Hi everyone, finally we got our trip report completed! Both me and Line had a great time in SXM, sorry for the long report, enjoy!
Sint Maarten Trip Report week of May 01-08/2004
This was our second trip to Sint Maarten/Saint Martin. Last year we stayed on the French side, this year we got lucky when we found someone that needed to get rid of a week at Pelican on the Dutch side. We got a 4pers room for 1 week $125 US (but it was only for the week of May 1st-May 8th, which coincided with our Vacation week. We were not planning a trip this year + We only found that deal 3 weeks prior to our vacation! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
We were lucky and very happy to go back to SXM!
We took a direct flight via New York - JFK, which was leaving on the 1st. We left from New-Brunswick, Canada on April 29th 2004 and drove directly to Boston, slept there one night.
We arrived in New York on April 30th and slept there for one night as well. It was very nice in New York that day... we ran into some bad luck through our good luck when we got rear-ended in Manhattan... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> had a hard time to find the hotel but finally did and from there we took a cab and visited New York a bit. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/usflag.gif" alt="" />
It took us so long to find the Long Term Parking <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/impatient.gif" alt="" /> in JFK that we only arrive at the airport to get our tickets, check our luggage etc @ 7:15AM... our flight was leaving at 8:00AM! (they were recommending being there 3hrs in advanced, guess we got lucky).
Our flight was full, but we were able to get isle seats, in the same row, so we were not too far from each other. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
The flight to SXM was smooth, as well as the landing. We arrived at around 12:30 The temperature in SXM was great, it was more windy than last year (we went in April) since we were starting to be in low season... We grabbed our luggage and met Dwayne from Unity which drove us directly to Michael. We got our car, nice Suzuki Ignis, too bad we don't have that model in Canada, really liked that little car. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> Everthing went smooth with Unity, we are glad to be dealing with them and would recommend them to anyone that is looking for a good deal + excellent service. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
We had also arrange to meet with Craig from Pack Light at Unity since Michael and Craig know each other, this was easier for us, like a 2 in 1, gotta love that! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> What do we think of Pack light, good or bad? This was an excellent idea to rent 2 chairs and 1 umbrella for the whole week for 25$, we could go to many beaches in one day without having to pay for chairs each time. We also had those chairs for when we go to beaches that doesn't offer any. We were even able to bring them with us over to Pinel Island! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />
After meeting with Unity & Pack Light we drove directly to the Pelican to check in. The check-in took a couple of minutes due to a line up. We finally got to our turn, we didn't know which room we would get so we stayed patient and nice to the lady that was checking us in and guess what? Got lucky again!! We received a direct beach view-ground level room in the F Section, F10 was our room number. We were only a few feet away from the Beach and the Swim up bar pool! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
When we arrived it was around 1PM and the lady was still cleaning our room. She was from Haiti so we were glad to be able to speak in french with her. (We come from a french community in New Brunsick so we speak french on a daily basis). We quickly changed into our bathing suits and left for the beach!
Not even 15 seconds being on the beach, Line was approached by a girl to braid her hair... She got them braided last year and knew she wanted to get them done again this year, since its easier to take care of. The girl's name was Marcia. She was very professional with her tools and also not reusing the same comb without having it cleaned between customers. Last year Line only had 71 braids - getting them done in Philippsburg, this year she got 105 braids! Marcia did a suberb job, so superb that locals, restaurant owners (@Baywatch) told Line all week that they never saw someone's braid done by the beach girls, looking so nice. She was very happy, as a matter of fact, she still got them today and they still look nice although her hair has grown since! I'm sure Line will be looking for Marcia again next year!
After getting her hair done, we took our first swim at the Pelican beach, it's a very nice beach (calm water).
For our first night in SXM, we went to eat @ the Goodfellas. We remembered that restaurant from last year and since it wasn't too far from our Resort, we decided to stop there. The food there is of course, Italian, and very good. We met a couple from New Jersey while we were there.
The next day we went to the Marina Royale for breakfast. We ate at a place called La Croissanterie, it was really good. (french cuisine).
I remember that it was next door to the St Germain restaurant. Since we knew that big planes would be landing that day, we decided to go to Maho for our first beach.
