This report is very long and pretty late. I’ve seen others who apologize for the length of their trip reports and I’ve never understood why. I always look forward to experiencing a trip to SXM vicariously. If it bores you, move on. Besides, Eric explained to me one day that writing a trip report is the price you pay for the knowledge gained from the TTOL collective. If that’s true, I owe you guys a lot more than this report.

This was our second trip to SXM. I started planning for this one (in my head at least) on the flight home in April.

One of the things that Sue and I often tell each other when we find a great place is “wouldn’t it be great to come back here with so-and-so?” Well, finding friends with time and money to do some of the things we’ve enjoyed can be tough, and many also have children to worry about (we’re empty-nesters). When I found very reasonable airfare from Raleigh through Charlotte I thought of our friends Chris and Marty, who live near Raleigh. It took them only a few moments of thought before they agreed to join us. We looked forward to showing them around.

Flights
We take USAirways non-stop from Charlotte, which is less than 1.5 hours from home. Undoubtedly more expensive than another airline or another airport, but non-stop is worth it to us. In this case Thursday to Thursday cost us 30k miles each. We met Chris and Marty in Charlotte and went over the list of things we wanted to do, knowing we’d never get to most of them. Flights in both directions were uneventful. I usually do online check-in and select emergency exit row seats. This worked for the flight down but when I tried to do it for the return flight (using the internet access at the DVD rental place in Orient Village) I found they don’t allow online check-in outside the US. I don’t know if this is new, but it didn’t cause a problem for us: on our day of departure we checked in around 11:30 AM for our 5 PM flight. There was no line and we got the seats we wanted. Security leaving SXM was quick and efficient. I love the new airport! Immigration arriving in SXM was very slow, though. Three lines, moving at a snail’s pace. Restrooms for arriving passengers are quite small, but after immigration there are larger ones.

Car Rental
I emailed several TTOL sponsors for rate quotes. Sandy Molloy suggested Panoramic and his rates were good so I reserved an Elantra. Upon arrival someone with my name on his clipboard met us at the door to the terminal and took us across the street. When he wondered aloud why the four of us had rented the smallest car he had, a Getz, I showed him my confirmation email and we realized he was with another company. This is an issue that has recently been discussed here. We went back across the street and found Mohamed and in a few minutes I was in his “office” signing the papers. He didn’t have an Elantra but offered us a Tucson until one was available. We elected to pay the difference and keep the small SUV. As a general rule I think it’s wise to rent the smallest vehicle that will accommodate your party, but the Tucson isn’t that much bigger than a Corolla and it worked fine for us. No problems with the car. We got gas twice at the station just north of Orient. We drove a total of 360 km and bought $60 worth of gas at $0.99 per liter.

Traffic
This was a problem on several occasions. We were at a dead stop for quite a while next to the runway, on our way from the airport on the first day. Our plane landed a little early, around 3:45 PM, but we didn’t get our phone from Sharon until almost 6:00 PM. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper through Marigot and beyond that night and we didn’t get to Orient until around 7:00 PM. Next time maybe I’ll pick up our phone the next day and turn left out of the airport, in an attempt to avoid the bridge-opening traffic jams.

The new “roundabout” seems to keep traffic flowing. Chris and Marty marveled at my ability to get around the island and I must say I actually enjoyed driving like I knew what I was doing. How lost can you get? I haven’t figured out the “beep” code, though. Is it one beep for “go ahead” and two for “thanks” or does two mean “watch out, I’m coming through”? And three means “how are the wife and kids”? Notably, there seems to be no beep code for “you’re an a*****e”, like there is in the States.

On the way to the airport on Tuesday (Chris and Marty left a couple of days before we did), in heavy traffic in Simpson Bay, we were rear ended at low speed. The small car that hit us had heavily tinted windows so I couldn’t see who was inside. If this had happened at night or on a more deserted road I would not have stopped. As it was, I couldn’t find a place to pull over for a block or so. When I did, the young woman in the car behind did also. We checked our cars and couldn’t find any damage. Not even a scratch! These little things are sturdier than they look.

