TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin 4/27 Day 7 Pinel!!!

Woke yesterday. No walk. Getting lazy and enjoying the sleeping in. Normally I'm up at 4:30 at home and moving. Here with only the responsibilities of either taking a morning dip down at club o or getting pastries is a bit different. We enjoyed the morning on the patio with the day old pastries and coffee. Put out morning together as the sounds of construction started in the village. It's good to see the rebuild still on going, and progress being made.

Jumped into the jeep and made our way to Pinel for the day. Got to the port and grabbed the Ferry. Bought 6 tickets, there were only 5 of us, forgot that Andie wasn't with us and had flown out the day before. We had loosely planned on paddle boarding over but changed our minds, maybe on another trip. What a beautiful boat ride to Pinel. I wasn't sure whether to look ahead or behind. My head was on a swivel. Got to the dock hopped off, asked for 6 chairs at Yellow Beach, finally realized there were only 5 of us. (That became a running joke for the day). Got our gear on the chairs and grabbed one of the available tables in the water. In hind sight, we didn't need to rent that many chairs, we never left the table in the water. The Cannonball grabbed his goggles and started his day in the water, finding all the fish. We ordered our drinks and set out to soak in the rays. Time flew by!!! We finally got to ordering lunch and ordered a feast. J of J&T insisted on having the Cannonball pick out the fresh lobsters to be grilled. I had walked off to take care of something when the order went it, leaving it to the Missus and J. It consisted of 2 2lb lobster, 2 orders of escargot (one blue cheese and one garlic), an order of Tuna Tartar, & a couple orders of fries. There was bread with escargots and salads with the lobster. The fish are apparently well trained about crumbs falling into the water as they swarmed our legs while eating. Really fun experience. Spent some more time in the water with the Cannonball as the Missus went to mill about the shop on the island. She bought some sculptures for the house. We spent some more time in the water as a group and decided we should head back before the mass exodus took place.

Grabbed the Jeep and headed over to Grand Case to grab some take out from Talk of the Town. Ordered some drinks while waiting, finally got my bottle of Ting! Grabbed Johnnycakes, accras, shrimp skewers, a bbq chicken plate and a conch plate. Got the obligatory sides: rice & beans, curry rice, potato salad, coleslaw, mac & cheese, and plantains. Jumped back in the jeep and headed home to feast poolside and relax.

Spent the night enjoying the food. Took a walk with the Cannonball down to the village to get some coffee for the next morning and brought some ice creams home for everyone. It was an enjoyable walk with the boy discussing the trip and life. Got back to the villa, played some cards, had some laughs and wrapped it up early knowing we would have to get our testing and paperwork in order in the AM taken care of. Don't want to waste our last full day being trapped by technology!!!

Looks like an outstanding day!! Glad you were able to make it to Pinel, as that seems like you had a really good time there.

Safe travels home. I know that I will be sad to see you go home, with no more daily reports!!

Great you made it to Pinel. One of our favorite places to spend the day. That escargot looks fantastic and such a large order. Glad the 6, I mean 5, of you enjoyed your day.

In all our trips we’ve only been to Pinel once. We may have to rethink this and go again. Thanks for the daily reports

I'm also thinking of a return to Pinel---looks
so nice!!

I'm going to miss your pictures and reports---safe trip home.

Thanks for all the entertaining reports. Very much appreciate your taking the time! Safe travels home.

BeansBBQ,

Another great report and it was so nice to meet you guys. My wife's red hair did not transfer to any of our girls but who knows what will happen with them. We've done Pinel a few times but the transfer back and forth just makes it a long day. The last time we went the Iguana's where crazy. We started feeding some of them and hundreds came down the hillside. It was a sight to see.

The villa's we are staying at are under construction and they start early and work late. Nothing like them drilling before 8AM.

Thanks for the BinaxNow tests. Thankfully, we have a few more days to go.

Have a safe flight

Mbrott

Great report. Do they still do the whole grilled fish on Pinel? That was probably the best fish that I have ever had but that was 5 years ago. We will be back in four weeks.

Yellow Beach had it last May.

Have so enjoyed all of your reports, photos, and enthusiasm! Every report made me smile! Thanks for sharing.😎

Safe travels! Thanks for the very informative daily reports and great photo's!! Glad "Cannonball" had a great time!!

Oh so much fun. We are hoping to drag our lazy carcasses to Pinel this next trip in June. Your report is great motivation!

Mbrott- Enjoy those last few days!! Was a pleasure to meet you. Safe travels.

DRich - the whole fish was on the menu. That is on the docket for next trip.

So, beans, when IS that next trip?? I'm already looking forward to another one of your reports!! Thanks again.

Carol- great question. There is talk of one soon. But there may be an excursion across the pond to somewhere in Europe first. There's been some talk and debate as to exactly where and what part. So thankfully you have a worldwide section for me to write in!!

Great! Looking forward to wherever you might travel!