We went to St. Martin for our third time in three years. This year we stayed from March 11th to the 28th. Here is a brief trip report:
We flew out of Newark on the non-stop Continental flight to SXM. The Flight was great, everything from the drive to the airport straight through landing went smoothly.
Once at the airport we were met by AAA Car rental. They loaded the car and drove us to the office to complete the paperwork. The entire process took no more than fifteen minutes and we were off to La Plantation.
At La Plantation we were set up in studio 621 which was very nice. Each studio has a small kitchette area, bathroom, large bedroom area with a tv, dresser, desk, and two french doors to a private balcony. The room was very spacious and clean. Each day the maid would come and tidy up, make the bed, wash any glasses that we used and replenish towels. One note--- we bring our own washcloths because they do not always supply them.
All but three days were spent on Orient Beach from at least 8 am to 4 pm. We use the chairs supplied by Kakoa for La Plantation guests. This year we had some excitement with the kite sailing and parasailing competition. There were some extremely talented athletes out in the water doing flips, jumps… It was also pretty entertaining watching the vacationers take a stab at parasailing. It looks really easy from the beach, but not so easy once your in the water apparently! In order to completely relax and enjoy our vacation, we always get a massage from the woman behind Kakoa.
Another must while on Orient Beach is BAYWATCH! Cheryl, Andy, Ross and Adrian are the best! We went there every possible day for lunch. (They are closed on Mondays!) Going to Baywatch is an experience, not just a lunch. They are supper friendly and the food is fantastic! We have had everything on the menu and loved everything. We generally let Cheryl tell us what was just made and order that. You must try the ribs, the fresh mussels, chicken parm, and lasagna…you will not be disappointed. The frozen vodka lemonade wasn’t bad either! Baywatch became our home away from home- we met great people, and enjoyed great food while there. (Hi Sugarae and John, we are the couple that kept moving during lunch. It was great to meet you. Hope all is well with you and Marty! See ya next year, unless we break down in Maine this summer!)
For a change of pace we spent a few days exploring the other beaches on the Island.
Cupecoy was absolutely stunning. The cliffs give it a unique look and some great seclusion. I found the water bit rough where we were (center of beach), but I noticed people swimming seemingly easily on the ends of the beach. Of course, the cliff boys take a bit to get used to. I was a bit uncomfortable sunbathing while they were on the cliff doing their thing.
Long Bay is another great beach. We took a lot of nice pictures here wading in the water. We didn’t have any chairs so we didn’t stay too long. We weren’t sure if the LaSomana chairs are only for their guests or if the public could rent them as well.
Baie Rouge was very nice as well. This seemed to be a great family beach.
We made an attempt to visit Pinel Island, but found that the Ferry “captain” was less than friendly. After waiting for an hour and then being told that the next boat would leave when he was good and ready we decided to head back to the friendly people on Orient! Maybe we will try to get to Pinel again next year.
We took the yearly pilgrimage to Philipsburg for shopping. We find that you have to know what you are looking for and the US Price before you go. We did get a great deal on a memory card for our camera. The new Boardwalk really livens up the area. Lunch at the Greenhouse was good. Beware, the Jerk Chicken Wrap is pure fire!
Each night after relaxing on the beach we would get showered and head out to dinner. We generally ate in Grand Case. This town is a must, especially on Tuesday nights for Harmony nights. On harmony nights the locals play music, sell crafts, foods, drinks all along the street. The street is closed to traffic from 6 – 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, but the provide parking at the airport and in the grassy parking lot near to police station.
While in Grand Case we ate at The Cottage, Testavin, FishPot, Il Nettuno, Spiga, Rainbow, Auberge Gourmand, Le Pressoir here are some highlights:
The Cottage: This is by far our favorite restaurant in St. Martin. Thank you Cheryl for telling us about it last year! They have the best lamb chops, roasted quail, frog legs and soufflés that we have ever had. We do wine by the glass here. Stephan, with your input, will select a wine for each portion of you meal if asked. The cost averaged out to $6.00 per glass for his selections. It is well worth it if you enjoy trying new wines.
Alabama: Another all time favorite of ours. The apple tart is worth the trip!
The Rainbow: This was a new restaurant for us to try this year. On our first visit we were very impressed. I had a pork tenderloin and my husband had the beef tenderloin and it was fabulous. So good that we decided to go back for a second time. Unfortunately, this time Gregg had the lamb chop and wasn’t impressed with it, not that it was bad, just bland. My meal, a salmon special, was very good. We are going to give it another try next year because we realize that even chefs have off nights.
Il Nettuno: Great food, great view and great entertainment. We love the guitar player, he really makes the meal for us.
Spiga: This was another new try for us. Wow, what took us so long to try it! Everything was great. Gregg had the veal stuffed raviolis and is still raving about them. I had the spinach stuffed chicken with pasta. We enjoyed it so much we went back and had the exact same meal!!
Le Pressoir: The food and wine here was fine. While here we were entertained by an older vacationing couple who were stealing everything from glasses to soap dishes from the restaurant, very blatantly I might add. We ended up informing the staff because the behavior was quite ridiculous. We are talking about 50 and 60 year olds not teenagers! The way I see it, if you can’t afford to buy a set of water glasses, you probably should not be vacationing in St. Martin!
We realize that all of these restaurants are pricey, but we work hard all year long and splurge on vacation. If you wanted to you could probably get by spending $100 on a dinner at each of these places, including tip. If you go all out, appetizer, dinner, dessert and wine it will be more like $175 – 200 at most of these places. Most menus are available online, so just check them out.
For a change of pace and price, we also ate at the Peg Leg Pub twice. This is exactly as the name suggests, a pub, and a great one at that. We both enjoyed the steaks, baked potatoes and fresh salad. We also picked up some entertaining souvenirs while there!
We also made a point to spend an evening dining at Saratoga. As usual the food and service were great. If you go, call ahead and reserve an outside table overlooking the water.
One word of caution, if you don’t intend on lingering for an hour after dinner, request the check with your dessert or last drink. Otherwise checks can be hard to come by in almost all of the restaurants.
After dinner, we generally spent a few hours at the Dolphin Casino. The casino is very nice and suits us. We only play Caribbean Poker (they call it Dolphin Poker) and found that the table was generally free and the dealers, waitresses and pit bosses extremely friendly. On one of our last nights there, I had a straight flush and a Royal Flush in Hearts!! That made a great trip all the better.
After all of this the eighteen days on the most glorious island was coming to a close. After lunch and a teary until we meet again with Cheryl and Andy, Gregg and I headed out. We had already checked our luggage at 10 am so we just had to return the rental car and get to the airport an hour early. The car return and arrival at the airport went smoothly.
While flying home we realized that we had just left the fairy tale world of St. Martin and were about to be thrust back into reality. We had an absolutely fabulous time and really wouldn’t have changed a thing this trip. We enjoyed it so much, we just booked for a week in July!
.
