TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Memories of your first trip

It is hard to remember that far back, but we had planned a trip to the Caribbean for our 25th anniversary, but had to postpone it for a few years (I won't tell how many). Our first trip was in 2009 (I guess that isn't too far back <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />). We went through a travel agent since we knew nothing about making reservations and we paid too much. Even so we had a great time! We stayed at the Caribbean Princess and had the whole villa to ourselves! We woke up in the morning to a beautiful view of the ocean. When we wandered down to the beach we were in shock at what was worn - or not - on Orient beach. We observed and then later participated. We are looking forward to our 16 days on Orient this June/July for the 4th time!!! We also enjoyed the French menu in the Orient area since we did not rent a car.

Great post idea!

First trip was Feb 2001, it was actually was the first major vacation we both has been on. On luggage was lost for the first 3 days of our trip and being novice travelers, we didn't pack any in our carryon. Bought a couple t-shirts, shorts to get us through. Stayed at St. Tropez on Orient, no Orient village then. Our one fancy dinner was at L'Almandier in Grand Case which was fabulous. Watched the planes a Sunset Beach Bar and waved to our friends on their webcam. Left beach towels in our car parked in Marigot, where they were promptly stolen. Lesson learned there. Drove all over the island and got lost quite a few times.

We have been 5 times since then and look forward to more adventures and experiences when we go back next January!

On our first trip in 93, it was our 20 anniversary. We did so much in the 9 nine we were there, that in the 14 times later we have not done very much. We did a snorkel trip, a dinner cruise on Simpson Lagoon, horse back riding, a 17 course Indonesian meal. In the last 14, we have taken a day trip to St. Bart's and Anguilla, and a dinner cruise out of Pelican Marina. Rest of years have been renting a villa, eating at different restaurants on OB for lunch and dinners in Grand Case with the exception of Mario's in Sandy Ground, Mark's at the roundabout in Phillipsburg, and Captain Oliver's. This year, 12 days, as I am now retired, and more food, drink, sand gravity, and breakfasts in the villa by the pool. We feel so fortunate that we have found our Paradise. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

Great idea for a post. Love reminiscing about previous trips of others. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

I agree, great posts and very interesting!!

Our first trip to St. Martin goes back to 1977, if you can believe that. Stayed at The Caravanserai, which then was what now would be called a boutique hotel and a class act. After all these years and many trips there since I can’t remember too many details, but we did rent a car. Not much traffic, but then the roads were to match. I remember that in driving around the island not all the roads were paved. Even then, we were warned not to leave things in our car. The normal way into Phillipsburg from the airport put you directly onto Front St. which you could not only drive on but park on – and find a parking place. Not knowing better, we ate most dinners at the Caravanserai, which had a really good restaurant, so no hardship. Mullet Bay was the flagship resort.

First trip feb. 1977....walked off plane to runway/ terminal...stayed @summit...spent all our time @ Mullet Resort..Dirt and sand roads..no deve;lopment..locals walking down the roads in daytime on their way to get married..animals of all kinds roaming around..only telphones were downtown phillipsburg..you signed in and waited your turn to make your call..dirt roads in phillipsburg, Marshall's Dept. Store downtown Phillipsburg...Oh the bus ride from mullet to pburg... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />.no guard rails on side of Road.....

Our first trip was in 99. We were on the first cruise ship to get into the island after Hurricane Lenny. The cruise ship dock was destroyed, we ferried in. The merchants were hungry, I bought my wife a nice emerald ring for 40% off appraised price. We went to Orient Beach, don't recall seeing a single leaf on any tree, the island looked like a desert. We ate lunch at La Playa and my wife sat topless in the almost deserted restaurant. Neither of us has been the same since. Haven't set foot on another cruise, have spent a week on St Martin every year since!

Great post!

First visit was on a cruise ship in 1993. We enjoyed the 12 meter racing and then some shopping on Front Street.

First trip we stayed on the island was in 1997 to celebrate our 20th anniversary (a year late). All I can say is it was Magical!

Stayed (along with our best friends) at L'Esplande - a real gem. First beach we visited was Friar's. Will always remember driving done that rocky dirt lane that finally ended at a beautiful beach at sunset. Many meals in Grand Case as we really knew nothing about the island. Took the Scoobie Doo day trip to Anguilla. Discovered Orient Beach and have been going back ever since.

We continue to visit every year or 2 and have stayed many places and done many things. Always a favorite.

Thanks for starting this thread.

