Posted By: cruzer
We have arrived - 02/15/2024 02:18 PM
Our trip started off with a jolt Tuesday morning for our 3 am car service pickup for our 6 am DFW flight. Our driver called around 2:40 am asking where we were. He was at our new home, 71 miles to the north. After a lot of swearing on his part, he met us at the old house, and got us to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
The flight was uneventful, with only a TSA sidetracked by my carry on bag at their checkpoint getting examined, and our full tube of toothpaste being confiscated.
It took us about 2 hours from deplaning to exiting the airport. Weather was pleasant, and I knew by the airport arrival schedule that the 2 Air France jets were already there, and so the wait would be longer than normal. We were talking to the couple in front of us, and they mentioned they on had carry on baggage. I mentioned that they didn’t have to wait with us, they didn’t believe me, I called over one of the line patrols, and she took them to immigration. They were very happy.
Incidentally, a KLM flight arrived after us, they were let into immigration before us, and their bags took s long time to finish before ours. I guess one of the perks of being from the Netherlands.
We decided to go the Marigot way, after seeing that Simpson Bay route was backed-up onto the causeway, as was the Orange Grove route. They stopped us right before Marigot, and the Gendarme told us to go the back route via Maho and Cupecoy. You’ll have no problem getting into Marigot. No problem getting in, but no signage as to how to get out heading to Grand Case. There were people all over the streets, walking, talking, eating, partying, watching activities from their rooftops—just having a grand old time. We finally found the escape rout and slowly inched on the main road, until traffic cleared by the Agreememt round-a-bout.
We rolled into Grand Case Beach Club around 8 pm, and received a rousing welcome. One of the perks of ownership. I headed to the bar for a well deserved Ti Punch, and my wife followed shortly for dinner at Sunset Café. I was told that I may have needed reservations (a good idea on the island this time of year anywhere), so I walked next door asked for a reservation in 5 minutes, and was granted my request with a chuckle.
My meal was tuna tartar, with fries—crisp on the outside, soft inside—and Mrs. Cruser had the small Caesar salad. No pix, as I’d left my camera, ok IPhone, in the room. A very satisfying conclusion to a long day
Seems like the road sides are full up parking lots anywhere we go within Grand Case.
Wednesday was planned to be a more active day on our quest for doing as little as possible this trip. OK, a bit more active in that last trip I didn’t plan to write a trip report, and succeeded spectacularly. We picked up essential at Super U—water, Presidente, and cat food, disinfectants at the next door Pharmacy for Mrs. C’s thumb, and a great selection of cheese and Jambon at Bacchus.
Breakfast wa a caramel waffle with Chantilly for me, and Eggs Benedict for Mrs C (pictured).
Dinner at Le Bistronome was exceptional, and we have dined there many times. But, the last 2 times we were here they were closed, so it had been over a year. We started off with an app of wahoo and tuna carpaccio in a Tahitian dressing. This was preceeded by a wonderful amuse of a broccoli puree with a stick of baked parmesan. We both had the chopped lobster with sauce and spinach in a pastry shell. Excellent!! We followed up with a “fudge” and decaf Cappuccino, their shots and called it a night.
As an aside, we are in the process of moving to Lake Texoma from our house in Plano. We have fully moved out, but not fully moved in. Smarter people may have cancelled the trip to complete the move, but we have no problem doing this. Having been here for around 40 hours leads me to the conclusion that we made the right decision.
