We first went to SXM in 1992 and fell in love with the island. Since 2000, we have been going twice a year. We have often considered going somewhere else but have always talked ourselves out of it and ended up in SXM. We have seen a lot of changes but just figured that every place changes over the years. Not much you can do about that. However, this most recent trip has caused us to seriously consider whether or not we will return.

This was our 20th trip and perhaps because of that, we had decided to do some things we had not done before, go to some places we still have not seen. Well, in a way, we did that, but not quite the way we anticipated. Instead of visiting new restaurants and bars, we got to see the inside of several police stations instead.

This was also to be our fifth time staying at Mercur Simson. For some reason, we have always liked the French side of the island, staying most often at Flamboyant or Mercur, Nettle Baie or Anse Margot. However, if and when we do go back, it will NOT be to stay on the French side again.

A few observations to start:

Traffic:
What kind of fool built the airport with the island’s main road running through the airport parking lot? The back-up of traffic in that area, from both directions every afternoon when all the flights arrive and depart, was horrendous with passengers dodging cars and trucks to make their way in and out of the airport.

Too, there are major delays around Simpson Bay everyday. We were told that they are due mainly to that detour thingy near the Tropicana Casino. No one seems to know why that was put in place but it sure messes things up. We also found similar back-ups at 6:30 p.m. we were going to have a drink at the Buccaneer Beach Bar and had to turn back.
Added to the driving woes are the parking woes, especially in P’burg. Damn near impossible to find a space, which begs the question - If you can’t get anywhere without sitting in a traffic jam and can’t find a parking spot when you get there, why would you rent a car and drive? Car rental companies should be concerned about this, big time.

And, from personal experience, why does everyone drive around at night with their high beams on? Even a police officer we spoke to said that this is a problem.

Rain: It rained on Monday morning but cleared up by noon. It rained early Tuesday but stopped by breakfast time. It rained quite often overnight and I was told that it had rained a bit every day for the past six weeks. As a result, the island was very green and lush, the greenest I have ever seen it. Driving around near Orient, all the hills were green with long grass blowing in the wind, looking like water rippling. Just beautiful.

Mosquitoes: Mosquitoes everywhere. Yikes! And some other critter that leaves a big itchy welt. I had repellent bracelets on my ankles to keep them away. Someone asked me if I had some kind of monitor on, like a criminal. No, Ma’am, just trying to keep things from biting me under the table.

School kids in P'burg: Saw a group of kids, all in their school uniforms, looking so neat, lined up on one of the side streets off Front Street. They were on some kind of outing. The teacher had gathered them all together and was telling them to hold hands and stay in single file as they should not block the sidewalks. I wanted to ask her: Why not? The tourists do! After all, this is the kids’ home and their school is just a block away. I wondered what they make of all the cruise ship folks and folks like me, who descend on their town every day and fill the streets, when they are told not to block the way?

Mercur Simson: This is the 5th time we have stayed there and the second time this year. We had paid for a reasonable room and, as return guests, were told we would be upgraded. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a mooch, but if that was an upgrade, just give me the regular room. It had to be the noisiest room in the hotel, right out at the end of the hotel, next to the road. Any closer and they would have asked us to direct traffic in our spare time. I have always liked Mercur in the past but found that it has gone down hill recently as far as cleanliness and service. Also, it seems that they really aren’t concerned about customer loyalty. One other issue is that we have every converter and plug attachment known to man and none of them work at Mercur! We have decided that we’re not going there again, in fact, because of concerns about driving through the Lowlands areas at night, something we always did in the past without worry, if we go back, we will not stay on the French side. Maho, I think, will be the better choice.

I started by saying that we planned to do and see some things we had not done and seen before. I guess this came to pass, in part. We had a car accident – hadn’t done that before – and got to see a fair bit of the police stations. We did get to Buccaneer Beach bar, though, after hearing so much about it. However, due to the accident scare, we really did not go out so much at night as we usually do.

We have really enjoyed St. Martin for a long time now. I really love Orient Beach and can just sit there and watch the people all day. I love having a meal at the Lolos in Grande Case. I love the friendly people, like the man who led us out of Billy Folly Road, when we got went through some casino parking lot, took a wrong turn, ended up in some residential area, lost, lost, lost!! I love the folks at Le String and ladies in the parking lot in P’burg, who tell us we’re blessed if we manage to find a spot in their lot. I love the scenery, the views of the sea, the bright bougainvillea everywhere. But the traffic and the concern about driving, especially at night, and the fact that the police tell you the place is not safe, leave us thinking that it’s time to travel to some of those other places we’ve talked about. Maybe we’ll try SXM again in few years, when things get better. As of now, we have no plans to go back.