Maho beach was rough that day, (it's always rough, but it was even more than last time). We took a swim there, and then went to the Sunset Beach Bar to watch the planes and take pictures & videos. We ordered some ribs there and brought our receipt to the guy cooking them, he told Marc it would only take about 15 mins, so we stayed at the bar continuing to watch 1 or 2 planes... (the Carib was only a 1$) a few minutes went by and Marc went over to the guy cooking to see if our ribs would be ready soon... he then replied to Marc that he didn't receive any orders for ribs!! Confused, Marc thought he was joking, he said no. Marc told him the name of the bartender that he dealt with when purchasing the meal, he then asked Marc if he was a friend of her. Marc told him no, he just knows her from being a TTOL member etc. "He just made a remark that he thought Marc was just a french guy trying to get a free meal".
He cooked our meal anyway, it was good. We have warned the bartender of the issue and both of the girls working that day didn't seem to be surprised by it, I guess it happened before...
Later on that day we did a small grocery, just a few things to do quickly as we didn't want to eat in too many restaurants for this trip for 2 reasons:
1. We wanted to save money (that trip wasn't planned & we're now on Strike at work so...)
2. We didn't want to gain all the weight like last year!
We were glad our room had a kitchen, including a Fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher and everything you need in a kitchen.
The third day we went to Cupecoy. What a nice beach, clothing optional. It was rough that day but it was still a very nice beach and will continue to go there on our future trips. We ate at Buccaneer for lunch and then headed back to the beach, it started to rain pretty hard while driving so we kept driving around for a few minutes, until it stopped, we then headed for Friars Bay.
We didn't go to see Happy bay as planned, we both know that it must be a superb beach to see, but Marc started to feel sick, soar throat etc and didn't feel well to walk much.
On our day # 4, we went to Orient beach. It was very windy and we got sand blasted a few times. We kept cleaing our sunglasses because with all the wind they would get dirty from the salt. We had a drink at Baywatch and met with the owners. They really liked Line's hair.
The owner knew about Canada and had a few flags on the roof of Baywatch, including one of Newfoundland which is nearby.
We left and went to Dawns beach, we wanted to try Mrs B ribs for dinner, yummee!!! The beach there was also rough and not very clear for snorkeling.
On our fifth day, we went to Mullet Bay Beach, what a beautiful beach. The water was so calm that you could see clearly when going near the rocks, all of the fish and crabs.
It was nice to swim there, the sun was also very hot. We spent the whole day there. We ate at the resort and then left to Friars bay to spend the night and see the Full Moon Party. (@Kali's Bar)
On day 6, we left in the morning for Pinel. We had no problem to bring our Chairs and Umbrella from PackLight on the boat with us. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/titanic.gif" alt="" /> The boat was full and went back and forth from SXM to Pinel.
Pinel was very nice, we relaxed there for a good part of the day, the water is calm and not deep, you can have fun snorkeling there. Line had Mahi-Mahi for dinner and Marc had the BBQ chicken, the food was good there.
After we left from Pinel, we noticed that we forgot our Umbrella on the boat, so we returned and waited about 5 mins for the boat to get back. The guy from the boat gave us our umbrella back.
We went to the beach at Le Méridien for the rest of the afternoon. We tried the Bananas for the first time for supper. For some odd reason my Visa was refused there, the lady couldn't understand why. We didn't like the food there (we both just had burgers, maybe they have better things than that), it was overcooked and we both felt sick in the middle of the night.
On day 7 we went back to Mullet Bay to spend the entire day there, a few people that were snorkeling near the rocks said they saw a baracuda. Mullet and Cupecoy are now my favorites beaches!
Our last night in SXM... We went to the BoatHouse to eat. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/hungry.gif" alt="" /> We went there last year and the food was great, we found that it was even better this year. The service was superb. The waiters put alot of attention to their customers. Marc had the coconut shrimps and I had seafood pasta, it was very good.
Day 8, it was now time to leave <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" /> We had breakfast at Ric's Place, we were sitting right next to a group of people that we noticed at the Boathouse the night before... They were all from Québec, boy was it nice to speak French Canadian again! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" /> They were also leaving that day.
Our trip to SXM was GREAT, we had little money (that's why we didn't go to GrandCase to eat this year) but that was fine with us, we were so glad to be there once again! Next year, we are planning to go again. The pelican was a very nice place to stay, I'm not sure if I'll go there again since that was just a good deal, and we will probably be looking for another good deal again next year <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> and perhaps, we will be staying longer too!
The company we both work for (telephone/internet company) went on Strike a week prior to our trip. We are still on strike today (6th week).
Visit our website to see news from us and also to see all of our trip pictures and videos, we took some amazing pictures so far so check them out:
www.marcline.com <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pirate.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thanks.gif" alt="" /> for all the info you guys have provided us here on TTOL for both this year and last year's trip.
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