TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Trip Report, June 14 -21; Week 2, Part B

Wednesday, June 18

Hump day of hump week. I headed to Jean-Pierre Straub’s gallery/studio to pay for the piece I selected last week (and regretfully forgot to take a picture). Originally I thought I wanted him to reframe it in the same color as my other two pieces so they could be displayed as a trio. But the color of frame he picked really went with the colors in the piece so I decided to leave it as he had put it together. If what I understood from his broken English was correct, he does accept Visa but another artist who was having a showing in Guadalupe borrowed his machine. I was pretty sure I remembered his telling me last year that he does take Visa but charges an additional percentage for doing so; last year the machine was broken. At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with this interesting, gentle man. Formerly his online presence was limited to a site showing many of the artists of SXM: http://www.artlovers-sxm.com/. However, he now has his own website: www.artjpstraub.com. It’s in French and translating to English is painful on Divi’s wifi so I will explore this site further when I get back home. However, it does have several samples of his work if you are interested.

I then went to Marigot market and picked up a couple of items. Then on to Dreams to pick up one of their throws which, when I return home, I will send to someone who has a purple throw to send to me as Dreams was out of purple. The power of the Internet!

I planned to return to Divi for the afternoon but in passing Porto Cupecoy realized I hadn’t yet been to Aux Quatre Vents this trip. I was their only lunch customer while I was there but had a delicious salmon, grapefruit, and avocado salad.



All the help and workers at the mall were huddled around TVs for a World Cup game. Back to Divi for awhile. Then it was time to head to Ocean Club for their ribs night. DonLinda had reserved a table for the group, and Linda put together this lovely centerpiece.



DonLinda were exceptionally gracious hosts, and it was a very nice evening. Back to Divi to do what I could to treat an oncoming sore throat; no doubt, it’s the product of too much air conditioning on bare shoulders.

Dark clouds were threatening rain all day long; fortunately, it never materialized.

Thursday, June 19

Vacation is half over and I haven’t yet visited my favorite island beach so it was off to Anse Marcel. What a disappointment all around! My favorite beach bar, Leroy’s Kfe’, was closed. The pool at Lonvilliers was empty, not that I intended to use it. Also closed for remodeling were the beautiful rest rooms, and the shop was empty with no inventory. There was a little food shack beyond Leroy’s Kfe’ that was selling food and renting chairs, but it started sprinkling. I found cover to wait it out, then went down to the other end in front of what was the Radisson and found a chair with umbrella. No one came to collect for the rental; perhaps they knew that my optimism it wouldn’t rain was misplaced. It was pretty windy, but the water was its usual easy access. Eventually the skies opened up. I took shelter under my umbrella for as long as I could, but it was clear it wouldn’t be letting up any time soon so I made my way off the beach up to a covered picnic table and took further shelter. I was glad I had packed my umbrella in my beach bag. The only foot apparel I had with me was Fit Flops, on which I would have slid around. So I started making my way back to my car barefoot with my umbrella; probably not the best remedy for a sore throat. I was totally drenched by the time I arrived at my car, made it safely down the hill, and returned to Divi. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was back in Oregon.



To top it all off, I left my lavender noodle at the beach! I felt better after a hot shower but decided staying in was the best for what now appears to be a full-blown head cold. From our decks, I had a nice chat with my next-door neighbor who is working here for two months performing an “integrity assessment” of the SXM government. I was fascinated at the concept and believe she said she was contracted by Transparency International http://www.transparency.org/. It would be interesting to know who hired them and what the outcome of her assessment will be. With the wind, rain, and her accent, it was difficult to understand some of what she said.

Friday, June 20

The morning was spent on my deck looking at the black clouds and feeling sorry for myself having a cold on vacation. Eventually I headed to Orient; just as soon as I made the turnoff, there were raindrops on my windshield. The sprinkling was intermittent so I found a chair that had already been paid for by someone who left. But pretty soon it started raining heavily so up to the Perch we went. After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped so we went back to our chairs. There were still dark clouds so I started packing up to leave. Then the sun came out in all its glory; I had about an hour of sunning before the clouds returned. I decided to leave, and the rain did start as soon as I returned to my car. At least I wasn’t sopping wet this time and did get a little bit of sun!

I hadn’t had lunch so headed to Calmos Café, where France was playing in the World Cup. I swear the roof lifted when France scored three points in fairly close succession! On the way back to Divi, I stopped by the ColeBay Grand Marche to replenish my cat food supply and breakfast items.

Back to Divi to get cleaned up and think about dinner. It’s so close and so good . . . back to Fusion. I was thanked for my Trip Advisor review by the lovely waitress and for my TTOL report by Mickey (? – I think he may be the owner’s brother – will have to find out). I started with tuna tartar which was beautifully presented: tuna topped by guacamole and mango.



Simply yummy. My entrée of grouper fillet was also excellent. Such an underrated place.


Saturday, June 21

I like hanging around Divi on Saturdays as lots of guests are leaving and it’s quieter so spent time at the Infinity Pool. At some point I got fed up with having to blow my nose every 10 minutes and decided drugs were in order. Who knew pharmacies in SXM close early on Saturday? Had some lunch at Johnny B’s in the fish market, then back to Divi for some overpriced Alka Seltzer cold medicine from Shipwreck Shop.

Decided to join a group at Daniel’s by the Sea for Jean’s last night on island. It’s really a beautiful setting at night with the sound of the sea crashing nearby. I had a veal special, which was okay.

Sunday, June 22

Determined to do something different today, I started out with breakfast at Chesterfield’s; what it lacked in quality it made up for in quantity. But it’s a nice setting overlooking the Bay.

Then my main mission for the day: the St. Maarten Zoo. I encourage those of you who haven’t been to go . . . and donate! They are operating on a shoestring and need the funds. I spent an enjoyable couple of hours there and took a lot of pictures. Here are a few.







This guy was really aggressive and nipped at my heels a couple of times wanting me to give him some of the animal crackers you are allowed to feed most animals.







I really enjoyed these goats – they loved the animal crackers and took them right out of my fingers.

Back to Divi for Alka Seltzer and sunning on Little Bay Beach. It was a sunny, warm afternoon on the beach.

I got cleaned up for dinner and decided to try The Delight, a wine and tapas bar in the Atlantis complex. I’ve driven by it many times and always wondered what it was like. I wasn’t very adventurous in my tapas choices and thought the chicken on the skewer was tough. The coconut shrimp were fine. By the time you order 2-3 tapas, you might as well spring for an entrée as it likely would be less money. The service was good, and no 15% was added.

Five full days on the island left . . . .