This is our trip report from our trip from September 18 to 25, 2004, to St. Maarten. As always, a great trip. How come we can't live there??? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
TRANSPORTATION --down and back midst hurricanes galore!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" />
This was a somewhat unusual trip for us, in that I had booked a frequent flyer trip on Delta and Eric booked a frequent flyer trip on American. Our original differing schedules were due to leave Washington's National Airport within a half hour of each other, arrive in SXM within a half hour, leave SXM within a few minutes of each other and arrive back home at National within a half hour. Overall, there were no huge catastrophes, despite the presence of hurricanes here, there and everywhere. My Delta flight through Atlanta was 45 minutes late leaving Atlanta because the pilot did not have his passport (Uhmn, OK, I know that Delta only flies to SXM once a week, but this is ridiculous!!!), so we got free headsets. The meal was actually edible----chicken caesar salad, fruit and cheese. Eric's flight on AA was through Miami and because both of his flights were under 3 hours, there was no food on his flight. His flight arrived before mine because of our 'pilot passport'; snafu, and he had our car retrieved from Marius and was waiting for the delivery of the cell phone from Sharon Harris, all before I landed. I blew through immigration in about 5 minutes (with no checked bags) and once the cell phone arrived, we were on our way.
The return flights were rather more problematical, in light of hurricane activity. Jeanne (or somebody--who knows, with all those *!(#@&!@ hurricanes!!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" />) was running around the Caribbean, along with a bunch of other storms all week. We vaguely knew about them, as we asked ocbill several times what was happening as we sat at the bar at the Ocean Club. (Notice we didn't really go out of our way to check out the storms, we just went to the bar to find Bill and check out what was happening... I didn't touch a computer all week.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />)
We went early Saturday morning to check in at the airport, around 10, as that's when the Delta counter opens (AA counter is open EARLY....) As Eric checked in, he found that his AA flight to Miami had been cancelled, but they re-booked him on the AA flight through JFK and then down to Washington National. That flight left 2 hours earlier than his original flight and got him into DC 2 hours earlier. He made his connections without any problems. My flights were more problematical. As all kinds of air traffic was being re-routed due to Hurricane Jeanne, our flight plan required a long deviation and we needed extra fuel. As the captain explained it, we were just getting ready to upload more fuel when the KLM 747 landed, which had priority, so we had to wait for them to refuel. 50 minutes late, we finally took off and took the scenic route over the Caribbean, traveling all the way WEST from SXM over GRAND CAYMAN. Originally, we were going to be two hours late coming into Hotlanta, as the Cuban authorities had denied permission to overfly Cuba, but we did receive permission and were only an hour and half late arriving in Atlanta. We did get free headphones again and there were two full movies shown. (I would have rather had free liquor though.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />) Although, truth be told, I snuck the remainder of my bottle of Bacardi onboard the flight, so I managed pretty well anyway. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Devil.gif" alt="" /> Still, I had missed my connection back into DC. They were able to book me on a flight back into Washington Dulles leaving almost immediately. I called Eric from Atlanta with the revised airport arrival and thus arrived home only an hour late, much better than could have happened!! Overall, as I said, it could have been MUCH worse!!
CELL PHONE RENTAL THROUGH SHARON HARRIS --
By the way, check out Sharon Harris' deal for cell phones. You can pick up and deliver the phone back to the Royal Palm. The cost is $30 for the week, including $20 worth of calls, which are billed at around $.50 per minute, to the French or Dutch side, or the US. There is no charge for incoming calls. You get your number before you leave home, in case someone wants to call you. Check her out at
queenofsxm2000@yahoo.com ! !
CAR RENTAL --
This time we rented through Marius, at St. Louis Car Rental. No problems, he met Eric at the airport and took him to pick up the car before I arrived. We had a nice, larger GREY sedan, which was in excellent shape and gave us no problems, at a very reasonable price.
