TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 15 on island

Just lazy sun drenched days on orient, Simpson Bay, and RP. Financial problems with banks closing and moving in Simpson Bay. Went to ATM at New Republic bank after it closed the branch near ZeeBest. I figured wrong. A week after closing the old branch, the new branch was not ready. Then went Bank de Carib, it only accepts certain debit cards. The ones it accepts are only known to the ATM machine. The guard told me to go to WIB (across from the news Dingy Dock). Walking about another half mile got to WIB to find a line. Luckily it was for entering the main bank. The ATM only had 3 people waiting. Banks because of COVID, I guess, all have cues manned by rentacops to control ingress. Any hoo, finally got my money. Back to RP beach for chilling. Dinner to night at Bombay Bites, going to meet Rajesh’s family (from DK Gems) there. Our choice, will report tomorrow.

I have found the ATM near Red Piano to be easy to access and seldom a line.

Am I the only one that finds it crazy that there is no ATM in Orient Village? With all those bars, restaurants, and the Petit Casino I can't imagine it doesn't justify an ATM

Is there no ATM in Orient?? That seems odd.

There was an ATM at the Esmeralda, I don't know if its been taken out. They would also do currency exchange, as a service, at the front desk

There used to be one in HopeEstates pre Irma. But Euro only.

There is an ATM just down from the Super U in Hope Estate at Credit Mutuel (sp.) that dispenses US dollars with no fee. I used it several times from January until middle of March. Generally stop and tap when on our way back from Orient or Friars.

There are a few ATMs in Hope Estate, one right next to L'Express actually.

You are not. That said, we found literally nowhere on the French side that did not take cc's assuming you were spending more than a few euros. We bought some euro from our bank before we left. On the Dutch side, most of the restaurants at Jordon Village were "cash only" due to the insane % charged by banks to process cc's... or at least that is what we were told and I have no reason to doubt them. There is a very safe ATM at Porto Cupecoy. Used it twice in Feb.

"we found literally nowhere on the French side that did not take cc's "
Friers Bay resturants don't take them alond with some others on Oreint Beach.

Credit Mutuel - choose either Euros or US dollars. We've never been charged a fee there.

978 at FBB took our Visa just fine at lunch back in February. I just looked back at the statement to make sure my memory is correct and it is. Obviously we didn't do an exhaustive study of Orient Beach's businesses and I am sure some business doesn't but as I said we never found one that didn't take our Visa. And we found many on the Dutch side that did not take cards.

978 is new, correct? I don't remember it there. Only Friars Bay Beach Cafe and Cali's, or whatever they call it now. Is 978 what used to be Calis?

I think it is in that same location but some form of Kali's still exists, maybe just the bar?? The day we were there FBBC wasn't open and we were pleasantly surprised by 978. The curry was fantastic.

Is 978 associated with 978 Sanctorum, which is a turnoff to the right not too far after Friar's turnoff? 978 Sanctorum is in a private home and hosts live music with food on weekends, or at least did last year. I always wanted to go but didn't make it. I did drive to it during the day to see what it looked like.

I think so. The Traveling Island Girl went to both the 978 Sanctorum and the 978 Beach Lounge in one of her videos. The Sanctorum looks really nice.

Really? No fee?That's great. The last time I was on the island pre-pandemic, I couldn't find a bank that charged less than $6.00