Trip Report 4/3-4/10
My wife and I began in Boston via GWV charter. We arrived at the airport at 3:30AM and were near the front of the check in line. By the time the check in began (about an hour later than scheduled), the line was nearly out the airport door. An interesting thing we noted, a little too late, is that GWV offers a ‘Priority’ package where for about $40 more you can cut the check in line and go right to the front. So even though we thought we were at the front of the line we still had to wait about another 20 minutes for all the priority people to go first. We’ll have to look into that for next time. Well one more bump in the road on our way to St Martin. An elderly gentleman fell down the stairs while boarding the plane and was injured. He was not able to continue on the plane so it took about an hour to locate his baggage and take it off the plane. Then we were finally off the ground and on our way. Landed safely, very little hassle in the St Martin airport and we were out in 20 minutes.
We were met by a representative from AAA and Pack Lite at the airport. We were driven over to a parking lot to get our beach chairs, umbrellas and Cell phone from Pack Lite. It took a few minutes to explain the phone and we were on our way to AAA car rental. That took only a few minutes more and we were off to the hotel. The car was a generic new white Suzuki, perfect size for traveling around the island with excellent gas milage. I think we used a total of $30 in gas and we were back and forth from Grand Case to Marigot and Simpson Bay quite a few times. There are a lot of tight corners and parking spaces that we would not have been able to manage with a larger car.
We were on our way to our hotel…well almost on our way. Traffic was backed up from the airport up to Cole Bay due to road construction. The 30 minute drive to Grand Case took a little over an hour. We were able to acclimate ourselves to island driving along the way. Cars passing us on the right (off the road), scooters passing on the left (in the middle of the road), cars passing in the opposite direction (using our lane) and big holes in the road where the road work was being performed. Well I commute on I-93 in Boston every day so this was nothing new to me. We made it safely and arrived at Hotel L’Esplanade.
We chose the hotel based on the great reviews we read on the internet, and we were not disappointed. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and the hotel well maintained with a great view high up on the hill overlooking Grand Case. After check in we headed straight for the pool and ordered drinks at the pool bar. The pool is very tranquil with splashing water coming from a little waterfall and plenty of comfortable lounge chairs. After having spent the last few vacations at those all inclusive mega resorts this was a welcome change. No need to get up early so you can reserve your chair by the pool.
On the recommendation of one of the hotel staff we decided to go down to Marigot for dinner at La Belle Epoche in the Marina. We thought that we would just drive down there and would see signs for the Marina. We found out early on that there are not many signs at all in St Martin, no street signs, stop signs, etc. So we drove around for a half hour looking for the Marina. Eventually after parking three times and walking in circles asking for directions we found it. The Marina is a lively place with restaurants and shops encircling a small Marina. We started with mussels in cream sauce which were really great, almost addictive. I had a pizza which had a nice thin, crisp crust and my wife had a large salad. We enjoyed our meal and would recommend this restaurant. Try the mussels, we would go back just for them.
Next morning we went to Orient Beach. The weather was perfect and we set up our beach chairs and lounged for a while. Next we went over to Baywatch as recommended by many on TTOL. I had some Buffalo Wings and a burger, my wife ordered the grouper sandwich. The wings were good, the burger was a little overcooked and the grouper was ok. Overall we thought the meal was just OK. Over the course of the next few days we also tried the adjoining restaurants Chez Aleandra and The Pirate. The Pirate became our favorite and we returned two more times. They have these wraps that are outstanding. The Thai chicken peanut and chicken curry wraps were our favorites. They are stuffed with a large portion of meat, rice, beans and lettuce. They were so big we couldn't finish them. Two people could probably split one. I also got a good clud sandwich (It was actuually a Club but it was spelled 'Clud' on the menu).
Monday was a full moon so we though about the Kali Full Moon Party. Local friends of ours convinced us not to go for safety reasons. Many cars get broken into or vandalized there and your car can get blocked in so that you are unable to leave when you want to. The road is also not lit and a little rough. I guess the Full Moon party is for the more adventurous types.
On Tuesday we went down to Grand Case for Harmony Nights. They close down the main street to cars and there are vendors set up selling all kinds of chachkis and food. There are also live bands spread along the road and a marching band that parades down the street. It looked like everyone vacationing on the island was there. We had a reservation at La California and got a table overlooking the beach. They have a really large menu with something for everyone. After dinner they offer you a shot of artisan rum in several flavors. I had a shot of each type and was feeling pretty good. Later we went to L’Amandier and had a couple martinis sitting at a table overlooking the beach and the full moon. We were the only one’s there it was very romantic.