LODGING --
This time we booked the Ocean Club, with the assistance of Bill Edwards (ocbill here on TTOL) We had never stayed there before, although we had visited there several times before. The Ocean Club has several different types of accommodations and things are really different depending on the type of room you have. They have the Towers, which is the oldest section of the resort, with several different types of rooms there, then the pool side villas and the oceanside villas. If you stay at Ocean Club, just be very specific what type of room you have, as they vary widely. Our particular room was huge, with effectively TWO living rooms, two TVs, full kitchen, bath and a half, and room to sleep 6, with one bedroom and 2 sleeper sofas in the two living rooms. And, in one fo those "really small world" kind of moments, we found out that our room was the one that LeeLee has a timeshare in at OceanClub. What are the odds on that?? What wasn't great about it was that we had NO balcony at all, and thus we couldn't get outside from the room, and we had no view of the ocean, although we did have a nice view of the Lagoon. Some of the rooms in the Tower do have an ocean view, as I saw on the last day, as the maid was cleaning the room across the hall. In the pool side villas, I believe almost none of them have an ocean view, but they do have a nice view of the pool and they all have a balcony or patio. The oceanside villas are FANTASTIC. Check out
http://www.stmaartenvilla.com for pictures of those units, which are directly above Cupecoy beach...
The pool area is really nice, with a walk-in entrance to the pool, and a couple of sections to sit in the water to chill out. There are nice chairs and small tables there---a great place to hang out. Also check out Bert and Jill at the
Oasis Bar and Grill . They have GREAT food and drink there and it almost seemed if you wanted something and it wasn't on the menu, just ask, as I asked for some appetizers one day that weren't on the menu and they rustled some right up!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
WEATHER The weather was HOT all week, but we had NO rain and virtually no clouds, other than the white puffy kind, all week. Usually, we had a reasonable light wind, although some days we could have wished for a bit more wind. But, with hurricanes running around everywhere throughout the Caribbean, our weather was outstanding!
ORIENT BEACH STUFF We spent most of our days on Orient. Club O beach was reasonably busy but the rest of the beach was fairly empty except a couple of days when there were 3 or so ships in. The sand was nice and wide pretty much along Club O beach, but came and went a little during the week. On Tuesday/Wednesday about five feet of sand went away, but it was all back by Friday. By Friday, one could walk in front of Pedro's virtually on dry sand, and there was once again room for two rows of chairs in front of Baywatch. The Perch was open every day I believe, and Wilie was there every day except one and the Happy Hour again a huge success. And, praise be!! Bathrooms at the Perch again! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> There are no showers or place to wash your hands, unfortunately, but the bathrooms are an answer to THIS maiden's prayer, anyway!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
ALL RIGHT, TRIP REPORT!!!!! After picking up the car and cell phone, we headed to Lido to pick up a few liquid and food supplies and then on to the Ocean Club. We checked in and settled in, and I sent Eric down to find some ice for the room. We found out later that there is an ice machine in the garage of the Towers, but I had originally sent him down to Oasis Bar and Grill. When he didn't return in about 45 minutes, I determined a) that I was getting very thirsty and b) that he must have found someone to talk to and I therefore set out in search of him........... I discovered him at the bar with Jack and Mere, from Offshoresunsensations, along with Bert from the Oasis. I proceeded to try to catch up with his alcohol consumption. At some point, we decided dinner would be better consumed there at Oasis and we ordered a couple of appetizers, followed by Bert's world famous (semi, anyway!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />) philly cheesesteak and we trundled off to bed around 9 PM, suffering the after effects of the proverbial early start at 3:30 A.M. that morning..
SUNDAY----
I was up early Sunday at 7:15, I guess because we went to bed so early, but Eric wasn't up till 9. I helped myself to some cheese and grapes for breakfast and when the sleepyhead woke up, we headed out to Orient. The Perch was open, but Willie was off, and Baywatch not open. I sent Eric down to
Pedro's for carry-out and we had to 'make do' ; with chicken and ribs for lunch. As always, the ribs and chicken were great, although somewhat overpriced these days. Today was a great day on the beach, with a light breeze and wonderful sunshine. We met up with Contessa, LeeLee and Lil' Contessa on the beach and caught up with the news. After a hard day at the beach, we headed by US Import/Export and loaded up on our stock of Ma Dou Dou rum so we wouldn't have to do it later.
Dinner was at
Peg Leg Pub . Jack there is a bad influence on us, as we enjoyed some great steaks, but way too much merlot, and some wonderful talk as always with Jack. We toddled off to Atlantis and lost more money than was prudent, then went home with our tails between our legs...<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
MONDAY Monday dawned sunny and clear, as all days did this week, but I was feeling puckish due to our festivities with Jack from the previous night. Therefore, I made the executive decision to hang around the pool and do NOTHING while Eric met with a couple of advertisers in the thoroughly torn up down-town P'burg. I eventually got tired of waiting for him to appear for lunch and ordered a chicken breast salad from the Oasis (a HUGE salad for $10, great deal!!), and Eric showed up and ordered a chicken sandwich. We hung around the pool for a couple more hours, and then headed out to the Pub Crawl!
