SXM 2010


Flights:
Sun Country non-stop charter from Mpls. No problem on the way down, but we finally got burnt (literally by the volcano on Montserrat) on the way home. Flight was delayed one day due to “volcanic ash” in the air. More on this to follow.

Car Rental:
We used Marius from St Louis Car Rental again. We were met at the airport, did paperwork in the parking lot and were off with phone and car in 10 minutes.

Lodging:
Went back to Les Balcons on Oyster Pond. Large terrace on the upper level. Great breeze with great view.

FOOD!

Breakfast was mostly on the deck at the bungalow. Coffee, pastries (delivered daily),
juice, yogurt etc.

L’Ile de Flotantes Creperie—Grand Case
Located at the Y. Great omelettes and crepes. Very fast service, mostly locals eating there, one of our favorite places. $21 + tip.

La Croissanterie—Marigot Marina Royale
Great crepes $10 (mushroom, onion, cheese, fresh cream). Big, enough to feed 2 people. They bake their own croissants on site, melt in your mouth. Also offer 1 to 1 exchange.

LUNCH

ZBH Creperie –in Oyster Pond area. Susan liked it better than myself. Crepes and galettes (whole wheat batter) and a few caribs. $36. Not a budget lunch place and not much English spoken.

Orange Fever—Orient
Great quality, inexpensive, quick service, friendly place to eat. 8 oz burger/fries $8, huge pizzas for $11 big enough for two, grouper sandwich/fries $8, etc. 1-1 exchange.
$2 beers.

Beau Beau’s—Dawn Beach
Burger/fries & beer $6. Best buy all week.

Chez Cheryl’s Rib Shack lolo—on the water. Typical lolo food. To us they are all pretty similar.


Baywatch—Orient Beach
Annual stop was good as usual. Clams/linguini in marinara sauce was great $17.
Cheryl looks like a new person, hardly recognized her.

Rosies—Mullet Bay.
Great ribs, chicken, a couple sides and 2 beers. $24 with tip.
Hope you get a beer that’s been on ice awhile, the second one was warm.

Chez Raymond—Baie Rouge
Cheeseburger, meat combo platter, 1 BBC & 1 carib. 1-$1.30 $31 + tip. Ribs were very good. Happy hour at 3:00—2 smaller BBC’s (10 oz) for $5—very tasty.

Chez Leandra—Orient.
Chicken sate wraps, fries, $7 each, pretty spicy this year. Large, could be split. Maybe the slowest service on Orient. From the time we ordered to getting our food was 1 hr 15 min. They do the best they can.

Daisy’s—Sandy Ground (near bridge)
Lolo type place which I do not recall being mentioned here. They had a Valentines buffet with rice & beans, scalloped potatoes, a pasta hotdish, salad and ribs for $7. The people were lined up on the street, mostly take out. I have never had a bigger plate of food anywhere on the Island. They had a guy doing some tunes with speakers the size of our car. What little hearing I had left is now gone. We might have been the only tourists there—lucky find for us!







DINNER

Dinghy Dock—Oyster Pond
Great ribs, seafood pasta, fish & chips, etc. Great location on the water, fun place, inexpensive.

Harmony Nights—Grand Case
3-course meal + drinks for $28. all from street vendors. $3 cod fritters, great crepes from the lady down towards California $6 (chicken, cheese, onion, tomato, etc) very large. A large wrap from the guy by the Cultural Center: beef, chicken, plantains, lettuce, tomato, seasoning, dressing $5, chocolate crepe $3, homemade coconut ice cream x2 $4$1-2 beers, better than lolo’s.

Captain Olivers—Oyster Pond

Sat. even seafood buffet. I’ve reported on this before and give it a high recommendation. The sushi/shashimi/carpaccio table is almost worth it alone. The salads are very good as well as the dessert bar. This year the beef was “cut with your fork” tender. The grouper and roast pig were excellent. We don’t even eat the lobster, but a lot of people do. There is a lot of food and with a little self control, it can be fun to sample lots of stuff. Phillipe was there and working hard non-stop to make sure things were going smoothly. He per sonally made sure a handicapped diner got a great table on the water. Every table was full and several people were turned away. This is a big restaurant, so he must be doing something right. The live entertainment was very good as well . Easy listening music. $45 per person + 15% service charge. I have no problem with either number. There are 15-20 people working the tables and serving areas, and doing a good job.

Mark’s Place—Philipsburg
Everyone knows how great this “place” is. Susan tried “curried goat” which she actually liked quite a bit. We were there with a party of 8 and everyone seemed to enjoy their food. My fried grouper was large and excellent.

La Villa—Grand Case
Very nice new place in old Alabama location. Shared a salad/warm goat cheese-- large mahi mahi filet, shrimp & scallop linguini. Split a lemon parfait with a layer of raspberries and whipped cream. All A+. We were offered a free drink to start dinner and a cold curacao/ rum shot at the end. 1-1 exchange $84 + tip. Pretty good value.

