TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Belated Trip Report

We were on island from Nov 9-16. Flew direct IAD to SXM - pretty full flight, we somehow managed to end up in an exit row with no one in the middle seat so that was nice. Pretty bumpy flight. Arrived on time, thru customs pretty quickly, got luggage and were picking up rental car all within about 45 minutes.

Stopped to grocery shop at Carrefour in Philipsburg. That was a little disorienting as it's totally redone since our last pre-Irma trip. On to our timeshare at the Dawn Beach Club. Rebuilt since Irma - very lovely. Pool at the Westin is rebuilt and as gorgeous as ever. By the time we got checked in and unpacked, I was feeling too tired to go far for dinner. So we decided to check out Oasis and the pizza that I had read about. We actually arrived 30 minutes before they were open for dinner - but the gentleman who greeted us very graciously let us sit down and brought us wine while we waited for the kitchen to open. We both ordered the "oasis" pizza which was arugula, prosciutto, shaved parm and mozzarella. The pizza was delicious - but we could have ordered only one and it would have been plenty. But the leftovers made a great breakfast the next morning so it was fine! We got the post-dinner rum shot - so all-in-all a very nice experience.

On Sunday we went to Karakter. We got there by about 10. Parking was no problem and lots of chairs to choose from. We walked up and down Simpson Bay Beach - down past the famous Beachside Villas and El Zafiro on one end and up past Mary Boon's, etc going the other way. Water was pretty rough - so we didn't spend much time in the water. But it was a generally gorgeous day. We stayed all day - eating lunch in the restaurant, etc. Lunch was ok. Service was ok. I wasn't blown away by either. But it was an enjoyable first day. We stopped and picked up dinner from Little Jerusalem - Shawarma for my husband and hummus and falafel for me. Delicious. We went back to the timeshare and went down to the pool for a little while. The Westin used to have a huge hot tub - which we loved to visit every evening. We really missed that on this trip.

Monday was St. Maarten/Martin's Day. We were unaware. We decided to go to Grand Case - which has always been one of my favorite beaches. In the past - we have hung out at Love Hotel - but they have not rebuilt. So we decided to try Les Temps de Cerises - another cute boutique hotel and restaurant. We came to SXM in April for one day on a cruise - and had visited this establishment on that trip and had enjoyed it. This was my one big disappointment of this trip. We arrived and asked for chairs - which we were (in my opinion) begrudgingly given. We walked up and down the beach - the waves were coming up the beach all the way to the buildings in most cases - so walking was a little tricky. We went back to our chairs - and it was all just very uncomfortable - i didn't feel welcome and the chairs we were given were stuck up under an over hang of the building so it was really cramped. Anyway, we decided not to stay. It didn't look like Rainbow was open - or we may have tried to go there. Instead we decided to check out Grand Case Beach Club and eat lunch at the restaurant. Parking was a challenge - as it was a holiday and lots of folks were at Petite Plage. GCBC looks beautiful and was fairly busy. We got a table and had some lunch. Food was ok. We ordered shrimp tempura and a club sandwich - so nothing too exciting. Servers were all very pleasant. After lunch we decided to check out Philipsburg. We had to pull over on the drive out of Grand Case as there was a huge parade of motorcycles that were coming into town. I'm pretty sure it was related to the holiday - it was a cool thing to get to see. There were a couple cruise ships in port - so it was nicely busy in Philipsburg, but not overwhelmingly crazy. We got chairs at Holland House and sat on the beach and observed the vibe of the cruise ship crowds. It was fun. A little bit louder and more of a party atmosphere than on other beaches around the island. But we'd never done that before - so something new. Back to the hotel and out to BZH for dinner. We were the only customers when we arrived - they had just opened for dinner. But when we left - the place was pretty full - which i was happy to see. We had pizza (again). It was fine - but I like Oasis better. I would go back though - the place is super cute and they had lots of delicious sounding things on the menu.

