May 31 to June 10, 2008
As always, no warranty as to any value in reading any of this.
Shortly after our October 2007 trip to SXM, I knew that I had to get the next trip scheduled to remain sane. So, I got the plane tickets and then sent emails to Bruno (O Paradise Bungalows); Michael (Unity); and Sharon (Queen of SXM) to reserve the room, the car, and the phone. All were great as always and I recommend them all to anyone.
Flew US Air from CLT to SXM – arrived 15 minutes early! Great start, but then the jet way did not work, so we had to climb down stairs and walk into terminal. Immigration lines were long, but the luggage came out about ten minutes after getting through immigration – things going pretty good.
Picked up car, a pretty new Kia Picante in great shape. I like the Picante because of the small size – easy parking. The only time I really missed a bigger car this trip was driving into Friar’s. Picked up phone from Sharon’s Store – put too much time on it, but I thought I would have more going on than it turned out – and, I am too lazy to have to worry about adding time later – I will keep putting a lot of time on it at start just not to worry about it. Then, on to Grand Marche, where the wife stayed with car and luggage, while I went in and bought a lot of groceries. I had thought we would eat out more, but we wound up eating all but two dinners in the Bungalow. One night we ate at Le Piment in Village and another at the Rib Shack in Grand Case. Ate all of our breakfasts in room, to the extent we ate anything other than pastries from Tap Five or the Boutique, with the two exceptions being on our Random Wind outing and the trip to Saba, where we had nice breakfast.
I made three new concessions to security this trip: (1) closed storm shutters at night when going to bed and whenever we were not in Bungalow; (2) used a cable lock on bags at beach, attaching them to chairs or something else that would require a thief to cut the straps on bags to take them – no easy grab and go; and (3) brought a small but very loud magnetic alarm which I positioned in front of the room safe under something so that someone opening safe without knowing it was there would cause it to go off – alarm would temporality deafen and shock them – might scare them away – or at least annoy them a little…. Did all the other usuals, nothing left in car, pay attention to surroundings, etc. We had no personal experience with crime on this trip. We saw more police presence than before. Saw a Police Municipale car circling through Grand Case the night we were there – saw Gendarmes in Orient Village. Saw a traffic control at usual place near turn to Grand Case airport. We never saw anyone who looked threatening or out of place. There was one exhibitionist jerk on Orient we saw, but he just paraded up and down the beach some. The biggest antisocial behavior we noticed was littering. Even on Club O beach there were people who just left beer bottles or other trash next to their chairs when they left. And, smokers who think cigarette butts thrown on beach are not disgusting --- don’t get me started. Some people are just pigs!
On Saturday, May 31, there was very little traffic as we made out way with the various stops to the Bungalow. Very little traffic for us to to deal with all week – only exception being caught up in traffic in Marigot on last day on trip to airport. Bruno had left a key in the door, but I called him to make sure of room we were getting. He was up at house and came down and got us situated. As before, room was great for us. For some reason, we wound up walking down to beach and back up more this trip than before – it was an easy 15 minutes to get to Tap Five for a pastry in morning. Only problem I had with room was that I could not get my laptop to talk with Bruno’s wifi. I am certain problem was on my end because I could not get signal even when I walked up to Villa Margot and sat under antenna. Wallace next door got connected pretty easily, I think – by the way, sorry for not saying hello, but it was just one more thing we did not do that we had intended to do. With regard to laptop, maybe after almost 6 years, I need a new laptop. For the email needs, I just used a terminal at DVDAccess in Village – David and/or woman who works there were very hospitable, as always. I enjoyed talking with you, David (and I know you at least lurk on here from time to time).
Sunday, June1: after early morning walk on Orient, we drove over to Divi Little Bay, got some chairs and umbrella, and spent day on beach there, with a lot of snorkeling. The wife likes the snorkeling there and it is relatively easy swim for first day, especially with the wife getting over a cold. Jody’s Place at Belair still has best prices for cold drinks on the beach and Jody is as talkative and friendly as ever – she happened to be there when I was there this day. The snorkeling conditions were superb – great visibility. I walked up to Fort Amsterdam while the wife was snorkeling more than I wanted and I could see the submerged semi-sub (Odyessey I, to be exact) next to the Tiki Hut Snorkel raft from the top of the hill – the sub showed up clearly in a picture I took. We have never seen water so clear there before. They have fixed up Fort Amsterdam with more informational signs. There still is the sign just past Divi on way up hill that says you need written permission from them to go up to the Fort, but I ignored that ridiculous sign, as always.
