TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 3 Wednesday

My sleep pattern has been off so I was up at 3:30, fell back asleep from 5-6 and they stayed up. I am up at 5 when home and like to stay close to that. I spent an hour or so on the hammock here after the sun came up.

I hung out at The Horny Toad for a bit and then took a walk to The Druggist to get some insect repellant as my legs were being devoured by the "no-see-ums". With the heat, just that short walk worked up a sweat and I usually walk 2.5miles every morning at home. I spent some time in the water here at Horny Toad and then took a beach walk to Mary's Boon/K/Karakter area. Somewhat tough walking due to the beach erosion, some seaweed on the beach from the storm and LOTS of flat rock ledges along the way. Beach entry was good where I am staying and only a couple of exposed rocks It did not look good at Mary's Boon as far as being able to be in the water. When I arrived on Monday, the parking lot at MB looked full but at 11:00 yesterday, there were only 2 people on the beach at MB and a few people at the bar. I saw nobody on the beach at K/Karakter. I walked back to HT and went back in the water to float with a noodle and try to cool off. The water was very warm but calm and relaxing. I spent time under the BBQ pavilion area as a brief shower passed and just relaxed. I have noticed a lot of the vegetation/trees are showing signs of being damaged from the seawater from Ernesto.

I had a couple of errands to run that took me to the Cole Bay area around 2:30. Traffic was pretty heave but I was out and back in about 30 minutes, only to hear the generator running here. I took a quick look at the small gift shop here at HT. It is run by Angela, the manager of the property when Doug and Debbie are away. She has a nice selection of shirts, hats, koozies and other beverage containers.

I had decided on Bar Code after finding out Junior needed to clean his van to be able to work on Thursday as I guess there is a ship in today. I got to bar Code about 5:30. Ivan the owner was engaged in a discussion at a table and just one person working the place and nobody in the kitchen. There was 1 table of 3 ladies who had eaten and myself, that was it. The person working the bar was the cook and with Ivan busy, it had potential disaster written all over it as she could not even figure out me ordering a glass of wine. Ivan later told me they had been closed for a couple of weeks, he was short on staff and the person he was talking to was with the SXM government and she was there to 'help him" with his business. When the 3 ladies went to pay their bill, the cook was totally lost with what was going on. I decided it was time to go elsewhere as I have had good food at Bar Code before but service looked to be a disaster.

I decided a pizza from Isola sounded good and headed there. I was able to park across the street at the SBR lot since I was going to Isola. Other than the one room where you enter being air conditioned, it was very warm in the bar area. Hailey was my server and she did a good job and was pleasant to talk to. I was the only one at the bar with a few diners in the a/c area. They were doing a pretty good take-out pizza business. The pizza was very good and I have leftovers. My only complaint was I was served bottled water ($5 for a small) after asking for tap water. No service charge added as Hailey said she rings the orders in as to go orders and people seem to tip better with no s/c added.

I was meeting the son (and his group of 5) of my March travel partners at Pineapple Pete's. I decided to go into Izi to say hello to Davide. It was about 7:30 and there were NO patrons there at all. Davide was not there either. I have been told by 2 people who should be in the know that Izi was just sold in the past few days. Something was amiss with the place last night to have nobody there.

I went across the street to meet the group and was promptly greeted by the Head Pineapple himself, Pierre, who called me by name. I enjoyed a conversation with Pierre who also said to send his regards to Carol and Eric Hill. The place was pretty busy and people continued to come in. Pierre said his business had actually been very good and was ahead of last year. He was very pleased and like with many successful restaurants both here and at home, you seen an owner on the premises who is making sure things are going good. I had 2 drinks while the other 5 enjoyed their meals, they were all pleased with their meals and the amount of food. Honestly, it has been several years since I have eaten there but it needs to go back on my list. Kind of like Mark's Place, not gourmet but good food, a nice selection and reasonable prices. I had a nice visit with the people I met there and gave them some suggestions as they are first-timers, with the exception of 2 of them having been here on a cruise. They are staying at SBR and were very pleased with everything so far.

Back to the Toad and lights out. I have no idea when the power came back on as it was after I had left here at 5:30.

Attached is the hammock and the Wonder of the Seas coming in as I type this.

Last time we went to Bar Code, it was kind of a cluster f*ck. It's off our list, for the time being. Perhaps Izi is the Simpson Bay restaurant that Jeff Berger had been breathlessly touting as being for sale, for what seems like forever. I know you like it, but I was never a huge fan. Meanwhile, Pierre always seems to have his sh*t together. Glad that he is doing well. I am always amazed at his memory, whenever one walks in there.

Nice picture. Carry on!!

I wondered the same thing about Izi. Supposedly the new owners also own other restaurants on the island.

Cruise ship #2 just came by.

I was looking forward to Bar Code but will probably put it on the back burner after last night.

I don't understand why everyone thinks so highly of Izi. We've been there a couple times and I think it is really only one step better than Olive Garden here in the States. IF I am in SXM, I'd like better food than that!

I would "fill in" barcode by going to Altro in cupecoy,
Limited reasonable prix fix and have enjoyed many meals there
3 courses, petite appetizer, main and dessert
won't be stuffed, but wont leave hungry

Same here.

We trued Izi several years ago and thought the sauce (gravy) tasted like Campbell's soup. Never went back.

That hammock is one of my favorite places at the Toad and have spent several hours in it. I agree with Mahokid about Altro. I usually go there 2-3 times during my several-week trips.

I don't think we got there last time, but I definitely agree that Altro does a good job. I also like that you can get a 3 course meal for a decent price, and the portion sizes are smaller, so I can actually EAT a three course meal there. In the old days, we would eat three courses at a French restaurant every night. These days, that's just too much food.

While the food was adequate at Izzi, Davide ran a tight dining room, always had good freindly service
I'm sure he will move on
We used to go in our early years until we found better places