MJ

We took our first trip in February, 1996, and the island still had a fair amount of damage left from Hurricane Luis. (We didn't realize how terrible it had been when we booked the trip.) We stayed at Belair, and were dismayed to find that there was a large dredger in Little Bay, busy pumping sand back onto the beach! Our kids were 5 & 6 and we had hoped to spend lots of time at the resort hanging out on the beach. It turned out we had an even better time exploring the rest of the island, managing to see almost every beach on the map! We did the day trip to Prickly Pear, which we still enjoy doing, and had several great meals at Marina Royale, another favorite place of ours. By the end of the trip, we'd fallen in love with SXM and bought a timeshare at Divi, despite all the damaged buildings. We've returned almost every year since, and will be back in March. Our oldest daughter is now in college, and is still willing to spend spring break with the family, as long as it's on SXM! She is bringing a friend along who's returning for a second year because they had such a good time last year.

Does anyone have old pictures of St. Martin that they could post?

What a fabulous post and I have really enjoyed reading everyone's memories.

I landed on St. Maarten in the late eighties after being tendered in from one of the Princess ships. I was young, traveling alone and trying to repair my broken heart over a long relationship that had come to an end.

I didn't travel far from Phillipsburg because I was too scared to do it alone but I had a blast. I walked up and down Front street then got a French takeout lunch (complete with a bottle of wine) to take to the beach. The dogs (you're right - they were everywhere!) and I dined royally on a baguette, pate, cheese, little French sandwiches and pastries. I never forgot St. Maarten ... there was something about the island that had me intrigued.

Fast forward ten years later and my wonderful husband (finally found the perfect guy!) and I needed a break. I remembered the charming Dutch/French island I had travlled to so many years before and we booked a vacation. Armed with a rental car and a map we went outside of Phillipsburg and never looked back. It was one jaw dropping adventure after another. I'll never forget the moment we discovered Maho beach and saw the first 747 land or the first time I laid eyes on Mullet. As we drove along it got even better with Baie Longue and Baie Rouge and Friars. When we rounded the bend and took in the beauty of Orient we were hooked. For the last ten years we have travelled to many other islands but always found ourselves on a beach somewhere talking about St. Maarten. We even took a cruise to the other islands to make sure we had seen all the Caribbean had to offer. Nope - it was St. Maarten that held our heart. I'll never forget the flight after the cruise docking in San Juan to SXM, landing and then heading to Maho for a Caribe. Once again, back on "our" island I'm embarassed to say I burst into tears. "What's wrong?!!!!!" my shocked hubby said looking at the mess in front of him. "Nothing," I said. "I'm just back HOME and so incredibly happy!"

When a place moves you to "Happy" tears...then you know that it is pretty special.

I shopped at Marshalls too, in '86, it was a great find as even in '86 most of the shops were extremely expensive. I used to do a jog over on the east side and there was hardly anything there. There was just an open area just south of the Coralita Beach Motel, where they were always outside playing bocce ball. It was very quiet with next to no traffic and you'd hardly see a soul, maybe a couple fisherman as you got close to French Quarter. I wish I could remember some of the names of the home improvement places back then. There was one in downtown Phillipsburg on the east side where the owner hung out sitting on a counter. They said he had 50 kids. I think it might have been "Pro" something or other. Back then you couldn't get things on St Maarten like you can now.

I really enjoyed this post. Moral in my case: you can lead a MARE to the water, but only she will decide 'if and 'when' she'll drink!

2007 Arrived on cruise ship. Took a taxi Island tour with last stop at OB. Wife didn’t get out of taxi at OB, but I took some wonderfully colorful pictures of the beach and umbrellas looking north from Pedro’s. We got back to the ship and she says,”that was great. We ought to come back and spend some more time here”. We’ve been doing the FL to Hawaii hop for twenty years. Stored that quote.

2008 I arranged a Mystery trip to SXM in late May for a week, stayed at L’hoste. She doesn’t walk distances too well, needed to be ‘on the beach’ with a pool. L’hoste is perfect. After first day on the ‘french’ beach she fell right in with the ‘french’ atmosphere. We met another FL couple who were staying at L’hoste and frequenting CO. I saw the early morning walkers and decided ‘I can do that’, joined the parade initially with trepidation. After the third day they invited us to join them at CO: I opt’d to go, and wife opt’d to stay at L’hoste. She’s ‘found heaven’ on L’hoste beach, didn’t need to go farther. I joined them one other time and wife didn’t. We did do diner with them a couple of times, Mark’s and Lee’s.

