We love staying in that area! We are able to avoid the massive traffic most of the time. We love the Rum Punches (especially at sunset) at Dany's Beach Bar in Cupecoy.
There are several nice restaurants in Porto Cupecoy - we have begun starting our trip out at Altro. Great service, good food at good prices. French Cocotte is another fairly new one. You are also pretty close to Maho, and as mentioned, there are lots of nice options there. We picked up a pizza at Roma one night and usually enjoy Happy Hour at the Oasis (the bar area between Roma & Mr. Chow) and we agree with Colour1 it's wonderful! Somewhere like Skip Jacks or Pineapple Pete's in Simpson Bay might be a little more family friendly though.
The ferry to Pinel is still there. $12 or 10 euros, but it was cancelled for several days while we were there because the seas were very rough. You can rent chairs at the restaurants which are nice or we have hiked to the back side a couple of times and taken a picnic when we had our own chairs.
We have used Lesley at Kenny's Car Rentals on all of our recent trips and find the fact he is waiting for your when you arrive with car keys so much quicker and more convenient, we wouldn't go back to the shuttle bus to the others! I emailed Wilford Brooks (found contact info for him & Lesley on this board) and he was very responsive and helpful.
Have fun! I understand things have changed a lot, but we immensely enjoy our time on SXM!
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