Another great visit to our wonderful island!
Saturday 1/28
Up at 3:30 am to make our Delta flight from BDL to Atlanta to SXM. No issues with flights (after several cancellations in the months preceding the trip and a last minute addition of two extra days!) With only carryons, we cleared immigration and were met immediately by the representative from AAA to go pick up our car around the corner. Checked into Airport Inn, changed clothes and were sitting at [color:"blue"]Buccaneer Beach Bar[/color] within one hour of touchdown! We’re getting pretty good at this! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />
[color:"red"]Rental Car[/color] – We have been using Alain Arnell and AAA for our past six visits. Recently, since we are hoping to be living on the island soon, we’ve been trying out different cars to give us an idea as to what we’re comfortable with. We have had the typical Corolla many times, and a 4X4. This time we decided on an Ignis, since Bill wanted to try something smaller on the narrow roads. We were very happy with the car and had no problems.
[color:"red"]Airport Inn[/color] – since we moved our arrival up by two days only two days before we left, we were scrambling for a place to stay. After many phone calls, we ended up at the Airport Inn. We opted for the one room that had no kitchen facilities – it was only two days. The room was clean and the bed comfortable. Hot water when you needed it and shower and bathroom facilities also very clean. Since it was quite breezy and the temperature comfortable, we decided to leave the window open and not use the AC. Big mistake. The noise in the area and in the hotel kept us awake a good part of the night. There were sirens, car and truck noise, a rooster that started about 3 in the morning and kept going every 5 minutes, dogs barking, people talking somewhere in the hotel etc etc etc. Never thought I’d see a place on SXM where the walls were made of paper. We could hear every conversation that went on in the office. A TV playing somewhere. And I believe we were the only guests! On night #2, we closed up and turned on the AC. It was better and we finally got some sleep. For a quick stay, I might do it again. With the windows closed. The staff was courteous and there was coffee and tea available in the am.
We basically spent the afternoon and evening at Buccaneer catching up with Neil, Wanda and Curtis. Took our collection of beer coasters to add to the collection on the wall. Had a great dinner – sliced steak for me and yellow fin tuna for Bill. Ahhhhhh…we were home! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
Sunday 1/29
Breakfast at [color:"red"]Café Atlantico[/color] with a baguette to go. Wonderful. Headed over to OB, but it was so windy you could see the sand blowing across the beach, and no umbrellas. So we headed to Cupecoy to see if there was any beach. Well, there wasn’t. But the wind was calmer here, so we grabbed a couple of chairs and umbrellas from Danny and set up on the rocks along with a dozen other couples. Pretty cozy. The surf was really crashing and we enjoyed our day watching the white water and getting splashed quite a bit. We also enjoyed a couple cold beers and some great ribs for lunch. It’s really a shame what has happened here and we’re not sure how much longer this little piece of paradise will be around. Very sad.
We had read about the new restaurant [color:"red"]Cajun Queen[/color] so thought we would give it a try as that is a cuisine we quite enjoy. Unfortunately, there’s no Cajun food. The owner is very nice and we had a lovely chat. But I think perhaps he has opened too soon. He was having trouble finding Cajun ingredients (wasn’t even quite sure what they were called) and didn’t have a chef that could cook Cajun. He was so nice, I didn’t want to walk out, and so we had a burger and a beer before leaving. The burger was average, but the bun had been recently microwaved to thaw and came from grocery store package. It’s a very nice place on the water and I sure hope he can keep himself afloat until he gets his act together, but it’s doubtful. We were the only ones in the place.
Later we went to visit our friends at [color:"red"]Peg Legs[/color] for a drink or two. Kat and Reeves were caught up in one of the illegal stings and have been deported. Kat to Germany and Reeves back to the states. Chris has moved to Arizona and is reported to be getting married to Rachel of Celine fame. The usual hugs and kisses from Shawn. Martin seemed to be running the bar. Something about it didn’t feel the same as in the past. Not quite sure what it was.
We also heard later in our stay that there was another roundup of over 100 illegals this week.
Monday 1/30
Checked out of Airport Inn, breakfast at Café Atlantico again, a stop at [color:"red"]Food Express[/color] in Maho for some groceries and ice, then drove to our home for the rest of our stay, [color:"red"]Les Balcons[/color] on Oyster Pond. Although this was our first visit to Les Balcons, we received a warm welcome from Carine and David who were most gracious throughout our stay. They allowed us to store our bags on their deck and took our valuables for safekeeping until we could check into our room later in the day.
