TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report 10.26-11.6.18 Part 1

Friday, October 26

First look upon arriving! Yes! We all know this feeling.



Deplaned from the rear, thank goodness as our seats were in the 20’s.
Had to stand in the hot sun for a bus which took us 100 feet to the arrival tent. Ridiculous! We could’ve walked faster than the wait and getting on/off.

Arrival tent was hotter and a longer wait than we experienced earlier this year. A Dutch Marine had pulled a passenger out and was literally questioning him in a chair right next to the line we were all waiting in. Not very private for the poor guy! (funny story here, we met the guy the next night at Dinghy Dock. He is the new chef. Guess they become suspicious when you have your chef’s knives with you!)

Check in at Beachside Villas. Gardens are doing even better than when we were there in June ‘18





We were in Villa #4 which was perfect for us. I don’t like being right next to the pool as there is a lot of traffic in front of your deck. We enjoy sitting out there in the a.m. with coffee and may not be dressed enough to chat with people…lol. Ditto in the evening with wine and cheese.
There is also noise if someone has chosen to bring a boom box to the pool.




Within ½ an hour Mahvelt of Marvelous Creations knocked on the door and delivered Birthday flowers for me!






Right after flowers were delivered we headed over to Driftwood for drinks and our first beautiful sunset of many during our 12 days. Let me say….that within one hour of landing we had our car (Lesley Bruce! Kenny’s), stopped at Maho Market for essentials, checked-in, and had our butts in seats at Driftwood.





Four Driftwood Punches and a delicious pizza later some island friends joined us for MORE DRINKS!
Talking and catching up, so much fun. Made plans to get together a few more times during our stay. Ran into Dominic (Zee Best) and his father at Driftwood.
Somehow, we made it back home to catch the first sunrise…



And breakfast at home




Saturday, October 27

Drove around the island to see what was new, how much things had continued to improve and clean up in the last five months. As is always mentioned, Dutch side is ready to go and has done so much. French side is much slower to recover.

Visited Kakao’s building site, spoke with owner and Karl, and I posted pictures of that experience here:
http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/173558/kakao-rises.html#Post173558




Walked down to Bikini for drinks and to look at the menu.








So, it’s Saturday and what do you do for dinner? Steak Night at Dinghy Dock!
$5 for the steak and $5 for the two sides. YOU CAN’T BEAT THAT!





We could have done without the D’Boat being docked at the end of the pier in front of Dinghy Dock. The music got loud and competes with Dinghy Dock music or watching World Series. But they share investors. The idea of D’Boat is to be anchored out in the water and reached via water taxi or boat. Rumor has it the boat has problems and won’t be moving any time soon. It also blocked a lovely breeze.




Stay tuned for more…….

Great stuff! Thanks for the report and the pictures. I need to get to Dinghy Dock one of these days..

Very nice pictures! Thanks for taking the time to put the report together. Any island kitties to make friends with?

Very nice trip report, Leona. I feel like I know some of these places......😊😊

What beautiful pictures!

It was nice to meet you and Andre at the pool.

Nice photos and part 1. Sorry we never ran into each other at BSV.

beautiful pics! Thanks for the updates.

Someone on Facebook said they visited Towers today, it was raining and they said there was no roof. Different impression than those if earlier this week. Pretty negative comments...

Belated Happy Birthday. Floral arrangement was absolutely beautiful! Where are they from?

Great pictures! Thanks so much for posting. Looking forward to the next installment.

Great trip report, looks like y’all had fun. When we were there last we spoke to several of the investors of that party boat behind the dingy dock (kids using their parents funds). The plan is to move the boat into Simpson Bay (ocean side) and shuttle people back and forth from the Cruise ships. They have already purchased a mooring spot in the bay and received approval from the government. This will be an eyesore to all, where ever it ends up! If memory serves me, they are leasing this ship for around $15,000 a month from a company that had it rigged up almost the same way but with a slid on another island. Oh, and by the way, they have also secured contracts with the cruise industry as well. This one will be interesting to watch unfold!

Reminds me of the Willy T in the BVIs, which has a similar sounding operation.

The Willy T, which seemed to be firmly established pre-Irma, is now being forced to move a 2nd time, and may exit the BVIs.

Is Dingy Dock near Cpt Oliver's or elsewhere? And is that steak deal only on certain nights?

DIfferent specials on different nights.
From recollection, Tuesday's are taco's (mahi-mahi, chicken, and occasionally beef) / Saturday's is steak night. All start at 7:00 pm

The location is down that pier, correct? As I recall, there is a gate there. Can you drive down there or do you have to walk?

We parked right out front most nights...kinda to the left of the entrance. They have a sign out by the road indicating that they open at noon.

I think once we did park across the road near Beautique (where I get my nails done) that is on the corner...near Pollo Hermanos (Breaking Bad rip off...lol)

Seth is going to open a microbrewery upstairs at Dinghy Dock and also a to-go taco stand out front. Fun plans for the place!

Ok thanks.

Thanks for the map beach kitten

Hi, if you message me I can give you the contact info!