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

SATURDAY
Saturday morning we had sausage and croissants from Au Pain Gourmande, then headed out to Orient around 9:30. We headed to Club Orient beach, but decided to do the chairs immediately beside Club O beach. The chairs there are lovely PADDED chairs, with a small table, 2 chairs and umbrella for $20. Very nice, and worth more to me. I felt a little bad that we didn't rent from Cedric, but it was very nice. The day was absolutely lovely, with a nice breeze, totally flat entrance into the water, and zero seaweed.

Cedric came back to collect from the folks right next to us, and I asked him about the rebuilding plans at Club O. He said "maybe the fall, maybe in February". Didn't sound real confident to me. They are definitely doing the weekly chair deal there, but not sure what the cost was. There is a bathroom there, but apparently very rustic. I did not check it out.

Living in Florida, neither one of us has any tan, which makes sense, right??? So we decided at lunchtime to pack up and head down the beach for lunch. We ended up at Le String around 1:15.

There were several people there when we got there and it got PACKED shortly thereafter. Virtually everyone there was French. We enjoyed a lovely Cote de Provence wine.

I ordered the flank steak from the menu (sorry about the blurry pictures, as they were taken with a cell phone and I'm not good with it!)

,

which came with French fries (of course!)

and Eric wanted the snapper, but they were out of that, so he 'settled' for tuna.





I'm not sure what happened, but my meal arrived COLD, so I sent it back and it came back fairly quickly, hot, with hot french fries, but I wonder if they re-heated the steak, as it was overdone.. The taste of the steak was decent but the french fries were another bust, REALLY skinny, about a 1.5 on the French fry o-meter scale. Eric enjoyed his tuna.

After a long lunch, we headed to Leader Price, which has provided some good deals on wine in the past, and they didn't disappoint this time. We headed back through Grand Case to check out which restaurants were open for lunch. Ocean 82 was open, so we stopped in and made a reservation for the next evening at 5:30. Back home we took a nap, after a hard day on the beach, then cooked chicken breast on the grill for dinner. I think we saw the Celebrity ship come by as we were eating dinner around 8:30. I took a couple of pictures, but it was too far away and the picture did not turn out. A few minutes of TV, and off again for an early night.

Thus endeth another lovely day..

SUNDAY

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and sausage, toast and mimosa... I could get used to having mimosa every day...
Reading some online reviews of Ocean 82, one talked about the KITCHEN closing at 6:30, which made us very apprehensive about our dinner choice. We decided to head out to Carrefour for a backup plan for the evening of spare ribs. Back home at BSV, we heard from bran from TTOL, who said he had contacted Pascal from Ocean 82, who assured him that we would not be rushed through dinner, so we were on for dinner.

Sunday afternoon consisted of some cheese and crackers for a light snack, and watching the planes in the BACK






, and the sailboats from the Sint Maarten Sailing School in the FRONT.






What a lovely afternoon!

Too soon it was time to head out to Grand Case. (Did I say, I hate this curfew crap on the French side??) We headed through Mullet, toward Sandy Ground, and the back side of Marigot. We were BARELY able to pass through Mullet on the road, as there were cars parked EVERYWHERE, all up and down the beach, and on both sides of the road. I can't imagine being on Mullet on Sunday!! Monday was Flag Day in Sint Maarten, so I assume maybe a lot of people had the day off on Monday?? Dunno.

We arrived in Grand Case too early, so decided to head over to Orient Village to see what was open. We arrived there a few minutes after 5 and everyone was kind of still setting up except Le Telegraphe, which is open for lunch. The others I guess all open at 5. We were actually hoping maybe to eat at one of them for lunch later in the week, but I guess that was not to be.

We were able to get a place to park right outside Ocean 82. We keep a couple of masks in the car all the time here, but were surprised when they wanted us to wear a mask from entry into the restaurant until we were seated, with some water on the table. Whatever. They did give us the masks free.

I had looked at the menu online, so knew that they offered a Grand Marnier souffle' so I told our waitress up front that we wanted to order that, as I know some restaurants require advance notice that you want a souffle'. We ordered a lobster bisque to share



, a kind of fish stew for Eric, with lobster, clams, mussels, etc.,



and a beef tenderloin for me



, along with a Beaujolas Village.



Eric thoroughly enjoyed his meal, which came with your choice of side, so he chose pasta. He said the broth tasted almost like a lobster bisque. My tenderloin was perfectly cooked, along with some lovely rosettes on the plate and one perfectly cooked sprig of asparagus. I could have done with about a half dozen more of those!! And the piece de resistance, some FRENCH FRIES!!



So far, these were the definite winners in the French Fry contest, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, fried in ?? Perhaps duck fat. Just to keep my options open, will give these French Fries a 4.5 out of 5 on my French Fry O Meter.

Dessert was the mile-high Grand Marnier souffle',

served with two sauces, one chocolate and one ? --not sure, it didn't seem to have a lot of taste. Served with our choice of American coffee, it was a perfect complement to the meal, as was the stunning sunset.



A word here regarding the comments online about Ocean 82. Two different comments were stating that they had arrived ONE MINUTE late for their reservation and were denied seating. Frankly I kind of doubt that, but if so, one could almost understand. The curfew has to be extremely difficult on restauranteurs, who are used to many or most patrons arriving at 7:30 or after and spending 2-3 hours on dinner. Technically they are supposed to get everyone out of the restaurant by 8 PM and if people are late for their reservations, they make it impossible to do. One comment said that the KITCHEN had to close at 6:30. This is obviously incorrect, as they were still seating people for dinner around 6:30 or a few minutes after. We received our souffle' right around sunset, which was 6:45.

