April 8-18, 2011
Usually we stay at Pelican, but gave our unit back. So these are all new places we tried this year.
Booked FF tickets last June. $127.70 plus 50,000 miles (fees for being Silver waived and 10K less miles for the two tickets; booked exit row seats down and back). What a sweet deal! Bring socks and a blanket! Those seats are cold. Also bring bathroom spray on the plane, the toilets are disgusting!
Up early and headed to the Hartford CT airport. Parked at Red Lot Self Park (old Piccolo). Had 3 days comp. Total cost for parking for ten days: $46.86. Plus $2 tip for driver both ways (total $4).
Friday, Day 1: flights on time, plane empty. Met Lesley, R11, ($270 plus tax and $6/day liability for a total of $360). Checked into Summit. Given a hot washcloth upon arrival, nice touch, along with a coupon for a free fruit drink. Nice, clean studio room. Rented through Jeff Berger’s site for a total of $120.75. Decent TV stations. All the rooms at Summit are studios. Emailed kids to say hello and that we arrived safe. Summit has a computer you can use in the registration room. Nice pool, but aging. Very cool day, and windy. Freshened up and off to Mark’s for ribs. Traffic was horrible, took 40 min. to get there from the Summit. Two orders of ribs, beer and a water $31 plus $6 tip. Back to the Summit, happy hour two for one drinks. Two Carib $3 plus $2 tip and a free fruit drink.
Saturday, Day 2: Breakfast in. Checked out of the Summit and into the Towers. Rented from an owner for $725 (week 15). They let us move right in since the room (#305) was ready. View of the pool/lagoon. Small room, but nice. Tiny kitchen and refrigerator. What is with the toilet paper from China???? Don’t think I’d stay here for a week again, just too small; think I‘d spring for a one bedroom unit. Room was very dusty and floors dirty. No clock in the room anywhere. TV gets a few channels, but they must shut service off at night because could only get 2 channels on a sleepless night. A/C worked fine except for one night. Small patio with two lounge chairs, table and two chairs. Off to the Driftwood to watch planes. $6 for two beers plus $2 tip. On to Grande Marche for groceries. $133 for food including 3 SXM Perfecto bags of coffee (they were out of DE regular) and one decaf Douwe Egbert for me, and a bottle of Bacardi, smoked Maine trout which was excellent, and all the other stuff you need for a week. Brought our own grocery bags. $2 tip for the bagger. Back to the Towers, had tapas on the deck. Out to Piece of Cake for crepes. $20 for two crepes, one with ice cream, including tip. Early to bed. Is every bed in SXM hard as a rock???
Sunday, Day 3: Took an early swim in the Towers pool. Weather is still nice. No baguettes and pastry sold in the lobby anymore. Took a ride to Marigot, got gas at the wrong Cadisco for $1.20/Euro for a total of $41. Next time buy gas at the Cadisco just before the marina. LaBelle Epoque is closed on Sundays, as is half of the marina. Ended up at what was open, can’t remember name, had pizza and salad, two beers and water for a total of $42. Think the exchange here was $1.40/Euro. Not as good as LaBelle Epoque. Back to the Towers for another swim. Had a couple of our beers by the pool. Out to the Greenhouse for happy hour and free wifi (you have to sit by the bar to get it). Had Macho Nachos, fries, 4 drinks, 4 beers for $42 including tip. Very happy.
Monday, Day 4: Another nice weather day. Breakfast in and off to Mullet. Lots of garbage after Sunday party I assume. Two chairs/umbrella $15. The free Tower chairs look a little nasty and the guy who’s supposed to be handing them out is invisible. Left around 4 and back to the Towers pool for happy hour. $9 for beer and BBC (just ok). Showered and out to dinner to Pineapple Pete. It’s raining a little. Filet, chicken and water $50. 3% TOT listed on bill. Stopped at the Carousel for ice cream, $10 for two scoops each.
Tuesday, Day 5: Cloudy start to the day. Ran errands. Went to Rima’s, they have expanded the store again. Lots of new shirt colors. $59 for 3 shirts, 3 moo moos, two bookmarks and phone case. Stopped at LeSuciere for a baguette and brioche $2.10. Stopped to see Alan at Pelican but his day off. LaGondola is closed on Tuesday as well. Stopped at Market Garden for water and American! toilet paper, $5. Back to the Towers, managers party cancelled again (guess it’s happened more than once). Hung out at the pool, sandwiches in the condo, more rain. Went to the Greenhouse for appetizer, burger, 8 drinks, $45 plus $10 tip. Love their free Wifi, Sven and Felix too. Someone bet me $100 I couldn’t drink 4 drinks…still waiting to see the money.
Wednesday, Day 6: Cloudy start again. Off to Mullet. $15 for chairs and umbrella. BIG waves today. Packed a cooler with sandwiches, snacks and beer, ate on the beach. Stopped by the pool, then shower and changed for LaGondola. $95 plus $15 tip. Water, wine, lasagna, ravioli, two salads, split a tiramisu. Early night home.
