Per Carol's request, reporting on our recent trip. We did not take many pictures, and I certainly don't write in the leagues of Linda or many of the others that actually follow grammar rules or for that matter rules. I was sober when writing this, so that is not my excuse.
How MJ and I crammed 10 days of vacation into four weeks! We increased the length of our Thanksgiving trip from two weeks to about three weeks about 10 years ago, have many years come back also other times of the year. Last year we upped it to nearly four weeks, and this trip was a total of 26 nights of lodging. We don’t see doing that many nights again unless we can bring our dog Blanton, and we probably won’t do that unless we plan on staying for several months. The soothsayer is not able to see into the future for us so who knows. We will be back in January for a short trip.
Flights – AA redeye from Portland Oregon to Miami, a couple hours on the ground and a shower at the Admirals club and then onto SXM. Trip back we left out of AXA to Miami with a short layover and a long flight back to Portland Oregon. Nothing earth shattering about the flights or airport time that is not normal, all went well. The excuse to fly back from AXA instead of SXM was that the tickets were about $500 pp less for FC seats than out of SXM for similar dates.
Weather – adding this early on the report as this was a factor in other decisions. Our first week plus it rained and when it stopped, it rained some more. By far the most rain I have seen on island. There were many places that you truly wondered if you would get through in a car. Lake Atrium at one point was all the way out to the main road with the parking lot at Market Garden completely covered. Lake Mullet was not even a consideration for several days, and again the road to BSV was deep for most of the way from Sunset to BSV. At times you could not see some of the speed bumps on the main road, let alone the pot holes or craters depending upon what you want to call them. At least I know where most of the speed bumps are after this many years.
Lodging – We don’t mind moving while on island, in fact we actually enjoy it and the variety that it brings. This trip we stayed at three different places on SXM, our lifetime total is now 35 different resorts and 46 different buildings on island. Why I keep track of stuff like that I have no clue, just like I can tell you we have now stayed 512 nights on island and that does not include side trips to Saba or Anguilla, this trip we did end with three nights on Anguilla.
Beachside Villas first two weeks – BSV is not for everyone, it was our first time staying there and I would give it mixed reviews and MJ would rate it higher than me. Off season rates are good, there is value there. MJ and I are spoiled and like having two bathrooms and that is something BSV has even if just using one bedroom, that as well as easy parking and being right on the beach were my positives for the place. I should add the staff is great as well. The places are aged, need new roofing and could used a lot of minor work and based on the leaking roof possibly some further hidden work needed. MJ jokes that she wondered why they have so many large salad bowls, well, when it rains you need five or so. The jet noise does wear on me, but it is cool to see some of the jets take off and land. The other positive was with the rain it was not like you wanted to go spend a day at a beach bar that you had to pay for chairs, so staying those days at BSV worked well for us. I very much understand why people return there year after year, and we very well might be back as well.
Cupecoy – we rented a small apartment in Cupecoy from a friend for a week, very reasonable cost and we like being in Cupecoy but missed having a view.
L’Eplanade – we finished our stay on SXM at L’Eplanade before heading over to Anguilla, had wanted to stay there since hearing Ed and Sandra talking about the place many moons ago. We had stayed at the sister property Le Petit and loved that so this was another chance for a new place for the list. We flat out loved staying there, I wish it was more in line with our budget for longer stays. L’Eplanade and Le Petite are at another level of quality service and accommodations. If you have the chance to spoil yourself for some of your trip, I highly suggest both properties.
Our final three nights were on Anguilla at The Fountains which is near (long walk) to Gwen’s. Very nice place, a bit of distance from restaurants and beach bars so I would suggest having a car there. We had not rented a car thinking the place was closer to restaurants than it was, after one night we contacted Andy to get a car which made the place more enjoyable.
Beach Days – Again stating weather, we did not go to many beaches during our stay.
Cupecoy had minimal sand on some of the beaches and we favor Shore Pointe which had next to no sand. We did go here several days to just hang out by Dany’s.
Coco is where we spent our only day on Orient, note that chairs are 30 Euros a piece, so 60 for two and an umbrella. Comfortable chairs, water included as well as towels but that is a bit pricy to us. Lunch was also a bit expensive but very very good, I had a lobster pasta dish that was excellent.
