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

Based on our non-food related activities, I'd guess most cruise passengers do more in their half day port stop than we've done this entire past week. Yet, I'm perfectly happy with our accomplishments, minimal as they are.

One of the unfortunate aspects of aging is the decrease in appetite and stomach capacity. Still, we plan one nice meal out per day, and then have leftovers or deli-type items for the other meal. Breakfast consists of a baguette and croissants from Le Bounty, and most days a sweet supplement--my current favorite being palmiers. Sadly, Maison Chocolat is now closed until Oct 3.

Sunday was a total down day due to TS Earl and continuing to Monday morning. The afternoon turned bright and sunny, and the water became perfect, as were the Ti Punches the bar served. Still no decent sunset shots, although the sunrises have been a pretty crimson.

Sunday we returned to Yvettes for lunch as the restaurant is now closed until Oct 1 for a well deserved break. The place was full, and we were the only non-locals there. Ordered the salyfish cakes again, IMO the best accras on the island--with Hercule's tania accras running a close second--followed by conch chowder for Mrs. C and Conch Yvette for me. I was hoping this was more of a raw salad, but turned out to be more ceviche-like. A somewhat full stomach coming into lunch led to what has to be a record low tab of $31, excluding tip for us at Yvettes.

Monday's lunch was at Bistro Nu in Marigot. Mrs. C wanted beef bourguignon but the waiter mentioned something about it being Summertime, so I'm guessing we need to wait for the first snowfall of the season to enjoy this dish. They did have Le Coq au Vin so she gave that a try. I know the classic dish is made from a rooster past his prime, and so this dish seemed to be genuine. My meal was a sea bass filet in a butter sauce, with gratinated potatoes--a very nice meal. Oh, Mrs C's side was a generous portion of green beans and, IMO, one of the best veggie sides I've had since L' Estaminet closed.

Only two more days until I'm free of taking eye drops that I've taken daily since July 31, as many as 3 different meds 4x a day in each eye. Yay!! Yep, had cataract surgery and my distance vision is now 20/30 in one eye vs 20/200 previously. My near vision sucks, but I'm presently using Dollar Tree readers for those needs. I'm truly seeing the island in a new light, and kind of ticked at myself for waiting so long to do this. I imagine I should thank Texas DPS, as I flunked my eye exam preventing me from getting a new DL. Fortunatly my CA license still has 3 years to go.

Laziness has struck, so I'll forego pix this report.

Yvette's along with Gutside are our favorites for local island cuisine.

cruzer--I often measure how good a vacation is, by how many books I read, so I get where you're coming from!

Congrats on what seems to be a successful cataract surgery. I will need to get that done myself one of these days.

The older I get the more idle I become on vacation. Back in the day it was rush to see this and rush to do that but I'm perfectly in my element doing nothing but chillaxin'.......