2009 Opt’d for ten days this time. Got wife to CO by giving her a beachside massage at the ‘local resort’ spa for her birthday. I had one also, so that gave her an hour on the south end of the beach to sit in the calm warm waters by herself watching the activities around Papagayo. At her request we went back to L’hoste for the rest of the day. Four days later she asks if I’m planning to go back to CO. A firm YES and she says she’ll come with me. I enjoyed the CO c/o experience and she enjoyed the ‘french’ beach experience under the ‘yellow’ umbrellas. She found a few friendly people to chat with while doing her water aerobics.

2010 Another ten days at L’hoste in May. Her first request on the first morning on the beach, ‘no massages’ they leave bruises since I’m taking meds, but if you want to go to CO I’ll go along’. RIGHT after breakfast we’re driving to the CO parking lot. I enjoy the c/o and she the ‘french’ experience. Day two is shopping. Day three she meets me on the beach after my walk and a few swims and ‘do you want to go to CO after breakfast’. By ten we are doing another day two. Day five, I’ve done the daily walk to both ends of the beach and had a few swims, people still enjoying the walking, and she comes out before about 8:30 and sits on a lounge beside me and says: ‘a penny for your thoughts’. My response ‘it’s time to lose the bottoms’. In a huff she goes for her swim leaving me worried about how the rest of the day will turn out. I hear my name being called from the water and she’s waving her bottoms at me. She comes out and says ‘you want to go for a short walk’? A quarter mile later we turn around and walk back and we’re both wearing our smiles. Later in the day we pick up and go to CO. I’m getting the front row chairs set and the umbrella in the right place and my stuff settled and I look around. No wife, but I see her in the water already, AND the bottoms are on the chair. We both enjoyed CO’s c/o experience for that day and one other before we had to leave. Second time she even spent over an hour sitting on a floating dock chatting with another Bostonian. The accents are a dead giveaway.

The moral: you can lead a Mare to water, but ONLY SHE will decide ‘if’ and ‘when’ she’ll drink.

2011 Opt’ing for two weeks in at May. Can’t wait to see how much water will be drunk this year.


<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

There are so many wonderful memories of our first trip. Many "firsts" for us!

Bert & Jill at The Oasis Bar & Grill at The Ocean Club introduced us to Rum Jumbie on our first night... we were hooked!

Jewelry shopping in Maho and having Neil (RIP) serve us Rum Jumbie while we shopped!

Clothing Optional sun bathing... and swimming in the ocean!

Grand Case Beach Club's chairs with the flag... just raise the flag and the handsome young french guy running down to bring what ever your heart desires.

Going to the Marigot outdoor market. When we were finished we walked out to the parking area and had a heck of a time finding OUR white Toyota Corolla in the sea of white Toyota Corollas! LOL

Drinking for free at the sunset Beach Bar while watching the planes land at PJIA.

We discovered SXM by way of cruise stop back in 1999 and on the 3 occaisons we were there it was cloudy and threatening of rain, so we just walked along Front Street, finally after another cruise the weather was beautiful and we ventured over to Orient Beach and after staying along the beach all day my wife and I decided this would be a great vacation for us, minus other family members. So in the year 2003 (I think) I went on line and found a new hotel called Alamanda Resort that was in its inaugural year so we booked a week for the 2nd week of January. When we got there late in the afternoon after checking in we went down to the beach and it was deserted and we both looked at each other and said "did we make a mistake by coming here", for we are use to vacationing in O/C MD during the summer when there are all kinds of people late in the afternoon. Well anyway later that night after hiring a taxi service, who became our personal driver for the rest of the week and took us to all the favorite places to eat and all the tourist attractions we just fell in love with the island. We had gone back the following years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 on the same week and same hotel and whether it be the staff at the hotel or the friends we had made in the restaurants every time was better than the previous trips. My wife got seriously ill in the year 2008 and we have not been back since. This coming February we are going on the Oasis of the Seas and one of the stops will be SXM and we are hoping to get over to Orient Beach and visit the hotel and the friends we have made there. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

First trip in 1983. Stayed at Divi, walked over the hill to P-Burg. Did some shopping, visiting casino's and eating at a few restaurants. Rented a car, went to Orient Beach, dropped shorts and enjoyed the sun and fun. Had a few "funny' experiences, but not for posting. Had a great time, OB wasn't developed except for a burger shack and some tent shops. Went back several times. Totally different now.
Spent time in Grand Case and Marigot. Had our anniversary dinner on the balcony overlooking the harbor at La Vie En Rose. Great meal and great time with my honey.
Tried a few other islands over the years, no comparision. Wish we had returned instead of experiencing other islands. Haven't found any that can compare with SXM.

