TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Sunday & Monday

Lots of time spent in the water and the rest of the day spent on site, other than the bakery run and dinner meals. The water temperature is perfect, now 82 in the morning in the shallows.

Started each day with the Oscar Meyer bacon purchased earlier in the trip at the local Chinese market. I need to eat more bacon!!

Sunday's major activity was figuring out where to eat and then following through. Although we had eaten at Bistrot Caraibes earlier in the week, we had an irregular meal of lobster and mussels, instead of our usual array of appetizers, so we elected to go back to correct that omission. Debating whether to have 2 or 4 apps, we settled on 3--the smoked salmon, a dozen garlic laden snails, and the lobster bisque--accompanied by Kir Royales and finished off with creme brulee, decaf cappuccino and their very flavorful ginger infused rum.

Monday was to be a down day, but we exceeded goal. Breakfast was a feast of bacon, mango, croissant, baguette, and palmier.

Then I received an email from Laura Richardson that Roland would be on site to finish his current work. I'm interested in getting some of his works, primarily the scenery around GCBC to remind me of this place when we're back home. We talked for a while and at the end he joined us for a glass of champagne and went into a discussion on light, color, dimension, reality, divinity, etc. I really do like the painting, even more than my current favorite, Sea Grapes, a view of the sea grape trees on the Petite Plage side of the resort with Creole Rock in the background.

Earlier in the trip we ran into Carl Phillips and invited him and his family to dinner at Yvettes Monday. I was hoping to hear about impending plans to reopen his restaurant, but that remains just an option at this time. Discussed a wide assortment of topics, mostly just catching up on the last 5 years, with Mrs. Cruzer adding to her knowledge of local food/herb based treatments for the rigors of life. Lime is an important part of holistic medicine, just proving once again that Ti-Punch is necessary for a healthy life.

Today is our last full day on the island, and while I can now go home fully satisfied with our trip, I could also stay another week. I'm sure I have one more report in my fingertips, but once I get back to regular life, who knows if I have the motivation

Thanks for taking us on the ride!!! Enjoyed your reports and photos!!! Safe travels!! Until next time. Packing always sucks!!

Safe travels.

How wonderful to see Carl, CJ and his wife! We have been GCBC devotees for 18 plus years but unfortunately because of health haven’t been for the past couple of years. Carl’s was always a must stop a couple of times each trip. CJ was born the same year as our grandson and we watched him grown. The family looks wonderful. Thank you for the picture! And, if you have a moment, please let us know if he has plans to rebuild the family home. PS: we are very envious of you GCBC purchase!

I've really enjoyed reading your trip reports and viewing the beautiful pictures.

Enjoy your last full day and safe travels home!

Thank you for the lovely reports on your culinary adventures. It’s been an absolute pleasure to read them.🙂🙂

Thanks so much for all your reports! Safe travels home.

Thank you for your delightful reports with pictures; they were very enjoyable. Safe travels home.

Dziadzi, Carl is planning to rebuild the family home. It seems there are all sorts of bureaucratic hoops to jump through and red tape involved. It seems any kind of progress on any building on that side of the road is proceeding at a glacial pace. They are finally beginning to work on Calmos,

cruzer--that is really good news, that they are starting work on Calmos! I miss that place!!