TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Trip Report: May 27 to June 7

May 27 to June 7, 2010

For the first time in years, I took no notes of anything happening during the trip - my OCD may be declining some. This report is based on memory - which is kind of a scary thought.

USAir - RIC to CLT to SXM and return. Early arrival in SXM going down and early arrival in RIC returning - very easy - good flights - the scrum for the overhead was not too bad despite full planes each way - we were Zone 2 and had no problems ourselves. Going down there were big wedding parties and families going to Med School graduation - chatted on way down with med school graduate's mom. Not too bad a wait at immigration and baggage in SXM on arrival. I do agree with others who have commented on how annoying all the sales pitches during the flights on USAir are. USAir also is making the FF miles harder and harder to use, so it should not be surprised that getting miles is not as attractive as it used to be.

Made the usual advance arrangements by email with Bruno (Paradise Bungalows) for lodging; Michael (Unity) for car; and Sharon (QueenofSXM) for the phone. All were great as always and no problems of any kind - we really like all of these folks as people as well as someone to purchase something from and recommend all of them without reservation - with the sole comment that Bruno needs to get some more power into his wifi signal. Geraldine told me that they were going to try to get some new equipment when in France to try to boost signal to bungalows. Apparently what Peconic (?) tried did not work or at least did not continue to work. Unfortunately, on this trip, and for the foreseeable future, because of my business, I have to be able to handle email every day - there simply is no alternative - and, I really want to be able to do it at where I am staying. Of course, after the very sad events with Laurent, I did not even think about talking with Bruno about anything other than what was going on and how he was doing. It was really a heck of a blow to all concerned and I hope everyone is doing as well as they can. I would say hello to PeteK who had the room next to ours, but I am just sooooooo annoyed at how much time he gets to spend in SXM - oh well, hi Pete.

May 27 Thursday - Arrival. Stopped at Grand Marche on Bush Road and loaded up with groceries - we ate majority of dinners in room. Traffic was nothing to complain about on this first trip across island or later. Later in the trip, we shopped at new US Market on road over to Grand Case - which was very nice but more expensive than Grand Marche and the brands and products were less familiar - not that that is a bad thing necessarily - it is more interesting.
I walked down to beach just to see it late in afternoon - the door in the fence to La Plantation was open during this trip, so we could walk to beach through La Plantation, which makes it easier walk from Bruno's to beach. Do not know if it is generally locked or locked late at night or what the deal is.

May 28 - Friday. Our general MO throughout the trip was for me to get up very early and drive down to Club O, park the car in their lot, drop any stuff we would need that day on the beach, and then run the beach to Mt Vernon and back - doing the approx. 2.6 miles. The wife would eventually show up, walking down to beach (this requires having two keys to bungalow so that I can unlock and relock deadbolt from outside while she is still sleeping). I often arrived at Club O before 6:30 (which time they formally "open" for day visitors) but they did not seem to care about that and were not interested in charging me anything for parking - I did indicate on first day that I would be getting chairs and umbrella that day and I do not know if that was any part of reaction. My assumption would be that they are not charging for parking now, but I cannot say that with certainty. I just talked with security guys and never asked anyone in office about it.

On one of first days, the security guy at gate was asleep when I walked past and an employee was coming up to gate - I opened door and said "Bonjour" - the guy was quite startled and embarrassed - I just said good morning again and pointed to the car waiting for the gate and he raised it. This first day, we stayed on Club O beach all day. I think this first and last day we saw the bead line thing - kind of funny to watch - he did not get a lot of business while we were watching. Swam over to Green Key/Cay (Isle Verde) and snorkeled for a long time. Other than far side of Creole Rock, which is pretty great, we think north west end of Green Key is best snorkeling available off beach (at least to us) in SXM.

