|
St Maarten/St Martin |
|
ISLAND
NEWS
Weather and Beach
report: Saturday was hot and clear.
Sunday had a few puffy white clouds, a breeze, but no whitecaps on the
lagoon. There were some on the carib, so we headed for Orient. fabulous and one
can now walk the length of the beach. The sand has filled in the area in front
of Pedro's Beach Bar. The 4 PM volleyball games at Club Orient were in, pardon the
expression, full swing. I was truly amazed at how much interest my 12 year old
nephew had in volleyball. Galion Beach is lovely and quiet. There's plenty of
sand and not much happening except on weekends. Petite Plage exists in Grand
Case but the beach on the other side of the point at GCBC is pretty
moist. The rest of Grand Case looks pretty good. The area above the
beach at Cupecoy is being scraped by construction equipment. The beach at the
little cove is quite large and Danny says there is a hint of sand near the pool
at the NW end. After the relatives left, it turned cloudy and cooler, but still
a bit humid. They were here for nine days and saw a bit of rain as we drove to
Pburg one morning but it stopped before we got there. It has been lovely! It
rained on Friday morning, but was clear the rest of the day. We went to Orient,
but were sandblasted off the beach by 3:15. The eclipse was a dud, having been
eclipsed by clouds on the horizon. Sunset is at
6:23 and the moon is new.
Dutch Carnival:
The carnival village opens on 14 April, the grand final parade
down Front Street in Philipsburg is on 30 April, and the final jumpup and
burning of King Momo is on 2 May this year. Here is the full
schedule. We will be having lunch and
watching the parade from the porch at L'Escargot. If you are on the
island and want to join, make your reservation early. The restaurant generally
is not full, but the front porch and street are quite crowded.
Sapphire Beach Club: Earlier this year I said that I
doubt I will live long enough to see both elevators in building two work
simultaneously for an entire month. I have made it to that plateau, although
after about two months, they started to act up again, but they are now
working. Nonetheless, for those of you who wish to sell or rent their week
or unit, we have opened up the Sapphire Beach
Club website for that purpose. The first
ten weekly listings are free. After that, we will charge $25 per year and have
only received one request. So this offer is still out there.
Art at California
Restaurant: Zouzou says that for the month of March, and possibly
longer, she has a seashell art exhibition in the restaurant containing
mirrors, mobiles, jewelry boxes, seashell boards, cards, and more. there are a
couple examples on the boutique page of the California website.
GCL Car
Rental: Not only
did Don at GCL lead my brother-in-law and family from the airport to
their apartment at California while
carrying some of their luggage, he met them there with a larger car and drove
all five of them and luggage to the airport for their departure. I'm impressed.
Look in the bargains below for a special rate and eight contests for a free
week, one every month from now until November.
Truck inspections:
Previously the paper was showing overloaded trucks driving about.
After the tragic accident as a truck with failed brakes roared through houses at
the bottom of Cay Hill, they have managed to get photos of the police
stopping overloaded trucks with bald tires.
Jean DuPont: I am
sorry to report that Jean DuPont, the owner of Santal and the former Jean DuPont
restaurant at the Marigot marina, has died.
Photo feature:
This week's photo feature contains some photos
taken at David's Hole and more taken at Petite Plage next to Sunset
Café. There is also a fabulous
sunset taken from our streetside condo
balcony. It's in a secret location not posted here. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the location.
Regular feature: Some new photos and a map were added to the existing construction feature. This was required because there has been new work in the Cupecoy area.
CONTEST
Several businesses in Simpson
Bay are sponsoring the contest that runs
from 27 March to 24 April 2005, offering prizes worth
about $100 each. Just click their name to go to their website,
find the contest code(s) and the link to our new signup form,
fill it out, click send, and you are entered. Put all the contest codes for the
contests you want to enter on ONE entry. Do not send multiple
entries.
Obviously everybody that is getting
this email is already signed up for the newsletter, but you are
not automatically signed up for the contest. You really do have
to go to their website and click the email link to show you visited their site.
