Trip Report: Saturday 10/11- Friday 10/17
We traveled with our close friends, who we have traveled with often: Mexico-09, SXM -11, and Jamaica -12.
We traveled out of Boston on Jet Blue @ 12:15 on a non-stop flight to SXM to arrive at 4:15, flight was on time but diverted for weather, arrived at 5:00 otherwise uneventful. Luggage arrived and we were quickly through immigration and on to Dollar Rental Car where our property management/villa escort met us. Dollar was uneventful, but I want to note that there was a couple in the office who had an $850 damage deposit put on their credit card, that actually hit their debit card/account – so they had $850 tied up in a damage deposit I think they were hoping to spend on other things.
We were escorted to the Villa we rented in Dawn Beach, beautiful spot out behind the Westin with wonderful views of St. Barths and Oyster Pond. Dinner was pizza from Mama’s – very good after a long day of travel!! We prefer to cook in and hang out mornings and evenings at the villa, so generally don’t have a lot to report on food. Sunday AM was breakfast at the house, followed by a day trip to Orient Beach. We got our chairs, spent some quality time in the sun and headed over to Pedro’s for a late lunch. We had a great lunch of fish sandwiches and salads. At this point you could not walk Orient Beach; the ocean was up to the beach bars, lapping at their “foundations.” That would soon change. Sunday dinner was at Big Fish in Oyster Pond – very good as it has been in the past. Very quiet, more diners seemed to roll in around 8:00 PM as we were in mid-meal, but quiet.
Monday AM property management popped in to see us and warned of us the approaching tropical storm. They mentioned the larger “whole-house” generator was broken, but there was a smaller generator to operate the hurricane blinds. They advised us to hit the market and hunker down for the day. We hit Grand Marche and they had signs up “closing at noon” for storm and it was advised everyone should be off the roads by 4:00.
We were back to the house around 2:00 for lunch with what would become hurricane supplies. Power went out for good around 4:00, the wind was gusting, beating against the house, before power went out we lowered the hurricane shutters low enough, so we could still slide out on our bellies – which we did to observe storm, clean out drains, to keep some water out of the house. We actually enjoyed the time, playing cards and other games, tried to cook on grill which was impossible, but luckily we had a gas ranges that sufficed. In the end, the living room flooded, there were branches in the pool, pergola tipped over onto roof, and lots of broken glass and lattice from gardens, no power or water on Tuesday post storm. Property management did come by to see us; we were using the small generator to keep the refrigerator running after opening hurricane blinds to get sun/air into the flooded house. I will give property management props, they told us there was nothing they could do for us, in regards to cleaning up or moving us, but they did hunt down gas for us to keep the generator running. Around mid-day, which turned out to be a beautiful hot/humid day we opted to move to the Westin who had water and power.
The key word was “had” in regards to the Westin having water and power. They had power, but no water. Prior to moving we cooked a big dinner at the villa, ate and drank what we could and left the rest. We moved over the Westin permanently around dinner time, no water – promised by 5:00. We changed up and went to Mr. Busby’s for drinks and finished with drinks and some good fortune in the casino at the Westin. I checked with the front desk around 6:30 AM the next morning in regards to water and they said “soon” and they were truthful, water was back on around 7:00 AM and it stayed on. I heard at other resorts it was off and on as well depending on back up supplies.
I have to give the Westin credit due; they really handled the storm and clean up very well. I thought their customer service was outstanding. They sympathized with our situation, gave us ocean front rooms at rack rates, but overall they just handled the situation well, everyone was focused on the guests and insuring their comfort. The really worked hard to get the water on, to get multiple feet of water out of the parking garage, to the get the pool filled with debris open w/in 24 hours of the storm.
The remainder of our stay was uneventful, back to Orient on Wednesday, water was brown and smelly, beach and restaurants took a beating as many of you have seen in pictures. You could now walk the entire length of the beach to Mt. Vernon. There was a lot of debris, boats on the beach, lots of power lines down on the trip over from Dawn beach. The cleanup was beginning. The water and conditions led us to spend the next day at the Westin beach on Thurs. Water was rough but fairly clear and clean.
Dinner Wednesday night was at Canoa – rather forgetful. Beautiful atmosphere, food was OK – steak was very fatty, seasoned fish was bland, drinks were not good, and service was terrible – we would not go back. I almost forgot breakfast (Weds –Fri) was in the Ocean restaurant at the Westin – very good selection at buffet, fresh fruit, omelets, lots of breads, salmon, etc. A little pricey at $21/each, but I got my money’s worth!!
Dinner Thursday evening was at Charter House 1863 in Simpson Bay. This was really the first time we ventured out very far post storm. We started in Philipsburg for some shopping early evening, but with no cruise ships in port, everything was closed, so we ventured further over to Simpson Bay. Charter House had been recommended by a co-worker and we were lucky to see it, not being overly familiar with the area - it's a bit tuck away. Dinner was fantastic from apps to dessert. Steak was phenomenal. Service was very good.
Friday was departure day. We spent a few hours on the Westin beach and headed to the airport at 11:00. Car was due back at 12:00, flight was at 4:00 PM - there were no lines in the airport, we probably should have taken a cab to Sunset Beach Bar after we checked our bags, but we stayed at the airport and had a really wonderful lunch and drinks in the terminal. Our 4:00 PM flight to Puerto Rico was on time, our flight to Boston was not so fortunate. We had a 6:44 flight to Boston that departed around 9:15 as the plane was hung up in security and customs. We eventually made it to Boston at 1:00 AM, home to New Hampshire at 2:30 AM. There was a lot of waiting around on this day home. In the future I will plan non-stop flights to and from.
All in all, fun trip we missed some beach days with the storm, we had hoped to dine in Grand Case and we had hoped to do some sort of cruise, but there will “have” to be more trips back and we’ll hopefully get those things in. I wish a speedy recovery to all the residents and merchants.
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