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Welcome to our pictorial trip report of our trip to St. Martin.
We arrived Dec. 31st on US Air flight 1903, were met by Mickey at Tropical Tropicana, who had the car waiting for us and off we went to Club Orient.
We had a terrific time and met some great new friends. The fireworks were spectacular with some that were so unique that we called them the "French Tickler specials" cascading golden sparkles that poured from the night sky!
Kevin & Suzie
joined us for New Years Eve at Papagayos. They both were so tired that they had
to hold each other up! At one point I got Suzie up to dance just to keep her
awake long enough to get to midnight. The fireworks perked them up a little bit
though, as did the dancing, entertainment and great food!
We often were
the first people awake and on the beach and because of that we always make
friends with the various cats and dogs who live near the resort.
This one
adopted us and slept under our chairs and came over to see us to our door every
day.
The Club Orient
Staff conspired with me to surprise Regina with a bouquet of beautiful tropical
flowers in our unit when we arrived. This was too much fun! the man was
delivering the flowers in through the sliding door from the patio while Regina
was occupied in the kitchen. She never saw a thing!
We went for our first
meal at Bay Watch with our friends Butch & Kelly. Here we are with Cheryl.
What can we say about Cheryl and Andy? They are just wonderful friends and great people. They are the first people we contact when we arrive on the island and the last ones we say good bye to when we leave. Ross, Adrian, Randy and the rest of the staff always make us feel so much at home. They are so much a part of our SXM family!
The grounds of
Club Orient one early morning. We just love the grounds of Club Orient. There
are flowers everywhere. Owners of the various chalets have added rock gardens,
special flower beds, displays that tell a little bit about them. This was the
year we met Inez out in the garden behind her studio. She taught us some new
yoga routines out there in the sun, under the swaying branches of the palm
trees. It is like a little bit of the garden of Eden, paradise found not
paradise lost!
We walked the beach just about every day.
We had a great
party on January 2nd at Papagayo's. Co-organized by Karen & Jim (Proart) and
Regina & I, (DavidB). The staff at Papagayos treated us to some extra-special
service and treats. Complimentary platters of food, a whole area of the
restaurant set aside for us all. Thank you Manu and Eddie Loomans, you are great
hosts! We had so many people there I lost count! Over 30 and all of our plans to
provide name tags sort of went by the wayside when a few nakos among us said
that they did not have a place to attach it. I distributed complimentary TTOL
tattoos and we took a picture by the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Thank
you to the people who volunteered to take the front row! Sorry the picture was
so dark I had to enhance it in Photoshop to even get this, but the group was too
big for my little camera
We
took a field trip and visited with Gerard and Francine, the delightful couple
who own and operate Le Galion. They mostly speak French so brush up before you
go and bring a phrase book! We brought with us friends from the TTOL gathering
at Papagayos the evening before so that we could introduce them to LeGalion and
the couple who run it.
Le Galion or
perhaps it is now called Caribbean Nature, is a "naturist friendly" villa
located near Captain Oliver's. Recently opened by
Gerard and Francine who have
done a tremendous amount of work to restore this beautiful home. It has four
beautiful bungalows and
a main house all surrounding a beautiful private pool. It is possible to walk
directly from the patio of your bungalow, take a dip all
in the total privacy of this beautiful place. The studio has the only views of
the ocean, but a short walk will take you to a spectacular view of the ocean and
St. Barths. One of the best things about the place is the price. About 1/3 of
the cost of staying at Club Orient and only a 10 minutes drive from Orient
Beach. Check them out! Tell them that David & Regina Sent you!
http://membres.lycos.fr/naturissimo
| From Left to right: Peter & Elly, David, Francine, Regina, Karen & Jim, Suz with Kevin hiding in the back, Philly with Bill hiding in the back. |
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Here is a gallery of photos from our visit to Le Galion.
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We had to introduce our TTOL
friends to one of our favorite restaurants in Grand Case, La California. Teri
always makes us feel special, here he is serving some fine French red wine.
Later on in the evening he gave us a taste of his newest concoction, a homemade
chocolate liqueur. After the second round we could have stayed all night.
Look at the dessert... Yum! Regina is more experimental and tries a new one each time we visit. The Crepes flambe are tres delicious! I order the Creme Brule and Teri's is one of the best on the island.
We move to Oyster Bay
Oyster Bay
Kitchen
If you can not see the kitchen that's because it was so small you could miss it. This was the smallest timeshare studio we have ever stayed in.
This was the view from the
balcony of our unit at Oyster Bay. It was right on the marina, looking directly
at Captain Olivers. At night we could hear the murmur of the waves and the
tinkling of the glasses and music. I love sailing, so watching the yachts sail
right under my window was a treat.
