Trip Report – October 14-21, 2007
No warranty given about any value to reading any of the following.
This was our first October trip – braving hurricane season. The result was the best weather we have experienced during a week in SXM. The conditions for snorkeling were great, with great light and visibility every day. In addition, all of the reefs we saw looked in better shape than last December, better than they have looked for years. Never went onto Front Street – never did any real shopping – helped make this trip our least expensive trip to Saint Martin. (Not sure wife is as excited as me about the no Front Street shopping….)
Sunday – October 14
We arrived from CLT one hour late – the flight otherwise was fine. Immigration was not too bad and, as always for us, it really makes no difference because we ALWAYS WAIT for our bags, in any event.
Joseph – the other Joseph – not the star of the website - from Unity met us at the exit door with the Unity sign and our name. We briefly waited to see if another passenger would show, but he did not, so we left for the lot. We rented a Kia Picante for a great price and it was a great little car, fine for us. Unfortunately, before getting used to the car, I damaged the front bumper in trying to get out of a parking space – my doing and I could not blame anyone else. At the end of the week, Michael was very reasonable in assessing a repair cost, which I simply paid with my card. I may be able to get reimbursed somewhat from my credit card – we’ll see. This was the first time I have rented with Unity and I can understand the raves it gets – I was very comfortable dealing with Michael even in the circumstances I had created. I definitely recommend them.
Next, was the mandatory (for us) stop at the Royal Palm for the phone from the Queen of SXM – Sharon’s store. As always, they supplied the phone, the charger, and the converter for the French-side (which still rules of course) – I fight with Verizon enough at home and do not need to do it there, too. Getting a phone from Sharon is a complete no-brainer for us.
It was well after Grand Marche’s closing time on Sunday of 2 p.m., so we simply drove over to Orient Bay through the middle region to find Bruno’s Paradise Bungalows. When coming through immigration, the woman officer asked what lot the Paradise Bungalow was in Orient Parc. I did not know I was going to have to know that, but I remembered that it was lot 77, which also helped find it after making the turn up the hill after entering Orient Bay Parc. If you are renting from Bruno for first time, remember that it is lot 77 – it helps! We wandered about for about 5-10 minutes wondering which building would be the one we were in before Bruno and Geraldine, et al, showed up to let us in and show us around. The room in the “Bungalow” was great for us and the price cannot be beaten. Beach towels were not in room but I asked Bruno and he immediately gave us towels. It really worked out very well for us and we can recommend unreservedly that you stay with Bruno and Geraldine if you want a great value. And, we had the advantage that Bruno was in the process of renovating Le Cottage, so we did not have to go eat there. (That’s a joke, Bruno….) Actually, in the trip planning, I was thinking we would eat there one night until I learned that it was closed and he was working on it.
This first night we ate at Le Piment in Orient Village, where we usually eat at least once. Good food and service at reasonable prices.
Monday – October 15
I was up early as usual while the wife is not quite the early riser. So, I walked down to Orient to see the beach and to see how it was to walk to the beach from the Bungalow. You can walk it easily enough, but we never did after this one walk I did. Especially with beach stuff, the walk back up the hill at the end of the day would be way too much. Bruno estimates the distance to the beach at about 500 meters which seems about right. On the beach early this morning (before 7) I saw very few walkers of any kind – very quiet. When walking back up to the Bungalow after looking around on the beach a little, I tried a short cut which brought me up to the middle entrance to Orient Bay – past Club Fantastico - not a good short cut as I wound up walking back along main road to get back to the Bungalow.
We went to Le Galion Beach this morning. This was the first time we visited Le Galion and it was in part because of all the discussion about the famous sign stating “vetements sur option.” Well, the sign is still there but everyone we saw – the other 8 to 10 people we saw on the beach that morning - all had their vetements on. (A government official has told me that the sign at Le Galion is not authorized by any arrete but he has never gotten me a copy of the arrete to read for myself.) Le Galion looked very beautiful except for the fact that there was a tremendous amount of trash everywhere. A guy did show up a little after we arrived and was cleaning the place up so perhaps the trash was simply the result of a busy weekend which he would have gotten cleaned up by end of day. We tried snorkeling but saw nothing but sand, grass, and a few fish. If there is any decent snorkeling at Le Galion, we did not find it. After the snorkeling, we walked over to Watersports at Club O just to see what the walk was like. I had known it was not too far from Club O to Le Galion but had never realized just how close it was. When we returned from Club O to our beach blanket and stuff, we found our beach bags gone. Nothing of any real value was in bags and the bags themselves were not worth much. We lost our lunch, a snorkel booklet, and one set of spare contact lens, in addition to the bags. I should have asked a couple near us to watch our stuff and moved it closer to them before going for a walk, but failed to do it. Oh well, our luck ran out in avoiding the petty theft on the island. Not that big a deal but pretty annoying all the same.
We then drove over to Little Divi to snorkel and have lunch at the Gingerbread Café at Belair. The snorkeling was pretty good and the lunch was fine. Went to Jody’s Place at Belair, where you can get an ice-cold 20 oz Diet Coke for $1.50 – best deal on beach. Plus, Jody has 2,000 items crammed into her little shop and is very proud of that – make sure you mention how much she has on sale.
