Background: This is really our first on island trip to St Martin. We stopped here on a cruise last year. During our cruise last year, we met another couple who expressed interest in coming back. So for a year I planned and put together our trip. We are not foodies. And we are not the sit on the beach in chairs all day people. We are adventurous and want to see and do most days. If we are at the beach, we are more the sitting at a beach bar all day types.
Saturday flew in from DFW via MIA. No problems. We were worried about hooking up with our travel partners who were flying in from DC. Downloaded a pdf file of the airport layout and decided we’d meet at the tourist info booth. Their flight got in about an hour ahead of us. Walked right through immigration as there was no line but did have to wait 20 min for luggage. We were kinda getting worried but noticed there were many others from our flight also still waiting. Got our luggage and A&S (I’m going to call the other couple A&S from here on) were waiting with a cold Presidente in hand for me. We rented from Kenny’s because of all the recommendations here. Exactly as advertised. Had us done with the paper work in 5 minutes. We put 3 of us on the drivers list. White Toyota mechanically sound but with some paint blemishes.
We headed for Oyster Pond where we stayed at the Coralita Apts.
http://www.st-martin-vacation.com/Condos-Apartments/Apt-Coralita.html We rented one of the poolside studios and A&S had the blue apartment just below us. If you want more info on this budget way of staying in SXM, send me a PM. We enjoyed staying there immensely.
After driving there on Google Earth several times before we left home and a couple of videos posted by TTOL members, I was able to direct my wife directly to Oyster Pond and the villa.
Dumped our luggage and headed to Grand Case and lolos. Walked around GC a little. Got 3 beers and a water for $4.50. Oh yeah! Finally settled at Talk of the Town. We all agreed it was not that great. Cold food and only 1 chicken leg piece for the chicken part of the rib/chicken combo. But like I said, we’re not foodies and we ate it all. Beer was good though.
It was dark by now so we headed to Calmos Café. It was closing for the season so it was their last night open. Wish there had been a band and finally about 6 kids running around drove us out of there. I might mention neither of us couples have children.
Long day of travel so we stopped on the way back to OP (Oyster Pond) and got a case of Presidente. Took a wrong turn and headed to the ferry dock to Pinel. Whoops, turned around and found the way back. Sat around the villa pool till 1am enjoying the view and water.
Sunday drove around the island just checking things out, getting our bearings, and seeing where everything is located. Had lunch at Marks Place. Goat stew curry and used the CC (Caribbean Card) coupon.
Decided in the afternoon we’d head over to Guys Driftwood Beach Bar and watch the 747 come in. We missed it by 5 minutes. It was on the end of runway headed to the gate. Oh well, still have the rest of the 10 days and we got to see it take off. Had a CC coupon for rum punches at Guys. They were so good, ended up sitting there watching planes and doing rum punches.
Started getting late and A&S are big Redskin fans so we headed over to the ESPN bar for dinner and football. Beautiful sunset from there sitting on the pier watching the game.
Monday morning did more checking out of the island. Headed down to Captain Olivers. Completely shut down. Dinghy Dock wasn’t scheduled to reopen till Fri the 18th, darn. Went over to Mr Busbys beach bar and had a killer mango colada with a rum topper. I might mention here that my wife hardly drinks. She was the designated driver for the other 3 of us. Went and checked out the Westin. It is ugly and no one was there. Went to the Radisson. Much prettier hotel and saw one person walking out to the beach. The pool was drained and being upgraded. I kiddingly asked the desk person if they were giving rooms away. There was no one there? Next went to check on where the ferry dock to Pinel was as we were going there on Friday. Drove thru GC on our way to Marigot. Stopped at Baie Rouge to check out the beach there. Didn’t look very friendly with thug looking locals hanging out in the parking lot. Took a couple of pics and left.
Walked around Marigot and had breakfast quiches at one of the little French restaurants, La Pucriere. (sp) Checked to see what we needed and the cost of the ferry to Anguilla for Tues. Next headed to P’burg to explore and have food at the Blue Bitch Bar. On the way back to the villa we stopped at Sunny Market for steaks, potatos and corn on the cob. Good little grocery store on A.T. Illidge Rd bordering the great salt pond. Grilled out and relaxed at the villa for the evening.
Tuesday got up early and got baguettes and food from Le Frigate in OP. Headed to Marigot to catch the ferry to Anguilla. Morning traffic wasn’t too bad. Took us about 30 minutes. Caught the 9:45 ferry over to Anguilla. Took 26 minutes. One of the customs officers hooked us up with Maurice Taxi and car rental. Rented a Corolla for $30 plus $20 Anguilla license. Decided to put gas in it so we wouldn’t have to worry with it for the rest of the day. Wife’s first time driving on the left. No problem. She’s seen me drive all over the Caribbean and she didn’t have a problem at all. I figured surely she’d mess up once, but nope, not at all.