Please read on for details of our experiences this past week.

We left Toronto on the Air Transat flight at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 17th. Before leaving, we had booked a car with Lesley Bruce at Kenny’s. Always dependable, Lesley was there waiting for us just after 9:00 p.m. After a few minutes of conversation and paperwork, we were on our way to Mercur.

We drove out of the airport parking lot about 9:30 p.m., driving through Mullet and past Sapphire Beach. After the new roundabout just beyond Sapphire, we were driving up the hill there when two vehicles came around the bend, both with high beams on. The first vehicle strayed across the centre line and into our lane. We tried to get out of the way. There was a loud “BANG”.

We slowed down, thinking to investigate but saw that the other car did not stop. Then we noticed that our driver’s side mirror was smashed and hanging loose on the side of the car. Since the other driver was long gone and thinking that it might not be the smartest thing to stop there anyway, we continued on to Mercur, somewhat shaken up, though, I have to say.

Arriving at Mercur, we parked in a good light and saw that there was no other damage to the side of the car. Oddly, there was also no damage to the forward facing side of the mirror as we might have expected if our mirror had collided with the mirror on the other car. We began to wonder just what had hit us.

We called Lesley right away and next morning he was there with a new car for us and advice on how to proceed. We spent Sunday morning writing a report on the accident from our point of view and took a copy to Lesley. Then we drove into Philipsburg, as we had been told that there was someone there to take our report. In the P’burg station, we were told to go to Simpson Bay, as that is where the traffic department is located. We drove back to Simpson Bay, grabbing a bite to eat at McDonald’s – Hey, I could do that at home! – and then went to the police station near the bridge to give our report.

I have heard a lot said about the police on the island but have to say that the officer who attended to us was helpful, polite, concerned and informative. He told us that we were right to just keep on driving, that drivers should never stop at night if they are hit, so long as the vehicle is operable, that the particular area we were driving through was very dangerous and that robberies could occur day or night.

After taking our report, he advised that he would have it filed and signed for us – had to be signed in P-burg – and that we could have a copy before we left at the end of the week, if we needed one for our insurance.

With that, we went back to our hotel. Normally, we go out every night when we are in SXM but that Sunday, we decided to stay close to the hotel. We ate in the dining room there, had mahi-mahi – a piece of fish so small it was hard to be sure what it was. Even the lady at the next table commented on the small portions on our plates.

On Monday, we decided to go shopping in P’burg. I bought a ring, figuring I deserved something nice after the Saturday mishap and the Sunday run-around. Also bought a bunch of table linens from Linens and Things and Mr. Tablecloth – really beautiful Christmas place mats, table runners, etc. Bought some stuff for the family, including what is said to be real treasure from a sunken galleon. Neat!

On the way back to Mercur, had lunch at Cherie's, mahi-mahi again but enough this time to be able to ID it for what it was. Very good!

Later that afternoon, we got in touch with our insurance company and were told that they would definitely need a copy of the police report. Still feeling a bit uncertain about driving in the dark, we stayed in for the evening. So much for seeing and doing new stuff!

Tuesday morning, we called our police officer to say we would need the report but found that it was his day off. O.K., tomorrow will do, so we headed out to Orient Beach and spent the day at Le String. Jean and the new owners were there. It was great to see folks we knew. Have to say that OB was very quiet that day and most of the places along the beach had more beds empty than occupied. Still, it was sunny and the water was great. Sitting on OB with a good book and a margarita is one of my favourite pastimes, for sure.

Later that evening, we had recovered enough to venture out on the roads after dark and headed for Casino Royale. The place was in some disarray, a fair number of slot machines gone and with signs apologizing for their “progress”. Not sure what the progress is/will be but the majority of the machines that were there were not working and those that were, were not paying off at all. Oh well, let’s go and comfort ourselves with large helpings of ice cream from the ice cream shop next door.

Wednesday, when we contacted our police officer, we were told that we would have to make a written request to the Chief of Police in P’burg in order to get a copy of the report. Well, we were heading into town anyway to have lunch with friends so we wrote the request and dropped it off on the way. Great! Everything is now under control!

We had had lunch at Taloula Mango’s on the boardwalk. The food was not bad, I had the pork quesadilla and everyone else had jerk chicken. We found the boardwalk to be a very lively place, lots of music, lots of folks shopping, eating, spending a day on the P’burg beach. That project was certainly geared to the cruise ship folks and quite successfully if attendance at the restaurants and on the beach is anything to go by.