Wednesday night was the Celine Pub Crawl. That was a lot of fun and I would recommend that to anyone looking for a fun night out. You kick off your shoes, grab a few drinks and cruise around the bay stopping at selected restaurants sampling various dishes. We had some good Indian food al Lals, Steak Peg Leg Pub and Ribs and Conch fritters at Turtle Pier. And of course we had plenty to drink. We met a lot of very nice people on the cruise as well. Some of us went over to Bamboo Bernies afterward for Lady’s Night. Women drink free but all you get is bad, mass produced frozen drinks. The crowd was also a little young for us, mostly high school age kids.
Thursday we went down to Simpson Bay again and checked out a few Casinos. We started ant the Dolphin Casino in the Caravanserai resort which seemed a little run down and was not very big so we left there to go to the Casino Royale. That was nicer although we noticed the odds on many of the slot and poker machines were not that great. But against the odds we walked away with a hefty $28 net gain after about two hours of playing. They also validated our parking slip so add that in with our winnings.
A brief rundown of some other restaurants we visited:
Hot Tomatos, Simpson Bay
Family Italian. Good pizzas, very large restaurant with tables available out on a deck overlooking the bay.
Shivsagar, Phillipsburg
Indian. On Front St, not a very nice area to be walking around at night. Parking is also not very convenient. Indian food was ok but nothing to write home about. We were told to try Bombay Brasserie in Grand Case on our net visit.
Sabastianos, Grand Case
Gourmet, creative Italian. Had a very romantic feel to it with tables overlooking the lighted beach. Our meals were very good but also very, very expensive. Make sure to bring your Platinum card!
Talk of the Town, Grand Case
Lolo BBQ, tried the ribs there and they were really good. A rare, cheap meal in Grand Case.
Now for some general comments – We had heard many different opinions about the island with regard to crime, safety, etc. and would like to add our impressions. The island gave us the feeling similar to being in New York City. There were endless, high quality forms of entertainment but you have to use some caution. Some roads are not lighted at night (such as the road from the Airport to Nettle Bay) which we were told to avoid at night. We met a scam artist in the streets of Marigot trying to convince us he was our Car rental agent and needed $20 for transmission fluid. Teenagers threw something at our car on the way from Marigot, we thought it might be a rock but it turned out to be a egg. And we were told again and again never to leave anything in the car. But even with the incidents and warnings, we did not feel afraid to be out at night or drive around. Any of these things can happen to you in any major US city. In general we would say that overall safety and crime are not really a major problem as long as you use some common sense and have had some experience navigating around a big city. Though I could see some people maybe less experienced, used to small town living having a harder time adjusting and feeling a little less comfortable.
On the Euro vs Dollar controversy there are differing opinions on which is better to pay with. We found that there are a number of places, restaurants and shops, that will give you 1 Euro = 1 dollar rates but only if you pay with Cash, so bring cash with you when you are out. Anything we saw priced in Euros only was really like paying 20% over what you would think of as a fair price. So we tried to stay away from Euro only places. We tried to go shopping one day in Marigot but found that there were really no bargains or reasonably priced items for that matter given the exchange rate. We would probably go to the Dutch side for shopping next time if the rates stay the same.
A consumer alert that I would like to let people know about is that we were told about a car rental company that goes by two names (Value or Premier) that have been accused of stealing their own cars and then charging the customer to replace them. They have a separate Insurance clause for ‘Theft’ that you have to pay extra for. If you decline it, you may find that you receive a call in the middle of the night that your car was stolen, trashed and recovered and that your credit card has been charged for the damages. I know someone personally that this happened to and rumors that it may not be an isolated incident. If anyone else has any experiences like this it would be interesting to hear about them.
In conclusion, this was our first trip to St Martin and we loved it so much that we can’t wait to go back again. We have already decided that this will be our regular vacation spot that we will return again and again. The weather was great, sunny and 85 every day. There is so much to do here, so many great restaurants and beaches, it is going to take us many trips to get to experience them all. Now we know why the island has such a following on TTOL and people return every year, counting down the days until their next visit.
Thank you all on TTOL for all your advice and recommendations. They were extremely helpful and a great resource for finding the best that St Martin has to offer.
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