TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 4 Thursday..MULLET BAY!!

After watching 2 ships come by yesterday morning, I thought Mullet Bay might be a good choice so about 10:00am, I headed that way. Things were just getting started with people rolling in. I was met by Chester near the entrance of the parking lot. He said the water was nice and guided my to close in parking an in the shade. There appeared to be a lot of competition between the chair vendors and with Maho having little or no sand, Mullet Bay was a popular choice. Since I was early, I was able to get front row of the 3 rows of loungers. The back row was almost up against Rosie's and the front row was down the 3-4 ft drop-off.

For those of you who know Mullet, you know it can go from like being in a bath tub to pretty intense waves. Knowing the waves here in Simpson Bay were not too bad, I had hopes Mullet would be nice. Of my many, many times going to Mullet, today was the bath tub like day of calm water and I would easily give it a 10+ rating. Entry and exit to the vey calm and clear water from the front row in front of Rosie's was very easy with maybe a 1foot drop at the edge. Farther either way from Rosie's and the front row kind of disappeared and the loungers were on the 3-4' cliff. A few catamaran tours from the ships came by and by noon it was really getting crowded. Never did a big wave wash up to the front row and it remained calm. I did not take a cooler since I was not with a group but did have a couple of beers from Joan at Rosie's who recognized me as I walked by with Chester upon entering. If you rent from Chester or eat at Rosie's they do have a locked port-a-potty you can use at no charge.

I had planned on staying until around 2:00. As the day wore on, people continued to come by with even the third row filling up. Loungers were close but not as close as I have seen in the past. It was a very pleasant day with several trip in and out of the crystal clear water to cool off. We had 3 passing light rains that each lasted several minutes but did not take away from a really great Mullet Bay day.

I headed back towards The Horny Toad about 2:15. The parking lot at Mullet was jammed full and parking along the driveway in had filled up. I made a quick stop at Le Sucrierie for a quiche and to satisfy my sweet tooth. When I arrived at HT, the generator was running as GEBE was back at it. This fiasco is probably even worse than the airport situation as it impacts locals much more directly. What a joke the emergency generators have been in even helping much with the problem. Government ineptness at its finest!

My plans for the evening was to meet a local friend for dinner at Jax. After solving a couple of problems at home and getting ready to head out a little early as I wanted to walk around Maho a little, I got a message that the friend had to cancel due to going to the doctor after having some health issues. Hopefully we can reschedule and make it happen as I was really looking forward to Jax and visiting with them.

I had leftover pizza for breakfast and did not then feel like a heavy meal from Jax since the plan changed so I explored a couple of other options. One being Altro since it was mentioned by a couple of other members on TTOL. I could not find much online for them so I called to ask about their specials an fixed price option. The communication was difficult at best but the person I spoke with did finally send me pictures (via WhatsApp) of the specials. Nothing on the fixed price menu appealed to me and I considered beef tenderloin from the specials menu but I just didn't feel that much like I wanted a big meal.

Option # 2 was Roma for HH and either make that my meal or order off the menu. I was able to park back behind the pharmacy area and went to Roma/Mr. Chow. Upon entering and asking for Marco (who we have known going back to La Gondola with Davide), I was told he was on vacation. I took a seat at the bar and was one of 5-6 people there. Fredo was the bartender who took good care of me. We talked some and I found out he is related to the former politician Louis Levist. He was surprised I knew the name but I do go back 30+ years of visiting. I had a couple of glasses of wine the shrimp tempura. The shrimp were very big and good but a little heavy on the breading for being tempura style. This was a good choice as it was all I needed. I opted for a mojito in place of dessert. It was rather warm in the bar as the fans were doing little to deal with the heat. When I left, the place was not too busy and it perhaps got busy later but it looked like it was going to be a slow evening

A couple of observations I have made, lots of new/unlicensed cars parked across from the airport. I don't know if they are for dealers, rental cars or perhaps both but the lot is packed with probably hundreds of cars and some construction small trucks. There are also many cars parked along the road in Maho, especially in the area of Driftwood and going back into town. Getting through can be interesting. I also noticed a lot of people from the ships were walking around Maho as I headed towards Mullet Bay ion the morning. I don't recall seeing this before.

All in all, it was a great day at Mullet Bay but I was sorry the dinner plans with the local friend did not work out.

And yes, the rusting apart D'Boat is still stuck at Beacon Hill

Glad you had a good day at Mullet.

You lucked out at Mullet. Always rough when we've been there. Sounds like another great day in paradise.

Mullet is one of our go to beaches. We usually call ahead and reserve the front row far left side as you face the beach. Have always been taken care of.

Nothing beats a great day at Mullet....water looks gorgeous!! Enjoying your reports and photos, thx!😎

I did forget the mention the traffic as I was heading to Maho yesterday. As I pulled out of The Horney Toad at about 5:15 or so, traffic coming into Simpson Bay was backed up clear to the Winair building at the airport. Glad I was heading the opposite direction.

Has Betsy been visiting you?

It's been awhile since I've been to Mullet. Are the chair vendors associated to one of the beach shacks or independent? And if the latter, is it ok to bring a cooler with food and drinks? Thanks!

Rob--it is perfectly OK to bring a cooler to Mullet, EXCEPT at the separate concession at the total opposite end of the beach by Cupecoy, called Kalatua (sp??? ).

Yes.

J D, the last time we went to Mullet, Chester had told us chairs in the front row were reserved - but I forgot to ask him his number. How were you able to make reservations?

I did not make reservations but he did mention some were reserved. I got there early both days. You do pay a tad bit more for front row but it was worth it both times. It may also depend on the number of ships. Yesterday Chester only had about 18 sets and he seems to have a lot of repeat customers.

Thanks.

Thanks Carol!