Next stop was Grand Marche, where we loaded up with groceries – the wife staying in car while I made the purchases. Then, we stopped at Rima’s to replace the stolen bags. This time I stayed in car while the wife went in and bought two beach bags and a hat for $10 – good deal as always. Stop in here to get your beach bags, hats, etc. I had feared traffic issues, but Salt Pond Road was not very crowded, the roundabout was very easy to get through, and we made an easy and quick exit out of P’burg back to the Bungalow. Made dinner in the Bungalow with the new groceries.
Tuesday – October 16
Up early and off to Dawn Beach. Parked at Mr. Busby’s and rented chairs and umbrella from guy at Ms. B’s, which did not appear open for food and drink entire time we were there this day. We snorkeled around buoy line on northern half of bay and the reef looked pretty good around there. After a snorkel, we walked over to Westin and gave ourselves a tour. Looked nice inside but you could be anywhere in world. We cannot help but resent the Westin for being there with our memories of the old Dawn Beach Hotel and Scavengers. Oh well. We ate a good lunch at Mr. Busby’s and snorkeled a little more after lunch.
After driving back to Bungalow in afternoon, we drove down to Orient, parked near Pedros and walked the entire beach. This was around 4:15 to 5 or so in afternoon. Everyone we saw north of rocks was textile, but there were few people at all of any description. Noticed at Watersports at Club O that they have restarted the water taxi to Green Cay but they now are charging 15 euro for the ride. They probably will bring an umbrella and maybe chairs over with you and if so, that is not a bad deal.
Went to DVD Plus in Orient Village to check email and do a little communication with the world back home. Good place – guy who runs it is very friendly and helpful.
Wednesday – October 17
This day we took the Scoobitoo to Prickly Pear, Anguilla, from Grand Case Beach Club. We had done the same trip in December 2006 and had a great time. This time Stephane was captain – Corine and Stephane operate the Scoobitoo and Scoobifree and do a great job. The Scoobidoo was sold and is now in Mexico – Stephane believes that the Scoobidoo is not being treated with the love he gave it and he would prefer not to know exactly what has become of it. There were 22 pax and Stephane had two hostesses assisting him on board. The snorkeling was very good at Prickly Pear and the lunch was fine. Another great trip on the Scoobitoo.
After the Scoobitoo brought us back to Grand Case Beach Club, we walked down to Talk of the Town for a nice dinner of ribs. Looked around Grand Case a little, checked on what Bruno had been doing at Le Cottage, and then walked back to GCBC to get car. We had parked off road just up from entrance to GCBC. Felt safe walking between GCBC and downtown each way, but kept an eye out for scooters. Speaking of those scooter guys, one night a scooter coming the other way pulled out to pass right in front of me. I swerved over to avoid him, he did not seem to care. My only comfort is knowing that he will not live long driving like that. I just do not want my car to be the one he kills himself with.
Thursday – October 18
We spent this day at Orient and Green Cay. Excellent snorkeling at Green Cay. Great day. After cleaning up at Bugalow, we stopped by DVD Plus in Village and then went to Tabba Khady for dinner. We had tried to call him at his Dutch-side number but didn’t get through. We decided to just show up. Philippe gave us a great meal, very reasonable prices, and it was a very nice evening. Very enjoyable. If you get the chance to get there before they close in December, you definitely should do it. We talked with Philippe about his plans and he is keeping his options open, I think. With his abilities as a chef, I would think he would have no trouble finding something to do, if he wants.
Friday – October 19
We drove over to Ric’s Place for the included breakfast before boarding Random Wind for a very nice cruise to Tintamarre and back. The reef at Tintamarre was looking good with great visibility and light. The cost of this day sail was a great deal for the pax. Unfortunately for Diane, we were a pretty small group and they probably lost money on us. We really appreciated the fact that she did not cancel, and apparently did not even consider canceling despite the small group – we thought that showed what great people they are and won our loyalty for more trips in the future. Only five pax were on board – very nice group for us. Larry was Captain and Jackie was the hostess. At Tintamarre we anchored next to Tiko Tiko and Celine. There was a lot of cheering and yelling of those two groups and it apparently involved some of the Celine pax adopting the prevailing mode of dress. We actually were not sure it was Celine at first but we saw Neil on board and figured it had to be Celine. I think it was Celine looking good after some work on it. We had never been on Random Wind before and all I really knew about the boat itself (other than rave reviews from some TTOLers) was that it was a 54 foot monohull and I wondered how well it accommodated a group in terms of moving around on deck. Of course, with only five pax it was kind of a moot point, but the boat itself has a lot of flat deck space and is great for day cruising – better deck space than a lot of cats. A very nice and interesting boat and we really enjoyed the day sail. We really like some of the day sails that originate on the Dutch-side, like Random Wind, Celine, and Lambada/Tango (and I would add Bluebeard because although we have not gone out on it, we have seen it at Prickly Pear several times and heard very good things about it), and the prices are great, but there is that drive to the Dutch-side from where we are staying in Orient Bay. That is the only downside and that is why we take a daysail on Scoobitoo out of Grand Case (Scoobitoo starts the day at Anse Marcel but makes a stop at Grand Case Beach Club to pick up additional pax). And, of course, if you are on Orient, then the Tiko Tiko has the unbeatable location apart from being a great day sail otherwise. We made it back to Bungalow in one piece and got a good night’s sleep.
