Introduction

This trip, our fifth one to St. Maarten / St. Martin, was from May 22 - June 9, 2005.  It was a bit later in the year than we've made our visits in the past and the time selected was largely driven by Sandra's business schedule and a determination not to repeat the particular mistake we had made with the dates chosen for the prior year.  There was nothing wrong with those dates in terms of enjoying the island, but rather through lack of foresight we had managed to book the very time that the grounds around our house are at their best with the peak bloom of thousands of dogwoods, azaleas, rhododendron and other spring ornamentals.  No, we didn't want to miss that again, especially considering the effort we've devoted to making it happen.

With the slightly later visit this year we anticipated it would be warmer, fewer people with less traffic and restaurants being closed on certain days of the week.  All of that proved to be correct, but we must say the higher humidity in particular was a bit of a surprise.  While there many of the locals we met commented they thought it to be uncharacteristically warm and humid.  We thought it was particularly noticeable in the evenings.  Mind you, we didn't find it to be oppressive - just somewhat more than expected.

When we arrived the island was beautifully green from the rains which preceded us and it remained so for our entire stay even though the subsequent rainfall was fairly minimal, especially during the days.  We did find, as we've experienced in the past, that there frequently was a slight to heavy haze in the sky that prevented us from capturing in pictures the brilliant blues we so much enjoy, especially when contrasting against a landscape with varying shades of green and the sea with its vibrant turquoise hues.  It was interesting to read in the Daily Herald that some of the haze was attributable to dust from Sahara storms carried aloft and transported to the Caribbean.  Hmmm, this is getting a bit complicated in terms of searching for that perfect window of opportunity to do the best photography on the island.  Now we have to think about when there might be sand storms in Africa.  Quite seriously, we made a lot of inquiries during our visit about what time of year might be best to find particularly clear skies, but there was no consensus of opinion among local residents and long time visitors.  Perhaps it just varies in a somewhat unpredictable manner.

We don't wish to leave you with the impression that the weather was bad, because it wasn't  In fact it was quite nice and sunny other than a few days which were truly heavily overcast.  Most visitors would have thought nothing of it and found little or no consequential interference from the weather with their activities.

We were disappointed that we were not able to accomplish a few of the things on our agenda for the trip.  Not least amongst those was a planned daytrip to St. Eustatius which was precluded by another activity we were intent upon doing and which effectively blew away two days of opportunity waiting for it to be organized.  So, this was the first time we've stayed on St. Martin that we did not visit at least one other island in the vicinity.

Something we found we had to do on this trip was strongly resist the considerable temptation to enjoy only those things from which we had derived so much pleasure in the past.  After four visits it would have been terribly easy to select only those restaurants, those shopping excursions to specific stores, those beach locations and those other activities from among the many we had previously enjoyed and not have any consequential risk of disappointment.  But, then there's the appeal of continuing to explore the unknown and making discoveries which we always find worthwhile.  It was very much an imperfect balancing act because for every new experience, restaurants included, we chose, it meant some other past favorite would have to be foregone.  We truly hope the people at the places we did not revisit do understand our motivation and dilemma.  For example, let's just say it was an almost painful decision not to dine at Temptation, Peg Leg Pub and Steakhouse, and some other establishments which we hold in especially high regard.

On the subject of restaurants, the choices on the island seem never ending and ever changing, and with rare exception always acceptable to truly outstanding.  As we've noted in the past, there are many, many ways to enjoy this lovely island and that most assuredly includes dining, regardless of whether one's preferences tend to the basics or the finest haute cuisine.  It's all there in great abundance.  In terms of our rankings this year, we think you will be as surprised as we were at what has occurred at the very top end of our scale.  We think it important, as we  build your anticipation a bit, to note also that not a single restaurant we visited was rated below the very acceptable midpoint of our scale.

