Day 1 (Wednesday) – When we got to the airport, the U.S. Airways Rep told us that had no record of us being on the flight despite the confirmation I was holding from Travelocity. The rep (Wanda) left us to try to find out what is going on. She finally re-emerged, 30 minutes later and explains that the flight was originally booked with United but when Travelocity tried to change us to U.S. Air, they essentially cancelled our reservation rather than putting us on the U.S. Air flight. By the time she figured all of this out it was too late to re-book us on the flight that Travelocity screwed up. All she could do was put us on the same flight for tomorrow. We were devastated, but there wasn’t much we could do at that point.
Day 1, Part II (Thursday). We went right to Wanda to ensure there was nothing lost in translation with another U.S. Airways rep. Wanda took care of us, and we were on our way. Or so we thought. Our flight to Charlotte boarded late, and sat on the tarmac for a good 30 – 45 minutes before finally taking off. Now we were in danger of missing our connecting flight, through no fault of our on. When we got to Charlotte we literally sprinted through the airport. This is not hyperbole. We were two fools running at full speed to try to make our flight. And we made it. Unfortunately for me, one of my bags did not. So the first thing I did when I arrived in St. Martin was fill out a lost baggage form. By this point our ride to the car rental agency had assumed we didn’t make it, so he left. Luckily one of the taxi drivers was nice enough to call Unity for us and tell them we were there waiting. Unity eventually picked us up, we rented a car
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2245979720056952809MKeXUM and began the rush hour drive from Simpson Bay to Grand Case. We finally arrived at the Grand Case Beach Club
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2866877470056952809PgQeJY at about 7:30 PM. Needless to say, we were not feeling good about the start to our vacation. After checking in we walked down Grand Case Blvd in search of our first meal in St. Martin. We were starving so we chose one of the closest restaurants – a new place called Spicy. The owner just moved here from Miami although she is originally from Yugoslavia. The food was good, but probably not the best in Grand Case. Excellent French Fries. Afterwards we hung out at Noche and had a few drinks and then decided to call it a night.
Day 2 (Friday). Spent the day relaxing at Orient Beach (
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2366482110056952809oEpTCo) and went to Calmo’s Café for happy hour and enjoyed a brilliant sunset:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2340644610056952809AaXUwu Later we walked to Restaurant du Soleil in Grand Case for dinner and then drove back to Orient for a beach party at Bikini. We bumped in to MarcG from TTOL and his travel companion:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2447997150056952809RZhqvT It was nice to have some friends to hang out with since my wife (Mrs. Shake) and I were there by ourselves.
Day 3 (Saturday). Spent the afternoon at Friars Bay:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2133134430056952809NcCVlk and later in the day we made the hike
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2104714610056952809hAzlgM over to Happy Bay:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2735645610056952809cVyDZb It is definitely worth the effort. Later that night we ate at Talk of the Town and then drove over to Simpson Bay to check out the Sunset Beach Bar and Bliss. SBB was showing the De La Hoya fight. Bliss was totally off the hook. It lived up to the hype.
Day 4 (Sunday). Soaked up some rays in front of Kon Tiki:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2820460390056952809AvNTwy For dinner we went to Le Ti Provencal in Grand Case:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2983992290056952809hXMDKl The food here is absolutely amazing. We had intended on hitting a beach party at Calmos later that night but we did not leave the restaurant until after 11:00 and the Calmos was shutting down by that point.
Day 5 (Monday). All week long people were telling us that we had to spend a day at Pinel Island:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2108519800056952809cfAPNu so we decided to check it out. We liked it, but I’m not quite sure what all the hype is about. It’s a very nice beach, but in hindsight I kind of wish we would have gone to Baie Rouge instead. Not that I’m complaining about spending a day at Pinel Island. For dinner that night we went to Bistro Caraibes. Much like Pinel Island, I can’t say it completely lived up to the hype. The food was very good, but we both thought that Restaurant Du Soleil and Le Ti Provencal were better.
Day 6 (Tuesday). Decided to spend our last day at Waikiki on Orient:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2341514960056952809MHELbl This was the only day that the weather was not absolutely perfect. A little cloudy but a cloudy day in St. Martin beats a sunny day back home. For dinner we went back to Le Ti Provencal and had another excellent meal. We decided to live it up our last night and head back to Sunset Beach Bar and Bliss. We got to Sunset just as their weekly bikini contest was about to begin. Much to my surprise, the usually modest and demure Mrs. Shake:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2612958230056952809IVjfFT later admitted that had she known about the contest in advance, she would have considered entering. She thought the $700 prize was enticing, albeit it would have taken several margaritas to get her on stage in her bikini.
Day 7 (Wednesday). Flight home was delayed for some reason and we missed our connecting flight in Charlotte. They booked us on a flight that was leaving a few minutes later. We made the flight, but our bags didn’t. As I write this we are still missing one of the bags.
Random Observations: At no point did we feel unsafe, and we did a lot of late night driving and exploring. You read some of the crime threads on St. Martin forums and you would think it was as bad as Jamaica. The St. Martin "crime problem" is blown way out of proportion. As many have said, take the same precautions you would take anwywhere else and you'll be fine.
Driving is a little more difficult than some people make it seem. While it is true that there is “one main road that runs throughout the island", the road frequently comes to a fork and it is nearly impossible to know which direction is the “main road” and which direction is a side road, especially at night.
Nightlife can be tricky. We went to Bliss twice – one night it was absolutely packed. The other night it was empty. I guess the best thing to do is ask people where the best place is to go each night, especially in the low season.
I’m really glad we chose St. Martin. Between the food, the beaches and the nightlife, it is very easy to see why so many people fall in love with this place. We will definitely be back.
Hope you enjoyed this report. The rest of our pictures can be found here:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/558997423PUMuKR
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