Part 2 of 3

May 12 – We were up early again today – after another lovely breakfast of fresh mangoes, gouda cheese, oranges, sliced baguette and eggs and bacon we were off to see Mullet Bay.



We arrived around 9:30. We basically had the beach to ourselves. Crystal clear shallow water; one of the most beautiful picturesque beaches on the island for sure.



Around 10:45 we gathered up our belongings from our beach blanket and drove over to Maho. I planned to make sure we were there for the arrival of the KLM 747! It was right on time and I got some amazing video and pictures.



YouTube Video of KLM 747 Landing

Thanks to Elaine’s suggestion we headed over to Driftwood boat bar for the first time rather than Sunset Beach bar and I can see why it is recommended! Cheaper drinks that taste better and much friendlier attentive service away from all the touristy crowds. Highly recommended! We would have tried the food however the grill wasn’t open yet.



We had the rest of the day planned for Orient, so we headed on over to Club Orient and ate at Chez Leandra. Leandra’s son was great and made sure we didn’t do without! The conch fritters were the best I have had. The shrimp wrap was tasty and definitely enough for two people. We were so impressed here that we came back a second time later in the week. Great food and service. Spent the rest of the afternoon at Club Orient; Happy Hour at the Perch never gets old! For dinner tonight it was Bucaneer Beach Bar for the fireball on the beach. Unfortunately this was probably the lease enjoyable meal of our trip. Tried the Buccaneer pizza and the Mexican pizza. Both were just bland and I could have gotten tastier pizza at Domino’s. Fireball on the beach was cool to see at least. Won’t be returning here, at least not for the food – much better choices elsewhere. After dinner we had some Ma Dou Dou banana vanilla rum shots and enjoyed the pool.

May 13 – This morning was a whatever happens day – no plans except for dinner. Lazy morning with yet another great homemade breakfast and coffee at the villa. I think by the time we were finally up and about it was around 10 AM. First thing we did was make the short walk from our villa down to see Ma Dou Dou. A cramped little shop but interesting to see. Unfortunately the French lady said it was “impossible” to see the rum making process behind the shack which I found odd considering she wasn’t doing a thing except sitting there at the counter bored and no one else was around. Really, we couldn’t even look for a second? Oh well, I bought a small bottle there but honestly I would rather pay the few dollars extra to support Bernadine instead (which I did for sure).



We walked back to the villa, got in our little Kia and drove over to the Butterfly Farm, which was something we wanted to do last year but didn’t get around to it. Wow, I have never seen so many butterflies in one place!



Our guide, Tito, was great and very knowledgeable. Turns out Bernadine also knows Tito and is good friends with him. I bought my mom some awesome blue butterfly wings that had been laminated and turned into earrings! She loved them! After the Butterfly Farm, we continued out the road toward Le Galion (which they are resurfacing with new concrete). We stopped just for a minute to see the beach, which was very shallow and calm. It would be a lovely place to spend the day for sure. After visiting the Butterfly Farm, I think we visited Bernadine again (we stopped so many times I can’t remember!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />) and then we made a quick trip to Le Grand Marche to restock some groceries and alcohol, which we apparently had vastly underestimated our consumption rate. We found some pineapple BBQ rotisserie chicken hot and ready at Le Grand Marche and bought it on a whim. We headed to back to the villa and had a leisurely lunch. Turns out that pineapple BBQ chicken was one of the best meals we had on the island. Maybe it was just the relaxing carefree day, but we had a delicious lunch of the pineapple BBQ chicken, fresh croissants, grapes, olives, cheeses, and homemade fresh sangria.



It was around 2 PM by now, and we decided to head over to Pinel. We walked down the path to Little Key beach and then down the beach to the Ferry terminal, which took less than 5 minutes. After a wait while we watched a hilarious group of men curse and play dominoes, we were off to Pinel on the ferry. We found a spot under a palm near the now shut down Up on the Key. We made the short trek across the island to the beach on the north side, which we soon discovered we had to ourselves. It was so peaceful and the beach was beautiful.



We caught the last ferry back at 4:00 and after another swim in the pool we got ready and headed to La Villa for dinner. I can see why it is one of the top rated restaurants in Grand Case. Everything I had was amazing from the citrus crusted sea scallop appetizer to the sweet and sour duck entrée to the vanilla crème brûlée. It was an amazing dinner and definitely the best dinner we had in Grand Case.





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Back to the villa for some bois bande rum shots and swimming in the pool. The bois bande and banana vanilla are tied with me for the best Ma Dou Dou flavor. Thanks to Bernadine, I do believe I sampled them all with the exception of the coffee flavor.

May 14 – As far as experiences go, today was by far everyone’s favorite day on the island. The reason? Today was our trip around the island with Peggy and Paul! I kept reading all these amazing comments about Peggy and Paul and the trip and after going on it I can see why. The entire day was simply amazing from Peggy’s liveliness to Paul’s generosity and kindness and to simply seeing the entire island from a different perspective. The absolute best part of the trip for me however was when we stopped at Tintamarre and I was able to swim with a sea turtle. I captured the most amazing pictures of these magnificent creatures.

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These few minutes were hands down the best of my time on the island. After Tintamarre, we continued around and stopped at “Peggy’s Rock”, actually called Rocher de l'Anse Marcel, or Bell Rock. The snorkeling here was the best I have seen on St. Martin. We headed on around the island and Peggy kept the rum punch flowing. We stopped again to snorkel at Turtle Rock, where I saw a couple more turtles, juveniles this time. It was then on to Happy Bay, where Danny prepared ribs and chicken, and Peggy provided some delicious pasta salad, coleslaw, and baguette sandwiches, and of course more rum punch.

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A fun croquet type coconut game and then it was back on the boat for the rest of the afternoon. We made a quick stop at Maho but by then it was around 3:30 – 4 so we didn’t see any planes landing. Back around by Simpson Bay and Great Bay and then before we knew it we were back at the naked buoy, or the “boo-hoo buoy”. We made new friends; Bob and Judy, Eileen and Iain, and Berne and Gary. And of course Peggy and Paul. It was a great trip and we will definitely do it again in the future. Dinner tonight was low key but also one of our best meals. We ate at Villa Pizza in Cul de Sac – a stone’s throw from our villa. We had the sour cream pizza with goat cheese, nuts, and honey. Delicious! Bucaneer should take some pizza baking lessons!

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