Went out again that night – getting brave again, eh? - planning to go to the Buccaneer Beach Bar. We had never been there before and it was on out list of things to do this trip. Not to be, however. Traffic was backed up from the Texaco station near the airport all the way past the end of the runway and into Simpson Bay. We turned around, went back to the Casino instead. I won back what I had lost the night before. O.K., so maybe things aren’t so bad there after all.

Thursday was another beach day. Back to Le String. Much, much busier, everywhere. All the beds are filled, all around us.

Both days we were on OB I noticed that the beach vendors seemed a bit more reserved than usual. They did not come on as strong as they once did and many of them just walked by holding out their wares, not saying anything or calling out. Wondered if the cruise ship folks might have complained about them, too???

On the two days we were there, I only saw one totally naked person walking on the main stretch of beach, an elderly gentleman who walked by around mid-day. There was another guy in the buff down past Coco’s, sunning himself on a rock, like some kind of lecherous lizard but I have seen him before, I think he’s a “regular”.

We soaked up some sun then left a bit early, to have lunch at Talk of the Town in Grand Case. Just as we remember it, excellent food, reasonable prices, Euro and U.S. $ one for one. Also noticed that Spicy offers the same deal and so does Californie, but only if you pay cash. I had the mahi- mahi again, at TOTT.

Thursday evening, we set out again, to try for the BBB one more time. Got there! Seems like a nice place, pretty quiet around 9:00 o’clock, though, and figured it would get livelier later. However, we decided to head back to Mercur early, not wanting to drive through the Lowlands late with a lot of alcohol in our systems.

Friday we decided we had better track down our police report. We were told it would be in P’burg. Off we go to have a chat with the assistant to the Chief of Police. Nice lady, says she will look for it and call us when we can pick it up. We checked back with her, it’s still not ready, so we head back, thinking to have lunch at Lee’s. Not a chance! Nowhere to park anywhere near there. %$@#!

Had lunch at Cherie’s and then tried again to call the P’burg police station. No luck yet on the report. Drove back to Mercur, figuring we would either get the report on Saturday or have it e-mailed to us. Just as we got to the hotel, we got a call that the report was ready for us at Simpson Bay. Drove back, to find it was not ready but when it was, it would have to be taken to P’burg for a signature from the Chief of Police. At this point, my better half has totally run out of patience and explains to the police officer just how inconvenient all of this is. End result: the officer will deliver it to our hotel that evening, once he gets it signed.

Ha! My husband says that won’t happen. But guess what? It did! About 6:00 p.m. we got a call from the lobby to say there was someone to see us and there was our police officer, with the signed report. I repeat what I said earlier: helpful, polite, concerned. A very nice man and after chatting with him, I have a great deal more sympathy for what the police are dealing with in SXM, at least on the Dutch side, due to a lack of funding through the government, lack of support in the courts and just plain lack of resources on all levels.

With regard to the gendarmes, they have really neat motorcycles that they buzz around on. Two days in a row, two of them set up a road-side spot check at the entrance to our hotel. Not sure what they were looking for exactly, but they did seem to spend a lot of time chatting up women. Perhaps they were just looking for a date, hmm?
Sorry to have missed the SNOBSXM party at Baywatch that same night but really needed to deal with the police report stuff. Also, with our ongoing concerns about driving at night, we opted for drinks at the hotel, followed by packing.

Saturday and it’s “going home” day. Left the hotel around noon, drove around the island and had lunch at Lee’s. Finally! More mahi-mahi for me. Excellent! But I am starting to grow fins and gills and a scaly skin. Spent a bit of time at Casino Royale – will I never learn? – and had a tad more ice cream from the Hagen Dazs store.

About 6:00 o’clock, we headed for the airport, figuring we’d kill some time there before turning the car over to Lesley. Lo and behold, they were checking folks in already for a 10:15 p.m. flight. Good, got rid of the bags, sat down to have a drink and look who’s here! Lesley. He saw the car in the lot and came to look for us. He brought with him all the paperwork from the car repairs that we needed and surprised us with the low cost. Seriously, if we’d known how little it would be, we would not have bothered the insurance company at all.

Can’t say enough good things about Lesley. With all that he was going through that week, with the death of his brother, he still came through for us. Many, many thanks!

Our flight left a bit early, got us into Toronto about 2:00 o’clock Sunday morning. After a long wait for immigration – at least 4 charter flights landed at the same time – a break down of the baggage carousel and a serious shortage of limo drivers, we got home at 3:30 a.m. local time. And that’s it! Next trip report will have to be posted on another board here.