Just returned from the best week of my life!
My boyfriend and I spent a week at princess heights near dawn beach. I am 27 years old, he is 28. Just a quick trip report about the island I now love!
-First time to St. Martin for both of us. I read TONS of forums while planning the trip. We stayed at princess heights in a 1 bedroom suite and LOVED IT. It was beautiful and spacious. I still miss it. We had heard that some people thought the location of princess heights was out of the way, but we found the oyster pond marina area to have pleanty of choices for dining. We had a rental car, and YES the driving is crazy, but my boyfriend loved it. The scariest thing was the dips (i.e. 2 foot drop) on one side of the road in one area of the dutch side. After a few days we got the hang of it and navigated the island pretty easy.
We arrived to PH and found the tiny hidden reception office. A young nice guy jumped in the car with us to show us up to our room, which is in building 2, up a huge hill and through a gate that i would have never found on my own. He was so nice. showed us our beautiful room. The bedroom was MASSIVE, and the patio was so much fun to hang out on. We used shopndrop for some items and everything was delivered and put away. We opened some wine and unpacked our clothes. It was close to 6pm by then, so we went to the oyster pond area for dinner and ate at Daniels by the sea. Service was a bit slow, but it was a wonderful outside table right by the ocean. Food was delish. VERY close to PH, and parking was super easy. Always felt safe. There is also a small grocery in that area, which we used almost every day. They had a small selection of food, and lots of wine and beer!
The second day we went on boat excursion around the island from Robinson speed boat tours, we found him via tripadvisor. We had a BLAST. Capt mike was great. Went all over the island, saw the huge yachts, stopped at tintamarre island for snorkling, then to pinel island for an included lunch which was good. The beaches are tintamarre and pinel were breathtaking. We cruised to a few more beaches (speed boat! so verrrry fast and bumpy, a fun ride!). it was a fantastic day. We got back to our room and got ready for dinner, ate at big fish that night, delish!
the next day we ventured to orient bay, ate lunch at Aloha and WOW, one of the best meals of the whole trip! The calamari and shrimp appetizer was to die for. We had the scallop special and it was sooooo soooo good. The owner/bartender Natalie was such a doll. She immediately asked our names and remembered them all day. I swear, if we came back in a year she would still know our names. She was funny and attentive, as were all the servers. HIGHLY recommend Aloha, and the open air seating was also wonderful. Orient bay was a blast, great waves and water, we had SO much fun. Ate dinner that night at Mamas pizza, which was a very very short drive from PH, and we just parked right on the street, very easy. Some of the BEST pizza and lasanga ive ever had. We ate it again later that week!
Visited Anguilla the next day via a 20, roller coaster of a ride ferry. Anguilla was breathtaking, gorgeous beaches and the friendliest beaches. Shoal bay was amazing, it was almost as if you had the whole beach to yourself. Ferry there and back was about 30 bucks a person.
Next day we ventured off to Grand case for lunch and ate at Calamos cafe, right near the water. Another very memorable meal, the fish of the day with some kind of lemon sauce was fantastic!! We walked a bit of the beach, then back to our car to go to orient bay, as the waves and beach bars seemed more fun to us. Grand case was very lively even during the day, the streets are very tight and I think driving at nighttime would have been quite a headache. That night we ate at Dinghy Dock and had delicious fish and chips and the best ribs we had the whole trip. I noticed that the oyster pond restaurants all close pretty early, we were getting rushed out around 10:30. But still, ate right by the dock and had delicious food. I wish we had visited Dhingy dock during the day. Also a very short drive from PH, maybe 5 minutes, parking was simple.
Next day we took a 50 minute, vomit inducing ferry to st. barts. It was a wild ride! But the island was gorgeous, SO clean. The shopping is INSANE, but definitely geared toward the incredibly wealthy. The island is 100% french, only heard english spoken once they realized we didn't know french. We took a taxi tour of the island with a wonderful guy who was sitting by the taxi dock. The island is so beautiful, and the driver said everyone on the island has a job, so there is virtually no crime, theres not even a jail on the island. We saw no signs of poverty whatsoever, all homes were in great condition, saw no construction or abandoned buildings at all. Pretty interesting. We spent the day there and had a great time on St Jean beach. It was a beautiful island, but I did feel inadequate not knowing french, and it definitely is a very ritzy island, we spent a lot of money for the day. We ate lunch at a beach bar in Toms Hotel, and it was ok. We got 2 chairs for 20 Euro, and the bar man never checked on us again, but checked on everyone around us. We bought some items from their shop, and the girl was kind of rude, again I feel if I knew french, it would have been a lot easier. It was a great day, but I don't know if I will return until Im 100% fluent in french and become incredibly wealthy HA HA.
The next day we went to simpson bay. Went to karakters for lunch because we heard so many great things. It was very busy, and the server sat us at a nice table on this little covered platform thing. We ordered drinks. Then a few minutes later another male server came over and asked us to move to this other table. Sure ok. So we move, not sure why, then of course our drinks never came. We ordered lunch and re-ordered our drinks. The food was just OK. The drinks finally came later. Never saw our server again. Flagged down another server to get our bill. It was a nice afternoon, but the palce was totally unorganized and chaotic.
Next day we went to Maho beach and had a blast watching the planes come and go. The water there was a lot of fun to splash around in.
On our last day we sadly checked out of PH. We ate breakfast at busbys and it was delicious. Drove around the island, and went to Maho again since it is right next to the airport. We ate lunch at sunset bar and WOW. I was afraind it would be busy because its such a hot spot, but we got seated immediately, a server named Rosie came up to us within a minute and took our drink orders. She was SO attentive and nice. Our food came out very quickly, hot and delicious pizza! We ordered several drinks and never waited more than a few minutes. It was busy that day, and we were very impressed with the service and food. We left all our luggage in our rental, which was parked in the lot by the casino down the street. I was a nervous wreck about doing this, but whatever. Our luggage/car was totally fine and safe. We sadly flew off, back to snowy ohio, and our car encased in snow at the airport.
All in all, we had a BLAST in St. Martin. I was very concered with safety, and bought a theft proof beach bag that links to your chair (kyss bag) and everything, and never once felt unsafe. We did not encounter any crime of any kind. I wore long skirts in the evening and sometimes used bug spray, and we dined at oyster pond every night. I got maybe 10 mossy bites on my legs, i still feel fine. We didn't do a ton of shopping, but the St. Barts shopping was great. Orient bay was our favorite beach, and Mamas pizza was our favorite dinner. Don't miss Aloha on orient!! I LOOOOVED princess heights, and after a few days it felt like HOME. We used Leisure Car rental and had a very nice little car to zip around in, and they picked us up at the airport and after two signatures, away we went. So simple. Drop off at their office, then they drive you to the airport. Couldnt have been easier. We used them because they have great reviews, and their website is great. We enjoyed the little grocery store right in the oyster pond area and used it a lot for wine and little things. We only ate at oyster pond at night and felt very safe. I can't wait to return!!!
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