Just tell me you are already on our mailing list, and I'll leave you signed up
for the newsletter and just add your name to the contest list.
We have so many prizes that we will be doubling and tripling up for several
contests and producing feature photo spreads in conjunction with the contests.
Here is the list of future contests and feature photo spreads:
Simpson
Bay Feature - 27 March to 24 April
2005:
Horny Toad
Guesthouse - seven low season days for the
price of five
Hideaway Restaurant - $75 off a dinner
for two
Unity
Cars - $100 off a one week car
rental
Tri
Sport - Kayak Snorkel Tour for two
Celine Pub Crawl - 25 April to 5 June 2005 - two tickets on the Lagoon Pub Crawl
Grand Case Feature - 6 June to
17 July 2005:
Escapade
Restaurant - $100 gift certificate for
two
GCBC Snorkel
Trips - A guided snorkeling trip for two
around Creole Rock and an afternoon on our lounge chairs on Petite
Plage
GCL Car Rental - $100 off a
one week car rental
L'Esplanade
Hotel - $100 gift certificate toward a week's
stay
AIA Massage - Two massages for the
price of one
Cupecoy Feature - 18 July to
24 August 2005:
Cupecoy
Villas - stay seven nights, pay for five,
only $1750 for a two bedroom, three bath villa on the
beach
Villas
in Paradise - $100 gift certificate to
Temptation for
two
Cliffhanger Beach Bar - $40 gift
certificate for two
Marigot Feature - 25 August to
30 September 2005:
L'Esperance
Car Rental - $100 off a one week car
rental
La
Vie en Rose - $100 gift certificate for
two
Thai Garden - $100 gift certificate
for two
Orient Beach Feature - 1
October to 15 November 2005:
Chez Pat - $100 toward a day on Galion
Beach
Sol é Luna
Apartments - $100 off on a one week
stay
Nono Car Rental - $50 off
on a one week rental
Philipsburg Feature - 16
November to 15 December:
Vacation
Suites - a free low season
week!
Lucky/Hibiscus Cars - $100
off a one week car rental
Antoine
Restaurant - $100 off a meal for
two
DK
Gems - $100 gift certificate
Karen and Pascal's
Restaurants - 16 December 2005 to 6 January
2006
Auberge
Gourmande - $100 off a meal for
two
Montmartre Restaurant -
$100 off a meal for two
Sunset
Café - $100 off a meal for two
ACTIVITIES
On Monday we took the family out to
Grand Case Beach Club to visit Sebby and Damien at the Activities Desk.
Damien took five of us for a snork around Creole Rock. Actually, there was
a bit of northeast swell, so we stayed in the lee of the rock for the most part.
As most of the fish seemed to feel this was sensible, we didn't miss a thing. As
soon as we jumped in we were surrounded by needle-nosed ballyhoo up to a foot
long and their larger relatives, the houndfish, up to three feet long. Shortly
thereafter, we were approached by all the sergeant majors in the area. We
eventually saw some scary barracuda and toothsome moray eels, some bashful
soldierfish and squirrelfish, French grunts, the largest puffer I've ever seen,
a sea turtle, a small trunkfish, a squid, and many others. Damien brought up a
white sea urchin and attached it to the children who were a bit reluctant
at first, but eventually enjoyed the experience. He also found a very red and
very wriggly starfish for them. We cruised through a lovely coral collection and
then made it back to the boat after about an hour and a half in the water. We
didn't see any Dolphins, but Sebby had seen them a couple days earlier! It's a
great time and only costs $30 and includes the equipment. For a better
deal, go to the website for the coupon.
Not much of an activity, but we had
lunch at Chez Pat and the kids rented a peddle paddleboat for a half hour for $12. It
is an extremely calm and shallow lagoon and they had a great time. More active
sorts can get kayaks, windsurfers, or snorkel gear. I got an umbrella, a
beer, and a nap.