Almost every morning, at 8 am (when they open) or just after, I would get us pastries, yogurt, drinks, and a newspaper from the Boutique and we would have breakfast on the beach or sitting at the Perch. I have found that the Boutique is less expensive and higher quality than Tap 5 - and the friendliness of the staff and other customers cannot be beat - the trip to the store every morning is part of the whole SXM experience for me. There is the new place - Bread and Cake, I think - in the new little row of stores in the Village. We did go there one day, just wanting to see it and support the new operation, but their selection was not what we wanted and we did not buy anything. I feel sorry for the owners of the place, trying to make a go of something like that. I do not see how they can make it but wish them the very best.

May 29 - Saturday - Green Key. Today was sand gravity plus - just same as day before as best I can remember.

May 30 Baie Rouge. Early morning on Orient - then, off to Baie Rouge. We got chairs/umbrella and ate lunch with Raymond on this trip - last trip was with Gus, so we are trying to even things out. Lunch was great. The snorkeling was good over past Devil's Hole and the next point. At happy hour, Raymond's blender was not working well and the "bartender" was not very good with the frozen drinks - so, after one order from Raymonds, I got some other drinks from Gus' ladies - who were much better bartenders and had a blender that worked. Of course, Willie and (the guy who filled in for her on her day off - whose name I should know but forget) put all the other bartenders we saw to shame in terms of speed and quality. Every day we were at Club O at happy hour starting at 2:30, I got in line. Line conversation always is interesting - one woman: "I've been coming here 25 years; I knew Willie when she was in diapers." Well, second comment is paraphrasing but she was a trip.

May 31: Dawn Beach and Captain Alan. We first parked at Mr. Busby's but Grey told us that we could not park in their lot, even if we were getting chairs/umbrella from them and planning to eat lunch there - which we were. He said that that had been their policy for a year, but it was first time they had questioned my parking there so early in morning. It was not a big deal for us this day, because it was early enough that only one other person was parked at the Great House Marina parking and I just parked the car over there. The reef at Dawn was alright - still not close to the same reef as before Luis and then the Westin - the Westin still a very sore topic with us. Lunch at Mr. Busby's was good and then immediately after lunch we walked over to Great House Marina and took the half-day snorkel on Awesome with Captain Alan - same boat as the Paul and Peggy trip, but everyone keeps their clothes on and it is only a half day. We had a great time on this trip - Captain Alan was the only one on board with a group of about 16 (?), including a bunch of kids, but he handled everything very well - including handing a bucket to the 12 year old boy who got sick mid-trip. We stopped at White Rock for snorkeling; then to Happy Bay for a mud bath (with the imported "mud") and then walking around. Two 11 year old girls, twins, on the trip with their family, were the first to spot the naked folks on the beach (the girls had great eyesight) and were pretty hilarious in their comments about them. I think one guy was kind of taken aback when the Awesome pulled in right near him with the family groups we had - as one of the girls reported not too long after our arrival - "he's put his pants on." I do not think the nudity offended anyone on the boat in the least - it was kind of interesting to see the reactions. After Happy Bay, we stopped at the Anse Marcel "rock"/reef - we had never done either that or white rock before and we enjoyed seeing those places - both pretty good snorkeling for SXM. After Anse Marcel, we stopped briefly at Pinel - it was raining and it was not really a snorkel stop anyway I do not think. It was an excellent excursion and we had a great time.

June 1 - Tuesday - Divi Little Bay. After the morning routine, we went to Divi Little Bay. They now have a sign up at gate explaining that they charge $2 per hour parking – but, if you spend $25 or more at their bars or restaurants, then it is free. You keep your receipt(s) and go by front desk. We had lunch at Sea Breeze, which was more than $25 by itself - so the parking was "free" as it always has been for us. Chairs and umbrella were $15 as they always have been for some time. I got cold drinks at Jody's Place at Belair - chatting with cashier there as usual - did not see Jody this trip. Snorkeling was OK - the Tiki Hut was there and we saw bunch of folks there - the Snuba Sea thing was there - we did not see anyone using the snuba thing. When wife went back for second snorkel after lunch, I hiked up to and around Fort Amsterdam. They still have sign saying that you need written permission from Divi to go into Fort area but I consider it an illegal sign and in any event, I ignore it. There are some trails that you could be tempted to go on where you need to be careful not to risk falling or going over the cliffs, and I would not want young kids exploring the place on their own, but overall there is no safety issue in looking around and reading the informational signs they have up.