Hotel
I discussed our needs and preferences with Sandy Malloy before deciding on Alamanda. We had a two bedroom oceanfront duplex. Chris and Marty took the upstairs room. It was sparsely furnished but comfortable and had a small window through which you could see a bit of the beach. Sue and I were downstairs. Our room was nicer with a small table and a couple of chairs. We also had two chairs on a balcony that faced in the general direction of the water, but we couldn’t really see any beach from our second floor room due to the vegetation. Our room, especially the bathroom, was spotless. It looked like the fixtures had just been installed, they were so clean. The only problem we had was our shower. There was a handheld shower, but the hose was too short to reach the bracket on the wall, so it was difficult to get the shower over your head, unless you had someone to help you. I guess that wasn’t all bad <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Devil.gif" alt="" />. The pool area is nice and the whole complex is pretty. We never ate at the restaurant or stopped at the bar.

Alamanda has gotten uniformly great reviews here, and I have nothing bad to say about it, but it just wasn’t that special for us. People talk about how great the service is and how nice the people are. They were certainly very nice, but I guess we don’t need that kind of attention. Generally, I want to go through the lobby, say hi to the folks there on my way out and return to a clean room. That’s enough for me. I’ve never stayed anywhere where I got to know the staff on a first-name basis. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not us.

We sure do like the Orient area and we really like a quick walk to the beach, so next time we’ll probably return to L’Hoste or try Cap Caraibes. If we can get a group together again, we may try a villa.

Beaches and Weather
We tried to have a look at the beach on the night we arrived and were driven back by the wind and flying sand. This proved to be an indication of things to come. It stayed windy for most of the week. We had brief, light showers on several days but they didn’t interfere with what we wanted to do. The wind and the waves, though, were another matter. Snorkeling was pretty much out of the question until Monday and even then it wasn’t great. Chris and I wanted to try parasailing but the winds were too strong to use the larger ‘chute that is needed for tandem rides, and we didn’t want to go solo. Sue and Marty barely got in the water all week, because of the waves. We had been so impressed with the calm waters in April; this was a big disappointment.

We didn’t even try the beach on Friday, except for the early AM walk. Being an early riser by routine, I walked nearly every morning, usually with Sue and/or Chris, sometimes alone. On Saturday we were determined to find a calmer beach and drove to Baie Rouge. It too looked very rough. Next was Cupecoy. I had trouble convincing the rest of the group that a short walk along the path next to the tall concrete wall actually did lead to a beach. There was some beach there, but the waves were much too rough to get into the water. There were several nude sunbathers, though. Not what we were looking for. We ended up at Mullet and enjoyed it very much. We rented chairs and umbrellas ($18 for mine and Sue’s, $15 for Chris and Marty’s; I still don’t understand why) and stayed all morning and into the early afternoon. The waves were large and the drop-off steep making for nice breakers just offshore. Chris and I had a blast jumping over and through them.

Sunday was a bit calmer. We stayed at Orient all day, using the “Alamanda section” of Kakao. On Monday (Chris and Marty’s last full day) we were determined to snorkel somewhere. We stopped at the ferry terminal across from Pinel but it looked pretty choppy over there, too. On the map the Anse Marcel area looked like it would be sheltered from the wind so we drove over the hill and with some difficulty found the beach access. The water was calmer but still full of sediment so we gave up quickly. Later in the afternoon Chris and I managed to get out into some clear water at Orient. We made it out as far as the raft at C.O. but never saw fish #1. We were fighting the wind all the way and just gave up. I’ve read about people who swam out to Caye Verte but I can’t imagine making that trip unless it is much calmer.

The winds continued to moderate through the week but even on Tuesday there was no tandem parasailing available. The kitesurfers look cool and someday, when it’s not so windy, I’d like to try that. On the other hand, every time I’ve tried water skiing all I’ve gotten was a vigorous sinus irrigation and never got up on the skis for more than a second or two, so I’m probably dreaming to think I can kitesurf.