Drove down to Dune Preserve. Closed, took pics. Headed to Elvis Beach bar. Closed. Took pics. Decided to head to The Valley and find Hall’s Unique bakery which was featured on one of Alton Browns Caribbean cooking shows. Got lost. Asked a lady walking on the street. She gave up trying to give us directions. Her car was parked nearby and she got in and led us to Hall’s. That was cool of her. Had jerk chicken and salt fish stuffed johnny cakes. Mmmm good. Ok to Shoal Bay. Place was dead. About a dozen persons on the whole beach. Elodias and Tropical Sunset were the only two places open. Ended up at Tropcial Sunset for the afternoon. Asked about Piton beer (St Lucian) but they said they stopped serving it because it was out of style. That was funny. Drank, ate, swam and relaxed there. It was beautiful. We set up our own Corona/Carib commercial pics. Neat place. Decided to head back and gave the beach chair guy a ride to his house. He gave us a little tour and info on the way back to Blowing PT. Dropped the car off and headed back to SXM.
Wednesday slept in and got up to check out the views from Pointe Blanche. Steep driving and great views. Headed to Orient Beach. Walked around. Most places were closed. Stopped at a couple of places for drinks but neither had a fun vibe going on. No music or people. Really we were about to leave when DC friends A&S saw the Maryland flag flying over Le Strings. Let’s see what the Maryland flag flying is all about. Well we found our spot. Ray and his people took care of us for an afternoon of fun and drinking.
Stopped at Mama Pizza in OP for pizza.
Thursday, Saba. Had our alarms set for 4:30 am as we needed to get our dive gear together and A&S needed to get their hiking gear and backpacks set up. Had a 7am flight on WinAir. I woke up about 3:45 am hot. What the heck. Rolling black out and the AC was off. Shoot. We’re going to have to get our gear together by flashlight. Luckily I have a strong diving light. I told my wife that we needed to get up now so we could get ready and then I could take the flashlight down to A&S so they could use it to get ready. I walked downstairs to get A&S up and let them know what the situation was. They were already up walking around using their laptop monitor as I lamp. We started laughing. Good idea. They had already been up because they were so excited about flying over there and hiking Mt Scenery.
Anyway we got our stuff together and about 20 minutes before we were to leave the power came back on. COFFEE!!! I don’t hardly drink it but the other three have to have it.
Uneventful drive and check in with WinAir. Flight over 12 minutes. Landing. HOLY SH*T!! He stuck the landing. I know most of you already know that Juancho Erausquin airport on the island of Saba is the shortest commercial runway in the world. And to top it off, it is situated on a cliff. Quite exciting .
We had arranged a cab with our dive shop, Sea Saba, for a ride for the day. He dropped us off at the dive shop in I think Windwardside. The Mt Scenery hiking trail is right there by the dive shop so we coordinated with the shop on when we’d be back from diving and when the’d be back from hiking. Sea Saba took my wife and I over to the harbour and got on the boat. Great big diving boat with only 8 of us divers. Great crew. We didn’t get to dive the Pinnacles because of our lack of diving experience. I’ve been diving 13 years but only once or twice a year and my wife is a new diver. Didn’t matter, the diving was good and we were safe.
After the dive we met back up with A&S. Asked our driver to give us a tour of the island. He looked at us odd and said you’ve seen it all. From the airport to the harbour is all there is to see?? He could of picked up a few extra bucks giving us the history of the island tour. He was born and raised there? Oh well, We sat at Saba’s Treasure bar and restaurant for 2 or 3 hours just relaxing with Presidente’s. The two wives walked down to the museum to check it out. Descibed it as being an old house set up to represent what living on the island was in the early years.
Cab driver came at 4pm to take us to the landing strip for our 5:15 pm trip back to SXM. We were walking around the little parking lot taking pics when an airport rep came out and called our names. He verified our tics in the parking lot and said we were checked in. How funny.
The takeoff was freakin great. Here’s the video link. Copy and paste it into the address line, it should come up or click on it.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=1128879067445Traffic was backed up bad going to OP. Stopped at Fresh Market in Madame Estates for chicken to grill out. I stayed in the car with our gear. Wife and A&S said it was a good grocery.
Grilled out chicken and relaxed that evening.
Friday we had breakfast and mango coladas at Mr Busbys. The two eggs, ham and cheese johnny cakes were really good.
