenty of room for chairs, watersports equipment, and empty sand. There are now 2 water trampolines, one that says $10 per day and the other that says $12 per day.[img]/images/icons2/laugh.gif[/img] The chairs at Waikiki were far far from full, as were at La Playa, Bikini Beach and Coco Beach. The beach did not seem crowded or all that busy to us, but I like people watching and a bit of action. Everybody was very laid back, including the woman offering bracelets and hair braiding, the guy selling palm frond hats, and the artist offering her water colors. If anything, the south end of the beach felt more crowded because there was less room to walk. The ocean was it's usual gorgeous blues and greens and clear down to the sand. Ahhhhhhhh....<br><br>Weather: Each morning we'd wake up to threatening clouds blowing in from the east. We would have a sun shower lasting about 3 minutes during our morning perambulations and would be rewarded with a rainbow. A rim of clouds would hang out on the horizon and occasionally block the sun during the day, but would always pass quickly, as the prevailing winds are steady. Temperatures on the beach felt to be in the low 90'sF/30'sC or at minimum the high 80'sF/25C.-27C. The sun was HOT! We went through an 8 oz. bottle of suntan lotion in 2 days and still managed to get a mild burn when we forgot to reapply after swimming, at 4:00 in the afternoon! I hid under the umbrella with my fair skin[img]/images/icons2/umbrella.gif[/img], to good results. <br><br>I flew our TTOL flag from the umbrella every time we were on the beach, but didn't attract any fellow TTOL'ers (Delray, where were you?) or other strangers[img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/rofl.gif[/img]. Eric, you were right, it made it easy to spot our chairs from the water and easy for Delphine and Jason to find us with our drinks! [img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img] Read an entire Maeve Binchy book, Scarlet Feather, while on vacation. Heaven! [img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img]<br><br>We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to next year, when hopefully we will have more time to hang out, explore the island, meet folks, and maybe stay on the Dutch side. Heard Hubby say that he would consider St. Martin for a timeshare destination, so I've got my fingers crossed!!!