TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin TRIP REPORT, Nov. 14-Dec. 4, 2024 - Part 1

After the photo fiasco referenced in my prior report, I stopped writing a trip report as I didn’t want to do reports without photos. This has been reconstructed from my calendar and will be divided into 15 photos per report, which is the limit for Attachment Manager.

MotownTim and Whale Tail – My photos are automatically in Phone Link. While I cannot browse to Phone Link from Attachment Manager, I can drop pictures from Phone Link into Attachment Manager. Having two screens at home helped immensely. Were I to try this on my laptop, I’d have to split the screens and not sure how successful that would be.

EXPERIENCES

Art Box Gallery
I have been looking for this place for years and finally happened on it (across from white wall surrounding Simpson Bay Yacht Club). The proprietress carries the works of about thirty artists plus the jewelry she makes herself. I was especially interested in what she had by Jean-Pierre Straub, whose work I learned about on an art tour several years ago. I have four of his marquetry pieces and treasure them. She said he now lives in France (studio destroyed during Irma) and comes to SXM yearly to bring new work. I’m glad I acquired the pieces I have at the then-existing prices because his items at Art Box are now four-five times higher than what I paid at the time! I did pick up a piece by a new-to-me artist, Lucia Tritan.



Tijon
I always like to drop by Tijon to see what’s new. “New” owner Mimi is doing a nice job of adding interesting items to the gift shop. I picked up a bag I used for the rest of the trip. They also carry some of SXMNorm’s glass pieces.

Sail on Spellbound
En route to Anguilla, we saw another funnel. Throughout the day, social media was blowing up about the intense rain and flooding on SXM; thanks to Captain Ian, we had nary a drop on us all day. Two friends and I had all purchased suits at Endless Summer so, of course, they had to be modeled. When posted on FB, someone commented that they appreciated that Endless Summer was advertising with “real women.” LOL






Beach Day at Anse Marcel
Our first foray to Anse Marcel was decidedly not a beach day, but our second visit was more successful. Several joined us for lunch but, unfortunately, I guess I don’t have a picture for that. Beach and water were great. I have seen complaints on FB about the food not being up to par due to new kitchen personnel, but that was not my experience. Our server said it was only her second day on the job (wasn’t very familiar with the menu), and there was a cluster at the end with the bills when drinks and chair charges for one couple didn’t get transferred to their lunch bill. As organizer for the group, I ended out paying for that, but they did reimburse me later. It was a good beach day.





Georgina’s Nails
Had a nail fill and pedicure while on island. I am always pleased with the work done at this salon, and prices are more than fair.

Sail #2 on Enigma

BillandElaine made a surprise visit to the island, announcing it on FB to everyone’s shock and glee. We were able to get them to join us on Enigma for a wonderful reunion and beautiful day of sailing. More modeling of Endless Summer swimsuits occurred.




Beach day at Joa on Orient

While Orient is not one of my favorite beaches, I wanted a beach day at Joa. I was surprised to see my island foodie friend arrive shortly after I did. The crispy prawns were again outstanding. This time I ordered the beef tartare, which they were out of; the server talked me in to the veal tartare instead. I wasn’t impressed and should have ordered something else. The water was great, beach attendants were attentive, and it was a lovely day.





Beach day at Friar’s

Enjoyed a lovely beach day at Friar’s with friends. The water was calm and not many rocks to get into the water. I had the bo bun salad for lunch; not as good as Dream’s was, but decent.




This is the first of five reports for the time period November 14 - December 4.

Wow can you ever do trip reports!!! I blow through quickly to see the pictures and then have to go back and see them again.
Looking forward to more.
Thanks, next week at this time our toes will be in the sand

Glad we got the picture issue resolved. Thanks for posting!