After breakfast we headed over to the ferry dock for Pinel. Waited about 20 minutes. Not many people there. Only Yellow Beach bar was open. I started walking around to check out the island. Knew from this forum you could hike over to the other side so I walked over to Karibuni to check out where the trail was. Went ahead and hiked to the top of the hill. Went back and grabbed the others. Took us 7 minutes to walk over to the other side and the two women were in flip flops. Only one other couple was over there. Too rough to snorkel so we headed back to Yellow Beach Bar to spend the afternoon.
While there a couple from the cruse ship showed up and bought drinks. Then I notice that they were searching in their bags and clothes and looked stressed. I asked what the problem was and they said they’d lost the $50 to pay for the gas in their 4-wheeler and the cab fare back to the ship. I watched as their pina coladas melted while they stressed out on where and what happened to their $50. I couldn’t stand it anymore. They were young and on their honeymoon so I got my water wallet out and said “here’s $40. Mail me a check when you get back home”. They were so relieved that they didn’t know what to say. Made me feel good. Then after they left we discussed the chance of me seeing my $40 again. So what. Made me feel good and I believe in karma. Got the check in the mail yesterday with a nice card. People are nice!
Headed back to SXM so we could catch the Dinghy Dock reopening happy hour. That bar is great. $1 beers and $3 pour your own. Just point to a bottle and the bartender hands it to you along with your choice of mixer and you’re good to go!!!!! Ray from Le String was there. Bought us a round of drinks and we decided we’d eat there. Really good food.
Noticed while I was there that a spot was forming on my arm where I had scraped against the bushes while hiking to the other side of Pinel. Within a few hours it looked like poison ivy but didn’t itch. By morning it was spreading. Crap. Brought some topical Benedryl with us so I started putting that on it.
If you’ve hiked over there before, check out my pics link at the end of this trip report. I have pics of the trail and where it narrows with green bushes on both sides is where I got scratched.
Stopped down the hill at Le BZH Creperie in OP for chocolate and Grand Marnier dessert crepes. Those things are great. A complete French crowd and little or no English. Took some work to get them ordered. And then those French gerdarmes. My wife and S were obviously impressed.
Saturday we went to the market in Marigot. It had started off a stormy morning so we got a late start. There wasn’t much happening. Had a good supply of assorted fish and lobster. A few spice booths set up.
Ended up at Sunset bar and grill drinking and eating all afternoon. It rained and stormed and thundered. Planes all landing safely. The place was packed. Especially when it rained hard and we all crowded under the rotunda bar and underneath the grill bar. It was fun. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. They even had college football on the tv. Finally had to put a garbage bag over the tv’s because it was blowing rain. We were in our bathing suits so we didn’t care.
Got to see that big 747 land. Very impressive.
Headed to P’burg again late to buy some souvenirs and booze. With threat of more rain we grabbed t-shirts and hats at Rimas and stopped at a little Indian shop between Front and Back streets for liquor. Bought 6 bottles of Liquor.
We went to Beau Beau’s at Oyster Bar Beach Resort and use a CC coupon. They told us they don’t take them and whoever is printing them is doing it unathorized? The waitress took a liking to us and asked her manager if she could accept the coupon anyway. They did. That was nice.
Headed back to the Dinghy Dock for night cap. Noticed my non itching poison ivy stuff had spread to the lower part of my arm. We starting laughing because it had skipped the crook of my elbow and had spread to my lower forearm where when doing 12oz curls it had been touching my bicep area of the original infected area. Kept putting the topical Benedryl on it 2 or 3 times a day and it finally stopped spreading and dried up. Don’t know what it was?
Sunday was the last day on island for A&S. Went to Mr Busbys for breakfast. Sat around the villa all morning and just relaxed and watch them pack. Noticed when we were getting in the car to go to the airport that one of our tires was significantly low. Stopped at 4 gas stations on the way to the airport and finally the last Shell station before the airport had the air/water kiosk working. It was leaking fast.
Wanted to take pic of Lady C floating bar. It was closed and being remodeled. So we went to the yacht club next door for some preflight bloody Marys. Dropped A&S off at the aiport for their 2:30 UsAir flight back home.
Looked up the address to Kennys and drove by there but really couldn’t see any sign of a car rental business. Decided we’d go to Karacters and call from there. I didn’t even think to look for a spare. I figured he’d not keep one in the car. Especiallly since he told us not to lock the car anywhere. And my wife and I are both mechanics. Oh well. Called from Karacters and Lesley came right out and changed the tire. We had picked up a screw from the construction on the road to Mr Busbys. Kept wanting to call Lesley Bruce, Kenny all week. He really is a nice man and well spoken.
Sat at Karacters until A&S flight took off. Got to see another 747 land. Loved Karacters. It was quite crowded by the time we left.
