A VERY belated trip report

Came across some old photos of our first trip to St. Marten in 1977, and thought a few things that I can remember about it might be amusing for old-timers. We had been to several other Caribbean islands before we decided to try St. Martin. It was May or June, and we flew direct (probably on American) from JFK. At that time, there were car rental booths at the airport terminal at which you could take care of paperwork, but you could not pick up the car there, neither could the rental companies transport you; you had to take a taxi. We rented from Risdon Car Rental, which had a location at the Caravanserai Hotel which is where we stayed, so that was not too bad. The Caravanserai was, at that time, a low rise, well rated hotel that had good rates off-season, at least for basic rooms.

The restaurant was excellent, with a weekly buffet that attracted a lot of people, and we ate most of our dinners there. I don’t remember where else we ate; one dinner may have been at a Mullet Bay restaurant, and perhaps one at the West Indian Tavern, but I get mixed up by later vacations.
On our first full day we drove into Phillipsburg. These were the days when you could drive down Front Street and park on it with little difficulty.

In those days my wife liked to window-shop (and to an extent, jewelry shop) so we went there several times. Front Street was hot, a bit run-down, and what one expected of a Caribbean town. Sam’s became a favorite lunch spot, where we could sit on the balcony and watch the cruise ship passengers lug their liquor purchases back to the ship. There were fewer ships and they were much smaller in those days.
We also went to Marigot, but I don’t remember what we did there.


Of course, we drove around quite a bit.

The “main” road was not paved in all places on the French side.
We visited a number beaches, but Mullet is the only one I remember spending much time on, plus walking Long Bay.


Maho was not the best at that time. Experiencing the jet blast was not as popular as it has become. Tried to go to Friars, but must have taken the wrong turn.

Then, of course, was the view next to the airport.

This was the first of a large number of later visits – we were hooked.

AWESOME !!

Thank you so much for your VERY belated report. Such wonderful pictures and memories.

Very clever......thanks.

Thanks for taking the time to share your first SXM trip so many years ago. The pictures are so interesting!Things have changed so much over the years in all the Caribbean islands.

Very interesting! Thanks.

Very Cool

Awesome!

Thanks very much for the old pictures and report! So interesting to see pictures from even before we started coming!!

Very interesting!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for taking time to post. Loved the "way it used to be" pictures.

R Bailey,

What a wonderful trip down Memory Lane. We, too, made our first SXM trip in the very early seventies - the same year they were building the road 'over the hill' and I can relate to many of your photos. I wish we'd taken more ourselves.

The first time we rented a car (1973) I think there were more dirt path-like roads than there were paved roads on the French side of the island and more roaming goats, sheep and cattle than dogs everywhere. Orient was totally undeveloped and you really had to hunt for it to get there. And parking anywhere along Front Street was a piece of cake. It wasn't at all unusual to see an escaped chicken strutting down the road, even on Front Street, and there was virtually no traffic to speak of island-wide. Picking up walkers and giving them a lift was the norm back then, particularly the hard working maids walking along with their umbrellas open to keep the sun off their heads.

Such a wonderful time on the Friendly Island and so very different from what we know today. As Bob Hope would say, "Thanks for the memories......." <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Love the photos and trip down memory lane. Thanks so much for sharing.

That's awesome. Being a relative island newb, (2012) i can't place all of the locations, but some i can. My it's changed a lot! Thanks for the retro pics!

Dear R Bailey, We have been visitors for almost 20 years now and though we knew the island fairly well. We now think differently! Your photos and story tell us more about the island we love. I only wish we had found it earlier in our married life. So nice that you took the time to share it with TTOL. Do you happen to have more photos? I'm sure everyone would love to see them. LDub

Thanks for taking us back. I so much enjoy seeing how the island has progressed. For good or ill we sure know how to exploit beauty.

Thanks to everyone who expressed their appreciation. I have a lot of random pictures; perhaps I will try to organize a timeline.

Please do. I think everyone would love to see it!