TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report: June 2 - June 12, 2022

When you are quarantining due to the virus, what's to do but write a trip report!

GETTING THERE

My outbound flight changed more times than I can count between booking and departure, but it was always a redeye on American from Portland through CLT for $650 first class one way. After arriving at the airport in time for what I thought was a 10 p.m. departure, I learned we wouldn’t be leaving until 11:00 p.m. . . . even though the plane left CLT on time. Huh? Since American and Alaska are part of the One World network, I was able to kill time in the Alaska Board Room as there is no American Admirals Club in Portland. For the first time in a long time, I was able to sleep a couple of hours on the plane, which arrived around 7:00 a.m. in CLT.

One of the two Admirals Clubs in CLT is closed for remodeling so as I was eating breakfast in the remaining Club, it became more and more crowded; it was packed by the time I left after a four-hour layover. I wore a mask except when I was eating and, in retrospect, suspect this is where I contracted Covid.

The plane was very close to the PJIA terminal, and we were instructed to walk to it. Thankfully, no crowded bus! But wouldn’t you know, just as I got to the terminal door, a bus drove up and unloaded a horde of people. Even so, it didn’t seem to take too long to get through although I didn’t time it.

My car rental reservation was again with Hertz. While they claim to help you with your luggage, they park a bit away from the terminal and are not at the exit door with a sign as most others are. A nice bellman helped get my luggage to the Hertz van, which was full on this trip. I don’t find Hertz’s service to be as warm and friendly as others, but I have yet to find anyone less expensive. I have an economy car and am paying $145 per week INCLUDING liability; with taxes, it’s $169 per week.

Upon arrival at Horny Toad, I was disappointed to learn that innkeepers Debbie and Doug are off island for the summer. They are delightful, and I will miss sharing happy hours with them.

One of the first things I try to do after arriving is load wi-fi on my phone as I have a Chippie/Flow SIM card. Mailbox was already closed for the weekend so I started heading to Tech Hub in the Bush Road Carrefour. The traffic was obnoxious and I was too tired to deal with it so turned around and went to The Palms.

This was the view from my deck after returning from dinner.



EXCURSIONS

Boomerang – I have heard a lot of favorable reports about this excursion so joined some friends to find out what it was all about. Boomerang is a power catamaran that stops at four locations throughout the day: Creole Rock, Pinel, Tintamarre, and Long Bay. To get to all those places in the seven-hour time span requires speed, some of it quite bumpy. The boat is laid out so that all of the “outside” seating is in the sun. The covered seating is enclosed on three sides so there is no breeze when you need to get out of the sun. Lunch was a pasta salad, grilled shrimp and chicken skewers, and garlic bread. They dish the food up for you and serve you in a bowl; not gourmet but filling and perfectly acceptable. Drinks flowed freely all day from the open bar, with an emphasis on Captain Morgan’s rum. I am glad to have had a new experience, but this is one I won’t repeat. I appreciated all the water time: two of the stops were a full hour. I just didn’t enjoy the getting there. For me personally, I much prefer smooth, calm sailing with fewer stops as a result.



Enigma/Celine 3

And so three days after Boomerang, I sailed on Enigma. What a joy, and what a difference! A party of eleven was a no show, but there were still about ten of us. I was feeling a little under the weather but not yet realizing why and was relaxing on the top deck. At some point, I heard a lot of F bombs. Neil had been doing something in the engine room and sliced off the top of his finger. Crew took him in the dinghy to Friar’s Bay where a friend picked him up to take him to the hospital. We didn’t see him again until the end of the day, when he operated the dinghy to take us back to shore. (His finger had been taken care of, and he will be fine.) The two crew handled everything seamlessly, and lunch was, as usual, delicious. By mid-afternoon, I was beginning to fear I might have Covid so did my best to stay away from everyone. I sincerely hope I didn’t infect anyone on board. Perhaps I will do another sail toward the end of my trip, when Covid is clearly in my rear-view mirror.





FOOD

The Palms – When staying at Horny Toad, it is becoming a tradition to dine at The Palms on my first night. I had the creamy mushroom chicken entrée. The sauce was delicious, but the chicken was not successful, and I let Joelle know. Back to the Horny Toad, where I crashed.

Bar Code – On my first full day I took a drive around the island to see what might have changed. I stopped at Porto Cupecoy, hoping to have dinner at Cambuci, but it wasn’t yet open for the evening. So I headed to the tried-and-true Bar Code, where I had their tuna tartare with housemade fries. Always delicious.



Yacht Club – It was convenient to have dinner at the Yacht Club after a day on Boomerang. I wasn’t very hungry as lunch on the boat was pretty filling. I ordered a Caesar salad with shrimp; the shrimp were good but the croutons were from a box. Not picture-worthy.

Buccaneer Beach Bar – Friends wanted to partake of the all-you-can-eat ribs and chicken, which occurs on Mondays and Tuesdays. I hadn’t had it before so went along. The food was not picture-worthy, but the sunset was.



