With our daughter’s recent wedding, we didn’t think we could swing a St Martin trip this year, but decided at the last minute that we couldn’t stay away and opted for a budget trip for 8 days. Even on a budget it was, of course, paradise.
Our flight arrived at the new terminal, touching down at 4:17. Craig from Packlight (cell phone rental), and Michael, and Joseph from Unity met us. Traffic around the airport was unbelievable. It took almost 3 hours before we finally got our car and reached Grand Case, but it didn’t really matter because we were in St Martin! The ride to Unity while long, was actually enjoyable. Joseph’s 6 year old son was along for the ride and we practiced our French words, played “I Spy”, Hide-n-Seek (not easy in a van!) and sang silly songs while Greg and the men discussed everything from politics to weather and hunting. (By the way, if anyone wants to make a lifelong friend, bring Michael some venison on your next trip. Seems he loves it!)
Thanks to recommendations from this board, we decided to stay at one of Zuzu’s apartments (1 bedroom/ground floor) on Pavilon Beach in Grand Case. The apartment was very nice and actually larger than I anticipated and while not plush, was comfortable and quiet and offered a wonderful view where we enjoyed “wine time” many evenings. There were a couple of other occupied apartments, 3 with French families and the unit next to us was rented by a very interesting woman from California who had just finished a sail across the Mediterranean for 16 days. She had some great stories and was only one of the great people we had the opportunity to meet this trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Grand Case and began each morning with a quick walk along the beach followed by breakfast at L’ile Trottante, my new favorite breakfast spot. Afternoons were off to a beach and most evenings consisted of an evening walk on the beach on our way home from dinner. As a side note, Zuzu is indeed as warm and charming as her reputation and goes that extra mile to make sure her guests are cared for.
Our days were quite lazy which is exactly what we wanted. Our daily beach visits included Orient, Cupecoy, Baie Rouge, Galion, and Petit Cays (our newest and favorite find of the trip). I have no idea if we went the “right” way or the fastest way, but getting to Petit Cays was an adventure. We drove to the dump, parked our car and walked about 40 minutes over the mountain, through the rocks and onto the most beautiful and secluded beach we have found so far. It was a very soft sandy beach with calm waters and our entertainment for the day was the gathering of 20 or so pelicans that constantly soared, dove and caught their fish. There were an incredible amount of butterflies and the day was absolutely perfect. We had packed a small cooler with a couple of sandwiches and drinks and spent an amazing afternoon in our own private world.
We also had fun at Orient where we met a lot of new people; a delightful fun couple whose backgrounds and interests are very similar to ours (and only live an hour away), fun and friendly TTOL'ers and a group of young sailors whose frigate was docked for the day. They were on the island for diplomatic reasons, something about the Netherlands being the first country to officially recognize an American vesile. They were heading to Angilla where when the queen passed by, they were honoring her with a salute. They were quite chatty and friendly and ended up calling me “Mom”. (Just what I need, MORE kids!)
With the exception of Baywatch and a burger at SSBB, we tried not to revisit restaurants we had already tried. Hands down, the best dinner was at La California. We shared an appetizer of artichoke with goat cheese gratin with a couple of complimentary glasses of wine. We really didn’t plan on a full dinner, but the menu was so tempting, we couldn’t resist. I managed to devour my entire plate of mahi slices in a ginger sauce while Greg had the scallops and shrimps in a Creole sauce. Even with a couple of Armagnacs for dessert, our bill was only $81.
For dinner, we also enjoyed:
-Sky’s the Limit, ribs and chicken dinner
-Picante, seafood ceviche, shrimp cocktail, grouper and mahi
-Calmos, seafood salad, “Newburger” – hamburger with goat cheese
-L’ile de brasserie-best pizza I have ever eaten! (We saw at least 4-5 gendarmes eating there every night!)
-Baywatch (TTOL Party) Eggplant Parmesan, seafood special
-Bistrot Caraibes, Foie gras, onion soup, sea bass, mahi
The only disappointing meal was our most expensive. Our dinner at L’Espanade started nicely. We ate early and were quickly greeted and seated by our host, who was gracious, attentive and friendly (until the crowd came in). We began with the Lobster raviolis with coconut milk and coriander, which was very good, however, it had to sit on the plate at least 5 minutes before we could taste it because it was so hot. We ordered a bottle of red wine to go with our Lamb and vegetables and the Black Angus beef filet with a slice of foie gras beef special. Our dessert was the trio d’anana, which we shared. The food was good, however, it was not the caliber I had expected and after the $181 bill, left us both feeling a bit let down.
Lunches (and snacks) were usually something we packed, but we did stop by Baywatch, Chez Raymond, Arkwak (sp?) and Pedro’s. All excellent.
No shopping this time, however we did stop by DK just to look. We didn’t realize it, but we picked the one day that seven ships were in port, so we made it a quick stop. I have a tanzanite ring which I purchased a couple of years ago that does not come off my finger, except to be cleaned. After two years of wear and tear it was looking rather drab, so Jeff took my ring, is sending it out to be rebuffed and returned to me, all at no cost. Remarkable service.
So there it is. Sun. Sand. Food. Being with the one you love. There's always a piece of paradise found in St Martin!
A few of our pictures can be viewed here:
Our November trip pictures
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