Can anyone help me locate someone I met in Philipsburg, St Maarten last January? I have tried to contact several shops I visited close to where he was working but I haven't had any luck. One of the shops close to him is called Jewelry Avenue on Front Steet,Kannel Steeg unit 2 at Booby's Marina. His name is Al and he cleans fish for one of the restaurant/bar close to the waterfront. There is also a small hut with a gentelman they all called "Pappy" that is right next to the table where he cleans the fish. I truely would like to contact him again. If there is anyone who could possibly contact him and either give him my email address.. msflip56@aol.com or get a phone number for me to call him. Thank you so much.

Still hoping someone from the dutch side of St maarten can help me locate a friend of mine.

We were on a Carnival Cruise ship traveling the Caribbean and taking it easy on our day in St. Martin. The cruise ship had Jewelry Avenue on their recommended shops, so we stopped in. At first everything was fine, the normal haggling over the price of a trinket--the price never got to our liking as it was a silver plated piece that was quite small with a zinc chain. As we were leaving a shop keeper (male) yelled out, $20. We said, sure, we'll go to the ATM and get the cash.

When we came back (5 minutes) the man was replaced by an angry Indian woman, the price was suddenly $40 and she out and out called us liars on the price. As we were leaving (again) she was screaming curse words in English and Hindi at us and told us that everyone there yells out the $20 to keep the customer in the store.

There are too many good reputable jewelers in the area to waste ANY time on these guys. We spoke to others on the ship who had a similar experience. Moreover, another couple had to call the police to get their money back when they were sold FAKE jewelry. We were shocked that this is a recommended shop and will make a point not to give them any business.

Here is an image of their store front:

I'm pretty sure that for the right price, the cruise ships recommend anyone.

they sure do!

[barcann.livejournal.com]

And from what I understand from one of the many reputable jewelers, that price isn't anything to sneeze at. The cruise lines demand a huge fee to be on their "recommendeded" A list of shops.