As a last bit of general commentary and observations in our introduction while we may still have your attention before launching into the specifics, we would like to touch briefly on why we enjoy doing these travelogues and why they contain so much detail and many words.  We understand that a lot of people don't like to be burdened in their minds with anything more than a succinct bullet point list (or its equivalent) of the most salient points in any sort of information sharing.  That, no doubt, is somewhat a manifestation and an extension of our hectic day-to-day lives in which one can tend to be inundated with data in this age of information overload and there is an art, if not an act of self preservation, to try to discern quickly what's most important and relevant.  In terms of our travelogues we see the matter differently and we intentionally focus on that audience which wishes to read, to savor, and to contemplate the experiences we have to share and to gain from them knowledge, different perspectives or perhaps nothing more than some entertainment or diversion.  We think it important to emphasize the obvious.  We share our experiences as they are and by that we mean we neither embellish nor hide the manner in which we enjoy them.  You'll not find us worrying about whether some of our readers have the means or inclination to pursue activities in the manner that we do, just as we're not concerned that those with significantly greater means than ours might view our experiences as being rather pedestrian and singularly uninteresting. Simply put, we think it's all about sharing and contributing to a balance in terms of perceptions of a wonderful destination such as St. Maarten / St. Martin.  It does no good for the island or its visitors if the full spectrum of opportunities to be enjoyed are not revealed.  We hope that at least some of you find these thoughts to be provocative, as indeed they are meant to be, and will keep them in mind as you read what we have to share in this travelogue.

Contents

Though our write-ups are quite lengthy, we do try to structure them in a manner which provides coherent organization to the subject matter.  Consequently, if you find a particular topic not to be of interest, it's a simple matter to scroll down to the next major blue heading and determine if it has value. Also, there is a complete outline of all the major subject matter at this link Table of Contents which will allow you to click on a page containing the topic in which you're interested and move directly to it.

Please keep in mind the small pictures you subsequently see can be "clicked" to view a larger version.

USAirways

We booked two coach seats for this trip using a total of 60,000 frequent flyer miles since we had convinced ourselves First Class just wasn't worth the cost anymore.  That resolve and commitment lasted every bit of four or five days.  When we talked about our plans and tried to envision various elements of the trip, we kept coming back to the flights and wondering to one another if we would regret our decision, particularly as we pondered the cramped, claustrophobic seating in coach where we would be ensconced for four hours or more. Sandra was the first to break when she said "Ed, why don't you see what's available in First Class?"

That led to an interesting and more than a little annoying revelation.  There were no First Class seats available for our dates using regular frequent flyer miles.  Consequently, Ed began searching in the general vicinity of the dates we had chosen which again revealed no availability.  Somewhat intrigued and with growing aggravation he continued to expand the search finally reaching out some nine months into the future.  Guess what?  No availability on any day during that entire period.  Then Ed had the bright idea of checking what might be available using premium awards (double miles).  Guess what?  We could get seats for our chosen dates and any day beyond those for the next several months!  It didn't take long for us to rationalize that such an expenditure of frequent flyer points might not be imprudent since there was some concern on our part about the continued viability of USAirways over the coming year.  Consequently we threw away 120,000 points for one seat and paid the prevailing fare for the other one.  Retrospectively, was it worth it?  Not really.

The outbound flight departed on time and Captain Dunn did his best to avoid and otherwise minimize the mild turbulence we kept encountering for the first half of the flight.  It was nothing really bad but enough to warrant keeping the fasten seat belt sign illuminated and to present challenges when one attempted to use the restroom.

Lunch was actually better than some we've had in First Class recently - it was edible.  There was a salad with oil and vinegar, an interesting presentation of a sour dough roll atop a slice of rye bread and a filleted chicken thigh.  Now that latter object caused some raised eyebrows.  It was a rubbery cut of dark meat that left us wondering how they had managed to mutilate a chicken in such a manner.  The accompanying green beans and sweet potato were decent and the XOXO chocolate bars were good (not melted like those on one of last year's flights).

On another subject, we had an interesting revelation - one of those moments when you realize with great clarity how much you take things for granted.  Sandra was perusing the Destinations magazine for St. Maarten / St. Martin and was chatting away about what she was seeing and showing Ed various things with which we were very familiar and, in fact, were anticipating doing during our trip.  Suddenly, Ed got that far away look of his for a moment then said "Sandra, can you remember just four years ago on our first trip when we were sitting on the plane looking at this magazine and everything we saw was an abstract, intangible mystery?"  It frankly was a bit amazing to think how familiar we had become with the island and on that first trip how little we knew that it subsequently would have such a strong, continuing allure for us.

Maybe it was the particularly interesting issue of Destinations and our discussion about it, or the successful result of our normal attempt to have an out-of-body experience (pretending we're not really trapped on an airplane), but regardless the flight seemed to pass exceptionally quickly.  That was nice!