Every
evening this egret came
under our balcony at Oyster Bay and searched for fish along the shore. His grace
and beauty were a reminder of the wonder of God's creation.
This picture is for Kelly.
Nessie went where ever we did and here he is posing in front of Peg Leg Pub. We
went here and had some great coconut shrimp. The French Onion soup is still the
best on the island. met the new owners too. Highlight of this meal was meeting
Rusty (son of Butch & Kelly) and his brand new fiancee Amy. Rusty proposed the
night before and certainly picked a romantic place to do it. Congratulations
guys! Are you sure you don't want to fly me down to St. Martin to do the
wedding?
I did my Padi Open Water
Certification dives through the ScubaFun Dive shop located in Anse Marcel.
Kneeling is my competent and beautiful instructor Celene, in the back are Ben
and Elaine, from Quebec. The two other men were Jaques and Jean, both from
France. The dives were great and I am totally hooked on diving in the Caribbean.
We dove at Creole Rock for two
afternoons. This is a very popular diving and snorkeling site and can become
very crowded. We saw some extraordinary fish, practiced various scuba skills and
got ready for our deeper dives on some reefs and wrecks in Great Bay.
Celene perched like this
checking the bottom of the ocean and then instructing the boat driver which
mooring ball to pull up to. She was trying to determine which area around Creole
Rock had better visibility.
Ben and Elaine are from Quebec
and were staying at the Mt. Vernon. They were very anxious to get in as much
diving as they could and dove almost every day. For those of you who don't think
that there is good diving around SXM, think again... They raved about a
beautiful reef and wreck off Tintemarre as well as diving on the Frigate.
We went on dives 3 different days and the last day we did both a morning dive and then an afternoon dive on Cable Reef. Each day Celine was testing our abilities and skills underwater. Some times we did various exercises like emergency ascents, out of air drills and sharing air among many others. Creole Rock was quite crowded both times we were there and the silt action from all the dives made for very cloudy water.
The last day we dove out in Great Bay and what a difference. We were in water at depths of 20 to 30 meters and the reef extended from for out in the bay to well into it. It was like diving on a time machine. The reef was literally covered with wrecks and the cables of the various ship wrecks were laced between various formations of coral. Furthest out on the reef were ships from the early 1812 to 1820. Canon, fluke anchors and a few timbers were all you could see. Then further along on the reef was a steam paddle boat that was from the 1860's. Then there were some iron ships from the 1910 through 1920. There were a couple wrecks you cold swim through, although the hulls were collapsing so I was glad we had a great dive master who knew where one could go safely. Even then one of the divers from France got wedged in one of them and had to be gently eased through. Finally we came upon a wreck that came down in a hurricane in the 1980's and that was surreal. I had run out of film on my little point and shoot underwater camera by the time we had gotten to there and no way to reload when you are 90 feet down. I saw so many things that my little underwater camera was unable to capture because I did not have a good light attachment. The beauty of the sea is amazing.
Some of the other photos included here are from snorkeling on Orient Beach. During the whole time of my stay I snorkeled many times on the reef near the rocks in front of Pedros on Orient Beach. Now that I have seen a live reef I can say that this reef is very much destroyed by careless boaters and other people who snorkel there and step on the fragile coral and break it off. Even so there are many fish and other marine life to see. This star fish was nestled into the reef on Orient Beach, it makes for a great photograph. Saw some mermaids too! They were more beautiful than the ones I have seen in the story books and somewhat shy too.
All in all you can say I got hooked that year on underwater excursions in the warm Caribbean Sea.
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We organized a TTOL group trip
to the unique restaurant Le Reparte de Pirate in Grand Case. The Salade Alizee
was to die for! Marcel kept us well entertained and invited each of us to
personally tour his bathroom...
We love going and spending time with Marcel. The meals are great. We always enjoy the company and then we end of the evening with his coffee pot full of home made rum cordial (appropriately named Le Mort and marked with the Skull and Crossbones). This year we had several folks from TTOL join us and Rusty and Amy, Butch and Kelly's son and new daughter-in-law to be dared to try out a night with our crazy group.
The Pirate can be found on a cross street that comes into the main street in Grand Case near the square with the lolos. Walk away from the harbor on that street, go past the Gendarmerie and then look to your left. You should now see it on your left.
Go up to the door and know, when Marcel opens the porthole you have to request permission to come aboard. Then be prepared for anything to happen because it just might!
