St. Martin 2004 Trip Report – Part 2

…continued from Part 1 (if you didn’t read part 1, you’re missing out big time!)
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Friday:
After 4 days on Orient beach, we needed to chill out from the sun. We ended up taking a drive into Maho to check out some of the shops along the strip. We didn’t end up finding much here, but did manage to locate La Rosa Too. We said that we might consider trying this restaurant either this trip or next. We took advantage of the area and ended up using the ATM and getting gas in Simpson bay. Then it was back to the room to chill out some more before dinner.

For dinner, we decided to give Calmo’s Café another try. This time it was open! As we walked down the narrow alley through the bar area to the restaurant, Renee took off her sandals and let the sand slip through her toes. The ambiance was in full effect, just as we had left it the last time we were there. Tiki torches were lit, some deep jazzy house was grooving through the speakers, and there were lots of locals (some with dogs <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" />), relaxing and enjoying their dinner. We found a nice table with a lantern on it and Alex came over to take good care of us for the next couple of hours. Renee enjoyed the red snapper and Zach had the creole chicken. Both came with salads and rice. We also shared a nice bottle of French white wine. Throughout the meal, we got to know Alex (waiter) a little better and remembered him from the year before.
After dinner we were asking him of his opinion on Boo Boo Jams, stating that we were thinking of trying it tonight. He said that it was very local, but if we hadn’t tried it yet that we must give it a go. A woman was sitting near our table in one of the comfy chairs facing the ocean and she became interested in our conversation about Boo Boo Jams. She introduced her self <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> as Patricia, and said that she was from Guadalupe, vacationing by herself and staying at a friends place in Columbier. She said that she would go with us to check out Boo Boo Jams for herself. So, we paid the bill and off we went to Boo Boo Jams.

The parking lot was full and it sounded like quite the party from outside. We walked up to Boo Boo Jams and it was totally packed! There were tons of island locals all dancing Zouk and drinking, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> and having a wonderful time!
So, we made our way through the crowd to find a place to sit and a woman offered to share her table with us. Christine was there with her husband Charles. She was from Canada <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" /> and he was local to the island. They had lived there for 4 years and worked on the Dutch side of the island selling timeshares. Anyway, they were very nice and we enjoyed lots of conversation with them. We ended up dancing some Zouk together, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> before Zach bumped into Adrian from Baywatch! If you’re not familiar with Zouk, it’s a lot like merengue only with more passion and feeling. Adrian ended up coming over to our group and said hello to everyone. After all of the introductions, we all needed to dance some more! Adrian asked Renee to dance, as he was fluent with Zouk dancing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> Zach thought he’d give his best at 'attempting' to lead Patricia in some Zouk dancing…”What the Heck! We’re in St. Martin!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> A fantastic time was had by all. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

After a few hours of Zouk, we were ready to head over to Bliss to see what was happening. Patricia was consumed with the dance and had decided to stay awhile. She said she would get a ride back to her car later on. We said our goodbye’s and drove off to the Dutch side to Bliss. When we arrived, there was already a large crowd on the dance floor, unlike Tuesday...when it seemed everyone was at Greenhouse! The familiar sounds of house music permeated the island air as the drinks flowed freely.
We danced until the wee hours of the morning… something we never do. ....Yeah right! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
We ended up closing down Bliss and then made our way back over to Orient. We got back to our room and figured what the heck… we’re on vacation right? Let’s go watch sunrise #3.
And we did.<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" /> This time there weren’t any sketchy jeeps cruising up and down the beach. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Rofl.gif" alt="" /> After, it was back to Green Cay to get some shut-eye.

Saturday:
We awoke to yet another beautiful, sun-shining day in paradise. We enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee and freshly baked croissants, which were left on our terrace (provided by Green Cay). Our morning delivery of baguette and croissants were stored in the microwave (for safekeeping)… As a result of some lurking hungry cat, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cat.gif" alt="" /> looking out for her kittens(the cat got lucky with a couple of croissants on our first morning on the island…as initially, Green Cay left the basket of pastries on the table)…It didn’t take long for them to quickly make changes, in order to save our croissants. The coffee was freshly brewed, kept warm in the pot… Fresh Orange juice poured into a carafe, kept chilled in the refrigerator… cloth napkins, plates and utensils laid out on the table. The only drawback, IF there were any… was the unbelievable amount of mosquito’s that had congregated in the kitchenette (within the open air terrace). We gathered our dining accessories and headed out to our back deck to enjoy some sun – minus the mosquitos.