At the time that we left the restaurant at 7:30, Ocean 82 was at least still half full. Of the restaurants that were open, including Bistrot Cariabes, Auberge Gourmande and La Villa, they were ALL still at least half full at 7:30, so I don't see any way they could have served all their customers by 8 PM. The staff were busting their a$$es, but it has to be a very uncomfortable time for them. Perhaps by tomorrow, they will lift the curfew. I hope so, for the restauranteurs' sakes. We travelled through Marigot at 7:45 and the streets were still full of traffic and pedestrians. We didn't see any gendarmes setting up at the border either. A friend of ours told us that he had 'heard' that if people were eating on the French side and going back to the Dutch side, that they would be ok if they got back to the Dutch side by 8:30 PM. Regardless, it made an anxious end to a wonderful evening, wondering if we would get back across by 8 PM.
Back home with no issues, and time for another early night, replete from a wonderful meal.

I'll keep telling you you must go to Orange Fever. Great food, free padded chairs, 1 to 1 cash and some of the best French fries especially if you tell JC to extra cook them.

We went to Orange Fever yesterday. Soon come...

Great. Looking forward to your assessment and review. Hope you liked it.

It was good, although French Fries at Ocean 82 were better...

Very nice, Carol. Enjoy....😊😊

Looks like a good time.

Yes, it was a nice time and good food. Only rushing was probably from us to some extent. Just could not get the 8pm deadline out of our mind. But we where there early enough it was not an issue.... would we have gone that early otherwise, probably not..... but it was not an issue one way or the other and we left with plenty of time regardless.

We are still careful at home, so being here is no different. Even though we are vaccinated, there are more than not, especially in SXM that have a ways go go..... even in our county that we live in, the %% is not anywhere near what I am comfortable with at all... so masks, social distancing and the other precautions are still necessary and still required in our office.

And we are not the only business that is still requiring safety issues. Many have dropped, but the %% of masks for the majority, especially those over 50, has not dropped because people understand in our county that the .............. will not go there.

Nice report, Carol. While you were at Ocean 82, we were across the way at Bistrot Caraibes. We probably left a tad after 7:30 and the place was packed, but many of those people had been there since 6, so I'm sure they left by 8:00 --Island time for sure, though. A few nights prior, we ate at L' Auberge, also crowded at 7:30, but mostly empty by 8. Full disclosure, we were part of the laggards that left around 8:10, because there was no way we were leaving before a few of those fine post prandial rum shots.

Awesome report, Carol. Thanks and keep them coming! Picture of the menu board IS a little blurry. You blame it on the poor cell phone but are you sure you didn't have a little too much wine for lunch ? Enjoy !!!

Lovely report and photos.

"Full disclosure, we were part of the laggards that left around 8:10, because there was no way we were leaving before a few of those fine post prandial rum shots."
Not good compliance of the curfew protocols by restaurant or patrons. 😠

Scubaman, given your statement in another thread on PCR testing "Mine was also the self administered PCR test that all i had to do was swab the inside of both nostrils. Was accepted also." in regards to the official requirement that one submit a nasal, pharyngeal PCR test, a clear deviation of the requirements, may I respectfully ask by what moral authority you rebuke someone else for violating one aspect of the country's protocols while you are plainly violating another? BTW, I try to at least adhere to the spirit of the law, even when I can't/won't adhere to the letter. I'm not calling calling out your actions, merely your hypocrisy

********************* OUCH **************************************

cruzer--hope you had a good meal, as we did! Are you staying on the Dutch side?

o2b--no, actually, the picture of the menu board was PRE-wine..

Mercy--play nice, guys...

Great report!

This past visit was the first time I ever ordered steak in SXM, and that was a filet
at The Palms, that smelled so good cooking----AND it was.
I think I would do it again after looking at your beef tenderloin!!

And that souffle looks amazing!!

That beef tenderloin was some of the best beef I have had..

Carol, we had an excellent meal. It'll be documented in my upcoming trip report. We're staying at GCBC.

Thanks for reporting with pics. The soufflé looks incredible

OK, looking forward to hearing about your trip, cruzer..

I beg to differ with you on calling me out. I did exactly what I was instructed to do for my test with the attendant in full vision of me doing it. I met the requirements and no violation was committed. You on the other hand knew you were pushing the time curfew. Big difference.

OK, guys, chill..

Got it. Besides I still have a trip report to write.

Got it. Just hope that the locals and some tourists by ignoring covid curfews don't cause this to be extended.

Incredible sunset

Give it a rest. France (the country) just announced they are ending the current curfew.

France Curfew

Thank you!!!!!!

Does that mean that the French side curfew is over?

No idea but they usually follow what France does.

Very nice report. I was at Le String on Sunday. Totally packed with mostly local patrons.

By the time we were eating, it was packed on Saturday also. I'm sure Sunday was crazy.

Wonderful pictures! Thanks for taking us along virtually!

It is not clear what is happening with the curfew. Locals with whom I have talked expect an announcement before or during this afternoon. As far as people know, curfew is still 8pm this evening, Thursday.

OK, hope the curfew is cancelled..

The curfew does not stop anything, let it go! Here where I am it is 100% open and the State of emergency is finished. People are unmasked eating in restaurants, stores and enjoying life again.

Except Mainland France had curfew through June 20. St Martin was through June 17.

I heard from a friend they are supposed to make an announcement sometime today as to what the French side will do. Makes sense, since the curfew is supposed to expire today.