A few highlights come to mind with regard to our return flight to Charlotte.  The food was back to its more normal grim state.  There were no choices - just fish which allegedly was Red Snapper.  This was presented with a potato and corn mixture, and green beans with sliced red peppers.  Since Ed doesn't eat fish, he was left to piddle with the vegetables and later stuff himself with plentiful offerings of cashews.

The flight was very smooth and we both managed to doze for a few minutes along the way.  As we descended toward Charlotte well ahead of schedule we could see angry black clouds filled with heavy lightening nearby.  Once on the ground we sat for quite a while because, as the captain announced, there had been a bad storm and the airport had been closed for departures and arrivals.  Operations were just resuming and we had to wait until the backlog of departures began clearing and a gate became available. We waited and we waited, and continued, perhaps with a little more intensity, our out-of-body thing:  "We're not really on this airplane, this isn't happening to us, we can have a cigarette soon."

Airports and Security

There was nothing especially remarkable about the check-in at Charlotte other than Ed lost Sandra for awhile.  But, we're getting somewhat ahead of ourselves.  We did our normal thing upon arrival at the airport with Ed depositing Sandra curbside with the luggage.  It was unusually difficult finding a porter to provide assistance.  There were huge lines outside where domestic flight passengers were checking-in and, as they did so, all of the available porters were hauling their luggage into the terminal.  Seems no one had given any thought to the plight of international passengers for whom it made no sense to join the queue since neither check-in nor baggage processing could be accomplished there.  Finally, after much too long a wait, Ed commandeered one of the porters and away Sandra and the luggage went while Ed drove off in search of parking.  Locating a parking spot wasn't too bad this time with one being found at the far end of the open air long term lot beyond the control tower.  It was noticed that the new parking deck was completed and now operational, and also that it occupied a large section of what was previously open air, less expensive space.

After having a healthy hike back to the terminal, Ed began slowly walking along the length of the USAirways counter studying the crowds searching for Sandra.  She was nowhere to be seen.  He retraced his route several times with no better luck and all the while wondering where the heck she could be.  Then he thought maybe she'd completed the check-in process and was waiting at one of the security check points.  So he began to visit each of those until there was only one left at the very end of the left side of the main terminal building.  On his way there he discovered why she was "missing."  Since our last trip to St. Martin USAirways sneakily had built a brand new International counter well removed from the prior one and there Sandra was exasperatedly waiting.  Procedures had been changed once again and they wouldn't let her check all the bags until Ed presented himself.  That was quickly enough accomplished including the attachment of the prominent First Class "Priority" tags and charging us $80 for the one extra bag we had over the allowed limit.

The  Security screening actually went better than usual other than for the air-headed group of girls immediately in front of us bound for Cancun.  We weren't the only ones aggravated by their foolishness and obliviousness to the fact they brought the flow of passengers to a dead, prolonged stop as they constantly fooled around with their carryon pieces and outer garments before sending them through the X-ray machine and all the while stopping periodically to have conversations among themselves about ridiculous things.  The Security folk were getting pretty agitated as the line of people behind them grew and grew.  Thank goodness they weren't going to St. Martin - we could only envision the chaos and ill will they would create boarding a plane.  Totally oblivious, complete air heads.

When Sandra finally was able to proceed she zipped through the body scanner without so much as a beep from it.  Now that was a first!  No disrobing necessary.  She fully expected to have her hand luggage pulled aside for closer inspection since it contained a Whiting & Davis metallic top which must have looked odd on the viewing screen.  That wasn't the case, but as usual our camera bag was pulled so they could see the lenses.

Did we make the point that our departure date, May 22, was a Sunday and the plane was to lift off at 11:00am?  The relevance is this is good old North Carolina and no alcoholic drinks can be purchased anywhere in the state before noon on Sundays.  So instead of being able to have our normal celebratory cocktails just before departure on a vacation, we found ourselves at the bar / restaurant nearest our gate in Concourse B drinking copious amounts of coffee and power puffing cigarettes, dreading the absence of fresh infusions of nicotine over the next several hours.

Stepping from the plane at Juliana we encountered the expected and most welcomed rush of warm air, great breezes and a beautiful sky.  We could see the framework of the new airport terminal close by.  It will be huge compared to the current one and should be quite something when finished.  The process of clearing Immigration and dealing with luggage was a non-event.  It couldn't have been easier, faster and, frankly, more fun.