Off to Club O Beach where we would spend every other day but one during our time on the island. It was quite windy again and there were no umbrellas out. I knew we would not be able to spend all day out in the sun, even though there was some cloud cover, as there was most days.
After an hour or so, we ran into a friend we had met on the Tiko Tiko two years ago and remained beach friends thru a couple of subsequent visits. It was great to see him again and we soon discovered he had been on the island for 6 weeks renovating a villa he and his wife bought after their last visit last year. He was very excited about it and we spent several hours swapping stories about purchasing on the island. We put on hats and covered up as best we could, made a couple of Perch happy hour runs, shared our lunch with our friend and then he graciously invited us back to his villa for a glass of wine or two. All I can say is WOW! What a wonderful place. They have bought Residence Casa Blanca #1, for those of you who know about Orient villas. It’s just above Green Cay with a million dollar view of Orient Bay. Three bedrooms, two full baths, full kitchen, living and dining. And everything is brand new. A secluded deck with swimming pool. Our friend and his wife spent many happy hours au natural on the deck. But the view – OH MY! He was just finishing up the renovations and left the island on Thursday and they will be renting it thru a management company. I have contact info and a couple of pictures if anyone is interested.
We headed back to [color:"red"]Les Balcons[/color] to check in. I must say, the pictures on the web site do not do it justice at all. What a lovely place! We were in bungalow #20, which was, luckily for us, at the top of the hill. It’s basically one big room, with the kitchen partitioned off by a half wall. It was very spacious and we never felt closed in. A king sized bed, flat screen TV (5 channels, English CNN and ESPN and a couple of French) with DVD player if you wanted to rent movies. The large closet included a safe and extra blanket etc. A small table for dining inside and a fully equipped kitchen, minus a dishwasher. A cooler for the beach was also provided. The bathroom was quite large with a big walk in shower that did NOT spill water all over the floor. The water pressure was good with plenty of hot water. And everything was spotlessly clean. No musty smells, the bed was comfortable and there was a large deck with padded loungers, a teak table and chairs and a gas grill. There were two big ceiling fans in the high ceiling and air conditioning. The view of Oyster Pond from the deck was beautiful. There is a small pool, but we’re not pool people so we didn’t use it. I’m sure it was pretty cold and we only saw a few people using the pool deck. Did not see any topless. We were concerned about all the steps we had heard about getting to the pool or the dock area, but it wasn’t bad at all and only took 2 – 3 minutes to make the trek. No hair dryer or beach towels. Bring your own. We really loved our stay here and would recommend it. There’s even a monkey living on the hill behind the property that came down to visit one afternoon. Really – I have a picture!
After all the talk about it, we had to try out [color:"red"]Tabba Khady[/color] for dinner. It’s walking distance, so we headed over after unpacking and a shower. The meal was as good as everyone said it would be. Our host, William, was gracious and attentive. The décor and the menu were eclectic and fun. While we really enjoyed ourselves, I have to admit the prices are a bit out of our budget. Two beers, 2 appetizers and 2 entrees were $75 plus tip. I know many of you wouldn’t blink an eye, but that’s pricy for us. I’m glad we went and had the experience and would recommend Tabba Khady for a lovely meal.
Tuesday 1/31
Breakfast on our balcony, a stop at [color:"red"]Bounty[/color] in Grand Case for meats and cheeses for lunches and a day at Club O Beach.
Our plan had been to finally get to Harmony Nights and we were really looking forward to it. But somehow I missed the part where you had to get there REALLY early. Needless to say, our arrival at about 7:30 pm was met by terrible traffic and no place to park. After almost an hour of this, we gave up and went to one of our all time favorites, [color:"red"]Yvette’s[/color] in Orleans. While we love the local Creole food here, the huge smiles and friendly faces of the staff just make it that more special. Had a great meal and a lovely talk with these wonderful folk. And all for only about $25!
Wednesday 2/1
Breakfast on our balcony and a day at Club O Beach. – This is a trend so I won’t repeat!!
After beach time we had an appointment to visit at Rainbow Beach Club where we are building our “retirement” home. All is going well there and for anyone interested, we can PM details. I have a couple of pictures I will post in a day or two.
Since we were “way over on the Dutch side”, we decided to stay for the evening. We spent happy hour with Chloe and Thierry at the [color:"red"]Kissing Fish[/color]. We love it here, and find some of the best company on the island sitting at the bar. Thierry is SO proud of his new pizza oven!