Monday, June 2: Today was Pinel day. Walked on Orient first, and then drove over to ferry. $7 pp RT. Got the Orange chairs and umbrella for $15 – which included a free drink for each person. The new building (in middle between Karibuni and Yellow) has very nice restrooms – good place. Snorkeling in usual snorkel spot was pretty good – much better than last time we were there. Meet group of owners from Oyster Bay Resort with whom we chatted throughout the day – they were all enthusiastic boosters for Oyster Bay Resort. Great beach day on Pinel.
On this day, I was wearing my official TTOL hat, as I did many days, but on this trip I only received a reaction to it twice – this was different than other trips, when it usually causes at least some cursing and stone throwing. This day, a guy on ferry to Pinel asked if I had just been to Tortola and how I liked it – I had no idea why he was asking me this – it turned out he thought the TTOL hat was a Tortola hat. Later in week, Lossie of Tom and Lossie noticed the hat and we chatted a while – by the way, where is that trip report!!! We enjoyed talking with you guys – hope your trip home was good.
Tuesday, June 3: Today was Saba day. We got up early and drove to Juliana for a 7 AM flight to Saba on Winair. A great day trip! The flight was very interesting – particularly the landing on Saba. Saba has the shortest commercial runway in the world at 1200 feet – or so the tourist literature says. The landing technique appears to be to fly straight toward the cliff, then swing over onto runway at last minute. Amazing! There is no cockpit door and we were on right side on plane – so we could see very well just how amazing it was. I had arranged for a snorkel trip and taxi through Sea Dive. Garvis is their regular taxi driver and he was as great as trip reports I have read had said, even though he was not feeling very well the day we were there. He met us at airport, drove us to Windwardside to check in at Sea Dive, then drove us to Juliana’s for breakfast. Next, after we had had time to look around Windwardside (a very nice town that appears as an old English village), he drove us through Bottom to Fort Bay Harbor to get lunch and then meet our dive boat. There were eight divers and the two of us snorkelers on the boat. Saba is really a dive place, but the snorkeling was very good. Garvis was waiting for us after the trip and took us back to the dive shop to pay for the snorkel trip ($30 pp plus marine park fees of $3 pp) and then on to the airport. The airport was interesting – no boarding passes, no inspection of luggage, no metal detectors – just get on. Plane left 20 minutes early – reverse Caribbean time. Garvis’ bill for the day was $40, which I thought was very reasonable and I added a nice tip. It was somewhat expensive flying over just for a day, but it was a wonderful day and worth it for us. 1700 people live on beautiful Saba – if you have not been there, you need to go and see it while it is what it is.
Wednesday, June 4: Today was Random Wind day. We drove over to Ric’s, getting there way early, but we settled down to the very nice included breakfast. On this trip there were 19 pax, very different from the 5 pax trip we last had taken on Random Wind last October. Random Wind can handle the 19 very easily, however, and that was no problem. Larry still is Captain - Lacy is relatively new as hostess- having been there two weeks, I think she said. Both were great. We snorkeled first at Baie Rouge, anchoring on east side of bay. Larry told everyone not to try to snorkel through Devil’s hole, but he did not say he meant us, so of course we did. Snorkeling in general was good. The two little beaches east of bay had much more sand than they did in October 2007 and more than we have seen there before at any time. After Baie Rouge and a nice lunch, we sailed to Long Bay and anchored off La Samana. The rock wall on east side of bay, right off La Samna has excellent snorkeling in a relatively small area. Among other things, we saw an octopus and a great variety of coral. Very nice. A very enjoyable daysail and I recommend the Random Wind to you. We wish Diane and Dean the best.
Thursday, June 5: on this day, we spend a great day lazing and snorkeling at Orient. Orient Beach really is back – the beach must be 25 to 30 feet wider at Club O since last October – the rocks at Coco’s are well away from waterline - what a beautiful beach! We got chairs and umbrella and then swam to Green Cay for some snorkeling. Visibility was again superb (as it was throughout our trip everywhere we went) and the reef continues to improve, in our opinion. In general, in the bay, on the swim over to Green Cay and back, and then snorkeling north up the west side of Green Cay, we typically see turtles, rays (both spotted and gray), barracuda, lobster, and all kinds of fish, including a porcupine fish which is one of our favorites. There is a small but significant new coral growing, particularly off the northwest point of island. We find the snorkeling on SXM very enjoyable – no, it is not Belize, Grand Cayman, Provo, or some other places we have been, but we very much disagree with anyone who says that the snorkeling on SXM is “not worth it.”
