TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report - Beaches, beaches

Posted previously about our first few nights, this to follow and if I find time, more to come.

First full week we had six friends arriving on island, the November Gang plus two friends for our home town. No more resting at Le Petit, the party begins! Whooooop Whoooooop!!!
Start with the Beaches, beaches.

Beach Bars –
LTC already stated above, certainly has become one of our favorites and the Grand Case Beach is one of if not the nicest beach on island. Easy in and out into the water, crystal clear and peaceful. Gets a bit busy on Sundays as most do but still not crazy at least this year.

La Playa – we arrived to find out that Bruno has left the day to day here, but we have known Carole for several years and we think it is fantastic that she is getting to run this place and we know she will do a great job. While of course we miss seeing Bruno when there, the place did not miss a beat. Beach chairs were comfortable, service on the beach we very good as well as the drinks. We ate lunch under the canopy as well as over at the new structure that has the Sushi Chef from Dreams putting out some of the best on island. We felt like royalty and have enjoyed every meal there in all our days this trip. Not sure what the future is for La Playa, I will all well and hope it works out.

Friars Bay Beach Club – Some of the best food on island for a beach bar, love the service there as well and the setting is pretty awesome as well. The only wish we would have is that they would bring back having pads for the chairs, they are not my favorite there.

Grand Case Beach Club – This is a “we will be back” kind of place. Did not go until later in the trip, much because of the road construction that stopped us one day when trying. I think it is $20 for two chairs and an umbrella for outside guest and you have to park on the street which is all fine, we entered through the main gate but there is a walk way that you can use just a bit past the entry gate to GCBC. Comfortable chairs, they will keep moving the umbrella for you to keep the shade and while it does not have the same flag system for beach service it once did that was fine with us. The restaurant there, Sunset Café, now has Koko and Marina running it and the food was possible the best we had at any beach bar. The salads looked the best I have seen on island, I had a pasta with shrimp and ham in a tomato sauce, the Duck had by two was raved about as well. Really good cocktails and it is another place with a nice setting and beach with easy to get in and out water. Made two stops here and will be back in April.

Karakter and Mary’s Boon – We went on a Tuesday where the kitchen was closed, it was not busy and my thoughts at the time was that’s ok as we will have the nicer chairs with pads and then go over to the Boon for lunch which we made sure was acceptable to Karakter which it was. The beach was nice, drinks were good and all was fine with Karakter, lunch at Mary’s Boon was poor from service to the actual food. It was a won’t be back kind of lunch, salads lacked any inspiration and the burgers and other items were subpar and add that to service that was closer to feeling like we inconvenienced them by stopping by. None of us were happy with it, what I would refer to a “wasted meal” when you only have so many on island and you used up one there. I don’t pan many places and have had good food there in the past but they earned this one bad day or not.

Dany’s at Cupecoy – MJ and I have this as one of our favorites, one of the few places that we are fine not having the luxury of pads on the chairs and regular rest rooms but we just love the setting. Had ribs and chicken most days there, enjoyed the lobster one day as well and I still state that it is the best lobster on island.
Da Watering Hole – This is at Mullet, same people from Daleo’s but they have taken the place to another level. We did not go there during the day, no pads on the chairs being the reason but we did go for sunset and a couple evenings for drinks and ate there once as well in the evening. Really enjoyed the staff there and especially Jonesy (sp?). They also have some of the cleanest bathrooms on island, really enjoyed out stops there. Might be a good place for an evening party once all this Covid crap clears up.

More to come, but a couple closing notes for this part of my report.

It really sucks feeling that you can’t hug people, or for that matter really branch out and see people noting while I personally am not in fear of all of this I completely get that some are and that changes a lot of normal habits.

I also am always amazed on how many people in a given trip that I see just drop garbage where they are with no regard like it is just not wrong. WTF people, I watched one person try their Bic type lighter and it did not work so he just dropped it, no effort to see if there was a garbage can, just dropped it.

I feel very lucky to have the group we travel with, especially this year. We had a blast and were living well. I hope that a bit of normal returns to the island and again for all of you that are pondering, there is no better time to go. Think about being able to go to Maho and the beach there with no cruisers! Much less traffic and as I have stated before I have never felt more welcome on island.

Cheers!

Thanks very much for the report. Will need to re-visit this report before our next trip!

Thanks for the report. Mary's Boon had been getting pretty decent reviews in the past, I wonder what happened? I do not get the littering either, like cigarette butts, can, bottles, etc just left on the beach.

Mary's Boon food and service has certainly gone downhill since the folks running the bar/beach/restaurant quite successfully since Irma left shortly after reopening after our lockdown. Not sure who is running it now but they have hired a new chef in the last week or so. We are there several times a week for our swim so hoping they can get their act together.

And I second your feelings, Todd, about the hugs. Although we saw you in passing a couple of times, I surely missed my Todd bear hugs this trip!

As part of the group that enjoyed the island with you and MJ, I second everything you said. While David and I didn't get to Da Watering Hole, the other beach bars/restaurants were all fabulous. As to Karakter, David and I did spend one day there, just the two of us, and while the food isn't what it was when Jorrit owned it, we found it acceptable. Not great, but certainly better than Mary's Boon. The service was very good, and that somewhat makes up for mediocre food. Elaine, I'll be looking forward to your reports on what the new chef brings to Mary's Boon, but I'll be honest, if the surly server is still there, that's a deal breaker for me. I simply refuse to spend my money where it's not appreciated.

And I missed my Elaine hug, but am glad that we got to see you and Bill, if only for a few minutes.

I know just who you mean. In his defense, until recently, he's been the ONLY server for months with seldom a shift off and he is surely burnt out. I saw a few new faces last week, so perhaps it will get better. We did have lunch with friends just after new chef, and the food was quite good. Time will tell. Hope to get a swim in today!

Hopefully the Boon can get their act together. It's much calmer than Karakter. Karakter certainly was better when Jorrit was there, that's for sure. It hasn't been BAD when we have been there, but not great either. We go only to eat there, as I cannot abide how close together their chairs are.

Thanks for the Beach Report.

Actually, this server was a female. Everyone in our group went above and beyond to be friendly and cordial, and she just scowled the entire time.

Oh, sorry for the assumption. She's worked there forever!

Thanks for posting - I really enjoy your reports.

Enjoyed your report about the comfort of the Beach Chairs. OMG no cushions...LOL

I responded to Todd's excellent report already, but
about those beach cushions---you have to have them at Friars!!!
Those chairs will cripple you---unless they have changed from the ones I couldn't get up from!

got to have those cushions. No cushions no stay.