Dinner tonight was at [color:"red"]Skipjacks[/color] in Simpson Bay. Based on the reviews, we just had to give it a try. It was wonderful. The appetizer of mussels steamed in some kind of coconut milk tomato onion curry broth was one of the most delicious things we have ever eaten. They had to keep bringing more bread to the table so we could mop up all the sauce. We finally finished it off with spoons that we begged for! There was nothing left in that big bowl but shells. Our dinner of tuna nicoise (sp) for Bill and lobster pot pie for moi were equally excellent. But we sure struggled to finish after all the bread we ate! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Oink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Oink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Oink.gif" alt="" /> With 2 beers, price was about $50. That’s getting toward the top end of our meal budget, but we will sure add this to our “must do for a special night” list, next to Pineapple Pete’s and Halseys.
Thursday 2/2
After our “usual day”, we headed to the TTOL party at [color:"red"]Bikini Beach Bar[/color]. Mario and Surfergirl had a great showing for this event and we had a nice hour or so visiting with some old and new friends.
We headed back to Oyster Pond and had dinner at the Dingy Dock. Excellent ribs and a salad. $10! Our kind of meal! Happy hour is $1 beer and mix your own mixed drinks. They actually handed me a bottle of scotch and a can of soda and walked away!
Friday 2/3
Beach then Dinky Dock for dinner.
Saturday 2/4
Weather was a bit iffy, with showers and clouds, so we decided to travel around a bit. Drove to Philipsburg and wandered around Rima’s and got Bill a couple of shirts. Since we’ve been scoping out cars on the island, Bill had one in particular in mind. So we stopped by a car dealership and did a little window shopping. Was surprised at the affordability of cars!
We’ve always heard about [color:"red"]Grand Marche[/color] for groceries but could never find it, so that became our next quest. We found it all right – the traffic was horrible. Saturday on the island I guess. Spent the rest of the afternoon at [color:"blue"]Buccaneer Beach Bar[/color] with Wanda then headed back to Dinky Dock for dinner. Another great meal.
Sunday 2/5
Breakfast on our balcony and a day at Club O Beach. Today was [color:"red"]Baywatch[/color] for lunch day. Always a highlight of our trip. Managed to sit next to Carol and Eric at the bar and we had a very nice talk while we devoured our favorite lunches. Grouper sandwich for Bill, margarita shrimp for me.
Early evening we headed over to the Dutch side for our anti Super Bowl party. Neither of us cares for football, and we are so lucky that our favorite place doesn’t have a TV. There was a bigger crowd there this year, and we had another wonderful evening with Curtis. Dinner for me was the “Best Burger in the Caribbean” (I don’t care what anyone says) and Bill had his favorite, the yellow fin tuna again.
Monday 2/6
Coming home day. Finished off the leftovers for breakfast and packed our bags. Arranged for a late checkout and headed to the beach for a few last hours. The rain came in about 11:30 so we called it a day, showered and picked up our bags and said farewell to our hosts Carine and David.
As is our tradition, Bill takes me to Buccaneer BB on the way to the airport so I can get fortified for the trip home. It’s the only way he can get me on the plane. Our profile picture is of this very event last August.
Returned the car, checked in with no line at the Delta counter and thru security with only ½ hour to wait for boarding. Uneventful trip home – only ½ hour late arriving in Hartford. I really don’t like this Delta flight due to the long layover in Atlanta, like about 4 hours. We were hoping to get on the earlier flight from Atlanta and cleared customs and immigration with plenty of time to spare. But Delta cancelled the earlier flight. Oh well.
This was a different kind of trip for us, as we prefer to stay on the Dutch side so we’re not driving at night. I was a little concerned that we would be bored since we don’t do the “fine dining” kind of trip. Luckily, we found the Dingy Dock within walking distance of Les Balcons. We are early risers and early to bed most days. We prefer to eat early, 6ish, then just hang out and talk to people over a few adult beverages. Finding a place close to home where we can relax and Bill doesn’t have to worry about being a designated driver was just perfect for us.
Buccaneer Beach Bar was the busiest we have ever seen it. There always seemed to be a crowd no matter the time of day or night we were there. Neil has replaced the band that used to play on Sunday nights. The new one – The Part Time Professionals – were much better. Lots of dancing and singing. As of yesterday, they should be making pizzas. I saw the menu – I want a Pirate Pizza. Sorry we missed it.
We had a great time, and as usual, did absolutely nothing. Isn't that what vacations are all about? I'll post a few pics this weekend.
The only thing saving my sanity is that my countdown clock is reset – only 88 days 23h 34m 46s
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