On this day, I tied a pool thermometer to the raft in front of the Perch. (This engendered a couple of incredulous comments from guys who saw me getting my pool thermometer out and tied on – but after first comments they became very interested in my science experiment.) I had bought the thermometer at Walmart before leaving home to bring down and check out the water temperatures – surely, you remember the great water temperature discussion of several weeks ago. I left it there and I want those of you there now or going in next few months to check it out – and, if it breaks, please take it off raft and throw it out properly. While we were there, the water temperature about 1.5 to 2 feet down (not that it really varies that much, but right on surface it certainly can read warmer on sunny day) was 82 to 83 degrees (F). The dive guy on Saba on our boat told me that the water temperature on Saba varies from 78 to 84 in the course of a year and thought SXM would be same. That is consistent with what I have read. Several people on SXM, however, told me that they thought the water temperature in summer could get well above 84, to 87 or 88. I would be surprised if it really gets the warm, but do not know. OK – enough with the water temperature fetish.
At the Boutique, they now charge an extra half or quarter euro for cold drinks – the cold diet cokes for the wife had an extra half euro charge on them. On close cross- examination, one of the women at the Boutique admitted that she thought it was to send more business to Perch, instead of having cheapskates like me walk to the store. Oh, well, I bought drinks from Willie, again, as I always have even before this new policy.
Friday, June 6: Today was Scoobitoo day. We love the Scoobitoo, in part because it is a great snorkel boat and in part because we can board it in Grand Case without having to drive to Dutch-side. This trip was to Anguilla, with the main stop at Sandy Island on north side of Anguilla. We got over to GCBC early and awaited the boat, which comes out of Anse Marcel. Corine showed up on time and checked passports and took our money. Sandy Island had very good snorkeling and we had a great lunch on board there. Sailed back. Another great day sail.
After returning to GCBC, we walked to town and after looking around, we got dinner at the Rib Shack – Lolo #6. We went there because it is right on water. Good ribs, rice & beans, and potato salad – ate too much – had a few drinks – bill was $20.50! Walked back to car which we had left parked on road in front of GCBC all day. Thought about the walk to town and back and decided what the heck. We never felt unsafe. I kept an eye out for scooters and made sure that I was between them and the wife if they passed, because I really do not trust those guys, but no problems at all. It was on this night that we saw a Police Municipale car drive down main road twice – seemed like it was patrolling – never seen that before in Grand Case.
Saturday, June 7: this was the only day we did not snorkel – with the wife spending at least a few hours in water every other day, with me somewhat less. Today, we first drove to Sint Maarten Park – the zoo. I missed the right turn onto Arch Road on first pass – annoying and don’t know how I missed it - but we got to place fine. Obviously, this is not a big city zoo, but we enjoyed our visit very much. They do a good job and have nice exhibits. The adult entry fee of $10 pp is very reasonable given the expense of operating a place like that. I recommend that you go see the zoo!
After the zoo, we parked in the free lot next to the salt pond and first walked to Rima’s, partly just to see what they had this time. The wife bought a few things. We then walked to a souvenir store on Front to which we have gone many time over the years. You walk up some steps to get into it - it used to have a sign calling it “Kenny’s” – but the “Kenny’s” sign is gone and the people there were a young couple we have not seen before. The wife bought some t-shirts and postcards there. Then, I learned that we were going to DK Gems. No real surprise, except that the trip had been advertised to me as a no jewelry trip – but I found out that meant only that no jewelry was brought – not that no jewelry would be bought. The wife had a specific interest in a sterling silver bracelet – and, she is getting way too comfortable in that store. In the past, the men would scare her away and she would only buy something from Deepti. This time, she took to Jeff right away and he showed her a bracelet she liked within about 90 seconds. Not a big purchase but they always make us feel like very important customers and they are very nice. The bracelet is a nice memento of this trip. We have been going to Front Street on SXM since the early 90’s and the jewelry stores and sales people on Front Street always scared the wife off and she could not deal with them until she found DK Gems and met Deepti - sigh…… BTW, Jeff said that they are working on getting a new website up and running.
After DK Gems, we walked the boardwalk to the Greenhouse and had a good, very late lunch. I had a very good crab meat wrap thing. We have eaten at Greenhouse many times and have always received good food and excellent service.