On Wednesday, Sue and I returned to Baie Rouge. The sand there is much coarser than at the other beaches we’d visited, but the views are great. I snorkeled a bit, toward the rocks on the right. I was alone and I’m not a great swimmer so I was somewhat limited. Did see some fish, though. Wish I’d tried to get around the point to the small beach beyond, but maybe next time.

Restaurants
Having lurked on this board for about a year, I knew there were so many places to eat we’d never scratch the surface. I decided there were a few “must stops” and for the rest of the time, I made a list of a few places that sounded good in each area, so that if we found ourselves getting hungry while in Maho, for example, we would have some options rather than just picking some place at random. Not that you can go wrong that way, either. We were strictly interested in casual dining.

For breakfast most days, I walked to the grocery store at Orient Village and bought a baguette and some other breads, some butter and preserves and OJ. Nothing better than fresh French bread, real butter and OJ on the balcony on St. Martin.

One of our “musts” was Sky’s the Limit in Grand Case. Great food and cheap. Another was Cheri’s. Not that the food is great, but we needed to see the show again, with our guests. Another stop we wanted to make was Coco for dinner, as we loved it last time. They hadn’t opened for dinner yet (too early in the season) but we did have breakfast there one day and it was terrific. I think it’s the setting as much as anything that makes it special.

Tap Five for pizza on the first night is going to be a tradition, I think. It kind of gets us into the mood. This time we wanted to find out how you make a pizza with egg. Apparently, they just break an egg onto the center and bake it; it ends up looking like a fried egg on top of your other toppings. Tastes pretty good, too.

On our last visit we didn’t get to Baywatch, and now I know why it is so well liked. We ate lunch there twice. Fish and chips, burgers, sandwiches. All delicious and served by friendly staff. Cheryl greeted us like old friends even though we’d never met. Of course, by Wednesday night, we were old friends.

Saturday night was the TTOL party at Los Gauchos. We enjoyed talking to several people and had some appetizers. Didn’t have many drinks, though; the line was long and moving slowly. On the way home we stopped at a casino and gave away some money, then had dessert and watched college football at Ric’s. While we were there, the power failed throughout the Dutch side. Ric’s has a generator so even the TVs were back on quickly. From what we could tell, nobody else in the area, aside from McDonald’s across the street, has a generator.

Sunday evening we were tired from a hard day of lying on the beach and wanted to stay close to “home”. We walked around Orient Village perusing the menus and settled on Le Piment. Sue and Marty shared a pizza, Chris had lasagna and I had some excellent pasta carbonara. I especially enjoyed the presentation of the dish: a plate of pasta with bacon and onion in a cream sauce and in the center of the noodles, half of a brown egg shell, with the egg yolk in it. Who’s afraid of a little salmonella? Mix it together and the egg cooks in the hot pasta. Fabulous.

Monday night was the Pub Crawl, the only activity we had scheduled in advance. As expected, it was a blast. The problem was that the four of us made up half the group; a larger group would have been better. The other two couples might have been fun, but they boasted about how they’d been drinking since early in the morning, and they acted like it. Nevertheless, we expect to make a reservation with Neil every time we visit.

By Tuesday, Sue and I were alone. After taking Chris and Marty to the airport we returned to Alamanda for a nap, then had dinner at Cote Plage, in Orient Village. It was so relaxing to sit in the light breeze, watching and listening to the people nearby. An excellent meal, served beautifully.

At Baie Rouge on Wednesday, we had ribs for lunch at Chez Raymond. We were given a bottle of sauce (Kraft, the label said) but there was no reason to use it. The entire meal was delicious. I wonder sometimes, though, if I would also enjoy chewing on shoe leather, if I was sitting on a beach drinking a beer. The setting makes everything taste better.

We have never had an experience like the TTOL party at Baywatch on Saturday night. I had the huge, tasty prime rib and Sue had linguini with clam sauce. The meal was a small, if delicious, part of the evening. You people sure know how to have a good time! Rudolph, Silver Bells, Silver Balls, everybody. Hi from “Santa Claus” and her husband. Thanks so much for organizing it, Amy.