Tuesday we decided to do a catamaran trip to Anguilla. I tried to make a reservation with Celine Charters before our trip - but their Anguilla trip was full. So we went with Aqua Mania out of Simpson Bay. This trip stopped for snorkling at Prickly Pear and then lunch on Anguilla. The seas were a bit choppy on this day - so the stop at Prickly Pear was not great for snorkeling. It was quite a challenge getting up and down the ladder to snorkel and the waves churned up the water - so there wasn't much visibility for seeing fish, etc. But seeing Prickly Pear was cool. We then went to Sandy Ground and had lunch at Johnno's. We swam to shore from the boat - which I enjoyed. I had ribs and rice for lunch - which was delicious. We did a catarman trip to Anguilla a couple of years ago and went to a different beach (Shoal Bay maybe?) and that beach was stunning. Sandy Ground beach was fine - but was no where near as beautiful. We then had a little time to walk the beach and swim before heading back out to the boat and returning to Simpson Bay. The sail back was really lovely as we stayed fairly close to the shoreline so we got to see lots of Anguilla and St. Maarten. We stopped at Nowhere Special in Simpson Bay for dinner. Cute little place - dinner was good. I would go back. A really nice day.

Wednesday was a Pinel Island Day. Got to Cul-de-Sac to catch the first ferry over - which we did. Headed to Karibuni for chairs. Our week in SXM is my favorite week of the year. Our day on Pinel is my favorite day of this week. I love Pinel. For whatever reason - it just speaks to me. I relax and just soak in the scenery. I love it. Peche was our server. He was fantastic and very attentive. Had lots of drinks and lunch at Karibuni. My husband had the foresight after we arrived to go to the restaurant and make a reservation for lunch. Which proved to be a good idea. Even though we only made the reservation a couple hours before we were going to eat - it seemed to make a difference in terms of the table we got, etc. They were pretty busy - and it seemed like many of the customers were people who came by boat and moored off-shore to come in for lunch. I had ribs (again - what can I say? I love ribs!). My husband had fish - I can't remember what kind. It was all good. We left on the 3:30 ferry. Back to hotel. I think we had cheese and crackers for dinner.

Thursday was Mullet. Arrived around 10 a.m. Walked up on the Daleo's side so got chairs and an umbrella on that end - we paid $20. Found out from some other folks we talked to - that the chairs in front of Rosie's were $15. Ah well - lesson learned. We spent the day alternately lounging in chairs or bobbing in the water. Pretty calm waters. Lots of catamarans came in and moored with their tour groups. Another gorgeous day. We had one little rain squall while we were there. We thought we got our stuff under the umbrella - but somehow it all managed to get soaked. :-P There were a few salespeople out and about - selling jewelry and beach cover-ups and massages, etc. Most were very willing to move on if you said 'no thank you'. There was one massage girl who was super-persistent and wouldn't move on. But I just kept saying 'no thank you' as nicely as I could until she finally left. That is my one frustration with Mullet - the number of times I'm asked to buy something. On the one hand - I know these folks are just trying to make a living. On the other hand - I want to enjoy my vacation in peace. :-/ We had all kinds of issues after we left Mullet - we tried to get dinner at The Palms - but they only take cash and we had run low and my husband left his ATM card back in the room. So, we were out of luck. We ended up stopping in Philipsburg and going to the Greenhouse. We'd never been to that location so it was fun to check that out.

Friday we went back to Pinel. What can I say. I love it. Caught the first ferry. We had made a reservation on Wednesday - so Pesche had chairs reserved for us. Same wonderful day as Wednesday. Lunch at Karibuni again. I had shrimp kabobs and my husband had one of the specials - which i believe was Trunk fish stuffed with Mahi Mahi. My shrimp was very good. He said his fish was ok. Another perfect day on Pinel. Took the 3:30 ferry back. Decided to hit up Grand Case and the Lolo's for dinner. We did a bit of a beach walk first - checked out Rainbow and Captain Frenchy's. I think I'll try chairs at Captain Frenchy's on our next trip. Grand Case is still looking rough. Got our food from Talk of the Town - I got ribs and 3 sides and my husband got ribs and chicken and sides. So much food - so reasonably priced. Ribs were delicious. Back to room where we (sadly) had to pack our bags in preparation for our return to reality.

