10.26-11.6.18 Part 4

Thursday, November 1, 2018

“Hey, lets go to the bird place after breakfast”.

“Ok, we’ve been there before! I know the way”

Famous last words. Though we had been to Parotteville Bird Sanctuary in July of 2017, we promptly managed to do a few loops around the Salt Pond, saw Philipsburg twice, passed Oyster Pond. You get the idea.
Eventually we were in front of Emilio Wilson Estate and we were hungry. Emilio’s! This was an excellent accident. Beautifully restored historic building, nice breezes as a reprieve from the heat, and excellent food. Dino was also there relaxing before dinner prep. I was very impressed with Emilio’s.








Dutch style cheese sticks. Gouda! Yummy.


Chicken quesadillas and then hubby had fish. The Emilio Wilson Plate is said to have been his favorite meal. WHOLE LOCALLY CAUGHT RED SNAPPER FRIED IN COAL POT, SERVED WITH JOHNNY CAKE, COCONUT RICE ‘N BEANS, AND FRESH LIME.




Using the Wi-Fi signal at Emilio’s we were able to pin point the exact location of the bird sanctuary, so off we went after lunch.
This is such a fun place to visit. For $10 per person you get a cup of bird feed and a tour through the aviary, along with a nice little historic museum at the end. Mr. Parotte (yes, that is his name) has many old St Maarten artifacts from his family. He said that before Irma he brought all the birds to the safety of his home. He had them there for 9 months until they could rebuild and reopen. I laughingly commented that it must have been very loud in his house for a while! The look and comment he responded with was priceless. One can imagine the cacophony!





A pheasant named Trump


A sugar bird


Thursday evening, we had dinner at the home of a friend. Another excellent night, and probably one of the three top meals of our trip. Copious quantities of prosecco and wine flowed. Great conversation. Hours passed. I love St Maarten! We had lobster tails, chicken kabobs, and steak on the barbie. Steak came with a wine reduction. Sides were salad and a yummy macaroni and cheese. The kitchen was to die for, and I just had to take a picture of the warming shelf.








Friday, November 2nd
A day I have been waiting for. Bohemian Rhapsody comes out TONIGHT! We joined the Caribbean Cinemas club so that we could get tickets and select our seats online.
But first, how to spend this day which looks like rain? After the previous evening’s debauchery, we missed the breakfast hour…. or even a reasonable brunch hour. Lol Headed to the Yacht Club. We were rained out of our outside booth and forced to retreat to the bar. Oh well……..
Brunch without mimosas is just a sad late breakfast!


Leek and potato soup, carpaccio.


Grouper sandwich


Chicken and mango wrap


Exactly




I believe there was a nap involved prior to the movies.
So much fun meeting friends for the movie (and meeting new ones) and rocking out to Queen!

Kudos to you, Leona. You and Andre took some incredible photos. Thank you so very much for sharing them. I hope everyone appreciates them and the effort on your part to share them for all of our pleasure.

Terrific photos! Love reading your reports. Just whetting our appetite for sun AND food.

Exactly where is Emilio's? Directions from Simpson Bay area?

Do you know where Mark's Place is? The rotary where the Carrefour is?

Instead of going towards Philpsburg, go around the rotary and you will soon see it on your left!

The bottom of the page on this link also has a map:
https://emilios-sxm.com/

Now I'm hungry and I just had lunch.

Thanks for a great report.

Great pictures! Thanks for the report. So glad that Parrotteville has survived Irma. It is such a neat place..

Owe just put that on our list for May.

The bird sanctuary? I'm so glad they saved all of the birds. It's a lovely addition to SXM, and fills a void left by the zoo.

As we were leaving, a busload of school children in their uniforms were coming to visit the birds. So nice that he is doing educational tours as well. It is a shame that cruisers don't learn of the place since it's all about payola with them.

When we were there, there was also a school tour. Good to keep alive info about the past of SXM.

Emilio's was on my list but never made it. Love your bird photos so colorful and vivid.

Yes. The bird sactuary is now on our list for next May.

Great report and photos. Thanks for taking the time to do all your reports! Everyone totally enjoys them. Cruisers would be there if there were free rum punches flowing from the bird feeders.

Thanks Loise.

Nothing compared to your food pics! Appreciate the praise.

My fav is the one with sugar on his bill.

You have no idea how many there were actually!

Another wonderful report, and I loved the parrot pictures. I was so disheartened when I was on island in June as the place was trashed. I'm so glad he's brought it back; I think it's my favorite thing to do on the island. Well, at least until Anse Marcel is rebuilt.

Thanks much for your reports and pictures. They are excellent!

Following the movie Friday night, we were starving so we headed to Pineapple Pete’s. VERY good food and super friendly and efficient service. Hubby had the lamb shanks and I had a cheeseburger. (saved the lamb bones for the BSV doggie)

And FINALLY! I was so thankful for this

Wow, now those meals both look good enough to eat!! Is it lunch time yet??

I can't get over those dual lamb shanks and double burger. I had written off Pineapple Pete a while back. Going to give them another go next May.

I had too! But based on Louisa's recent review (and the lamb shanks!) we went in. It was nice that they were open late as well.

The burger was great.

Previously, we had only walked through PP to get to the Rhino's.

Just curious. Was the lamb shank homemade or frozen previously prepared and flown in by a food service. Hopefully made inhouse.

Hmmm, good question. However I'm not the one that ate the lamb. But hubby says it was wonderful, and he has it many places. For all I know it may have been sous-vide.

THanks. I'll have to go and find out myself in May.

I have never had a bad meal at Pineapple Pete. And their service is among the best on the island. Always prompt, always courteous, consistent.

We just had a couple of negative experiences there in the past. One was food poisoning when my wife had the rumjumby prawns ant myself with a cold dish that should have been hot. That was a few years ago and now Its time for another try.

Okay, got it! Love Mark's Place and now I know how to get where you're talking about. Thanks so much!

Lovely pictures and the food looks wonderful!
I hope you don't take offense, but cooked bones shouldn't be fed to dogs, as they can splinter & stick in their throat or choke them

Thanks for the report and pics. We also enjoyed the reopened Parrotville.

Great reports. We did the zip lines at Emilio's which was really fun. We tried to go to the restaurant in June but no waiter would make eye contact with us so we left.

We will try again this June

Sorry we missed you this year Norm! Sounds as if you were hiding right down the beach at El Zafiro!.

No wine tastings this year.

Have you done any new glass plates?