Friars Bay Beach Café – We love it there, staff knows us when we arrive and the vibe is simply awesome. We love our Cupecoy days but this is our other favorite place to spend a day. I wish they had pads for the chairs but at $10 for two chairs and an umbrella if you are eating lunch, it is tough to complain. Lunch both times were good as well, unrushed service and a great setting.
We did not get to Grand Case for a beach day, or to Karakter which we fully intended on doing but it was not to be on this trip.
Food – My wheel house for food is in the burger, steak, Mexican food and pizza, but do also enjoy the occasional high end Italian, French or other gourmet food. We normally don’t do checked luggage but we brought down soccer balls for Juggie and his toy drive. With that we decided as long as we are checking and we would have a bbq at BSV we brought steaks and hamburger in checked luggage, so we had several meals at BSV.
I did not keep notes on what all we had but La Rosa and Le Moulin Fou did not disappoint, good as they always are and have been for years and years and we got to dine with royalty at both places. Bar Code was good but the service was slow, or a bit beyond slow as Linda reported, who we ran into there. We also ran into Linda at the bar for apps at Roma/Mr Chow which has excellent apps as well as $8 Old Fashions that are excellent. D’s Beach Bar, had a nice lunch there, nothing exciting but a good stop. Dany’s at Cupecoy, I very much enjoy his chicken and ribs combo. We are known to be a regulars at Lal’s and made several stops there to eat, drink and visit with Lal. Our final dinners on island were at Calmos, it is not gourmet upper end but it is a good place with a great atmosphere and view at a reasonable cost. On Anguilla we enjoyed Gwen’s and Tropical Sunset for lunch, both good as they are known to be. We liked Tropical Sunset for food over Gwen’s but Gwen’s pasta salad is the best I have had anywhere.
Food highlights would include:
The Palms – I really like Greg’s lasagna as well as the burger when he has it on the menu and his ribs that while expensive are my favorite sauced ribs. Where the kudos go out for a “best I have had” on island his filet mignon is top shelf, and as Linda stated it can be cut with a fork. My filets from Greg this trip and previous trips were the best three filets I have had on island and I have had more than a few. Consistently great.
L’Aterlier – In Orient village we had planed on going to Sao but due to a sick child they had to close for the evening so we ended up dining with our favorite Princess at L’Aterlier. MJ had the trigger fish which was I think cooked in a clay something or other and I had the Filet Mignon (go figure) that was done with a bourbon sauce. MJ raved about the Trigger Fish and I can state the Filet was excellent, could have been thicker but it had great flavor.
I am much more of a rib eye or porterhouse lover but on SXM rib eyes are typically an inch or less thick which to me is like what lunch meat would be, not a top end dinner steak. I like 1.5inch or thicker which is why on island I lean towards Filet Mignon as it is usually served at a size it should be on island.
La Chingona – Jordan Village area between Fat Tony’s and the Stars Casino. Jasmine and Kyle I am told originally opened their first place in a trailer, then graduated to this small spot in Jordan Village for the last several years. We probably eat here more than any other place on island in recent trips. Why they are in this final grouping is they keep getting better and better, stepping up their game big time. I had the Shrimp Taco’s this trip, WOW, fantastic. Their burritos and other items are excellent as well and the cost is minimal. I also suggest the Tamarind Margaritas. This is not a fancy place and they do a lot of “to go” but do have some tables to sit at. We did try their loaded fries this trip, in the range of $11 to $13 if I remember correctly, you get fries loaded with different toppings that would be normal for a burrito, very filling and a favorite of many of the college students from what I gathered.
Anguilla – Artisan Pizza Napoletana – We were craving pizza and heard about this place and decided to give it a try noting it is getting rave reviews online as well as those we talked to. It lived up to all the hype, very quality pizza. We had one with mushrooms and sausage, and another which was their “Carne” which was with several different meats and had a zesty spice to it. Biggest reminder to all that visit Anguilla, make sure you have reservations for dinner regardless of if it is a pizza place, Mexican place or high end restaurant.
We certainly could spend more time on Anguilla, and upcoming trips we may want to spend some nights back in Grand Case as well as near Orient Village as that restaurant area has really come back to life. Nice to be home, very ready to stay home for a while but before you know it we will be back in a jet heading somewhere warm.
Todd and MJ
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