I took some pictures during the day time one trip into Grand Case just so you could see the outside of the place more clearly. Nessie even made it here for our evening but I think his picture outside was too dark.
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On the drive over from Oyster
Bay to Orient, we passed this view almost every morning. In the far distance you
can see St. Barths.
St. Barth's emerges in the dawn
We chartered the Catamaran Chamicha, out of Marigot Harbor, for a full day for 10 of us. Paul & Carol, Butch & Kelly, Jim & Karen, Kevin & Suz and David & Regina.
Captain Patrick at the helm of Chamicha
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Patrick and his mate were
gracious hosts. I don't think they were quite prepared for our group of crazy
friends. I would recommend them to anybody wanting to have a different kind of
day sail around SXM. He has sailed through a few hurricanes in his days and
seems to know the waters well. Food was not as elegant as the Tiko, but we
sailed for many more hours and he was willing to do just about anything we
asked. Brush up on your French though!
Happy Baie from the Chamicha
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Yacht we passed.
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Anse Marcel headlands
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We sailed around the island
from Marigot, past Happy Baie, Grand Case, Anse Marcel and then to Tintemarre.
Petite Cay Beach
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Supposedly one of the best
snorkeling sites on the whole island. Remote and hard to get to if you do not
have a boat. Directions I've been given but not tested are: Go to French Cul de
Sac by the parking lot for the ferry to Pinel. There is a road off to the left
that goes over to the dump. Follow that road and drive to the dump parking lot.
Go over to the left and there is a path over the ridge that will lead you to
Petite Cay Beach. Beware of sharp objects in the road, you can get a flat tire.
The reward after a 20 minute hike is a remote beach with great rocks, reefs and
reportedly the best snorkeling on the island. I have heard that some locals hang
out there for some surfing and one of them said that if they were looking for a
private place with their lover, this would be the place they would go. Obviously
no services, so bring your own water and food. Do be careful, many people have
reported flat tires and one or two have reported that their cars were broken
into back at the dump parking lot.
Sunsail Charter Boat
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Regina & I saw this boat depart
from right beneath our unit a day before. Here they are making sail towards St.
Barths.
Sail ahoy!
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another view of the yacht
sailing towards St. Bart's
Land Ho - Tintemarre
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Several Tintemarre natives from
the Tiko Tiko watch us sail into the bay on the Chamicha. They could not believe
that there was another nako cruise coming ashore!
Chamicha at anchor off Tintemarre
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Patrick and his mate dropped
anchor and we all swam ashore. Gear followed. We had a great day. When we could
not remember the French word for bucket it was a little hard telling him we
wanted to steal his salad bowl for making up some mud. Eventually Butch got
through to him somehow and the rest is history! You will have to ask Carol about
her experience with the mud!
Drink ferry at Tintemarre
drinkfairy.jpg
Or is that the Drink Fairy?
Either way, Jim made a few trips back to the boat for us with his float.
The Golden Eagle Textile Invasion
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Of course the Golden Eagle
arrived with a boat load of people from a cruise ship. They snorkeled for a
while and then departed.
Tiko Tiko contingent
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The folks from the Tiko Tiko
set-up just down the beach from us and we shared the trek over to the mud pit.
Later we all watched a Dutch military helicopter and assault troops practice an
attack on the interior of the island.
Tiko Tiko at anchor
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Tintemarre Airfield
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I walked out to the abandoned
airfield and started taking some shots of the ruined airplanes when the Assault
helicopter dropped off more troops just out of sight to the right. I decided
that I did not want to be the target for their practice and made my way back to
the beach.
Assault Troops making a landing.
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Here is one of the soldiers
being lowered by the helicopter. When he hit the ground you could hear sporadic
gun fire. That is when I decided to move far, far away!
Chamicha Lunch
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We all swam back to Chamicha
for a barbeque lunch. The sausage were unique and tasty We were all hungry and
made short work of the lunch. .
Captain Patrick takes a dip
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Here is our captain relaxing in
the waters off Tintemarre. When he climbed up the ladder he looked at me with a
great big grin and said, "I still sometimes wonder why I am so lucky to get paid
to do this."
Farewell swim
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We all took a last dip before
departing for our sail back to Marigot. This part of the day was very special.
Patrick cut the engines and we sailed under wind power for a couple of hours. We
stopped by Creole Rock for some snorkeling, water was cloudy and it was too
crowded
Happy Baie from the Chamicha
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Patrick also anchored off Happy
Baie and a few of us were hardy enough to make the swim in. Surf was a bit rough
and it was a strenuous effort. Once we got there, Jim and Karen said that this
was exactly the kind of place they had hoped to find. I expect to see some
beautiful paintings of Happy Baie some time in the future by Karen.