Cito’s Place—Grand Case
Probably should have tried lunch here. We got there a little late (8:15). We were the only ones there, but they were happy to serve us. They told us what they had available (4 choices). I had red snapper & Susan had garlic shrimp. Lots of side dishes & 2 apps, beer and water. $64. I asked the waitress what it was in $. She was figuring it at $1-1.40 but Cito himself came out and said, no, do it at “flat”. (1-1) He gave us guavaberry rum shots which burned the nostrils pretty good. Not sure if 1-1 is always offered. Lunch might be a better gamble.

La Bamba Ribs (only so-so, a little dry), and a La Bamba wrap (smoked salmon) also just ok. We went for the music not the foodLe Taitu—Cul de Sac
$21 fixed price menu. 1 entrée + dessert. Shared a large bowl of cream of celery soup (excellent). Catfish in lemon sauce/flank steak in pepper sauce + flan/large ice cream sundae with dark chocolate sauce + whipped cream. Water, beer. $58 + tip. We will return here. Jean the owner was extremely nice and attentive.

Le Soleil—Grand Case
Don’t remember a lot written on this place. We decided to try it and we were very satisfied. It is on the water side, in comfortable listening distance to the minstrel singing next door at Il Netuno. (closer would have been too much). We shared a salad with a huge portion of baked muenster in phyllo pastry (10E), and I had the best, largest duck breast cooked perfectly that I have ever had on the island (18E). We shared the classic molten cake with ice cream 10E, and water. They use the current exchange rate—came to $84 + tip. Loren was our waiter and made it a fun evening.





Quai Ouest—Oyster Pond
A small French restaurant down the shore from Dinghy Dock. Good pizzas (12”) 10E. Grouper with scallops 17E. 1-1.2 exchange. Great complimentary rum shots!

Eden—Oyster Pond
All the mussels you can eat plus fries 15E. The tureen was huge and I never ordered any more. Great cream/onion/garlic broth. As good as any others I have had on the island.
Susan had a shrimp appetizer which was very good with a large portion of shrimp 10E
1-1.33

La Estaminet—Grand Case
Split an onion soup, then had flank steak which was rolled and sliced into three medallions before cooking—excellent. Sole with lemon sauce good but not great. Two desserts. 3 different flaming crème brulees (pretty small portions) and a banana tartin. Complimentary tiramisu shots, best on island. 1-1.25 exchange. $90 + tip.

The Bridge—Sandy Ground
Owned by “Enoch” on the canal by “the bridge” (go figure). Conch soup and scallops gratinee to start, seafood fettuccini (loads of shrimp, scallops & lobster), coconut shrimp, beer + water. 1-1.3. $78 + tip. Nice new find, do not find much written on this place. Lots of local residents eating there.

BEACHES---Little Bay, Mullet Bay, Baie Rouge, Dawn & Orient.
It all depends on the day, but Mullet was hot with little breeze when we were there. We still like Orient the best, seems to always have a nice breeze, lots of dining choices and we don’t mind the congestion.

TRAFFIC
The traffic was actually not horrible, we are smarter about picking our times and spend a lot of time on the French side. Don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the passing techniques, suicycles, and narrow roads. You really have to “focus”. No accidents, etc, for 8 trips now, thank goodness.

FUN STUFF
The highlight of our trip was a private charter (lined up by Dave & Britt) to Anguilla. We had a perfect day, great food prepared on the boat and drinks to match. 32-ft catamaran--French Cat I. Great fun.

Norm’s SXM Lovers party was fun and well attended. Phillipe provided a big spread of hors d’oeuvres, which was a surprise to everyone. 42 people signed up and nearly everyone made it, plus Susan wrote up another 20 nametags (before she ran out) for extras. Over 60 people! Thanks Norm!

Tuesdays in Grand Case seems to have fallen out of popularity a little bit with some, but this year was our best experience ever. We parked in a private lot ($5) by Octopus Diving, got in and out with no hassle and close to the action. The Drum Corps was led by 3 fully costumed “Carnival” girls and a large contingent of musicians & people in costume. The best surprise however, was the Gunslingers Steel Drum Band set up near the Cultural Center. 19 drummers played non-stop for 3 hours. They were all about 16-25 years old. Susan talked to the director (who apparently is running a steel drum school). He was extremely proud of “his kids”. They were having a ball and enjoyed playing as much as we did listening. First time in 8 years we heard a steel drum band on the island.

Norm stopped in at Les Balcons one morning and brought us a very nice suncatcher that he made out of stained glass. It had a little “molar” guy in swim trunks chilling under a palm tree. Very thoughtful of him and much appreciated. All I did for Norm was sneak a little Playboy bunny on to his nametag at the SXM party.