PUB CRAWL ON CELINE! Monday evening we headed out to Turtle Pier for the TTOL Celine Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl is $55 per person and includes appetizers at three different restaurants, one drink at each restaurant and all drinks on the boat. Thanks to daiquirigoddess and Sherrie for arranging the pub crawl ahead of time. We had about 10 follks on the pub crawl, including daiquirigoddess and Sherrie and their husbands, Todd and his wife MJ, and I'm sorry, a couple of other folks that I forgot their names, along with Neil and his son. Neil is a great story teller and regaled us all with tales of his fun times on the Celine...We headed first to Lal's, where we had HOT, HOT, HOT! Appetizers, then on to Peg Leg Pub, where we met up with Shawn, who treated our TTOL members famously, as always! We enjoyed fabulous filet mignon and swordfish cubes, along with garlic bread. Then it was back to Turtle Pier for ribs and chicken wings. There was lots of food left over at Turtle Pier, as everyone had enough to fill them up over the course of the evening. We had a lovely time, enjoying the food, companionship and a night cruise on the lagoon. Contessa and LeeLee met us at Turtle Pier and we partied on into the night there, keeping the employees up later than they would have wished!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> Thanks, guys, for not throwing us out!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
TUESDAY Tuesday morning we enjoyed coffee and a croque monsieur (sp????) in the room for breakfast and headed out to Orient. Again, the weather was lovely, although HOT, and we spent a lot of time in the water. For lunch, we headed down to
Baywatch and met several TTOL members there, enjoying Andy's famous food. As is our custom, I HAD to have the meatball platter, Eric the chicken parmesan platter, at least once. It was fabulous, as always. We enjoyed talking with Cheryl and Adrian, but also missed seeing Andy and Ross (who was off for the month of September...)
After a hard day at the beach, we showered up and headed out to dinner. We had never been to
Mario's Bistro , primarily because we do not DO reservations in SXM. We have never made a reservation in SXM and don't intend to start now. Truth be told, we normally travel to SXM in off season but even if we go in high season, we don't wait for a table in SXM and we don't make reservations and we haven't gone hungry yet <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />...... We were headed through Sandy Ground, actually headed toward Grand Case for dinner, when we saw that Mario's was open, so we said "what the hey? Might as well see if we can get in.." We walked up at 7 PM with no reservation. I spoke to the hostess and said we didn't have a reservation, but what the hey, it's September!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> We got a table right by the water.... We shared a WONDERFUL (HUGE) melted goat cheese salad, Eric had a FABULOUS scallop dish, I had an acceptable chicken entre, and we shared a lovely melted chocolate cake. Afterward, we headed to the Tropicana, neither winning nor losing much, and then to the Pelican. The Pelican gambling was similarly uninspiring except for the concept that Domino's delivers to the Pelican, did you know that????? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thinks.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Unfortunately, they DON'T deliver a PERSONAL pan pizza, so I had to go pick it up myself........ It was great, though... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> I ate it sitting watching Eric play blackjack...
WEDNESDAY --
On Wednesday, we headed to Neil's;s new place,
Sint Martin Yacht Club , for breakfast. I had a ham and cheese omelette, Eric a western omelette. The food was great, service good, and the location interesting. SMYC is RIGHT next to the bridge in Simpson Bay. It's a two story building that looks like it used to be the toll collecting station for the bridge. Neil has big plans for the Club, including expanding the deck toward the bridge, new awnings, happy hours, and a web cam with views of the bridge! BTW, regarding having to be a member of the yacht club, Neil says that first time visitors are always welcome. So long as you don't make a nuisance out of yourself, at this point it looks like tourists are welcome...
After SMYC, we went by LaVista and tried to meet up with Andrea, but had to leave her a note. From there it was off to Orient. Still full from breakfast, we didn't worry about lunch and enjoyed a great day on the beach. Late in the afternoon, we met Betty (Ross from Baywatch's wife) and toured her brother's new rental property in Grand Case. They will be an advertiser here on TTOL soon. After, we headed to Contessa and Lee Lee's place at LaVista Beach for drinks and appetizers at sunset and then dinner at her place, along with a couple dozen or so of her closest friends.. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Thanks for the meal! Afterwards, it was off to the Pelican where we won a little for the night...