Our final meal was at Buccaneer Beach Bar. Sue had a delicious grilled kosher hot dog and I had a great burger, maybe the best I’ve ever had. There was nobody else there, at about 11:30. One of the best things about the place is that there is plenty of parking nearby. We had already checked our luggage at the airport and with the car visible from our table we could leave our carryon bags in the car without worry.

Shopping, etc.
Our last day on SXM was Sue’s birthday so I took the easy way out and promised her a gift of jewelry. Luckily, I had read about Deepti and we stopped in DK Gems on our shopping day. I was wearing my TTOL cap and of course Deepti greeted us. What a sweetheart! She’s also a good salesperson. She knew exactly how to get to Sue. Sue is thrilled with her earrings, even though they aren’t as large as the ones Deepti wore. Maybe next time….

We also stopped at Rima. I felt a little guilty buying things at wholesale prices and then saying “no thanks” to the vendors on the beach. I was surprised they didn’t have more menswear but we did get one of those clever beach towel/bags. Not much else, though.

My favorite shopping stop was Ma Doudou. I printed out directions from a post by jonjoslin (I’m not sure it he was reprinting them from someone else) and they were easy to follow. I’m sure we would never have found it otherwise. We made our first visit with Chris and Marty, and sampled several flavors. We liked banana-vanilla best and bought a half-dozen bottles. The woman gave us a small bottle of banana-chocolate as a bonus, and we liked that almost as much. Before we left, Sue and I bought a few more bottles of each. We ended up taking 10 large (700 ml) bottles home. They cost $11 each. I wrapped them in bubble wrap; thanks to TTOL I’d come prepared. Another layer of towels or dirty clothes protected them well enough that none broke in checked baggage. Six were gifts and we’ve been working on the others ourselves.

Random observations
A week is not too long for us. There are so many things we never had time to do. All that research and list-making… On many of the vacations we’ve taken in the past, I’m ready to get back home after a few days. Not so on this trip.

In the future we won’t spend extra money to get an oceanfront room. As I’ve learned from both of our stays on Orient, unless you are on the third floor, you can’t see the beach anyway.

I need another memory card for my camera. I have a Sony 8 megapixel point-and-shoot with a card that holds about 250 photos. I filled the card by the time we left. Of course, a third of them were not worth printing, but that’s still a lot of pictures to show friends. And yet, sometimes I wish I’d taken more. If you’ve read this far, maybe you’d like to see some of the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/seeitallsxm

The French really know how to eat right. I enjoyed the leisurely meals with good ingredients (sometimes unfamiliar, but that what travel is all about), beautifully presented in a casual, relaxed setting. No trans-fats, artificial ingredients or fast food.

At first Chris and (especially) Marty couldn’t understand why English wasn’t understood universally. I had to explain that we were actually on French soil. Even the worst English-speaker knew more English than I know French (i.e. none). In fact, the feeling of “foreign” is why I like the French side. Chris and Marty have been to Aruba a couple of times and they admitted they liked it there more than SXM. It sounds too Americanized for me, but to each his own. After a couple of days driving around, mostly on the French side, on evening we parked in the underground parking at Maho. When we came out and saw the casino, the shops and the restaurants, our friends thought we were on a different island entirely.

After our first visit, I commented on the trash on the roadside and in town. Also, our guests seemed uncomfortable with the evidence of poverty we saw, especially on the drive between Philipsburg and the French Quarter. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, I believe I’ve seen almost as much trash on the roadside in Charlotte, and some pretty significant poverty in rural North Carolina.

I thought I had trained for our trip: tanning bed for my skin (I know better, but my chest and stomach were what we in Wisconsin used to call “fish-belly white” and after tanning, I didn’t burn in the Caribbean sun) and increased beer intake for my liver. I don’t drink very often at home, even though I make my homebrew in 5 gallon batches. Surprisingly, I got up to 4-5 beers a day while on the beach (starting at 10 or 11AM) and never felt drunk. What I didn’t train for is walking barefoot or in sandals on the beach. It was hard on my tender feet and my calves were so sore the first few days. I’ll have to come up with a training regimen for that.

The windy conditions nearly spoiled a large portion of the trip. Is there a better time of year or was our experience unlucky?