RESTAURANTS
On 2 April the euro
was at 1.288 and today it is at 1.293. French side
restaurants with many costs in dollars and many American (or Canadian) clients
have been offering more favorable exchange rates. Some restaurants offer a 1 to
1 exchange. We got that at Escapade, Bikini Beach,
Restaurant du Soleil,
California,
Auberge Gourmande,
and La Marine. La France in the
Marigot marina, Rainbow Cafe, Balaou, Santal, Sebastiano, and Marlin's Cafe were
offering the same. were offering the
same. Note that some only offer this rate for cash. We
will let you know about other places as we find them. As always, know what the
euro is worth, what the restaurateur is offering for an exchange, and what the
costs are on the menu. Finally, you are here to have fun and fine food, not to
do complex financial calculations, so don't worry about it too much. I've seen a
lot of blather about this on TTOL with several unregistered users (always
suspect) and even a few registered users claiming that the 1 to 1 is a gimmick
as they all raised their prices. I just retyped the Auberge
Gourmande menu after a bit over
two years and prices went up about 5%, nowhere near the 35% premium in the
euro or the 45% change in the value of the euro (remember when the dollar was
worth 1.15 euros?). Nonetheless, Auberge
Gourmande is now
offering 1 to 1. I typed Bistrot Caraibes menu a couple years ago and many prices went down. They are not
offering 1 to 1 but still have good prices.
Old Captain on Front Street in
Philipsburg has closed. Mario and Molly have unloaded Indiana, but it
certainly didn't look very lively as we drove by on 7 April at lunchtime. The
sign said open, but the chain and board across the doors suggested closed. Mario
also owns Jade at Oyster Bay Beach Resort and has made the paper regarding four
laid-off employees. When Beau Beau's Restaurant opened, I suspect that Jade took a hit.
Speaking of Beau Beau's
Restaurant, it appears that the
major dust-up on TTOL over their opening has been brushed aside by recent
reasonable reviews. We had a lunch there, nothing spectacular, but a
cheeseburger on the beach with a view of St Barts at about a 30 degree
temperature differential from back home is nothing to sneer at. Similarly, a big
pile of snot over a supposed $5 overcharge at The
Wharf Restaurant turned out to
be bogus as the charge was justified. Nonetheless, their name was smeared and
the smear was seen by over 1000 people. By now many people have seen the more
favorable comments from the TTOL party that Bernard hosted. The moral of the
story is that one shouldn't go bonkers over a single incident. Many restaurants
have email and all have phones. Contact them first, TTOL later.
Dining: This will be an interesting week for those
of you who may be wondering if we ever eat in "normal" places. As mentioned last
week, Martha's brother, his wife, and three children are here. While the three
children are great eaters and would love foie gras on their pop tarts, the
parents feel otherwise. Having said that, I note that the youngest only eats
chicken, but we get her to eat frog chicken, snail chicken, and special kidney
in mustard sauce chicken, etc. So, after a tour of the Marigot Market where we
visited Octaedre (and got some lovely earrings and a
$10 bracelet made from local garnet) we stopped in at
Durreche. It overlooks the market and has at least four
reasonably priced specials every day (and moules frites on Friday). We had two
orders of emince of beef arabiata (means angry in Italian, more like spicy, but
not much as I added Matouk's), two seafood salads, a kid's menu, and a
hamburger. Everyone was well fed and even with two bottles of wine (that
cost about $15 each) our bill was about $80.
On Saturday night we had dinner
at Lal's Indian Cuisine across from the airport. It's not very swish, but in some
places you would pay a lot of money to dine so close to the water. We had two
different breads (nan and onion kulcha), three aps (vegetable somosas, meat
somosas, and onion fritters), and six main courses ranging across the entire
gamut of meats (goat, lamb, and chicken) and preparation (tika masala, vindaloo,
and curry). Heinekens flowed freely as a result of Lal's coupon for a bucket of six beers per couple.
We like the food and can hardly pick a favorite. Moreover, we like the price. We
fed seven people for about $80.
