I remember well over half of what you mentioned. First visit was 1991 and stay over was 1994 at Divi.
Callaloo did have some good pizza.
Remember Ric's Place when it was back off of Olde Street? They then moved to Front St. and Kathy would advertise the $1 Miller Lite's while standing at the entrance.
Neil, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Don't forget Neil's bar with da toilet on it, the Frigate stake house which came to be our first night meal where we feasted on the steaks and the mosquito's feasted on me and the Mullet Bay casino where they would close down a section of the machines if they were paying too much. Prior to the Frigate for our first meal at Frigate, we would eat at a Lolo in the Maho/Simpson Bay area. They would serve all you can eat chicken and ribs.
And Rosemary's jewelry shack. Wonder if that's the same Rosemary that runs a restaurant between dock area and the local open-air market? Great snapper dish there for a great price.
The great stories from the local charter boat captains!
Partying with the crews at Chesterfields and getting a signed Mount Gay hat worn for Anguilla Sailing Week. (when they were still cool with only 1 per boat)
"It is good to do nothing all day, and then to rest"
Definitely the restaurant upstairs at the old airport, where you could actually SEE the planes, and had great food. However, I wasn't a big fan of having to lug my heavy carry on bags up that staircase!! As far as I know though, you couldn't sit outside up there, but downstairs at the other bar, definitely yes!. We definitely loved being able to sit outside with a cold one, and get those final rays of sun downstairs!!! The new airport was a big improvement though, in everything else!! ..pre Irma anyway...
We visited when the Speed II 'boat' was still there and I got in trouble with some security guards for taking pictures of it! It's a movie prop, for god's sake!!
Yeah, not sure what happened with that restaurant upstairs at the new airport, and the executive lounge was a big plus. Sorry to hear you had a bad trip coming home. I'm hoping you have a trip report in the works??? I sure hope so!!!
I remember......West Indian Tavern, Come As You Are middle of the night parties on Frontstreet, The Gandaulf [sp?] cement hull sailboat, Johnny's Cool Spot, Indiana, The Merengue Bar[again sp?], the rib restaurant on Frontstreet upstairs that the signature drink was a Piggly Wiggly [can't remember the name]...and so many more...:-) .........Oh and another restaurant that was where the health clinic in Maho is......again...can't remember the name, they used to have a singer with a really deep voice serenade the customers with island songs....he scared the living crap out of me one night, he snuck up behind me and started belting out a song...LOL Such good memories!!
Pat--Oh, I remembered MANY times coming in on a tender from a cruise ship to SXM. Of course back then the size of the ships was maybe 1200 pax, versus these behemoths that they have today!!! Oh, and I don't miss the Mida$$ Muffler at all!!! That roundabout at the bottom of the hill was one of the BEST things that ever happened to SXM!!
Remember when . . . . patrons at the Buccaneer Beach Bar would get 2-for-1 beers when wearing their TTOL caps.
I drove a friend crazy one year. Every time I ordered a beer, Wanda would serve up two. He kept asking why, and I told him it was because I was a good tipper. Wanda played along and just smiled. My friend never figured it out. LOL.
And remember the old airport with luggage retrieval being the hole in the wall. Sand pumping to create the beach at Pelican(SBRM). The bulldozer that is a part of the Pelican(SBRM) breakwater. The old road to Dawn Beach. Marina Royale in its prime. The old Marigot waterfront. Philipsburg before the boardwalk. Ric's Place in Philipsburg on the water. The Japanese fishing boats at Point Blanche.
Remember the OLD Sunset Beach Bar, that was just the little original bar, and more recent history, Peg Leg Pub, at the beginning, when Neil ran it, and Buccaneer, when Neil ran it. You started some great stuff on SXM, Neil!
I remember when a bus took you to your hotel and a sort of garbage truck brought your luggage way, way, way later. That's when we discovered West Indies Tavern and their .99 drink special. We'd check in to Great Bay Hotel, walk to the tavern, drink on the veranda, get lectured about the perils of drink by a local passing minister whom we'd tell that after this drink we'd have no more. Once he passed we'd ad: Until the next one. Then we'd stagger back to hotel and find our luggage piled in th foyer with the rest.
Carol.Remember being neighbors at Green Cay? I think you had a party at Peg Leg that week.Sunset beach bar was just a big deck .Its all coming back to me now! HA!
I vividly remember when there was no Sunset Beach Bar, No Royal Islander and almost nothing else out there but an open expanse of beach all the way to the original Caravanserai before it was first developed into timeshare under various different names. We used to walk the golf course after dinner at any of the many MBR & C eateries and check out the late American flight before walking back to our unit. A great way to work off some of those great meals.
We also happened to be on island in I think 1984 when Neil got his first sets of plastic deck tables and chairs at the PLP. We wandered in for dinner as he and Sean were sitting at the bar and they let us dine on the new deck area. I think we were among the first to have dined al fresco at the Peg Leg Pub.
Respectfully,
pat
"Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them."
Kenny--uhmn, geez.. OK.. Definitely remember Green Cay several times and we definitely had several parties at Peg Leg. Sorry, I'm getting old and CRS setting in!!
Not sure when original SSBB opened, but surely remember my first trip to sxm and the first thing my friend and I did was a stop here...all locals seated at the bar with a raggae song playing and all heads at the bar bopping and swaying back and forth at the same time in rhythm....we sat down and joined the bar crowd and had a fabulous time!!....Neil introduced himself to us and our first touchdown visit had me hooked
Thanks for your post Neil....We remember meeting you way back when.. When we owned at Mullet Bay and visited you at the "new" SSBB when it was the octogonal structure which first had a guy with a huge cooler in the middle selling beers. We remember...You and Brad and Wanda serving us so enthusiastically and Andrew cooking up those great burgers. We remember...telling you about our kids and their Hyatt hospitality careers. Our son still "in it" as a senior resort manager in Siesta Key a short distance from us in SW Florida. Yeah, we remember the "good old days" in SXM that you have mentioned above. We miss those days. We miss you too! Take care of yourself. Jim and Liz (formerly from Wisconsin)
Portofino of Laura and Tom had the best pizza. Risdon was the car rental agency and the ice cream seller. Studio Seven was at the old Maho Mullet bay Casino was by the seaside Callaloo was a great place for steaks The liquor store was Cannagieter The Why Not was a great place for live music