On our departure date we checked-in early, endured the perfunctory hand search of each piece of luggage, once again having to ask the Security staff to be more careful zipping the bags shut so clothing wouldn't be snagged, further bolstered USAirways' bottom line by contributing another $80 for the excess luggage, paid our departure tax and then were off to pay our last respects to various establishments in the Simpson Bay area.  We returned to Juliana an hour and twenty minutes before scheduled departure, disposed of the rental vehicle and retreated to the second floor restaurant / lounge.

As the flight time drew near we made our way through departure Immigration and on to the security screening for passengers and their hand luggage.  Once again Sandra zipped through, but Ed didn't.  No, it wasn't the camera equipment this time which wasn't even questioned.  Instead, Ed was apprehended as he was emptying his pockets into a tray to go through the screening device.  The female Security agent immediately snatched up the one book of paper matches that were amongst the articles and announced "You can't have these."  Tired and really not wanting to prolong the process Ed decided not to argue the point and simply said "Fine."  Next the agent picked up two "state" quarters and began examining them intensely and said "I collect these!"  Beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get away from this woman, Ed said to her "Why don't you just keep those and add them to your collection?"  Into her pocket the quarters and matches went, and she waved him along.

Sandra had the pleasure of being stopped at the boarding gate for a hand inspection of her carryon.

After finally reaching a gate in Charlotte and removing ourselves from our transcendental state, we deplaned and made our way to U.S. Immigration.  Unlike in the past, the line moved well and the process was expeditiously completed.  From there it was on to the baggage claim area where the bags appeared reluctant to be claimed.  They didn't show themselves for quite a while, but fortunately when they did arrive it wasn't the traditional chaos of people crowding round trying to retrieve them from the conveyor.  Perhaps it had something to do with fewer people on the plane this flight.

Next stop was U.S. Customs.  Expecting the worst both in terms of duty to be paid and further delay while that process occurred, Sandra handed the agent our carefully detailed list of acquisitions and their costs.  Maybe the agent wasn't accustomed to seeing large five figure numbers declared or mentally inserted a decimal where there was none, but in any event didn't seem the least interested other than to ask a few questions about the food products.  And that was the end of it - needless to say, a nice surprise at the conclusion of our trip.

Caribbean VIP

You've probably already guessed, especially if you've read last year's travelogue, that we again used the very excellent services provided by Caribbean VIP.  But we did more so this year and among other things can now speak with firsthand experience about their incredible help with lost luggage.  Yes, our luck ran out and it finally happened - one of our checked pieces of luggage was missing.  Now how does something like that happen?  All of the luggage was checked-in early at the same time, bright fuchsia First Class "Priority" tags attached and then sent in consecutive order into the bowels of the Charlotte terminal.  Our first thought was perhaps the missing bag had somehow attracted the attention of the TSA and it had been pulled for further inspection thereby separating it from its brethren.  Sure enough when we received it late the following day with all identification and routing tags still attached, we discovered our black plastic ties had been cut and someone obviously had been rummaging through the bag, but there was not the customary flyer included from the TSA saying they had done an inspection nor were there any of their aqua colored plastic ties attached.  Most curious.  Anyway, nothing was missing and we were more than a little pleased to have it back in our possession.  All the while before its return Ed had been contemplating a journey to a clothier in Marigot and mentally rehearsing in his best French "Bonjour.  Les shorts de Jockey calibrant 34, s'il vous plait."

But, let's rewind back to our initial arrival.  As we stepped off the shuttle bus from the plane Bevan Payne, owner of Caribbean VIP, and one of his staff, Ashton, were waiting for us with big smiles and the "Ed and Sandra" sign in hand.  Just as before, we were warmly greeted, relieved of our hand luggage and whisked through the arrival hall, Immigration, and the luggage retrieval area.  Outside they had a nice new van with air conditioner running waiting for us.  They were very patient and understanding when we announced we absolutely had to have a cigarette before we did another thing.  With nicotine replenished to a minimally acceptable level, we entered the van and were driven to Aqua across the street from Juliana to have a nice drink and await our luggage.

Aqua is a lovely little restaurant and bar perched partially over the water and with a boat dock extending out beyond it.  Bevan took delight in giving us a guided tour and explaining the enhancements he has in progress there.  Among those was seating along the waterside rail with dividers between sections creating mini booths and a very cleverly designed table surface that could be slid in and out for the seats.  Soon Bevan's wife, the attractive Cristina who is originally from Barcelona, Spain, arrived eager to meet us.  We thoroughly enjoyed talking with her and appreciated her sincere insistence that we call her at her personal cell number anytime during the trip that we wanted any kind of assistance.  Very nice lady.