Continuing on the low budget trend,
we went for lunch on Sunday to Pirate Beach Bar on Orient Beach. Sylvie, the kitchen wizard, does some very nice
things with seafood. I especially like her Pirate salad that features conch. The
menu and lots of food photos are up on the website as is a coupon for a great
deal on chairs, lunch and a drink. Again, we fed seven people (rib plates,
hamburger plates, hot dog plates, and a few salads) and had several drinks for
about $55. The prices here are in dollars, which is probably against French law,
but it does away with any question on the exchange rate. The place was a good
value at 1.15 euros to the dollar and is still a good value at 1.3 dollars to
the euro. Gotta love it!
That evening we went back to
California Apartments where the family is staying and got cleaned up for an early dinner.
Some people may not be aware that this was the opening game of baseball season
and it featured the beloved Red Sox against the evil empire. Most of my reports
on California Restaurant go on about Alain's lovely foie gras ap with home made marmalade,
lovely sauces, etc. Even so, the prices are pretty good because they always were
low and the restaurant is offering 1 to 1 on the exchange. However, the menu
contains pasta, pizza, crepes, and a kid's menu. This night, we had pizzas with
Chianti. We fed seven people for about $70 and the menfolk scooted upstairs to
watch a most unfortunate baseball game. The only good news is that as we had not
lingered at the dinner table, ZouZou sent a bottle of the flavored rum that ends
every meal up to the room. While it did not actually change the outcome of the
game, some of us did forget how it ended.
The next morning (Monday) we did the
snorkel trip to Creole Rock and used the coupons on the website to get chairs
for the afternoon. Lunch was up on the deck overlooking all this at Sunset Café. Again, we have been known to
rave about lamb tenderloin in puff pastry and prattle on about Ch Nuits St
Waga-Waga, but there are always lunch specials (Wed-Sat look for moules in a
creamy onion broth with a hint of heat and some of the crispest French fries on
the island) and there is a kid's menu. Martha split a huge seafood salad with
one of the children. The smallest one had the kid's meal featuring chicken. I
had a chicken Creole sandwich and a round of burgers filled out the orders. This
all came to about $70 until we ordered two bottles of wine! Nonetheless, the
bill came in at about $120 as there are fine wines at about $25 a bottle. It was
a lovely, long lunch that lingered over the wine and ended with Chris bringing
two bottles of flavored rum. After repeated samples, he switched our two for two
on another table and we did it again. We especially liked the coffee and
coconut rums and really liked them mixed together.
That night we got the oldest child to
look after the younger two (Thank you, Sarah) and had an adult night out at
Temptation. We
had asked for an outside table and enjoyed a quiet and peaceful meal under the
cascading window wall on the terrace. For aps we had two orders of the Home
Made Spinach-Ricotta Ravioli tossed with basil infused white wine bisque, and
wild mushrooms ($15) and the Balsamic Roasted Portobello topped with basil, soft
polenta, roasted peppers, and smoked mozzarella ($12). WARNING: I am about to
wax ecstatic. About a month ago I had the Raviole de Royan, a traditional ravioli with ricotta, porcini mushrooms, and basil in light
meat broth at Montmartre Restaurant, essentially next door. I feel these are two of the best
restaurants on the island and these similar dishes explain why. There are a
myriad of flavors floating in the broth and encapsulated in the raviolis. The
raviolis can hold disparate textures and deliver interesting textural contrasts
along with the flavors. Dino's spinach had a satisfying mini-crunch as the
ricotta coated your tongue with, yes I admit it, fat. The food police can take
my fat away from me when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. If I remember
correctly, this was not a vegetarian dish and I believe the reason is the ever
more satisfying crunch of crispy bacon bits. Both of these dishes were
wonderfully balanced, with nothing overwhelming, but everything working
together. The tastes were there, but one had to seek them out and savor them.