Thursday, Day 7: Woke up in the middle of the night sweating, the a/c in the condo wasn't working. That’s when I found out the TV channels are shut off too, only two channels for viewing at 3 a.m. It’s raining this morning. To LeSuciere for breakfast. Three pastries, tea, coffee and baguette for $9, plus free wifi. On and off sunshine all day. Went to Mullet, $15 for chairs and umbrella. Packed a lunch for the beach. Back to the condo, ate LaGondola leftovers and headed to the Greenhouse for happy hour and appetizers, $35 and $7 tip. I see a pattern here.
Friday, Day 8: Nice day today! Breakfast in and off to Mullet. $15 chairs and umbrella. Rained out of Mullet at 2:15. Pouring rain, thunder. Weird weather, wicked windy. Whitecaps on the lagoon. Actually needed a sweater to go out. Went to the Greenhouse for happy hour, $20 for drinks including tip. Over to Marks for ribs again. $34 plus $6 tip for 2 dinners, water and a beer.
Saturday, Day 9: Checked out of the Towers, $50 timeshare tax. Headed to Azure, but room wasn’t ready. Weather looks much better today. Stopped at Pelican, at Bon Appetit for coffee, hot chocolate, two croissants $9 and $2 tip. Walked up to visit Alan. Not doubting our decision to dump our unit here. Two beers at the bar $6 and $2 tip. Checked into Azure. Walk out of the room and right onto small patio and there’s the beach. Room is ok. TV gets a lot of channels, bathroom ok, hard as a rock bed, room is small. Kitchen is horrible. Two sad looking burners for cooking. Don’t stay here if you plan on doing any kind of cooking. Took about 20 min. for the burner to heat up enough to lightly cook a toast. Tiny fridge, sad set of dishes/cookware/silverware. For the price of this place ($330 for two nights, plus $9.90 foreign transaction fee), not even an extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom (good thing I brought extra), no paper towels, no dish soap to wash dishes, no shampoo. The only thing provided was small bars of soap. But it has the access to the beach with free chairs and umbrellas. Simpson beach is beautiful, not crowded, no hawkers. There is wifi here, but could only get it outside on the patio.
Onto LaBelle Epoque for our annual pizza, salad, water and beer. $33 plus $5 tip. Exchange rate is 1.40/euro I think. This is the best pizza and salad around, too bad it’s so $$, but worth it once a trip. Got $15 worth of gas at Cadisco by the marina; 1:1 exchange. Back to Azure to relax, then off to Greenhouse for drinks and burger, $27 plus $6 tip. Onto Piece of Cake to split a crepe and a coffee, $10 and $2 tip. Met our neighbor at Azure. She brought home someone from a bar on Sat. night and they sat on the deck, which is right outside out bedroom window, talking until after 1 a.m. Didn’t sleep much, as they were quite loud. It’s also very damp in here, the windows don’t close tight, but the a/c does work well.
Sunday, Day 10: Weather is nice, lazy day on the beach. Leftover ribs for lunch. Izi for dinner. Two pasta dishes, two salads (BIG), one wine and one water, $59 plus $2 tip. So full, went back to the room to relax and pack. Boat anchored on the beach is blasting music. Going to be another sleepless night. Finally doze off and wake up around 3 a.m. to what sounds like someone shoveling sand. Toss and turn for an hour before I make hubby get up and see what the hell is going on. He cranks open the hurricane shutters expecting to see someone out there, but nothing. Cranks open another window, and there’s a CRAB crawling up the metal shutters, making a hell of a noise. Blow him off of the shutter, close it up and finally fall back to sleep. Who knew that one little crab could make SO much noise….it was unbelievable! Azure is nice for the beach access, but it’s just for me. Plus the lack of amenities, not sure if I’d stay here again. Mike is a fantastic host though.
Monday, Day 11: Checked out of Azure, go to airport to check in. Off to BBB for our goodbye burger. Two burgers, 3 beers and a water for $28 plus $8 tip. Flight leaves SXM on time (plane is half empty) and arrives in PHL 20 min. early at the “A” terminal (International). Short lines at customs, but could the agent be any slower? He must be on island time. Arrogant too. Get through customs, go through security again, and onto the “B” terminal for the next flight. Two pretzels and a water, $7.50. Flight left on time, arrived back in Hartford on time. Loudmouths sitting in front of us., so couldn’t catch a nap on the ride. Got the bags, Laz bus waiting outside.
Observations: Weather in April is much different than in May when we usually go. Perfect temps, no humidity, unless it rains. Actually could use a sweater at night. Didn't notice any crime, usually in pretty early at night. People who work at the Towers were incredible nice, as were the office girls at Summit. Mike at Azure was very hospitable. I wish Summit had one bedroom units because I would stay there again in a heartbeat....it was very quiet at both the Summit and Towers....not so much at Azure.
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