Saturday we hit up the Yacht Club so my husband could have a Bloody Mary (or two) - i was hoping to see a yacht come or go, but no such luck. A rain storm came thru while we were at the Yacht Club. It was very cool because we could see it coming across the lagoon. We then went over to Sunset to watch planes - it was pretty crowded as there were several cruise ships in port. But somehow we managed to get a table on the rail and watched a couple big ones land. Then we went to Mary Boon's. I'd never been inside. Super cute place! We had a couple drinks and even though it had been a bit of a rainy day - we could see Saba and St. Kitts and Nevis which was cool. Then it was time to return rental and head to the airport.

The airport was crazy. It took us 90 minutes to get through security and immigration - and by the time we made it into the airport it was basically time to board. I did manage to guzzle a rose before boarding. :-) The flight was really full - but we landed on time at Dulles and now it's back to work and real life.

It was a great trip. We had nearly perfect weather. The island was so green!! I kept saying that over and over - everything is so green! There was a full moon while we were there - so we really enjoyed seeing that out over the ocean each evening. We are early to bed, early to rise type people. So, we did not participate in any night life. I spent the evenings reading on our balcony while my husband spent time on his computer - working or playing games.

That's it. Wow. I'm long-winded. It was a very low-key trip which was perfect.

I always love reading trip reports on this forum. I hope you all enjoy this report as well.

thx for the report, glad you enjoyed yourselves.

Ll,

We were there during your visit and I’m glad it was what you wanted it to be.

We also enjoyed a very low-keyed trip which was exactly what we wanted it to be. We gave up on Karakter a few trips back thinking the food not up to what it used to be and the chairs were too close and the music just too loud for our enjoyment level. It’s been a few years since we’ve done Pinel but your description makes me think we need to return - I guess that will be a good thing to add to our April list.

Don’t know if you’ve been there or not but you might want to give Anse Marcel Beach Restaurant next visit. It’s not an inexpensive day but it sure is a nice one.

Thanks for sharing your trip as I, too, enjoy reading them and we usually manage to find something new, even after all these years.

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a lovely trip!

Thanks for the report. Johnno's on Anguilla is a real local place and was fun when we went there but Shoal Bay beach is really nice. We were told about the difference in pricing of loungers at Mullet. I always go in front of Rosie's and was surprised to hear the other place was $5 higher. I left on Monday, 11/18 and was at the gate within 20 minutes of parking the car. I too was surprised at the lack of large yachts for the time of year. Glad you had a good trip.

Looks like you have a great time. We too love Pinel but it's beginning to be a toss up between Pinel and Anse Marcel. You'll have to give it a try next trip.

Thanks for the trip report. Always fun reading what others enjoy to do while on vacation. We, too, enjoy Pinel but haven't visited since Irma. Are the multitude of iguanas still on the island. Used to enjoy watching them interact with the visitors to their island. I have photos taken from the hill above looking toward SXM. Took them from the same spot for about 10 years before Irma. Neat to see how the beach changes every year. Must get back there again next May.

I feel that Pinel is better than what it was before Irma. And yes there were plenty of Iguanas there this last may.

How do Pinel and Anse Marcel compare price wise?

Nice report. Thanks for posting.

I think Pinel should be in our plans when we return.

Time flies when in SXM, maybe you can add an extra day or two next time.
That's how we started.

Not a lot of difference depending on what food and drink you order and you factor in the $12.00 r/t pp taxi charge.

Thanks for the nice report. Sounds like you had a very low-key and relaxing vacation.

Nice detailed report Thanks for sharing.

Elizabeth--I hope maybe we might see a trip report from you at some point?

O'asis and Temps de Cerise are now owned by the people at Sol e Luna so if you stay at Temps or Sol you can share things at the other place. Heard O"sis was going to coning offering pizza after it was sold. Did you think it was as good as you remembered?

For your next trip, if you're eating at Sunset Cafe at Grand Case Beach Club you don't have to park on the street as others have to for Petite Plague. You can preemptions enter button on gate and tell them you're eating there should they ask.

We haven't eaten at BZH since Carol (formally of L'Estimenet left.) that owner was hard on help.

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Thanks for taking time to post a report and spread info about your trip. Amazing how fast a week goes.

I will put one together when I get home Carol. It has been a busy time here this trip.

OK, great! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Me too. Always thoroughly enjoyed all of your trip reports. You do them so well!