THURSDAY This morning was to be a business one, as we met a couple of potential advertisers, then found ourselves in Grand Case around lunchtime, so we headed to Restaurant du Soleil for lunch (one of the only places open, but still a very nice choice!). Eric had the creole fish platter and I had the chicken in cream sauce, both of which were lovely. After the meal, we talked to Cedric, who has recently purchased the restaurant. He said that they were going to be expanding their deck by quite a bit and converting their cuisine to more strictly French, so look for them to be making a bigger splash in Grand Case soon!
After lunch we headed back to Ocean Club and hung out at the pool and bar and did our laundry, which was a switch for us, as we don't normally do that. It was VERY nice to get home with clean clothes, though!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> Ocean Club has free washers and dryers on each level of the towers and one only needs to provide their own detergent. Cool!
For dinner, we decided to check out someplace new,
Halsey's , which is in Simpson Bay, right by the Lady C. We shared a great spinach and artichoke appetizer and a nice bottle of merlot. Eric had some type of fish and I had a very decent steak for a reasonable $20. Please check it out, as our meal there was among the best we had and the location is very nice. The owners there definitely knew about TTOL and we suspect they will sign up here soon.
FRIDAY Friday morning we checked out a new condo coming on the market for rent in Simpson Bay, then headed to Orient for a long last day on the beach. We arrived at 10 A.M., and were very distressed to see that the Perch wasn't open! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> Willie showed up in a few minutes and all was right with the world!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> We spent a long, lovely, although HOT day on the beach. We headed down to Baywatch for lunch, along with daiquirigoddess, Sherri, Contessa, LeeLee and Lil Contessa. Sorry, I don't remember what we had for lunch, as we did about as much yakking as eating! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> There were three ships in port and there were LOTS of people on the beach. Cheryl said that day was the biggest day she had had in a month. The beach had receded on Tuesday but by Friday, was back in full force, with room for two full rows of chairs in front of Baywatch and room to virtually walk on dry sand in front of Pedro's. After lunch we headed back to our chairs and I took a nap -- until those spoilsports, the chair guys, came and took away my umbrella at 4:45 and woke me up. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Umbrella.gif" alt="" /> What nerve they had!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
.
Friday evening we weren't real hungry, so we opted for
Hot Tomatoes for dinner. We enjoyed some really, REALLY HOT jalapeno poppers and split a pizza, which was just about right for dinner. We enjoyed a few minutes chat with Brad and his wife Tekki. From there we went by the Yacht Club for a drink and to see Neil and then to Atlantis, where we won a modest amount, a good end to the week in the casino.
SATURDAY Saturday morning we headed to
Turtle Pier for breakfast and enjoyed french toast and ham and eggs and bacon, while checking out the huge fish in the water there, saying hi to Al Wathey also, who owns Turtle Pier and The Royal Turtle. We went to check in at the airport (see transportation portion of report above), then back to the hotel to pack. By that time it was basically time to take Eric back to the airport. As we went by the field, we saw that there were NO AA planes in, so we left to go to Sunset Beach Bar to wait till Eric's plane landed. Just as we were walking up, we saw a plane landing, so I whipped my camera out and caught a picture of Eric's AA plane, then another AA plane that landed just after. After a quick couple of drinks, I took Eric back to the airport, then went back to the hotel to check out and managed to get back to Sunset before his plane took off. I got a picture of his plane taking off, the US Air landing, and my Delta plane landing. A veritable picture gallery!!! I was able to gobble down one fo those GREAT steak sandwiches from SSBB between picture taking. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Oink.gif" alt="" /> It was then back to the airport to meet Marius and turn in the car. Strangely enough, those folks at Delta apparently don't know that you always take off over the mountain in SXM, and we took off right over SSBB! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
CONCLUSION -- I thought that it would be a chore to stay in Cupecoy area, as we spend all our time in Simpson Bay, Grand Case or Orient, but it was not a big deal at all. Of course, in high season, with lots of traffic, I suspect it would be a different story. Our eating habits were skewed this time by the fact that there were virtually no restaurants in Grand Case open. We have been to SXM in September several times before and never had there been almost no restaurants open in Grand Case. Still, we didn't go hungry and we were able to eat at Mario's Bistro for the first time, which was a great experience, along with visiting many of our favorites on the Dutch side. The traffic was non-existent, the weather hot, but no rain. Seven days in Paradise, what more could one want??? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
Carol & Eric
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