TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Favorite Day Trip

We'll be back in St. Martin Jan. 27 - Feb. 10. We're wanting to take a day trip somewhere. We've been coming to St. Martin for 18 years and have been to St. Barts, so looking for recommendations for another day trip to take. Absolutely can't wait to be back!

Anguilla and Saba make for great day trips. Even a close by day at Pinel can't be beat.

Anguilla for a nice change of pace.

If it were me, I’d do Saba in a heartbeat.

It took us probably 25 to 30 years of annual visits before we ever made our first trip out there, and I can only ask self, “Self, why did you ever wait so Long?” No beaches to speak of but it’s Breath-takingly beautiful. Incredible photo ops and some excellent places to lunch though I would personally recommend the Queens Garden Inn. We loved it so much we chose to stay over for 3 or 4 nights and enjoy some serious limin’ time. There’s a very small museum, a very small hydroponic garden, the Saba Lace and Spice shop, a beautifully painted local church not to mention diving, snorkeling and hiking ops if they’re within your purview.

If you can’t do without a beach, Anguilla is lots more of the same beautiful beaches similar to SXM and STB.

I would go with Anguilla.
Cuz I just love the beaches.
Great food, great cocktails, great beaches.

Though I must say I did read Pat's Saba review a while back and it did seem like a nice place to visit also, sounded like a friendly place with good food.

Ditto to all the above regarding Anguilla. Beautiful beaches and a lovely island. Pinel is another good suggestion and you can hike from one side to the other so bring sneakers along. Another option would be to stay right on St. Martin and visit a beach you have never visited in the past. Have you been to all 37 beaches? (My last count is 12 so I have a long way to go!).

Me :
Great Bay
Maho
Happy
Friars
Orient
Plum Bay
Bay Rogue
Orient Bay
Cupecoy
Mullet
Galion
Long bay
Pinel
Simpson
Nettle

Want to try Anse Marcel.

Which other good one have I been missing out on?

Anguilla , Sjoal Bay hit east spot and compare rum punch.

How about a day trip to visit some of the great artists who call St.Martin/Sint Maarten home. Might be something a bit different than most might do, but still interesting if you enjoy the art of the island. My wife and I have enjoyed stops to talk with Antoine Chapon when he sold his work near the MaDouDou shack and now has a store in Marigot, Paul Elliott at his gallery in Grand Case, Roland Richardson at his gallery in Marigot, Micka at her stand in the Marigot Market where she sells her hand-painted tiles and Ruby Bute at her studio on the road to Friar's Bay. I found that can be an entire day trip when you start talking with her. There are a few more, but I can't recall their names. A few we have visited in the past, but who may no longer be on the island, were Jean-Piere Straub who did beautiful marquetry, Frenchy Loeb, Tess Verheij who had a store and art school on Old Street in Philipsburg and Mair Pattersun who used to sell her work at the Club O store. I recently got in touch with her to purchase another of her prints. This may not be a day trip that all would enjoy, but Carol and I have purchased art from many islands in the Caribbean and find it interesting to talk with them about their work and island life in general.

Full day trip around sxm with captain neil celine 3 or billy bones charter as long as chris is the first mate.
Any self guided to Anguilla to my favorite Meads Bay with lunch at Blanchard's beach shack or Gwen's on Shoal Bay.

Larry - I have done an "artist tour" a couple of different times and agree with you that it's a terrific way to spend a day or a few hours. I was told by Roland Richardson that, sadly, Jean-Pierre Straub left the island; don't know if it was before or after Irma. There's another business in the building where he used to have his studio/workshop. I really miss him as I wanted to purchase a couple more of his pieces.

I spent part of day with Mr. Straub a few years ago and wrote a story on my blog about him. You can read it here: https://lifewithldub.blogspot.com/search?q=Jean-Pierre+Straub

Interesting stories; I had missed them before and thank you for the link. I have four of his smaller pieces but lusted after one that was quite large and on display in his gallery. It was $5,000 so I wasn't able to make the plunge before he left the island. I think there is a gallery in downtown Pburg that has some of his work, but the prices are quite inflated from what he charged in his gallery.

Linda, have you tried the Savannah Gallery on Anguilla?


http://savannahgallery.com/artists/jean-pierre-straub/

Anything with goats in it and I'm a sucker! I first discovered his work at Savannah.

Didn't know anything about that gallery. Some of those images are new to me - lovely! Thanks for letting me know.

Thank you for all the suggestions! It looks like we will be taking a couple of day trips while we're there. Anguilla and Saba sound amazing and I do love the idea of doing the art studios. So now we just have to wait till January gets here and we'll be all set. Thanks again.

Mahokid's suggestion of a daysail is a good one. A day's worth of sun can be a bit much for some. Consider a half-day sail too. I sail with friends, but others here can suggest charters, as can the place where you're staying.