<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />Just back from a WONDERFUL week in St Martin. Here is the long report.

Overall St Martin Ambiance and Orient Beach
This was our first trip back to St. Martin in 29 years and we knew that there was a lot of development in that time but we were still unprepared. We knew Orient Beach when there was NOTHING on it so you can imagine our adjustment although we had seen pictures online. All the discussion about where you can walk nude and where you can’t now makes sense. My take – I am only interested in being nude where there are other nude people – not just where it is legal. So I put a bathing suit bottom on when I left the Club O area – still there was very little toplessness and in fact there was the most modest set of bathing suits I’ve seen in a long time! Only went in that direction once. One good thing – although we saw a stray person carrying a camera, we didn’t see anyone taking pictures.

We remember Grand Case as a sleepy little village that you could easily park and walk in and so its current ambiance was as much a shock as Orient beach. We did enjoy the dining anyway.

Dining
We ate at two restaurants that we ate at 30 years ago – The Fist Pot and Auberge Gourmand. Still great – food and ambiance. We also ate at California and enjoyed the setting overlooking the beach and the excellent meal. Lunch at a lolo (new to us), Talk of the Town was also delicious. Dinner at La Italia in Orient Village was also fine. Two lunches at Pedro’s brought back memories of when Pedro brought food and grill to the beach every day and cooked on the beach. Lunch one day at the Bikini Bar was okay but expensive and my husband was mortified by the bathroom.

Club Fantastico
CF is in a beautiful hillside location minutes from Orient Beach and the villa is very comfortable. The pool area overlooks Orient Bay. There are lounge chairs and upright tables and chairs outside. You can enjoy all day right here without going to the beach at all. The bar is outside and there are four outdoor showers. The bedrooms are nicely appointed and two sets of french doors provide great light and gorgeous views. There is a computer with Internet access, free phone and satellite TV in the common area. It is a mini-paradise.

Peggy puts out a continental breakfast every morning and it included grapefruit from the tree outside the kitchen. There is a continuous open bar and on several mornings we had Mimosas. We ate “in” several nights. On our first night Peggy invited us to join a cooperative meal and we provided the dessert. Two other nights we ordered in from a local restaurant that delivers.

Some things are less than perfect. The water supply is by cistern or city water as a backup. It clearly is not an adequate system for when they have a full house. More than once there was no water and we had to wait while they turned on city water filled into the cistern. They definitely need to use city water before the cistern is dry. They need to manage this better and just deal with the high cost of city water. CF does not provide soap, shampoo or tissues in your room. When I asked I was given a large bar of Ivory soap. There are containers for liquid soap at the outside showers but they are mostly empty. They change linens once a week. Lighting in the room is one lamp with a low wattage bulb – very inadequate for those of us who like to read in bed.

Mike and Peggy work very hard to have all the guests have a great vacation. During our stay 4 to 6 of the 6 rooms were occupied every night. About half of them were repeat guests. Like any small operation such as this one there are pluses and minuses and at CF the plusses far outweigh the minuses. It is easy to see why Mike and Peggy are attracting so much repeat business. When you are there you can see all the little things they are continually doing that make a difference. It feels like home soon after you arrive and you just settle in and relax.

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