TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report 11/12/19-12/6/19, PART SIX (final)

Tuesday, December 3

My time on the island is getting short, and I have not had enough beach time so headed to Anse Marcel for a final beach day. It was sunny and clear when I left the Toad, but the closer I got to Anse Marcel, the darker the clouds were.



I hadn’t had breakfast so decided to have lunch upon arrival, with the thought of going down to the beach after lunch. I decided on the Guinea hen again, a favorite from an earlier visit. It did not disappoint. The first time I had it, the poultry leg confit on pastry was served with the lunch; this time, it was served as a second course. No matter; it was all good.

The dark clouds continued to look like rain, so I spent the entire afternoon in the restaurant and had a couple more drinks while enjoying the ocean. The “angry sea” that was affecting the entire island didn’t spare Anse Marcel as there was perhaps only 30 percent of the usual beach and the waves were active, which is unusual for that beach.







I hadn’t yet been to Sele et Pepe’s new location so headed there for dinner. The interior is simply stunning; they did a great job in making it appear very upscale. The tables right on the water are actually looking out at a couple of large yachts docked there, but the atmosphere is wonderful.





I also thought the service was very good. My appetizer was a special: oysters. I am spoiled by the wonderful oysters we have in the Pacific Northwest so thought these were just okay. My entrée was on the sheet of Chef Davide’s recommendations and was a sausage pasta in alfredo sauce. It was good but did not blow me away.





All in all, I was a little disappointed in my experience here.

Wednesday, December 4

It was finally here: my last full day on the island. I spent it packing and vegging on the sand in front of the guesthouse. I attended the Toad’s happy hour and brought the leftover spinach balls for the group, again to loud acclaim. I wanted to go to Grand Case for my last dinner on the island but didn’t feel like the drive so went to Mario’s, where I enjoyed another spectacular appetizer: wahoo sashimi with crab rolls. Excellent!





The lamb chops were good although the lamb flavor wasn’t as pronounced as it usually is. The vegetables were excellent, probably due to the large amount of butter.

Thursday, December 5 and Friday, December 6

The innkeepers didn’t have anyone coming in to my room for a few days so allowed me to stay on property until time to leave for my 5:17 p.m. flight. This allowed me another morning on the beach, which was a nice way to end my stay there.



The innkeepers had asked my opinion about an advertising solicitation they had received, and I suggested TTOL as an alternative for them to consider. I also mentioned a couple of the Facebook groups as a way for them to keep up with island visitors and what’s being said about them. As I left, they said they had already joined TTOL and the FB groups. Hope to see you on here from time to time, Doug!

Then the long process began. I dropped by Leisure, and they took me to the airport. Check-in took only a few minutes, and customs wasn’t too bad. Security wasn’t pleasant, and I really miss not being able to utilize Pre-Check on the island. There were a couple of new (to me) gates – 9 and 10 – around the corner from the other downstairs gates. The area was air conditioned so the wait was tolerable. Walked to the plane and up the stairs; a nice attendant carried my roller up the stairs for me.

The flight to Miami was uneventful. Either I am getting used to it, or the walk to the kiosks wasn’t as bad as in the past. Global Entry was a breeze although the walk to the GE kiosks is longer than to the regular kiosks. It was about 15 minutes from entering the terminal to exiting customs/immigration, and it was another 15 minutes before my bags came out. I was able to recheck my bags on to Portland even though I was overnighting at the MIA hotel since my layover was under twelve hours, by about 20 minutes!
I was given incorrect instructions on how to get to the hotel so walked much longer than necessary. Took a shower and hit the sack for some shut-eye before my 4:00 a.m. wake-up call.

I had an early-morning flight to DFW, again on a 777. The layover in DFW was just long enough to take Sky Train to the next gate and board, arriving in Portland a little after 1:00 p.m. I was able to pick my cats up from the boarding facility that afternoon, which was wonderful.


It was another good trip although the first part was far too busy. There were too many events planned during the first part of the trip so I didn’t feel as though I had any extended down time. I won’t do that again. There were some notable exceptions, but I spent too much money on high-end meals that didn’t deliver.

Due to some other trips planned, I will not be making my normal island visit next June so I won’t be returning to SXM until late October, but that will be a five-week stay at the Toad.

Thanks for the report! I don't have any clue how you do as much as you do on island! I get tired just reading about it! My trip in October this year was somewhat similar to yours in terms of high end eating. Although I didn't have NEARLY as many meals as you did, considering the length of your trip, versus mine, I was disappointed more often than I would have liked..

In any event, thanks again!

I did not want your trip report to end. It was great and joyful! You inspire me to get out more. Thank you so very much for sharing.

Love your report!

As always, you did one hellova great job on this report. Your photos are beautiful from the glorious sunsets to the food pics (my stomach is still growling) from looking at them. Also liked how you did your meet and greet party, loved the pics with the names so one could identify who is who. I know writing trip reports can be a "PITA" but your reports are terrific, almost felt like I was there with you. Guess I will have to wait until next Oct. for your next one. By the way, isn't 2020 your around the world cruise? If so, have a blast.

You have a good memory. I decided against the around-the-world cruise for several reasons, only one of which was the bad reviews of the ship's food and staff. I also didn't want to be away from my aging (early renal disease) cats for that long. So "steveandann" and I, and some other SXM travelers, are doing a four-week European-Mediterranean cruise with several stops in the Greek Isles. I am very excited about this trip (mid-April to mid-May) as I have never been to Europe and this will give me several places to see in one trip. And it's on a Holland ship, and I really like Holland cruises.

Thanks for your kind words.

Give your reports a "10"!

Sounds exciting! I want to do a Europe cruise one of these days..

Very much enjoyed your reports and beautiful photos!! 👏🌴😎

Thanks again for the reports and pictures. Very nice of Horny Toad to allow extra time for you, as they did for us on our departure day.

Jazz, takes a lot of time and effort to write up all your adventures so a big thank you.

Always fun and interesting to read your reports. Gives us ideas for new things to do while on the island.

Thanks for the wonderful series of trip reports—especially all the delectable food photos! Sorry to hear some of your meals disappointed. I'm a big fan of the goat cheese salad at Moulin Fou also, and enjoying amazing meals is one of the reasons we go to SXM. I appreciate all the time you spent to share your trip experience with us!

The reports were fabulous, thank you so much. I will miss the June report but I hope you have a spectacular European trip.

We can get that in the other forum!! I am definitely looking forward to hearing about the European cruise.

I myself am not sure if we are doing SXM in May/June or perhaps going to South Africa in July....

What HAL ship will you be sailing? We were on the Koningsdam last April/ May Med cruise and it was excellent. We were onboard for 6 weeks. Fabulous trip. Next up TA to Amsterdam and the Baltic on the Nieuw Statendam on 4/19. Hope you have a fabulous trip.

Thank you Linda for all the reports and we too feel several of the higher end dinners didn't deliver. We'll eat more low key next trip and return to some of our favs more than once.

The Zuiderdam. I was on it several years ago so am hoping it's been refurbished since then. This is a repositioning cruise so the first week is crossing the Atlantic.

That's interesting. That's now three of us (Carol also) who felt some of the higher-end meals weren't up to par.

We had very few high-end meals this trip and it was a good decision!

I think I am going to take that approach on my next trip.