My Dream Boat
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This beauty came in and
anchored right under our window at Oyster Bay. I was ready to swim over, and
take it for a spin!
Marigot Market
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While Kevin & Suz moved to the
Towers and Jim and Karen moved back to Club Orient from the Cottages, Regina & I
took the whole day and shopped in Marigot and Phillipsburg. We got some great
buys at this market on Garnet jewelry as well as some beautiful pareos. Don't
buy your SXM bags here, they are much cheaper in Phillipsburg.
Marigot Market 2
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Marigot Market 3
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Marigot Market 4
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Marigot Market 5
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I tried to get some better
photos of the produce markets. The vendors there did not want their pictures
taken. We did find some yummy avacatos.
Marigot Market 6
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Dawn Beach with St. Barths
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St. Barth's close up from Dawn Beach
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Dawn Beach 3
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Regina @ Oyster Bay
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St. Barth's is peaking out
behind her. That dress we bought at Paradise View. above Orient Bay on the main
road. They had some great bargains. As you can tell it was a windy afternoon.
David & Regina @ Oyster Bay
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St. Barths
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Oyster Bay Resort Pool and patio
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I wish we could say that we
loved our stay at Oyster Bay. We have never been treated so rudely by any resort
staff before. The unit was so small we literally tripped over each other and it
was impossible to cook in what they called our kitchen. The refridge was so
small my wife called it the "electric cooler".. Bathroom was so small that if
somebody stood at the sink the person in shower could not open the door to get
out. What we can say is that we loved the location. We did not miss the 40
minute drive during traffic to get to Orient Beach that we were used to when we
stayed in Simpson Bay. We also found a great bakery and breakfast place in
Oyster Pond by the speed bump near Captain Olivers and another bakery on the
road leading from Orleans to Oyster Pond. The French wines we purchased accross
the street from that bakery was especially good, even though it was only $4.00 /
bottle. All in all, I might stay there again, but boy do they need an upgrade on
their attitude and service
Oyster Bay Resort Pool at sunset
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You can not see it, but around
the corner from this picture is a hot-tub that overlooks the ocean. The heat was
not turned on until our very last night there, but we did have a couple late
night dips with our friends Philly & Bill and Butch & Kelly.
Ocean view off Oyster Bay
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Three very tanned and happy campers
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Kelly, Philly and Regina. Kelly
was celebrating, they had dropped off Rusty and Amy at the airport earlier and
now they were feeling more free to party with the gang!
La California second night
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Had to go back for more
delicious pizza and Creme Brulee. Butch and Kelly agree that the Creme Brulee is
to die for!
Orient View
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Orient View 2
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Orient View 3
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Oyster Pond looking toward the hill where leGalion is located
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Captain Olivers from our room
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SunSail and Moorings Facilties
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Oyster Pond Harbor and Marina
are a major bare-boat chartering center for both SunSail and The Mooriings, the
two largest bareboat chartering companies in the Caribbean. There were easily 60
38 to 60 foot yachts at anchor here available for charter. Some day! Sigh!
Oyster Pond Harbor
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Regina on our Balcony at Oyster Bay
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We did have a fairly private
balcony with our unit. That was nice. The downside was that it was so small that
it had a round table, two upright chairs and no space for anything else. I loved
sunning on the balcony at the Pelican and watching the sunset in the lounge
chairs our first trip. I even slept outside on one of the lounge chairs there.
At Oyster Bay that was not possible! <darn>
David on the balcony of Oyster Bay
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We spent some relaxing times
out on this balcony. It helped that we were high enough up that we had a decent
amount of privacy. Too bad it was so small that you couldn't make use of that
more fully.
last picture of Oyster Pond marina
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Turtle Pier
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We ate our last good meal with
the TTOL gang at Turtle Pier. Great food, interesting conversation with Philly
leading us all in a spirited discussion. Ask her someday! It was deserted
though. Our group of 8 doubled the amount of customers they had all evening.
Drinks and dancing after at Sopranos
Kevin & Suz @Turtle Pier
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Butch & Kelly
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Philly & Bill
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David & Regina
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One last drink at Mr. Busbys
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We met Kelly & Butch for one
last drink at Mr. Busbys
Regina at Mr. Busbys
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Farewell dinner at Captain Olivers
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Regina & I went over to Captain
Olivers for a private dinner our last night. We danced to some great music and
then went home to pack!
next time!
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After dinner we walked the
slips and looked at boats and yachts. This one is for sale!
Good bye!
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Regina snapped this one of
Great Bay and the cruise ship at the dock.