We brought the 12 year-old-son of David and Carine (managers of Les Balcons) a Vikings t-shirt which he wore several times that week. Would have been even better if they would have been in the Super Bowl. 

Jose, the fellow with the bread bag on Orient Beach, who walks shoulder-deep up and down the beach with his horde of angel fish following him. It was kind of fun to see all the reactions he got.

"OUTSIDE THE BOX”

As mentioned earlier, our flight home was postponed due to volcanic ash. We didn’t find out until we got to the airport, minutes after we turned in our car and phone. Belinda was gracious enough to offer a couple of couches if we needed them since there was not a room to be had anywhere. We tried to make some quick decisions and looked for Marius—our car rental guy—to see if he was still at the airport. No luck, but I asked a couple of other guys if they had seen him. 10 minutes later he came through the airport looking for us, gave us our phone back, found a 1-day car rental for us, AND sent us to his parent’s place (Rocky and Bernadette) in Sandy Ground. They had an air conditioned apartment available for one night!! Totally went out of his way for us and his parents did the same when we arrived in Sandy Ground.

Every year it gets more clear why we like SXM so much, and the gracious people you meet are the biggest factor without a doubt.

--Unusual food of the trip was Susan’s Bullfoot Soup at Enoch’s in Marigot. It had a bone or two in the bowl (probably metatarsals) but also some gelatinous gobs of ??? It tasted pretty good, lots of vegetables, but the gelatin stuff was a little hard to get down. Bruce ate a small bite but that was enough, wonder if it was the inside of the hoof?

--Most odd menu item (could be a new contest on the Boards)
“Roasted Pork Loin smoked with Butt in Vanilla Sauce” on L’Estaminet menu. (I’m sure it’s a misspelling or translation problem, but it sure makes you smile.)

CRIME
Thankfully, no problems for the 8th straight year. We did see the gendarmes taking a bike away from a fellow who was resisting quite aggressively, not sure what that was about. We also talked to a couple in the airport who had stuff stolen out of their trunk at SSBG. Unfortunately, they stopped at the Butterfly Farm on their way to the beach, and had their beach bags stolen from their trunk also. It was their first trip and had no idea. Please don’t start getting too quick to criticize their wisdom, now they know. Just verifies the advice to NEVER leave anything in the car.

RANDOM STUFF
The weather might have been the best we ever had, and we encountered virtually no bugs.

It seems like based on what we saw and the people we talked to, that the economy has definitely affected tourism. They told us quite a few people were still coming down, but not spending as much money.

The 1-1 exchange thing is kind of a crap shoot. We went to 3 “French” restaurants and had virtually the same quantities of food and drink. La Villa was 1-1 (best service & great food), Le Soleil was 1-1.35 (best view, very good food) and L’Estaminet was 1-1.25 (best presentation and elegance, very good food). They all cost virtually the same and we would go back to all three.

We intentionally “priced out” our meals at some of the highly rated Grand Case restaurants and came up with significantly higher totals. A duck entrée at Le Soleil was
18E (1-1.35) and was 29-32+ E (1-1.35) at several other places. That’s quite a difference. Many would say, “who cares, you’re on vacation”, but for us, we probably are not sophisticated enough diners to appreciate the difference. I guess it’s nice that there’re lots of choices. Something for everyone.

Bon jour.

Hey!

What a great report!

Your views on the economy and the effect it has on SXM travel are very perceptive. It does seem more folks are concerned with price, service and "bang for their buck" in these tough times.

Throughout your report you mention your SXM friends, acquaintances and those you do business with. You have found the secret to a better trip and many who complain about bad service, crime etc. have absolutely no personal contact with those wonderful people of SXM who can add so much to the vacation experience.

Thanks for mentioning and describing your dining experiences. t seems you have found a great mix of both food and venues. Sorry, can't relate to most, but the Croissanterie in the Marina is our absolute favorite for people watching, ambience, croissants and the BIG coffee cups and extra in the metal pot.

Again, thanks for the report...glad you had such a good trip and weather.

Denis

great trip report
thanks!
glad you enjoyed yourselves

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a great time! Enjoyed reading the report.

Annie

Thank you for the great trip report and restaurant recommendations.

BruceSusanMn,

What a perfect trip report. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

And as I understand it, you spend a lot of quality time on the island with some really nice people, too. Good for you!!

Again, thanks for sharing.

Respectfully,

pat

Very nice report, thanks for posting. You mention some of our favorites - Les Balcons, La Croissanterie, Quai Quest (probably the best duck breast I've ever had was there), etc.

Hard to believe that you actually wrote such a great report Bruce,....Susan probably did most of it. It was great to see you guys again. Your experience with Marius and his folks again emphasizes what wonderful people are found on SXM, why it's called the "Friendly Island", and that there are only a very few that cause all the problems. Thanks for the story. See you next year. We're booked.