TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Synopsis of Conditions after 5 years away [bareboat charter]

Hello,

I'm considering a bareboat charter from SXM after about a 5 year gap after my last charter. My last charter ended about a week before the hurricane hit and wiped everything out.

I haven't been on this forum for about the same amount of time.

I'm trying to get a feel for how much things have come back. I've gone through a bunch of posts to try and catch up but I was hoping to get some an idea about the state of some of the places we used to go and things we did.

First, Grande Cas. Is that area back? We absolutely loved the various restaurants and the atmosphere inside. Is there a little grocery store there also?

Orient Village: We ate at a couple of great places there too.

Orient Beach: I guess Club O is gone. What about the beach North of Pedros? Are the day bars there? I know the sargasso can be bad.

Pinel: Are the bars there and open?

Anse Du Colombier on St. Barts. There wasn't anything there before the storm but it was our favorite place so curious if there is any change there.

Anything bareboat charter-specific I should know about? I would probably go with The Moorings and I know their base moved to the Marina area.

Thanks for any insight.

Hi!
Grand Case still has some repairs to do, but there are plenty of great restaurants, in fact Calmos just reopened this week.I believe there's several small grocery type stores.
Orient Village has many wonderful restaurants too. Orient Beach north of Pedros has day bars with great food and chair rental. Club O has chair rental and the Perch Light for food and drinks.
Pinel- yes, the 2 restaurants are open.
Sorry, I don't know about St Barth's or bareboat charter.
So, come on back! I think you'll be pleasantly pleased!

Excellent! Thank you so much for the info.

As pony said, Grande Case is pretty much back to normal. Orient --OTHER THAN Club O--is normal or better than it was pre-Irma. Pinel is open and operating.

Don't have any info on St. Barts or bareboat charters.

You're welcome tmsxmsails. You can also get some great info by reading some of the trip reports or posts asking for recommendations. We stay on the French side in Grand Case and the Fr. Cul de Sac ,so if you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer.
I also just remembered that I do know someone who does boat provisions, so I looked up his business name. It is firstmatesolutions.com
This is owned/operated by Sebastian who used to run the watersports at Grand Case Beach Club. He then was Captain on a catamaran, Fun Seaker, until it was destroyed in a hurricane. Hope this helps.

The situation in Colombier on St Barth doesn't change much. It's in the Marine Reserve, and the land is privately owned. The only ways to get in are to hike by land, or to come in by boat. At times, it can get a bit crowded, with a dozen or more boats tied off to the mooring balls. Occasionally you'll find a large yacht anchored in the center. That's about it.

Unfortunately Pedro’s no longer exists on Orient, although the rocky area is still there I think. It was such a landmark that I guess old time visitors still use that name to identify the beach dividing line.

You will be pleasantly surprised how well the island looks considering all that little baby got hit so hard, with and the wreckage she left behind!! "GC" back and going strong, Orient village is back with fun things to do and great places to dine. The beach guys do their best to keep up with the sargassum. Many beach front restaurants are back and welcoming visitors with open arms! Ours is Laplaya!! Have a great time!!

Thanks for asking that question. We haven't been back since a year before the hurricane and I just started looking at the forums again for our trip scheduled in June.

Thanks for asking that question. We haven't been back since a year before the hurricane and I just started looking at the forums again for our trip scheduled in June.

I don't know that I would consider Grand Case back to pre-Hurricane. A lot of the restaurants on the water side never did come back.

Thanks everyone for the added info.



Darn, that's unfortunate. Those are the ones we really liked.

I would disagree with lcote's statement. The vast majority of the water side restaurants in Grand Case are back in service.

I would completely agree with Icote's summary of the status of Grand Case. We went back to SXM for a couple weeks in November/ December. My son and daughter spent some time in Grand Case since it is their favorite. They were sad to see so many places completely abandoned but ended their last day at Bistro Caribe that was exactly how they remembered it before the storm and the covid craziness. Many of us are anxious to see the SXM we remember return, but in my opinion, they're not there yet.
The airport debacle, the seaweed plague, the traffic challenge, capped by the airline gouge in rates, have forced many to go elsewhere. We are still hopeful and patient that our time in the SXM sun will return to match our memories.
TG

Interesting how everyone sees things differently..... Is the island exactly like pre-Irma? I'd say definitely not, but in the last few years that we've been going regularly, we've seen vast improvements. I thought Grand Case was hopping when we went in January... Le Pressoir, Le Bistronome, Ocean 82, Rainbow, Captain Frenchies, Spiga,... the list goes on and on... and several Lolos going strong! I've got a list of so many restaurants to visit, I don't think I can hit them all in 5 years.

Will it be exactly how you remember? I doubt it will ever be that, but are there new places to explore - for sure! We just take the airport and traffic challenges as the price for paradise that is St. Martin and a small price to pay to escape the cold weather here!

I'm with you Laura. Well said.