We can now say without a doubt that St. Maarten has taken over the number one spot for favorite vacation places for us. Our latest trip began somewhat imperfectly because of the weather, as it was raining and cloudy when we arrived, but we ended up having a fantastic week.
Were lucky enough to have arranged for a direct flight from NJ to the island on Continental, using frequent flier miles. Thank goodness paying out college fees (and everything else) via that American Express card gives us lots of frequent flier miles. As this time it was just the two of us we stayed in a single hotel room (a studio) with a kitchen, at La Terrasse in Maho. Was it the ideal place? No, but when you arrange to take a trip short notice and most of the other places are booked up, this is where you end up....across the street from the beach and near the airport. But with the windows closed and the airconditioner on we hardly heard the noise from the airplanes, and our balcony faced the water so we had a nice view without too many noise problems. The room/studio was adequate (the airconditioner was noisy) but very clean and we like having the cooktop, coffee maker, etc as we usually buy groceries and make our own breakfasts. In fact we ate breakfast out only on the day we left.
We rented an small SUV from AAA. Looking at it we were dubious about whether we would make it the week with it but it worked out well and got us where we wanted to go and then some.
After picking up the car from AAA, we were off to the Royal Palm to retrieve a phone from Sharon Harris. Unfortunately, Sherry sometimes has an aversion to reading directions all the way through. We didn't connect with Sharon the first time, then on the return to the Royal Palm had the incredibly bad luck to get stuck at the Simpson Bay bridge. That 45 minute traffic jam was enough for us to definitely take notice of the times it goes up and avoid that area like a plague. Finally had the pleasure of meeting Sharon, acquiring the phone and off we went. If you ever need a cell phone to stay in touch with the States while on the island, definitely give Sharon a try. It was so convenient and handy especially as we have young kids and grandparents doing babysitting. Thanks Sharon!
After we arrived back at the hotel, did some unwinding from the flight, and ate in Maho at Le Charolais in the hotel. We had eaten there before, and while the service is slow the food is quite good; plus they have a few half bottles of decent wine so we didn't have to waste money buying more than we could drink.
The rest of the week the weather was fine and we spent lots of time at beaches, mostly at Baie Rouge but also up at Orient. We also did shopping (as usual) in both Philipsburg and Marigot. We bought for Sherry an unusual heavy gold bracelet at Venetia and some very nice handcrafted gold shell earrings at Shivas, plus lots of skin care items from La Roche Posay and some very trendy shoes from Desmo in Marigot. Even though we weren't in the market for gems, we had the pleasure of meeting Deepta and sharing resturant tips with her. Hopefully when she next comes to NYC, she will drop us an email and we can return the favor of sharing our favorites in the city. (BTW Deepta, if you read this, I took your advice and I didn't share the chocolate cobbler at Temptations. Incredible is all I can say)
And we ate....very well indeed. Two nights we were at a new French restaurant in Marigot, Le Moulin Fou (tucked behind Sherries), which wasn't there last summer when we were on the island. The staff was very attentive and friendly and the food was superb, both nights. They also had good wine--a classified grand cru Bordeaux/Haut Medoc, for example. Definitely seek the resturant out and give it a try. We ate once in Marigot at Dom Camillo's, and this was also very good, and once at Temptations, also excellent. The least formal place we had dinner at was up in Grand Cases during their Harmony Nights Tuesday festival, where we had some delicious ribs courtesy of Talk of the Town.
We had our lunches mostly at small places....a little hole in the wall on Old Street in Philipsburg, barbecue from Lido's little stand in a parking lot in Simpson Bay (incredible amount of food for just one order), plus one lunch at La Playa up on the beach in Orient Bay. All excellent as well, although the menu at La Playa had changed from the summer and some things we were looking forward to were gone.
In the way of being adventurous we got slammed to the sea floor by some rough surf at Baie Rouge; we were sandblasted by an Air France airbus as it took off while we were taking sunset pictures at the end of the runway on the beach in Maho (now we know why people were running away); and we as usual drove all over including little side streets and back roads. St Maarten drivers haven't improved; there is still a high proportion of crazies who pass uphill on curves or with visible closing oncoming traffic. Our own usual fast driving habits were somewhat impaired by the fact that the mini-SUV we rented didn't have a working speedometer, so we never knew what speed we were moving at, except that we kept up with whatever was in front of us.
Had a couple of laughs over a group of Southern church women from a ship who were plucked down on Orient Beach. They were going on and on about how they told their driver they didn't want to go to a nude beach. Then their reaction when they were standing at the waters edge taking pictures when an older gentleman walked by totally nude. They had also decided to go for a beach stroll and ended up at Club Orient. Just listening to their reaction was amusing.
So, one good week of great food, bright sun, warmth, good shopping, and beautiful scenery. When can we get back?
Sherry and Doug <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/dance.gif" alt="" />
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