Trip Report to St. Maarten (October 8 - October 15, 2001)<br><br>After two years of planning, we were married on October 6, 2001. That was Saturday and we were leaving for SXM on a Monday morning 7am flight. Flightline picked us up at our house at 3:30am after getting only two hours of sleep. The drive into Logan airport was uneventful because it was so early. Upon arrival at the American airlines check in counter, the chaos was already underway. We found the line that was traveling to San Juan and shortly after getting in line we noticed several other couples were also on their honeymoon. It turns out that there were about 24 honeymooner's on the flight down to San Juan. After checking our bag and going through the security line that was (and I'm not exaggerating here) 8/10 of a mile long… we made it to our terminal and boarded the plane. <br><br>The flight attendant on our flight was really pleasant. They served a breakfast sandwich on a croissant that was better than the one we ate from Burger King earlier that morning. Although it was very early, we asked the flight crew for some champagne. Apparently, they didn't have any to serve - however, he told us to hang on a minute and darted towards the front of the plane… minutes later he arrived with a bottle of champagne inside a bag. (he said that we couldn't open it on the plane - due to pressure & to bring it with us for our trip) He congratulated us and then offered us free drinks for the duration of the flight. So, Renee and I enjoyed our first glass of red wine at 8:20am! (yippee for honeymooner's)!!!<br><br>After changing planes in San Juan we touched down just past the Sunset Beach Bar in SXM during the tail end of a tropical storm. It was raining heavy and the winds were really kicking in. We cleared customs in no time and our taxi (holding the Green Cay Village sign) was waiting for us. Florence gave us a warm "welcome to St. Maarten" and HUGE smile we proceeded to drive through Phillipsburgh towards Orient Beach. <br><br>Gazing out the taxi window on the road to Green Cay, the only thing that seemed to come to mind was - WOW… Even with the overcast and not so nice weather, we were really here ~ FINALLY!!!!! <br>It all looked so familiar, since we did so much research prior to the trip. It was really cool seeing all of the places we only saw picture's of before.<br><br>The villa was everything that we had hoped for and more. It appeared EXACTLY as it was advertised. Our only hang-ups (if we had to give any) would have been this: 1) Water pressure. There really wasn't much of any pressure for the shower. (not quite sure if that is how all places are on the island and because that was our first time there - we really had no benchmark). The water shut off after approx 7 minutes. (no big deal cause we lived the pool : ) <br>2) Because we have high expectations and were honeymooning, we felt as though fresh flowers daily would have been a nice touch. There WERE however fresh flowers upon arrival as well as our last day there - but none in between. 3) The internet was down for the entire length of our stay. (no biggie when you have no desire to touch base with the rest of the world) CNN was the only station that came in at our villa. As you can imagine, it was difficult to get a local forcast there... but great if we wanted updates on the news in Afganistan.<br>Those were our only disappointments - if you could call them that. <br><br>The weather while we were there was somewhat complex. We arrived in St. Maarten as the western side of a tropical storm passed over the island bringing high wind and some needed rain. This was followed by 4 days of sunshine... very nice weather. The next couple of days was cloudy and overcast as another tropical wave formed over the islands as we were there. The flight home was pretty choppy because of this. It seems that the only good source of weather information while we were on the island (at least the french side it seems) is the internet. We were out of luck as the computer we had access to on the island was out of commission due to a virus. : o(<br><br>We did enjoy a little snack when we arrived of the delicious oissou and lobster complimentary of GCV along with some Champagne. <br><br>We ventured out for dinner later to Portofino's in Grand Case for a scrumptious pizza, (it was as good as everyone claims) crustini, and a bottle of wine for a total of $35.00. Great atmosphere, very nice people (two thumbs up).<br><br>Tuesday - Enjoyed Orient Beach for a nice dip and boy was that invigorating!!!<br>Back to the villa for some time at the pool (got the salt from the ocean off). Then out to explore Marigot. Lunch at Layla's followed in Nettle Bay. We had salmon salad, camembert cheese with bacon and garlic, and French bread (yummy) plus drinks - was around $45.00. <br>After lunch at Layla's we picked up some wine and cheese at a little market in Grand Case. <br><br>To make a long, wonderful 8 day honeymoon - somewhat shorter….<br>The next few days consisted of: Orient Beach and Pedro's for lunch, and from the other ribs we tasted on the island… Pedro's did have the BEST RIBS we tasted on SXM - by far!!! If you like your ribs extra spicy just mention it to them. The spicy ribs were fantastic!!! 4 ½ Stars<br>We also went Parasailing (go to the white parachute with the red hearts on it - they were great) that was soo much fun!! We even went up together in the same parachute. <br>Had lunch at Talk of the town and it was ok. Ribs were NOTHING in comparison to Pedro's, but their BBQ shrimp was great!!! It's also a great place to stop for a Red Stripe or Carib. Loved being able to shop with Carib in hand - that was great!<br><br>We had lunch at Good Fella's in Simpson Bay - good Italian, but not nearly as good as Portofino's. We also ate at Kakau and Bikini Beach - both good. If you can't already tell, Pedro's was my personal favorite for lunch… just remember that they were closed on Monday's during our stay. Almost forgot… We went to Pinel Island for a day. ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! We had lunch at Caraibes (sp?) DELICIOUS!!! Fantastic salad and lobster or oisseau(?) and got 2 free fruity rum shots a piece that rocked our world! 4 Stars<br> Walked to the deserted side non-textile *grin*… fantastic day. Wanted to go there again - but the weather wasn't in our favor : ( <br><br>Had a fabulous gourmet dinner prepared for us at the villa by Fabulous Feasts… Nicolas was great! 