TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip report - the good

Quick trip report for you (Tuesday, July 19 thru Wednesday, July 27). Great visit this year. Our eighth (but two-year gap – last was 2019). Weather was perfect and beautiful every day.

Beachside Villas
Our third stay here. Perfect. Staff was great, rooms were great. Every day, the beach was near perfect. It was wide, absolutely zero seaweed, and mostly disserted. First half of visit, no one else really at the place but us. Last half, there were about 6 or so new cars – so fuller by the end of our stay. Noticed just how many unique flowers are on the property. And noticed one flower closes up at dusk. Beautiful.

Clud O Beach and Perch
Was here Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. Only clear seaweed day was Wednesday. More on that in next post. Perch staff and food were great. Most days we shared the rib plate which was perfect. Each day I counted about 50-60 folks (about 25-30 couples). Never full – but about 2/3s of chairs put out. Always about 4 or so couples there using there now chairs or blankets.

Took a hike to the end of the point past the old restaurant with 3 new friends to see the blow hole over there. Nice hike and very cool to see the point that is basically made of old limestone and reef.

The feral donkeys came two of our days. Really pretty and tame. You could pet them. The only bad part was that some people were quick to start grabbing cameras when they came which made others, including us, uncomfortable.

Friday shopping
Wife needed break from beach so went to Phillipsburg to shop. Didn’t get anything. Not really for us.

Sunday Dive
Did a two-tank scuba dive Sunday with Ocean Extreme out of Simpson Bay. They did a great job and one good selling point is that the boat ride is like only 5-minutes. We dove a small reef and then a sunken cargo container ship just off Beachside Villas. Reefs are small here and not as 'alive' but we saw sharks and turtles and rays. And the dive master taught me how to blow bubble rings.

Food
Ate in room mostly from things we made and bought at Carrefour. Did eat out twice, first day and last, at Sunset. One of my wife’s favorites for the view. And Saturday night at Buccaneer’s to hear music and see beach fire. BBQ chicken pizza was really good.

Most mornings went to the Zee Best bakery. Everything absolutely great. Did notice a few workers are much more terse and 'get it over with' than the lady, that I think, was the owner or boss. I could joke and compliment her and she would brighten up and converse back. The others wanted to get us in and out in a hurry - like we were bothering them. But, you never know and everyone is different, I just keep going and being cheerful. Hoping it was good for them too. But wow, there stuff is so good.


Really great trip. The clean up and rebuilding were very obvious to us this time. Huge improvements (except airport still the same - but supposed to be up and going by 2023). Did not see any sunken boats and lots of work done on sides of road.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your time at Beachside, although it is hard not to! It is constantly surprising to me, how empty Beachside often is in the summer. Considering the prices, it really is surprising.

I think we have finally found someone who eats in at Beachside more than we do! For us, that is a lot of being able of being able to relax.

Thanks again for the report. Any pictures??

We eat in often during our 4 week stay. Can't take restaurant food every night with all the added sodium that goes along with most restaurant food.

I like this formate trip report!! Nicely done. Question "We dove a small reef and then a sunken cargo container ship just off Beachside Villas." Are you talking about "DaBoat" that was hung up on the rocks in front of BSV and EL Zafiro? There hasn't been much talk about this in a while. It was still there when we were at BSV in April. Thanks for sharing your time on the island! Yeah BSV is very special!!

Here's your chance.........



https://www.point2homes.com/MF/Home...hside-Villa-5-Beacon-Hill/123876523.html

SXMBND--yeah, I saw that a while ago. I am surprised, as I thought only #11 was privately owned.

#3 & #5 are both currently on the market and owned by the Mascarins.

Huh. OK.

Thank you all for the feedback. Yes - we also have always been surprised at the low numbers at Beachside in July. The view and sounds truly take you away. Loved the new showers (since last we were there.)

On the diving, no we did not dive the big ship stuck in the rocks. It is still there and doesn't really move with the waves. I assume it is wedged in pretty tight. And I would not even snorkel there, the pounding waves by rocks and steel would be scary.

We dove Turtle Reef and the wreck was the Carib Cargo.

I do have a few pics. I will see if I know how to get a few up.

diver--I'm not certain if all the showers have been replaced or not, but the one in #13 was, for sure. We appreciated it also. We used to always shower in the second bathroom, but actually used the shower in the master this time. It definitely did make for a more comfortable shower in the morning, with the a/c on.

Nice that you got to dive Carib Cargo. One of my favorite dive sites for Micro Photography. Have over 30 dives on that site and always enjoyed each one.

Correction........that was #4 &#5.

Wow, I had no idea those places were that expensive!

And with the HOA and insurance, geeze.

Maria--Seriously??? Have you looked at prices in SXM recently??

Wow, beautiful! Too bad I didn't win the Mega Millions!

Two bedroom/2 bath for nearly $800,000, plus $8,400 per year HOA, plus $4,200/year is pretty outrageous, at least by our standards in expensive Colorado!

Definitely up there price wise....

The HOA on the Unit 5 listing is $1500 / month. Not sure which one is correct.
Can't beat the location......


EDIT:
They have adjusted the listing to have Unit 5 to match Unit 4 @ $700/ month.

The price for what something costs in Colorado--or anywhere else in the world-- is totally irrelevant to cost in SXM..