Vesna’s Taverna – I was invited to join some locals who were celebrating Vesna’s first day back on the island. This will be heresy, but I honestly don’t understand the appeal of this place. I had shrimp pasta. Good, most definitely; memorable? Not to me.

MISCELLANEOUS

Since I’m not doing the day-by-day reporting that some of you dislike, here are some random photos.

Looks like a race.



Another night view from Horny Toad.



A morning view from my deck.



A walk along the beach.



Another Jimmy Sheik mural along Simpson Bay.



Horny Toad doesn’t have a swimming pool so friends invited me for a pool day at La Terasse, where they are staying. The grounds are beautiful.



I think this is the inkeepers’ cat, who seems to have adopted me.



I drove by Sol e Luna. Their signs were still on the door, but the gate was closed and locked. A local well versed in the island dining scene confirmed that Villa Hibiscus has purchased the Sol e Luna location.


CDC says that with symptoms, quarantine can end five days from first full day of symptoms. That means on Monday I can be out and about, with a mask on. With any luck, future reports will be more exciting.

As always, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you, Linda, for your effort and your honesty. There have been a few times when I’ve gone against the grain with regard to some of our island experiences at popular locations and have taken serious heat for it so I commend you for your honesty. Not everyone has the same tastes and that’s okay.

Good to know your symptoms are not debilitating and you are seemingly well on the road to recovery. Enjoy the rest of your stay. I along with everyone else, will eagerly await your next installment.

Linda--thanks so much for the report. Sincerely hope you are on the road to recovery.

We always enjoy your reports. You always do so many interesting things. Makes me feel guilty. I’ll try Hertz next time. I like the fact that they tell you they cover the liability insurance.

Nice to see the Horny Toad again. Too bad Deb and Doug aren’t around. They always come up with some great stories during happy hour. Or any hour for that matter. At least you have Betsy. She is one great cat who seemed to never leave us. As soon as we came home at night, she’d be right at our door. Was it us or the bags of treats we had for her? Great pictures. You can’t beat the Toad for night time views! Enjoy your stay.

Always, always enjoy your reports and photos, thank you. Capt. Neil's trips are always the best, glad he's ok...and hope you're back to feeling better soon. Your trip reports always make me feel like a sloth..looking forward to your further reporting!😎

Good you are feeling better. Yes Hertz doesn't meet you at the door but I always have a porter cart my luggage the short way to the van as we always have a massive amount of luggage. As far as using the Alaska Lounge with a FC American ticket the Seattle Alaska lounge didn't want to honor it for us. I had to go to great lengths and talk to a supervisor to get clearance. I was told that they no longer allowed it but after they looked deeper into their guidelines they allowed us to enter but still saying it was an exception. Lot different from last year when it was no questions asked.

Hope you are not feeling too badly, myDr got me on the antivirals quickly. Felt better by day 5, still ask for the next 5 days…
It seems we will all get it,but vaccinated and boosted its minimized in impact.
Ann

Surfer Mike - Betsy slept with me last night. Her choice. I think she misses Debby and Doug.

Scubaman - It wasn't an exception. The supervisor who approved it showed the counter clerk that it was listed, albeit way at the bottom of whatever list they were looking at.

Good to know. Seattle needs to get the left hand on the same page as the right along with the rest of the Alaska Airlines lounge staffs if you needed to have a supervisor approve yours too at PDX.

So glad to read your report Linda. Monday will come around before you know it. I hope you are up to getting back to your vacation sooner than later. All the best.

Happy to hear you are feeling better and love the way you lay out your reports. The pictures are great especially the first one, a night shot of Pelican Key from The Horny Toad.
I think I would frame that one.

Always the most beautiful photos
and an interesting report.

Thanks--
-hope you are feeling much better now!!

Thanks for the report and pictures. You do get a lot done. Hope you are felling better.

A lovely report as always, Linda. Hope you are fully recovered soon.

Gorgeous photos! You have been very active despite your diagnosis. If you have to have a mild case of Covid and quarantine, I can't think of a better place.

Oh, I have NOT been active since testing positive, believe me. Being a good girl and quarantining for five days, per CDC recommendations. Thankfully, that will end tomorrow.

Great report and beautiful pictures Linda.

It’s almost Monday!!!

I would love to know who doesn’t like daily reports...

Thanks once again for such a great report. First and foremost, I do hope you get this Covid nuisance behind you real soon, so you can enjoy the rest of your vacation. At least you picked a great place to get ''quarantined'' for a few days. Your excursions sound like a lot of fun. I haven't been on one for many years now, and every year say we are going to do at least one, but.....that damn sand gravity kicks in, and it hasn't happened. As for Vesna Taverna, i am glad i and my wife are not the only ones that weren't impressed. I love that type of food, but was VERY disappointed when we were there two years ago. Too many other restaurants that we have always loved on the island, so not planning on taking a chance in the future to ''retry'' it. Have a good rest of your vacation, and hope the rest of it turns out better than expected. Keep those reports coming.

Be Well Traveler