June 2 - Wednesday. Bluebeard to Prickly Pear. We originally had thought about Bluebeard on Tuesday and then Random Wind on Wednesday. Because of a painting issue or something, Bluebeard canceled Tuesday and was going on Wednesday. The wife was more interested in Prickly Pear than the places Random Wind would go and although we really like the boat and Di, Trevor, et al., we decided to go with Bluebeard on Wednesday and cancel with Random Wind. I was nervous telling Di, figuring she had the right to yell at me, but she was very nice about it, of course, as always. This was our first trip on Bluebeard and we thought the crew did a better job than the crews we have seen on Tango and Lambada - Ingrid was a very nice hostess. The parking issue also is easier - having to park for the Tango or Lambada can be a hassle and always makes me anxious. I had not thought Scoobitoo was going out that day to Prickly Pear, but we saw it at Prickly Pear with only a very few people and I wonder if it was a private charter - but do not know and maybe just misread their site. I had emailed Corine but had never received a response and I did not follow up with her. We like Scoobi (in part because of French side departure) but it is substantially more expensive. While out and about, Awesome went zooming by - looked like Modi or maybe Baycruiser standing up in back? Quite the TTOL expedition. Looked like they were having a lot of fun. (We keep a low profile in SXM but of course we keep an eye on TTOL folks, looking for good dirt to report here - btw, I prefer small bills.)

June 3. Thursday. Green Key – Philipsburg. This day we did the morning routine and then headed to Philipsburg. Traffic was good and we easily found a parking place in the free Salt Pond parking. We had thought we would make it to the Zoo, but never did. One reason for going was to get some cash. When getting ready to leave, I never made it to the bank because of the usual crush of things to do to get away and I never got the cash needed for the trip. I prefer to avoid using credit cards except with Bruno and Michael (as well as DK Gems) and do everything else in cash - Sharon of course just takes cash to pay the final bill. I stay away from any bank's atm on SXM except Scotiabank, which has never been a problem of any kind for us. The wife had sworn off any trip to DK Gems but I really tempted her way too much walking around Philipsburg and we made the trip. As reported on other occasions, she has become way too comfortable with the folks there - in the good old days, the people in the jewelry stores in the Caribbean tended to scare her away unless she had a particular idea in mind - but ever since meeting Deepti years ago, a trip to DK Gems is part of her SXM trip experience. She got a nice bracelet as a souvenir of the trip and I got a cold Heineken - the usual deal. We dealt with Vicky on the deal, but Deepti was there and we chatted briefly. While in Philipsburg, we talked with a couple fellows at the Swaliga office at Bobby's Marina - not Capt Bob who was out on an excursion and they were very nice. We talked about snorkeling and dive spots. We do intend to try Swaliga (I may be spelling it wrong) on a future visit. We did happy hour at the Greenhouse - met some cruisers off Solstice - who were having a great cruise.

June 4 - Friday. We walked over to Le Galion just to look around and see what was going on - some school groups were cleaning up the beach. We then drove over to Grand Case Beach Club, with the idea of doing the snorkel trip over to Creole Rock. We had the number of Watersports but decided just to drive over and see what was going on. They were not doing any trips this day and we signed up to go with Sebastian on Saturday. We stayed at GCBC, getting the chairs and umbrella for $20. Lying on the chairs we decided that Creole Rock did not really look that far away and so we swam over. I do not recommend swimming over both because it is far enough that it is kind of hard to enjoy the snorkeling that much and because I am not sure it is all that safe with boats zipping along, but people do swim it. If you have read my previous reports, you know that we can take on some swimming that may not be the most sensible in the world. On this day, we never went to the other, far side of the rock so we never saw the best coral. After GCBC, we went back to the bungalow to shower and change, and drop our stuff, before heading back to Grand Case for dinner. We parked in the municipal lot at the culture center and walked up and down the street looking around before eating at the Rib Shack. We were not really up for a really good meal at Le Cottage or another place.

