TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Zafiro Bar at Simpson Bay

Here now and love this new bar! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />
Drinks are great...frozen drinks are made with fresh fruits!
Lovely couple that have opened the bar (Ed and Nicole from Boston) and are renovating condos for rent next door! Lots of beach and a gorgeous view!

Is there any food served?

where is it, exactly?

From airport, pass Sunset Beach Bar, keep on White Sands Road, go almost to Beachside Villas and you will see it on the right. Enjoyed our morning there!

Will be checking it out soon!

I heard you could walk there from Simpson Bay Resort. Is that true? How far? Danke! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

I am guessing,but I would say it would be a 3-4 mile walk each way. It is over in Beacon Hill. Walking that in the SXM heat would be a great accomplishment, atleast for me anyway. We just flew home from the island two days ago.

I have to agree. You definitely can walk there from Simpson Bay Resort, but it would be a very long, hot walk. I love to walk, and I don't think I'd try it.

FOOD??!?

Ok. I'll hike that but not walk in the heat especially after a few adult bevs! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Anyone have a pic to share?

No food yet. Soon. Great bartender, great drinks.

I have pics on my iPhone but can't figure out him to post them here. The bar is large with a nice area with tables and chairs and a lot of beach!

It shares the same stretch of beach as Beachside Villas. It's basically just down a section. You can see the villas from their lounge chairs.

Ok. Cool. Thx.I looked up BSV. looks very nice!

We are now in July and a review in May said that food would be coming "soon".. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> I guess it is island time as usual - perhaps by high season????

If someone visits, can they please post a pic! We've got two months til our trip! Merci and Danke!

There is nothing different than before really. Bar is the same, less table around. Beach is the same, less chairs. No food at all (just delivery) at this point and will not change until "high season".

Rental units are not done yet.

Right now it is a bar with beach chairs, that is what it is. Bartender is more than friendly and personable. Fine no problem, just that there were zero people around so he was talking to us and we enjoyed the conversation.

So if you are expecting more right now, that is not happening. That location could be good, but........... will not go there, as it has been a "bust" recently and more than recently. Will see how things go?????

Ideas and reality do not alwasy go hand in hand.

Oh that's the old Tahoma Beach Bar place. Nice stretch of beach, I went there several times when Tahoma was open. Hope they make it!!!

Do they have a kitchen and the capacity to serve meals yet? It's a lovely stretch of beach, for sure. We found parking to be problematic when it was open as Tahoma - just not enough room on a busy day......and then they closed. As lovely as the location is, they really need food on location.... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Great photos. Thx for posting!

Just added this to my trip in late October <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

Actually never made it here, too much going on with the group. I did see several cars there each day and from Beachside you wouldn't even know they were there. Think Maho tends to be more crowded and a bigger issue trying to drive through than Zafiro would be. In my opinion they have more off road parking than Karakter does.

We stopped by to look around.

It would have been nice to stay, but we did want meals too. Yes they could get delivery from Piece of Cake, but we wanted more substance than that. And what if there's something wrong with your order, or you want something else....you wait all over again?
We left, thinking we would grab sandwhiches at Zee Best bakery and go right back....but the car had a mind of it's own and kept going! Lol....right over the causeway to Grand Case. We ended up that day at Rainbow. It was the most perfect beach day with the right combination of food, drinks, and service.

I wish Zafiro luck, and perhaps in October/November they will have their kitchen in order and be fully operational.

Have they started serving food yet?

The owner reported on Facebook that they are serving food on Sundays only, and that in November they will begin serving food daily. A friend went there on a Sunday and said they had a delicious Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich. I'm not sure what else is on the menu.

Thanks for the information. We hope to try it out in November!

Perhaps we'll see you there.

Dropped by tonight. The new owner is Bert Sanders one of the previous owners of Karaktor. Some of the guest rooms are already occupied. The kitchen isn't done yet. I think he's shooting for December 1 to have everything operational. The bar is up and running. It's a nice location. Bert knows how to run a beach bar so hopefully he'll be successful.

New owner, as opposed to the previous owners from the states?? And the hotel is operational now??

Interesting to see that Bert has a new home base on the same beach. He should do well there once everything gets up and running.

Now I'm really confused, as I though Bert was the new owner of Karakter.

The area where Zafiro is located is heavily populated by residents and loud music like at Karakter would be highly frowned upon by neighbors.
No one has been successful in that location.

benni--what do you hear, about there being music there?? You are correct, no one in that area wants something like Karakter there. Too much noise, way too much traffic.

Bert Sanders used to be an owner of Karakter but sold his share. He now owns Zafira. Not sure if he plans to change the name. There probably will be some restrictions on music according to Sid of the Yacht Club.

If Bert can't make a go of it there is probably no hope for that location.

as long as music is played in a respectful (not loud) it is not offensive but when cranked up it resounds off the cliffs and is very annoying to residents on Beacon Hill and the surrounding areas including Beach Side Villas and the homes next to and behind the are affected.if they plan on bands I am sure the situation would cause much complaints by neighbors.
As I said before , the area is unlike Karakters as it is very much a residential community.
I wish them well and hope they respect the neighbors.

Even low volume bands in the evening are very intrusive, especially because of the base vibration. In June we went to Karakter and the music didn't seem loud there, but when we got 'home' to BSV, we could hear it quite plainly, even inside the villa with the a/c on. I shudder for that to be right next door. But the traffic and the commotion in that area, where there is almost no parking, is even more of a concern.

I really wish the best to everyone but It's beyond me how these places even are allowed to open without some reasonable controls and parking for their guests without infringing on the neighborhood.
Karakter was the worst thing to happen to Simpson Bay as it brought crowds of people down tiny roads with no parking, lots of noise and trash and owners that only cared about making a buck and could care less about the chaos they were causing in the neighborhood. We have stayed at the condos close by and the hotel next-door and there were times when we had to park at the end of the street and walk a block or more because their customers blocked driveways and took up private parking. If their is every an emergency you could never gotten an ambulance down that road for all the cars. Sooner or later gov will see the problem here. If I lived in that area of this new bar I would go have a long talk with the owners to make sure they have adequate plans to provide parking and facilities to take care of their guests before it becomes a nightmare like it has at the other end of the beach with Karakter. I do wish them well, maybe it will take some of that crowd and spread out the cars and people.