Wish we hadn't rented a car from Hertz. Wish we had gone into Grand Case for dinner a couple of times. Wish we had stayed at GCBC right from the start. The Dawn Beach was OK, but just OK.

Glad we had the opportunity to eat at the West Indian Tavern before it closed down.

Our first trip was in 2003. I had researched the island and was intriguied with the idea of two countries splitting such a small island. I decided that we would rather stay on the French side rather than the Dutch. Registered for TTOL in January that year. We went in February.

We stayed at Alizea in Mount Vernon based upon recommendations we found online on TripAdvisor, TTOL, and other sites. Most of the recommendations were authored by 'Contessa'. We arrived on a Saturday and checked in and were told there was a party that night at the hotel. We went to dinner in Grand Case and when we returned, the party was in full swing. It was a TTOL party hosted by Contessa. It is there we met Contessa and Sword, LeeLee and Big Tom, Patti (Sungoddess) and others who we still are friends with today.

Photos from our trip are at: 2003 photos

We loved the island so much that on our next trip, we bought a condo at Les Balcons. We have been going to the island twice a year since then.

Our first trip was in late June of 1982. Stayed with some kind hearted friends at their time share at the Pelican. It was their first stay at the facility and second time on the island, so none of us really knew anything about SXM except that Orient Beach was a NUDIE beach. Jeana told me there was no way in hell we were going there! Well we did and had a great time, even if she was a little challenged by the thought of clothing removal in public! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
I now wished we had rented a car for the entire trip and left the Pelican most of the time. We actually spent more than half of the trip without leaving the resort, something I could not even imagine now! The island was so diffferent then. I remember stopping at the Taco Bell drive through and ordering frozen Margarita's for the drive to the beach. Don't think you will see that happening today!

BobandJeana

Aug 1981. Now I feel old. My husband and came to St Martin on our honeymoon. I remember our travel agent saying you want to go where? Stayed at Great Bay. Loved everything but didn't venture far. Returned on 10 yr Anniversary and stayed at the brand new Hotel Mont Vernon. Been back to Orient area yearly since. Be there in May this year. We are hooked.

Thanks for all the replies, I 've really enjoyed reading them. It's interesting to read about the changes that have taken place on the island. I'll be sure to share our first experience upon our return.

I'm enjoying this post immensely! What memories you all have...keep em coming. I was thinking about how to post pictures from 28 years ago. I suppose you could take a picture of the picture. Hmmmmm...

Please do post old pics.....

First trip was in 1982. Honeymoon at Mullet Bay. At that time almost all our time was in resort, didn't really know there was life beyond there. As the trips continued , we explored other parts of the Dutch side. It was quite different in those days. Remember one time when we got lost exploring and wound up close to an ominous looking bull. Thank God we could run in those days. After Luis finally discovered the French side and it was like discovering a new paraside on one small island. We continue to go , about 25-30 trips, last one this past December.

"Remember one time when we got lost exploring and wound up close to an ominous looking bull."

lol... What a visual..hope it wasn't at Club O!

Our firsttrip to SXM was in 1978....we stayed at the Caravanseri when it was a small hotel with a delightful bar on the promentory over the water. We took a hotel shuttle every evening to Muttlet Bay to their casino , where men were expected to wear jackets....the streets in Marigot were dirt roads and the water lapped right up against the sea wall in front of La Vie en Rose...NO PARKING LOT!
Some of the best restaurants were in Marigot fronting the water...Le Poisson D'or...one of my all time favorites. Claud's Mini Club had the best buffet then too....old timer.
Orient Beach had no facilities....just the rib shack ....allin all some good memories.....Island has changed...for the better? Some things....some not!

After two vacations in Guadelupe, we decided to give St. Martin a try in November of 1988. We read a report that said Club Orient was loud at night (turned out to be untrue), so we got a reservation for Le Galion. We came in at night on an old school bus, and we were the last stop for the passengers. It was the last season for Le Galion, and we ended up each day at Club Orient. We stayed there the next 20 trips and watched Orient Beach grow from Club Orient, Pedro's and a few souvenier shops (The Mall). In those days you left your rental car at the airport with keys in it. The owner of the rental car business would pick it up. "It's a small island. We'll find the car." The biggest surprise was that the same people kept coming back every year. Some things are better, and some are worse. The food choices are much better.