While we were at Aqua Bevan received a radio call  and we could tell from his expression he wasn't pleased with what he was hearing.  That's when he gave us the news about the missing piece of luggage.  He reassured us and told us not to worry - Caribbean VIP was on top of the situation.  And indeed they were.  The following  evening Bevan personally delivered the bag to us at our hotel in Grand Case.

When Ed had been making the initial arrangements to utilize Caribbean VIP's service he had declined any assistance for departure from St. Martin.  But as we moved through the airport upon our arrival he had flashbacks to previous hassles of trying to get the luggage from curbside into the Security area and then checked-in at the USAirways counter.  We had never been able to find a proper porter in the past and there was simply too much luggage for the two of us to move simultaneously.  Consequently, it was arranged with Bevan that we would come to Aqua the morning of our departure and his staff would assist with the check-in, but we would do without  their assistance for Immigration and Security later that afternoon when we were ready to do the boarding thing.  It worked beautifully!  No hassles and no strained backs from handling luggage!  We arrived at Aqua around 11:00am and after a call by one of the bar staff the VIP folk were there within a few minutes.  They moved the bags from our vehicle to theirs and off we went to the terminal.

But there was a slight problem - we realized we had left our travel documents in the carryon luggage still back in our vehicle at Aqua (we never leave anything in a car, but made an exception this time since we knew the people at Aqua were paying close attention to it).  With nothing but smiles and "No problem" from the VIP staff they took us back to rectify our mistake.  Subsequently they moved us and the luggage along through the whole process and then escorted us to the departure tax window where we dealt with that matter.

Limousines

Actually, we'll only talk about one of them at this juncture and about others in the context of subsequent topics.  We will say after the research and planning for this trip we think we know more about limousines on the island than we care to know - good and bad.  However, all of our actual experiences when there were excellent.

As always, Ed was keen to surprise Sandra, if that were possible.  He knew she would be very pleased if he arranged for Julio Rooi at Top Quality to meet us at Juliana with his white stretch Lincoln which we've utilized on two prior trips.  But, knowing full well that Julio would understand and appreciate his interest in doing something different, Ed started investigating the possibilities.  Before it was all done, several people at Caribbean VIP and Hotel L'Esplanade were involved as various alternatives were identified and pursued.  Complicating the search was Ed's not unreasonable insistence that whatever service was considered had to be completely reliable and professional, and any vehicle entertained must be able to navigate the dip at the entrance to the street leading onto the Hotel L'Esplanade property.  Hummers, conventional stretch limos, and even the rumor of a Rolls Royce being on the island were pursued.  Concerning the Rolls, it was determined beyond any doubt there was none on the island at that time.  We'll explain later why some folk posting on travel boards and even some local residents thought that there was.

After a lot of frustration on everyone's part and the discovery of some beyond absolutely obscene pricing for a few of the vehicles considered, it was decided a black stretch Lincoln arranged by Caribbean VIP would be used.  This particular car was provided by Excellent Chauffeur Service:

According to the original plan the stretch was to be waiting outside the terminal to greet Sandra and then take us to Aqua where we would have drinks while the luggage was being collected.  As we were about to exit the terminal building Ed found Bevan pulling him aside and quietly saying "There's a problem with the plan - there's a hole at Aqua."  Well, that made no sense at all to Ed and he was wondering what the heck was happening.  Anyway, he decided to go with the flow.  As Caribbean VIP's van approached Aqua the problem became quite apparent - there wasn't a hole, there was a huge gaping ditch over which a metal plate had been positioned to allow access.  It was all related to the road work being done in conjunction with the construction of the new airport terminal.  No, that definitely wasn't something a stretch limo should be trying to traverse.  Sandra, none the wiser, assumed the VIP van was delivering us to the hotel.  Let's just say she had a big surprise when we were driven not to the hotel but back to  the airport terminal where the limo was now waiting out front.  They had hidden it during our initial arrival so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled.

Rollan Williams owns the limo service along with his wife, Rose Marie, and he was there to greet us and to be our chauffeur.  The vehicle was in absolutely superb condition and it provided a splendid ride to Grand Case.  As promised, Rollan had no problem crossing the small dip and making the turns to the reception area at Hotel L'Esplanade.  Ed's surprise worked!

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