Early afternoon we decided to head into Philipsburg… However, the heat and late nights had finally caught up to Renee… and she got a bit of heat stroke. We decided that Philipsburg was not the place to be, but rather our Air Conditioned studio room was. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Crazy.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
The hill, on the road to Cole Bay appeared to have MORE TRAFFIC THAN EVER that day. Doesn’t it always, though? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
We landed at the studio… and were both hungry. So, Zach went down to our favorite lunch spot (Baywatch) to order a cheeseburger and steak sandwich to go. While Andy was cooking up a storm, Zach decided to go and say hi to Bibi (the guy with the dreads that runs the jetski booth near Pedro’s). Bibi had just come back from a run along the reef on his jetski with a bag full of fresh Conch. He must’ve had about 7 or 8 of them. As he pulled them from his bag, another guy punched a small hole in the Conch and pulled the live sea urchin right out of it. As he did this, he took a bite out of the raw Conch. Zach couldn’t believe it and said “you eat that thing raw”? Bibi told him to give the next one to Zach to try. He took out the live Conch and pulled a piece off of it and handed it to Zach to try. Zach took a bite out of it and it tasted a little like sea flavored jello. It was very different, but a fun experience.

Now that the fun was over with the Conch, Zach picked up the food that Cheryl had so graciously prepared in to-go containers with all the fixings and ketchup, etc. and brought the food back up to Renee at our studio.

We chose Spiga for dinner this evening in Grand Case. After reading trip report after trip report this past year, we had to check it out for ourselves and see what the fuss was all about. We were seated on the far end of the front porch… where there were two other couples sharing the outdoors space with us. One of the few times were actually saw any rain during our trip was this night. It lasted about 10 minutes and only seemed to lightly kiss <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" />our faces with mist… the only sounds during the evening dinner were raindrops and the melodic tunes of the singing frogs in the background. Very romantic. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /> While normally we might think it was almost too quiet during dinner... Tonight, it was just what we needed. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> We ordered a bottle of French Bordeaux to share… along with a Gnocci appetizer in a gorgonzola crème sauce. The Gnocci was delicious! The portion was just right. Renee had the filet, which was incredibly tender and the flavors of the dish blended perfectly. Zach had the pork tenderloin special, which was “outta this world”! We shared a half white chocolate, half dark chocolate mousse for dessert = SENSATIONAL!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Oink.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" />The entire meal came to $96 dollars, not including gratuity. Tired and satiated, we ventured back to our studio to relax in the Jacuzzi before bed.

Sunday:
Well, we sure needed that! And we’re talking about a restful night of sleep! We woke up to our usual delivery of croissant & coffee, etc. and called a couple of the jewelry stores in Philipsburg that we wanted to check out. They were both closed, as there were no cruise ships in. We decided to take advantage of no cruise ships and headed back down to Orient where we pulled a couple of beach chairs and an umbrella up to the ocean at La Playa. We did our usual thing on the beach that morning. You know, lather up, wait 30 minutes, FLIP, wait another 30 minutes, FLIP! Got it?<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Around noontime, we headed down to guess where? BAYWATCH! We had to have the mussels at least one more time before we left. We are mussels fanatics and have tried them everywhere in an effort to at least match the mussels a la Andy. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not going to happen and that the $400+ per plane ticket is worth coming for the mussels alone! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Rofl.gif" alt="" /> At Baywatch we bumped into Adrian who was working and discussed Boo Boo Jams and Zouk dancing quite a bit. Make it a point to say hi to Adrian for us next time you are at Baywatch, and try to get the island handshake <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> correct okay? Remember it ends with making a fist and sticking your arm out. The other person will handle the rest! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Rofl.gif" alt="" />

After our daily nap, we set out to find ourselves a good old fashioned pizza! Unfortunately Portofino’s doesn’t make pizza like they used to when Ivan was running the place. We were really craving one of Ivan’s flat pizzas. Hope that Ivan is doing well somewhere. We needed a break from all of the lavish dining, both French and Italian. We were brainstorming and looking over our notes from TTOL, for a good place to start. We remembered that Le Pub in Grand Case had pizza, so we figured we’d start there. We drove into town only to find Le Pub closed! (after reading comments upon our return, we are kind of happy that it was closed… it didn’t get good reviews) So, we figured that we’d drive over to the Dutch side to check out a few places. Remember it’s Sunday, so we were kind of limited. First stop over on the Dutch side was Pizza Pasta in Maho. We know were probably going to take a little heat on this one, but here goes. We finally found a parking spot in Maho (where the heck does everyone park anyway?) and found our way to Pizza Pasta. The place was small, very bright, reminded us of a school cafeteria, and some young children were lying on the floor. The atmosphere just wasn’t what we had in mind. We sat down at a table for about 30 seconds before bolting out the door! Found our car quickly and continued on to Simpson Bay. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Rofl.gif" alt="" /> We finally settled on Good Fella’s in Simpson Bay which has a new owner. We had eaten there a couple of years back for a late lunch. This was just what we were looking for. It was quiet, they had a traditional brick oven which was outdoors and the owner made a mean pizza and bruschetta! After dinner we ordered a bottle of champagne to go with our leftovers and headed back to our room for the evening.<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" />

…hate to do this to everyone, but if you want some reading THIS evening… we have to continue the rest of this in PART 3 BABY!!!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Tonguea.gif" alt="" />

Still to come... Our enchanted evening at Mai's, our first excursion ever into Philipsburg in 4 trips, and our restaurant finale/last supper at Bistrot Caraibes!!!

p.s. part 3 will include a link for the pictures!

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