Sunday, June 8: Another beach day. Starting at Orient, we snorkeled over to Green Cay, snorkeled up west side, and snorkeled back. Early afternoon, we drove to Friar’s and hiked over the hill to Happy Bay. We asked a couple returning if they had seen anyone suspicious on way over and back and they said no – we saw no one suspicious on our hike over and back. What a beautiful beach! We had a late lunch, absolutely stuffed my face with Danny’s ribs, rice and beans, and potato salad – plus his shrimp, which was excellent. Having Danny there is great! After lunch, which included two Diet Cokes and two Caribes, I asked Danny how much did I owe him – he said $16. I told him that couldn’t be right and reminded him of our drinks – he said no, $16. I gave him a twenty and felt like I was getting away with something. I really hope that he does well and does not have any problems. We definitely will take the hike over the hill again, or perhaps try the direct route in - especially, if he is going to be there. After leaving Happy Bay, we drove past Cupecoy, seeing all the development (yech!) and stopped at Divi Little Bay for a quick snorkel before it got dark.
Monday, June 9: our lowlands day. Drove to Plum, very deserted. We snorkeled right side and then swam across mouth of bay to left side. Came ashore near a family staying at a villa – we do not think they could figure out where we had come from – they had not counted on an amphibious assault. Good snorkeling on right.
Then, drove to Long Bay, to which we had not gone from land before. It was big and beautiful on this day – very few people. We just stayed briefly, taking a dip in water. La Samana probably was preparing to release the hounds, but we did not walk all the way down there and risk devaluing the property with our presence.
While driving back, we decided, just for the heck of it, to drive to Anse Marcel, just to see it. Did seem a bit of a drive up and down that hill, but great views – or so the driver was told. Parked at Marina and looked around, walking over to the beach among other things. Hard to believe the Radisson will be opening September 1 or any time in September – what a mess the site is now.
Tuesday, June 10: Last day – BOO! Got up early and walked down to beach. Swam over to Green Cay for last snorkel – great conditions. Saw two spotted rays swimming together, a turtle, a huge gray ray and the other usuals. Walked back to Bungalow, fortified with pastries from Tap Five, and got packed up. Drove to Airport and checked in about 1:30 for our 4:34 flight – no line, very quick. We then drove over to Sunset Beach Bar for the last lunch and plane watching. Then, to Royal Palm to turn in phone, to the gas station to fill it up, and to the Unity lot to give Michael back the car. Michael probably was relieved to see that I did not damage the car this trip – again, the car was great. Plane to CLT left at least ten minutes early. Arrived about half hour early, but then sat while waiting for gate to open up. So, we only arrived at gate about 10 to 15 minutes early.
Things not done. I had meant for us to have some fancy dinners – I was thinking of Le Cottage (Bruno’s) and Captain Oliver’s (to see Philippe), but we were so active during the days that by the time we got back to Bungalow, showered, and could have been ready to leave, we just found it too easy to have some wine, throw some things together, and eat in the room. Every night I would transfer pictures of the day onto laptop and we would watch the slide show while eating. This is our first land trip to SXM during which I did not get ribs at Chez Raymonds – in fact, we did not even set foot on Baie Rouge, which is one of our favorite beaches among the many. We had wanted to get to Mullet – no time. I wanted to get to Cupecoy to see the beach and to get the other Danny’s food – never made it. The only negative about SXM for us is the time warp there. What would be hours at home is minutes or seconds on Saint Martin – just unbelievable. We were sitting at Divi Little Bay on second visit this trip and could not believe that it had been a week since we had last been there. It seemed like the day before. Where the heck does the time go???
Especially on the French-side, SXM remains our bit of earthly paradise. I keep up with all the problems, crime reports etc, but then we get there and it is impossible for us to worry about all that crap when we love the place so much. The people are great and I am very optimistic that as the new Collectivity matures, things will improve and get better for us visitors and, much more importantly, for the people there. The businesses on French-side are having some tough times (one guy told me it was down 40% on French-side since October – which is really appalling, even if not exactly right), but they are hanging in there.
For those who need to know, the morning walks on Orient are going strong and people were walking past 8 at least somewhat. We really were not on that part of Orient during the day after 8, so we have no real idea what happens later in day there. Nudity on Green Cay and Tintamarre remains routine – nudity on Happy Bay apparently is very common, but it was only discretely practiced on the Sunday we were there, presumably because of the many families there that day. As a practical matter, if not as a legal matter, nudity is unofficially tolerated on many beaches other than at Club O on Orient – but it seems very unlikely that the COM will offer any public approval of any kind of nudity anywhere other than the Club O beach.
Until we find something better – which would have to be pretty incredible – we will keep going to SXM!
