Everyone,

Here’s my report of our trip to St. Maarten last week. I found the trip reports on these boards very useful during our planning, and would like to pass the favor on to those planning future trips. We are a mid-40’s married couple who have visited St. Maarten many times via cruise ship, and spent a week on the island in 2010. I have broken this down by subject instead of providing an exhaustive narrative of our activities. Please feel free to ask me any follow up questions.

Flights – We flew American Airlines from Washington DC, connecting through Charlotte. Business class was only a few hundred dollars more than coach, so I splurged on the better seats. We had an early morning departure from DCA on Saturday 5/28. Security lines in Washington early on Saturday morning were non-existent. On our return, we found SXM to be busy but efficient on Saturday afternoon, 6/4. We were somewhat delayed by weather in Charlotte, but AA handled it very nicely. They even found the two pieces of checked luggage that somehow got off the plane but not into the pre-customs baggage claim, and made sure they were on the final flight into DC.

Rental Car – We rented a Kia Picanto from AAA rental car for the week. When we arrived AAA was not waiting for us in the arrivals area, but an agent from another rental car company found the AAA guy in the parking lot, and he took us to the their HQ in Beacon Hill. Paperwork was quick, price was as promised. The Picanto was easy to park and had good gas mileage. The only drawback to such a small car was that we do not travel light, and our 2 30” suitcases barely fit inside.

Royal Island La Plage – We stayed at the LaPlage in 2010, and were very happy to be there again. We rented unit 5108 from an owner, and enjoyed an expanded balcony and perfect view over Maho beach and the runway. As we expected, the complex was very clean and well maintained, and service at the front desk was very pleasant. The pool area is especially lovely, and since 2010 they have grown a series of sea grape plants up into umbrella shapes so instead of a regular umbrella over your chair you can sit under a cute tree – as an office worker I thought this was a great treat. Internet was $50 for the week, which covered 2 devices, and it was fast enough for our purposes of general browsing and email. We parked our rental car in the garage under La Terasse for $30 for the week, which seemed like a bargain.

Food and Drinks – we tend to like to eat at the bar and chat with bartenders, and you’ll see that reflected below. We like good food (who doesn’t?) but fine dining is not a priority when we’re on vacation.

3 Amigos, Maho Village – We sat at the bar, overlooking the street, which made for great people watching. Bartender was very pleasant and gave us a coupon for a free drink on a later visit, so we went there twice. They tried hard to get the correct baseball game on TV for us. Food was adequate TexMex, and nothing special, but very generous with cheese.

Lee’s Roadside Grill, Simpson Bay – We went there twice in 2010, and did not have the budget to order a giant lobster. This time we got the lobster (4.75 lbs for about $75). It was really tasty, and so huge that it was hard to keep it on the plate! The service there was pretty indifferent, so we did not stay for drinks after dinner.

Lal’s Fine Indian Cuisine (or Curry in a Hurry), Simpson Bay – Tasty Indian food, and less salty than it is at home. Amazing samosas. Service was good and prices are very reasonable. Lal himself mixes the cocktails and says hello to the diners.

Dinghy Dock, Simpson Bay – HUGE craft beer list, divided by type. Regular macro-brews are listed on the back page under a heading of “Cr*p Beer”. The place was nearly empty but the bartender was friendly and professional, and the atmosphere encouraged hanging out for a few drinks.

Sunset Bar and Grill – Wow! It’s HUGE now. We had read about the expansion, and I have to say that I really approve. The place is so popular that it’s nice to see that it can now properly accommodate the crowds it attracts. Servers were numerous and efficient at the tables, and bar service was attentive. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner there on different days, and the food was good every time. They have a pizza oven and the pizza I had for dinner was great – they do a thin crust.

Pat’s Roadhouse, in front of the Boathouse Restaurant in Simpson Bay – We went there after dining at Lee’s and deciding that Lee’s bar didn’t look like much fun to hang out at. We walked up the road, and saw this little, dimly lit open air bar. There were a few people there but seats were open at the bar, so we stopped in. What a great place! Pat the owner was tending bar on each of the three occasions we went in. He is French and has a real talent for hospitality. We were heartily welcomed as if we were arriving at his private party. He makes his own ginger rhum, and his Dark and Stormy can’t be beat. It’s one of those places with great “craic”, where you wind up talking to the other folks at the bar, and it was really fun. On our last visit we discovered that he serves food, and had some very tasty and cheap tapas for dinner. They have live music on Friday (and Saturday?) – a cool guy jamming on guitar doing classic rock favorites.

Toppers , Simpson Bay – nice seafood place with good service. Husband donated a license plate to their décor, as SSBG does not seem to do the license plate thing anymore. We met the owner, Topper, and found this to be a pleasant spot with its own parking lot.

One note on parking in Simpson Bay – there is a huge open space/lot on the bay side of the road, but no-one to get people parked efficiently. Someone should really stand around and collect $1 from each car and park them in rows. I can’t believe no-one has taken on this entrepreneurial opportunity. On one of our visits we were nearly parked in because someone thought that the opening in the first line of cars by the road was a parking space, when it was really where the rest of us needed to exit! We were able to work our way out, but off-roading in a rented Kia is a little scary!

Pizza Pasta Trattoria, Maho Village – a great tip from this board. A very cute friendly place with delicious food! We really enjoyed it, and I wished we were a bigger group so we could have tried more dishes.

SkyBeach , Maho Village – this place opens after 9:00 PM (or 10:00 PM?), with an entrance between Sopranos and Bajatsu on the upper level. Huge and loungy, with all white and subdued neon décor. Honestly we were not nearly young, hip or beautiful enough to be in there, but their staff was very welcoming and the drinks were delicious. Not our usual type of spot at all, but I thought it was neat and would be a fun place to see and be seen in the high season when there are more people there.

Guy’s Boat Bar, Maho Beach – funky, islandy place. Good bar service and tasty rum/mango smoothie type drinks. Music seemed unnecessarily loud, and the fact that cars park 6 inches from the bar stools detracted from the atmosphere. That did not stop us from going there a couple of times for a drink before getting dressed for dinner, as it is the kind of place where you don’t need to wear more than a swim coverup.

Zee Best, on the road by the airport – Really good croissants for breakfast and nice sandwiches to take to the beach. Their little quiches were also nice.

Beaches

Maho beach – quite narrow and rocky near SSBG, but flatter and wider over near the Royal Islander and Sonesta. Umbrellas and chairs on the beach by the Royal Islander are for RI and Sonesta guests only, with a beach man to manage things.

Orient beach – We went to Pedro’s as we had done before. It seemed to have enjoyed some tidying up and improvements. Rented chairs and umbrella for $20 with two rum punches. Unfortunately it was very windy and the fine sand there blew all over everything – into mouths, eyes, drinks, ears, beach bag. Not much fun, so we only stayed a few hours.

Mullet Bay – our first time there, and we really like it. We went twice, and both days rented 2 chairs and umbrella for $15. The beach is long and wide, but with a big cliff of sand that you have to hop down to get in the water. On the first day we visited the water was really calm, and a few excursion boats came by. The second time we went the tide was in and seas were rougher. Waves would ricochet back off the beach, breaking outwards, and meet those breaking towards the beach to throw up huge walls of water. Really fun to play in if you are a strong swimmer. We had snacks from Rosie’s snack bar, which was cheap and had a genuine island feeling .

A note on coolers – we brought a cooler for sandwiches, water and few beers to both Pedro’s and to Mullet Bay and no one gave us any trouble about it.

A note on cell phone service – we had international data roaming plans from AT&T and Verizon for our smartphones. We found that the phones worked best when connected to the “Chippie” network.