Went to Toppers for dinner. We were the only couple there. Good food again.
Monday we had an 8am dive with Ocean Encounter divers. Had a great two tank dive with them. Only 4 of us on the dive and actually the diving was better than Saba. Small boat and difficult to suit up, enter and get out of the water. But the crew was great.
Went back to the villa to drop off our gear and decided to head to the lolo’s again and try Germaines lolo. About the same as far as food quality. Ribs were good and the stuffed christophenes were very good. I’d been looking for christopenes all week.
Back to Le String at OB and Ray and JoAnna the bartender got me feeling good really quick. Stayed there till sunset and again had a pizza from Mama Pizza. Funny they had 3 pizza places in OP. All french?
Early to bed. Back to reality on Tues.
Tuesday we just hung out at the villa slowly packing and trying to stuff 6 bottles of liquor in our luggage so they wouldn’t break. Around noon we headed to Sunset bar and grill where we’d told Lesley we’d meet him and turn in the car. Spent a couple of hours there before our flight.
No problems with flights home. Miami immigration and customs was a breeze. The had 36 agents at immigration and all the lines either had none or only one persons in line. Customs had 4 lines and it took us 4 minutes to get through.
Misc: Traffic wasn’t too bad. Through Simpson Bay area was the worst, but always moving. The roads are far better than some of the other islands we’ve driven on. Especially Tortola. The people drive better than other islands. Especially St Lucia.
Caught the bridge opening traffic one time. Saw a car with both front wheels pointing in and stalled out on the Cole Bay hill just past the Cole Bay round-a-bout. This was during rush hour in the evening and it had traffic backed up to the airport. Saw a left rear wheel come off a small van causing the van to slide sideways to the side of the road in the Orient Bay area. The wheel kinda sat there then started rolling right into the back of the van. Funny
Wife tried to take the Cake Hill rd going up the wrong way. Never could find a sign or figure out why ya’ll call it Cake Hill rd. After drivers started waving their arms at us and pointing the opposite direction I did sorta remember the posts here describing it as one way.
We never locked the car anywhere and left our swim wear and snorkel gear along with an ice chest full of beer in the trunk. Even left it unlocked all day when we went to Anguilla and Saba.
Never felt threatened and didn’t notice any crime. We went everywhere. Even drove in the back alleys we’d call “da hood” here at home.
Mosquitos were bad. Especially in OP. I got bit all over but they’re not Texas mosquitos. They never even left a welt. Didn’t even itch after about 5 minutes. So most of the time I didn’t even use any spray. My wife bought some kind of mosquito milk stuff that worked for her. All the restaurants and bars were offering mosquito spray.
Cole Bay round-a-bout is nice. Never drove there before so I don’t know what it was like before. Tues morning they were planting trees and palms. We had pet names for the round-a-bouts and areas where a sign or statue caught our fancy. We had the traffic man, ta ta the bus driver, naked statue, and plam tree round-a-bouts. We had the Kooyman, Francie bar car wash and Dr Foeken Cole bay clinic districts. Just our way of keeping track of where we were.
The new parking lot in Grand Case is nice. Looks like they were getting ready to install lights on it. Check out my pics.
The weather was fantastic. Only rained significantly on the one Sat. Heat was a little problem for our friends from DC. But only a couple of times. Jumping in the water and cold drinks took care of it. To me it was cooler than Texas and that is great.
Carribean card is a great deal. Even though I only used the coupons 4 or 5 times it paid for itself 3 times over. Hey Marc G. The extras are in the mail.
Many, many places to stop, get food, beer, toiletries and essentials. For some reason after reading this forum for a year and all the questions about where to shop and how much eveything is, I had the impression that there wasn’t that many. We just stopped all over and anywhere and the prices were very similar.
Finally I just wanted to thank all of you who contribute to this forum and TTOL. I’ve used the BVI forum to plan our vacation before and now the SXM forum. I did most of the planning for the four of us and this forum is a very special tool in making trips like these a success for us. My wife and A&S said I could plan a trip for all of us anytime. All of it thanks to you folks.
I hate to say we’ve been there and done that with SXM, but we probably won’t be back anytime soon. There are just too many islands to explore and see. We did decide what might bring us back is the ability to hop over to St Barts, Kitts, Nevis and Eustatius.
If I can answer any additional questions, drop me a PM.
Here’s a link to our pics.
Thanks, Michael and Shawna, Fort Worth, Texas
Copy and paste to address line if this doesn't highlight
http://mdrobtx.winkflash.comI know there are a lot of pics, but many were for documenting and helping others plan a trip to SXM.
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