June 5 – Saturday. After the morning routine, we drove back over to Grand Case Beach Club for the snorkel tour with Sebastian - now $35 pp. Two women from a wedding group joined us. We kind of wondered at their experience and ability in the water, but they both told Sebastian that they were good swimmers and could handle it. One of the two was. The other one appeared to have no experience snorkeling and was not used to open water swimming. She kept up for a while and was very game, but it turned out that she was drinking too much water and wound up getting sick when we were on the other side of the rock. Sebastian swam her back to the boat, but then could not get her onboard. A family with a dinghy saw his problem and came over to help - the three adults were able to get her into the dinghy because it was pretty low to water and then from there get her into boat. She was fine after a bit, but it was kind of scary at first, worrying about her. She had lost her mask and snorkel, but Sebastian was able to find them on the bottom pretty quickly by retracing the route we had taken. Everything worked out and we had a great snorkel but there was a little more excitement than we needed.

June 6 - Sunday. The morning routine with a trip to Green Key. We just hung out on Club O beach all day (lunch at Andy & Cheryl's) until we went back to bungalow and showered and changed to go on Neil's Sunset Lagoon Cruise on Celine from Skipjack's. This is a freebie that Neil does in conjunction with SXM Privilege or Jeff Berger's site or anyone who shows up, apparently. Johann really looked different as the first mate! OK - poor joke and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the woman who acts as hostess now on Celine. We really enjoyed the cruise around the lagoon as we had never seen parts of SXM from that perspective before. In particular, I was very interested in seeing the "other side" of Cupecoy - I had not realized that there was so much construction there - at least, seeing it was something of an eye opener. We of course left a tip in the tip jar so it is not a totally "free" trip but very nice.

I broke my glasses (a screw fell out) getting ready to go on Celine and just used my contacts until later getting glasses fixed. I stopped a number of places looking for an eyeglass repair kit but could not find anything open with the kit on this Sunday night. I did make it to Simpson Bay Pharmacy WELL BEFORE 7 - the closing time listed on the door - the door was locked - I knocked on door and the two people inside totally ignored me. If I had needed a life saving drug I would have gotten pretty agitated but I decided not to make a scene and then tell them I was looking for an eyeglass repair kit. I finally found one at the airport in the shipwreck shop the next day as we were getting ready to leave.

June 7 Leave. Boo - Hiss - have to leave. Got a run in and lazed on beach but did not try any more swims to Green Key - getting old, I guess. We checked in at airport around 10:30 or so, returned phone, got the car filled with gas, and got sandwiches at Subway, before returning car to Unity about Noon and getting ride to airport. There was no line at either immigration or passport control/security. I paid $5 to get the card to use the wifi and spent most of the time before the flight online while the wife wandered the shops.

We did eat some dinners out other than Rib Shack but nothing to write home about. We had at least four lunches at Andy & Cheryl's (I lose count) and had very good times there. In particular, Andy's lasagna and the shrimp something diablo (or whatever the name was) were really great. Cheryl was welcoming and wonderful as always. Andy seemed kind of subdued and we did not see him offend anyone while we were there for our lunches - don't know if he is losing his touch or what! Adrian and Ross were fine, and Judy (do I have her name right?) did not zone out too much. Re the beach - the nude beach walkers were out in force every morning and it seemed (very anecdotally) that there was a higher percentage of women than seen in recent years - although still a small percentage of total people walking nude.

There were so many things we had thought we might do this trip that we didn't, that I will not even start. We just need to go again - the wife even told Cheryl that she was not willing to wait until next year to see her again - now that's progress I like!