Saturday – October 20
We were up very early and headed to Plum Beach. The reef looked good and we again had great light and visibility. After a first snorkel we walked the beach to the point between Plum and Long, but did not go onto Long. After some snacking on stuff we brought and some more snorkeling, we left and drove to Baie Rouge. We ate lunch at Chez Raymonds which we enjoyed as always and we made lunch a long rest and relaxation time. After lunch, we snorkeled over to the right through Devil’s Hole and got over to the next point. Some decent snorkeling but visibility was not as good here as the other spots we went this week. Late in afternoon, we drove to Cupecoy and parked near top of stairs. Dany welcomed us but suggested that we just drive on down to other area. We looked down and the lack of sand was amazing. Hardly any sand at all and we saw rocks that we have never seen before. We drove down to main area just to take a look and the beach there looked OK, but of course you are under the new development. I chatted briefly with some guys there and then we drove on back to Orient and had dinner in the Bungalow.
Sunday – October 21
Last day – BOO!
We were up early and drove down to the beach – first car to park along wall back of Pedro’s. Lots of walkers from CO this morning and no sign of any gendarmes – we never saw any gendarmes on beach entire week, except for one guy running on beach early that I think was gendarme who showed no interest whatever in walkers of any kind. Our plan was to swim over to Green Cay for a last snorkel. Unfortunately, as we were in water getting ready for swim over the wife’s mask broke and was not fixable. I ran around trying to find a mask but nothing was open. Brian, who was on Random Wind with us on Friday, saw the wife looking a little forlorn and asked her what was going on. When she told him, he loaned her his mask, which was especially nice because it is a prescription mask. For reasons unknown to me, she said that she could see fine with his prescription mask. So, we used that. Very nice, indeed. Green Cay again looked great with great light and visibility this morning. Finally, had to leave the beach and get back to Bungalow for final packing. We drove over to airport in about 40 minutes through Marigot. Arrived at Airport about Noon, we were the only people at the USAir counter and I think we startled the agent who was kind of dozing. Check-in was very quick and we got back in car to drive to Royal Palm to turn in phone. Quick and easy there, too. We then drove to Sunset Beach Bar for lunch and plane watching. Got good service from a waitress, believe it or not and we had some good burgers and drinks. A UK couple with their son who were off the Braemer sat down at our table and we enjoyed chatting with them between planes. Saw two of the big ones come in – Air France and AA. We left a little after 2 to drive over to Unity lot and deal with damage to car. Michael handled that very reasonably and we got a ride over to the airport. We had about two hours til our flight left and we used it to look around in the shops. The USAir flight actually left only a few minutes late, which I think is a first for us. I cannot recall ever leaving that close to on-time before.
I have taken an interest in finding out what this Arrete 001-06 actually says, and if the weather had been bad I might have tried to corner a guy who works for the government at the Mairie in Marigot with whom I have exchanged emails about it, but the weather was in fact wonderful the entire time and there was no way I was giving up beach time for such an enterprise. I did not bring it up with Philippe when I ate at Tabba Khady on Thursday evening, which I thought I might do. Did not bring it up with anyone. It just all seemed kind of unimportant and silly to worry about it when no one on island that I have contact with seems to care much. Also, there are so many other very critical things going on. Things seems exactly the same in the morning on Orient Beach as they have been for years. Saw no section at Coco’s by the rocks, but then when we were walking by Coco’s one afternoon, there were fewer than ten people anywhere on property. On Monday in the Daily Herald there was a big article and picture about the car crash involving the two Dutch police officers who had engaged in a hot pursuit into the French-side. They were seriously injured and the gendarmes who responded delayed getting them to the hospital with a bunch of bureaucratic BS. There was a very serious standoff between the Dutch and French authorities – it easily could have become physical if not worse. People on the island were extremely angry and upset about what had happened and not just Dutch-side. Even people on the French-side thought it showed an extreme arrogance on the part of some of gendarmerie. I realized just how big this was when I made a passing remark on Tuesday to a couple guys at Mr. Busby’s who had a paper with them about what was the news today. One said that the news was not good but better than yesterday and he proceeded to make some comments about the French and gendarmes. Things settled down later in the week, but people were not happy. The lack of cooperation has been ongoing but this particular event shocked people. Other than that event, business people on te French-side generally are getting hammered by the currency issue and are not happy about it. On top of that, some expressed a great lack of knowledge about what is happening and what will happen with the new collectivity. One guy who operates a French-side business with whom I talked said that he had been to a meeting of business people and a government official said that they had bought the truck, and had been given the keys, but they were unsure if the truck had an engine in it. And, that was the statement from the government official! Immigration remains a huge concern. With all of that going on, I do not think the vast majority of people think that it is worth stirring anything up with regard to how people use Orient beach. Intentional ambiguity appears to be the only policy.
Another fabulous trip!
