PHL-MIA
We flew out of PHL to MIA. The flight went smooth and we took a hotel shuttle and spent the night at the EB hotel near the airport. The room was nice, very comfortable bed and clean. An interesting design was you can see into the bathroom shower through a full glass wall next to the bed, and then all the way through to the toilet, which was separated by a more opaque glass. There was, though, a blind you could pull down in the shower. I would not recommend this hotel for a layover. The food is a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. The room a 4 and the staff all were 4.5 on the same scale. We found waiters and waitresses, bartenders and front desk personnel extremely helpful and friendly.
MIA-SXM
We boarded our flight from MIA to SXM without incident and I was particularly struck by the window views as we flew over the Bahama Islands and Turks and Caicos. The blue and turquoise water was beautiful. The high chroma colors almost looked fake.
We took a shuttle bus from the plane in SXM and stood in a long line to go through customs and get our luggage. It seemed to move along fine. We were just glad to be on the island again. We rented a car from Kenny’s. Leslie Bruce is such a great guy. Met us with the “Kenny’s” sign in hand, walked us to the parking lot to get our car and off we went.
Studio
We stayed at the same studio as last June in Orient Village that sits above the Ocean Star super market. Our owners/host met us when we arrived and again when we left. They are so friendly and accommodating. Really nice folks. After unpacking we went down to the grocery store for bottles of water, a large bag of ice and a few food items…cheese, sliced salami, eggs and a bottle of Don Zapata 23 rum. Our host suggested not drinking tap water but to use bottle water. I shared a lot of detail about the studio in a trip report from last June. There is one large room with a very comfortable bed, full kitchen, dish washer, clothes washer (lines to dry clothes are strung out on the balcony), sitting area with couch and TV and a nice balcony overlooking the Main Street coming into Orient Village. We wake up, go out on the balcony, and can see people having breakfast at Good Morning. The bathroom with walk in shower is obviously in a separate room. Though the studio for some may be too modest it is prefect for our needs. We love the location with its proximity to grocery stores, restaurants and the beach.
Food
Our go to location for beach chairs, umbrella and dining last year was Le String on Orient Beach. We didn’t stray far from the experience this year. On our first day we walked down, said hello to the beach guy, John, and chose a location on the second row of chairs. We usually have a Carib each on ice, and a bottle of water. We walked up to the dining area and both of us had the sea bass. It was swimming in a creamy butter sauce, white, flaky and cooked to perfection. A chilled glass of rose always taste better in an island beach setting. The chairs and umbrella came at no cost but I gave John a $20 tip and asked him to reserve a place on the front row for us tomorrow. We came back to Le String several times during our stay, except for the days my wife didn’t feel well (I have a previous report on how we navigated all of that).
That first evening we ate a Sao in La Place du Village, each of us having sushi and a glass of wine. Rose for her and a Chardonnay for me. The service was very good, the food likewise and we like sitting right at the entrance of the restaurant with a nice view of the entire area. I wondered on several occasions how the tree that acts like a canopy over much of the seating area at Sao managed to survive during Irma. It’s quite a large tree and gives the restaurant and very cozy ambience. We only ate here once this trip unlike last year when we frequented it at least 4 times over two weeks.
Later in the week we ate at Le Bouchon and had lobster tacos, which turned out to be more like hors de oeuvres. They were good but we were still hungry so we ordered the brisket tacos. We shared a desert, I think crème brûlée. The Le Bouchon experience was one of our favorite, primarily because we again sat at a table right out along the front of the restaurant with another tree canopy above. It just felt very cozy. We sat next to a couple and though we usually don’t engage in a long conversation with others dining, we had a good time talking with them about our mutual travel experiences.
On the night before we left we ate at L’Atelier. We weren’t very hungry, as that afternoon we shared a cheese burger and fries at Le String, so we decided to share a 14 oz rib eye. It was preceded by a mixed green salad each. Our sides were mashed potatoes, veggies and truffle pasta. The truffle pasta was the highlight of the meal. So, so good. My wife has made it since we’ve been home with truffled Parmesan cheese in a shaker we bought at Costco. Her version came very close and was delicious.
Other food we had this trip was take out pizza from Bo Pizza. This time around we felt it was “ok”. We remember last year really enjoying it a lot. So maybe it was an off night. We’ll try it again in June. We ate a few times at Bikini Beach bar and cooked pasta in our studio one evening. Most mornings I’d go down to Good Morning for a couple croissants for breakfast. The apple is my fav. We had eggs in the studio a few mornings and each day we’d enjoy pour over coffee. I would brew it at night and we’d have it as ice coffee the next morning.
Pinel Island
We’ve been coming to SXM at least once a year since 2004 and this was our first visit to Pinel. We drove our car an easy 10 minutes to the parking area and in a few minutes the ferry loaded everyone on board and we made the 10 minute ride to the island. We had reserved beach chairs and umbrella at Yellow Beach online about a month before our trip. A beach attendant had our name on a clipboard and took us to our beach location. It was fun seeing SXM from this vantage point. There were several catamarans in the water beyond the beach and tables about 8 feet out from the water line where a number of beach dwellers would go out to congregate and enjoy drinks and smoke. We also made reservations to eat in the restaurant at Yellow Beach beforehand. We had codfish fritters and the barbecue ribs and chicken combo with fries. I had an Aperol spritz and my wife had rose. The food was good and the ambience of an open air seating area looking out to the beach, water and island beyond was beautiful. It rained off and on the whole time we were at Yellow Beach but it didn’t dampen the enjoyment we had while there.
We found things to be much busier in April than they were last June. Which makes sense as it still is high season. That did not take away from anything in the way of feeling relaxed and comfortable the whole time we were there. We just noticed a lot more people around than we did on our last trip. Interestingly, we saw less dogs and donkeys this trip than last June. Maybe because they stay away when there’s more people. We’ll be going back in June and can’t wait!!! Direct flight this time
SXM to MIA
Smooth travel. There were some medial students who were flying with dogs. One gal was sitting in the seat next to my wife and the dog was a bit spooked at times. They eventually moved then to a different seat toward the back.
MIA to SXM
We had a very stressful and tiring experience going through customs which I reported in an earlier post where I was asking help on the subject. The flight was smooth.
Thanks to Carol and Eric for hosting TTOL. We’ve learned so much about the island and how to navigate so many areas while there. So thanks also to all the TTOL members for your helpful trip reports and comments.
