St. Maarten Musings 5 – Final Trip report
A Few Moments to Remember

St. Maarten - how we love you. Your people are wonderful, your beaches divine and we continue to find so many ways to enjoy our holidays!

We had a great two weeks. After an extremely tough 2012 with family illnesses and loss we kicked that year to the curb and set off to heal on our favorite island in the world. Our days were filled with nothing but rest, sand, swimming and fabulous food. Here are a few observations of the island and some moments I’d like to share with you.

Memorable moments

Our days settled in to a nice easy rhythm on the island with morning power walks through Maho, over to Mullet Beach and on the side streets through Beacon Hill. We were out walking one morning on the road going to Beachside Villas when we saw the KLM 747 land. We were by Triple A car rental and the nice fellow waved us over and let us stand on top of the flatbed of one his rental trucks. There was a cross wind that day and the captain had the nose of the big jumbo jet pointed off to the side so it actually looked like the jet was coming in sideways – and straight for us. Having seen this type of cross wind approach many times on You Tube I kept telling myself that the 747 was NOT heading straight for us but we were holding our breath as the captain straightened the big jet out just before touchdown. We then watched it thunder up the runway. Wow – wish I had my camera that day!

On Easter Sunday we drove into Phillipsburg to find a church. Too early for the Baptist service we wandered over to the Catholic Church. People all dressed up in their Sunday finest spilled out into the courtyard but they had opened all the shutters so we could hear the minister, the choir and the band. As the islanders filed out after church it was such a beautiful sight. All the little kids looked so cute and their mothers and fathers looked like a million bucks in their suits, fancy hats and dresses. We then walked back to the Baptist church and we were welcomed warmly by the congregation. They actually passed the microphone around at one point asking all the tourists where they were from. The church was packed and there must have been at least 30 people from North America attending the service filled with lots of music accompanied by an amazing band. Two and a half hours later we emerged from the church and went for a late lunch. What a beautiful day.

Other memorable moments - We spent one of our best days at Mary’s Boon. You can already see the improvements the Cleveland family has made and everyone seems so happy

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We started off with lunch at The Tides and enjoyed a beautiful ocean view table. The menu looked fantastic but we were in a peckish mood so I ordered the grilled fish sandwich on a French baguette with salad and hubby had a chicken sandwich. Both were scrumptious, our server was terrific and when we got the bill it was extremely reasonable. Good value –great food.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach and two island dogs adopted us. They had no collars and I just about made arrangements to take them home with me but we had a golden retriever puppy waiting for us at home and adding two more dogs would have given me a herd and a headache. I left word with a friend to keep an eye out for them and to let me know if they need a home or had just left for a day on the beach without their collars.

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We ended the day by getting cleaned up in the washroom and going for a drink at Mary Pomeroy’s old “Honor Bar” We met some terrific people that were staying there – we just love that little bar because it’s so personable, friendly and fun.

We also had a great day at Driftwood Boat Bar on Maho with our friends Brian and Jen. What a great couple and they are living the dream as two Canadians working fantastic jobs on the island and loving every minute of it. They took us to The Palms for dinner that night and it was fantastic.

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Random Observations

St. Maarten has slowed down significantly. We were on the island over Easter and it should have been busy but we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get around by car and how deserted (and not busy) some beaches and restaurants were. We love airplanes and for the first time in years we were shocked mid week to see absolutely no commercial planes at the gate. There were private planes on the tarmac but the big commercial jets were missing. I have heard the merchants are slow in Phillipsburg but Marigot was an absolute ghost town with many businesses boarded up and shuttered. The Euro has really hurt commerce on the French side of the island.

It was even quieter at the Marigot Market so we bought a bunch of T shirts and a clock that we didn’t need. (it’s cute though) The merchants seemed really happy to make the sales.

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Speaking of the French side, we were extremely careful when driving and saw many Gendarmes out doing their job. We never went through any check stops however and visited Orient Beach several times during our stay. We saw them on the roads going into Marigot a lot. One day we saw one very tall and imposing Gendarme standing in the parking lot of a gas station staring at all the cars and drivers going past. A block and a half up the road we saw four more Gendarmes and their vehicles also checking out the cars. It was obvious that the first Gendarme was the look out and would radio ahead to his colleagues at the other location where they would stop any suspicious vehicles. He stared long and hard at us but we weren’t stopped.

We did most of our grocery shopping at Maho Market and actually saved money. I did a comparison between the Maho Market and the Garden Market in Simpson Bay and found many items cheaper by 75 cents to 1 dollar. That surprised me because I always thought the opposite was true. This trip we didn’t go into any French side supermarkets or to the big grocery store on the way out of Phillipsburg. We just didn’t feel like it and the Maho Market kept us stocked up on everything we needed.

Our cell phone was waiting for us when we landed. We were sad not to see Sharon because she was off island welcoming Jericho into the world – maybe next trip. It’s great to have a phone that works so you have peace of mind that people can reach you in times of emergency. Sharon runs a great business.

Departure day was filled with sadness but we were ready to get back home. After being three hours late on the way down, our Air Canada jet was right on time for departure (darn – no extra beach time) however it was tough getting off the ground. The big 767 was filled and with ten minutes to go the flight attendant came on the loud speaker and said in a firm voice, “Would the following passengers please collect their things and leave the plane immediately.” She then started to read about 20 names from a list and we watched as all these people had to leave. To say the rest of us were a little shocked (and glad our names weren’t called) was an understatement. A few people started asking the fight attendants what the problem was and were told that our plane was extremely overweight. The captain finally decided to unload some cargo and let the passengers back on the plane. I think we had a flight crew that was making their first trip to St. Maarten because the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said it was extremely hot, the plane was overweight, “There are mountains in front of us so we will have to turn quickly but we think we will be OK to take off”. What???? We’re not nervous flyers but we were a little concerned as we backed up. The pilot went down the taxiway and started gunning the engines as he was turning no doubt blasting Maho Market and the Royal Islander but the poor, little Driftwood Bar took the brunt of it. We weren’t even straightened out and he almost had the engines at full throttle. The pirate on the boat would have been rocking that day and I hope everyone wasn’t too sandblasted.

As we reflect on our two glorious weeks on the island it was mission accomplished.

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We were relaxed, rested and anxious to get home to this little guy waiting for us at the pet sitter’s house.

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See you soon St. Maarten!