4 stars... By the way, if anyone has ever wanted to experience a catered meal prepared in their villa and served by a gormet chef, this is the way to go. <br><br>Went to the casino's, that was fun. Nothing spectacular... Been there and done that at Foxwoods in CT plenty of times and found that there were much better winnings in the States for us... not to mention the casino's in the states are much larger than those on the island. Although the champagne in the St. Maarten casinos was served in a real glass unlike the casino's in CT. They can keep their plastic cups. hehe<br><br>Visited the SSBB and no planes coming in.. Got directions to PLP from the bartender who was very nice. (didn't catch her name) Had some difficulty finding it - but knew it was near the lightning casino - so we parked the car and saw a local and inquired if they knew where the PLP was? Much to our luck, he was on his way there (yippee)!! We met Neil and shared some stories, very nice guy. (BTW - he said wonderful things about everyone on TTOL). Their food was good. The waitress was friendly and very informative as to what places would be the most happening. 3 stars<br><br>We did try to visit the Ma Dou Dou factory... we found it with ease, but it was closed. Ended up buying a much more $$ bottle of Banana Vanilla and Coconut Ma Dou Dou from Green Cay. (you got to do, what you got to do). <br><br>Went to Marigot for dinner at La Vie En Rose. The food and service here is impeccable. Zach had the lamb from New Zealand and he claims that it was the best he ever had! Renee had the beef with béarnaise sauce and also enjoyed it, although it was difficult for us to eat French food EVERY night on the island. That was a wonderful and romantic dinner on the terrace. If we could change anything about this restaurant, we would relocate the busy street below for some extra romance... but I guess that adds to the ambiance and character of the restaurant. Had an exceptional bottle of wine, and ordered one to go which we brought home with us. The entire experience was great!! 4 stars…<br><br>In Marigot on Sat there were stands all set up with clothes, jewelry and other assorted gifts in the center. Locals playing on there drums - that was really cool. And one of the stands was doing a rum sampling. Twist our wrists.. Got to sample LOTS of rum. Orange ginger - was ok. Banana-Vanilla - was OUTSTANDING, Cinanmon was strong, we actually enjoyed the rum this stand was selling much more than the Ma Dou Dou we bought from Green Cay, and the Coconut which was yummy. The rum was inexpensive and we left the market in Marigot with an extra skip in our step! : o) <br><br>Just when we were feeling absolutely content with our time spent on St. Maarten and the experiences we had, things got even better. Each dinner was becoming more romantic then the previous. Dinner at L'Amandier in Grand Case… right on the beach was indeed the most romantic and fabulous night of our entire stay. When we arrived we asked the garcon for a special seat because we were honeymooning. (This became an everyday thing as well) *smirk* We ended up with the best seat in the house overlooking the beautiful ocean and beach. Dinner here was 5 stars. (and believe us… we are tough critics) *wink* By the way, after dinner we took a walk on the beach and when we returned, were greeted by the garcon with 2 chairs and 2 glasses of champagne to sip as we sat hand in hand, barefoot, by the ocean watching the stars. If you want to be treated like royalty, go to L'Amandier and ask for Vino. <br><br>We also shared a dinner at IL Nettuno in Grand Case. That was nice. Although we prefer to drink our red wine at a wine cellar basement temperature or room temp - depending on how warm the room is… Their wine was served way too warm we thought for on the Island. We noticed everything got refrigerated because it was so hot. I wished they could have kept their wine cooler. We didn't finish the first bottle (couldn't drink it) and decided to go with a different one. That one was better, but still left no impression. They gave us complimentary sambucca cordials, to go with our delicious hardened chocolate mousse with a raspberry torte sauce (daydreams) The dessert was the best part. The dinner was ok. 2 1/2 Stars… The atmosphere & desert made up where the food and wine didn't meet our expectations. <br><br>Spent many a day and night at our fabulous pool with rum shots, caribs, French wine, cheeses, French bread enjoying the serene sound of the singing frogs... and watching shooting stars hand in hand. <br>We did venture out to L'Alibi (club) one night. Partied with the some people that were on the island for a photo shoot. They were from all different area's of the world... along with some locals. That was fun. <br><br>It was nice at first having the pastries for breakfast in the morning (delivered at Green Cay) however, we could only do the same pastry every morning for a couple of days - then we needed a bit more substance. We searched one day for breakfast places near Green Cay which was very difficult. Checked out Rancho del sol - they said their kitchen was closed, but their sign said they were open. Went to Orient Beach, nothing. Finally we talked with one of the locals we had talked with previously and he spoke with the people who run the (pizza - grill ) behind Pedro's and they managed to whip us up some ok eggs, crusty French bread, and French fries.. - hey! Better than nothing.<br>We read through some of our information we got from the internet and saw Sunset Café and a Michael's Café. Well, Michael's Café was closed on to Sunset and we loved their breakfast!! A couple of Mimosa's, eggs, English muffin's, good coffee (no warm milk) right on the water - we were lovin' it! <br><br>Overall we fell in love with the Island and it's people. We noticed the unfinished construction and trash (just pointing out that there is garbage in paradise like there is garbage anywhere), and we noticed the mosquito's & noseeum's… yup, they were something fierce. But, overall- it truly was paradise on earth.<br><br>Thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge and experiences from the Island. That was a big help!<br><br>We never did make it Mrs. B's, and a lot of the restaurants in Grand Case were closed. We were hoping to visit Rainbow, Auberge Gourmand, and Testavin... all were closed Not sure what is usually open, but almost all were closed until Thursday, and even more opened on Saturday. So many restaurants, so little time. Just gonna have to go back REAL soon.<br><br>If anyone has any specific questions regarding the island, feel free to send us an email and we'll try to help you out. <br><br>The newlyweds.<br>Renee & Zach <br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 10/29/01 02:00 PM.</EM></FONT></P>