The other ap was a roasted Portobello and this is the difference between a great
restaurant and a good restaurant. We had a roasted Portobello in a similar
preparation earlier this year at another restaurant. The flavors were far from
subtle and not very integrated. It had the ingredients, but was not as good to
my taste. Our dinners were the duo of venison and lamb loin chops with boursin
soft polenta and peppercorn red wine sauce ($35), tandoori duck breast with
coconut chutney, vegetable biriani, and sweet tamarind sauce ($29),
the Popped Black Bean Crusted Sashimi Grade Tuna with wasabi mashed
potatoes, and wild arugula salad with preserved red onions scallops, and the
diver scallops with spaghetti squash. Sneaking the red peppercorns into the
boursin soft polenta provides a burst of texture and flavor. The crusting on the
tuna is an extra bit of interesting texture, just as the arugula adds texture to
the mashed potatoes whose flavor has been piqued by a hint of wasabi. It may
sound strange, but the Japanese have been adding wasabi to uncooked tuna for
years in sashimi and sushi. Dino's tuna is certainly lightly cooked. We had the
wet chocolate cake with peanut ice cream for dessert. We had started with a
white Chateauneuf-du-Pape and finished with a Pinot Noir from Villa Mt Eden.
With the water and coffees our drinks were over $100 and the food came
in around $200 for a total of about $160 per couple. Dino's Dare to
be Rare steakhouse has slipped
its opening to 15 May, but he feels fairly certain of that date.
We loafed Chez Pat on
Thursday and had a good lunch with our toes in the sand. Most people had good
burgers, but a few good pieces of fish were to be had. there is a wine list, but
we had Caribs.There are coupons on the website and if you spend 20 euros on
lunch, they'll give you two chairs and an umbrella for only 10 euros. We spent
the afternoon on the beach. It really is very calm, very shallow, and not as
breezy as Orient. there is considerably more clothing also.
We went to Marrakech Restaurant for a bang-up dinner on the family's last night. Toufiq, formerly
the maitre'd of Citrus Restaurant,
has opened this Moroccan restaurant on the back side of Marigot. The furnishings
are from his native Morocco and worth a visit even if you don't have dinner. We
had about ten different appetizers and ordered a tajine or cous-cous dish for
everyone. The different tastes were exquisite and there was so much that
we had a wonderful lunch the next day. Toufiq recommended a lovely
Moroccan wine. The service was great, as expected. If you like Moroccan
food, this is a great spot. BTW, it is not necessarily HOT spicy. There are
spices, new and exotic tastes, but the really hot sauce, harissa, is in a
separate bowl. Add it at your discretion.
On Friday night we went to Hot
Tomatoes on the lagoon. We had
talked to Brad earlier in the week and he assured us that lamb chops would be
available on Friday. They were: three double lamb chops with a mint infused
dipping sauce, your choice of potato (make mine baked) and summer veg. Martha
had the brisket with mashed. We shared the Jaboulet Cotes du Rhone on the back
terrace. It was a bit breezy, but quite pleasant in the open air. The total bill
was $70 with the 15% service charge. Inside, Eric Zafra and his guitarist were
wailing away, so we stayed for a drink or two after dinner.
BARGAINS
Look on the SXM-Restaurants website
for a list of all restaurants that have coupons for some freebie or
discount. There are several coupons there to make your vacation a bit
cheaper.
GCL Car Rental: Summer special: US $126 per week for a new
Getz. All weekly (or more) reservations during each
month from now until November will be entered in a contest for one
week's rental refund. Rent a car a week from Don and you may return home to find
the refund on your credit card bill!
L'Esperance Hotel in Philipsburg is bargain at $75 per night for a 1BR suite with a
kitchen. It's not on the water, but they have a pool.
Turquoise Shell Guesthouse in Simpson Bay is bargain at $700 per week for a 1BR suite
with a kitchen, all taxes and service included. It's across the street from the
water and they have a pool. Make a reservation and get a $50 coupon to Ama
Jewelers and a $25 coupon to Hot
Tomatoes.
The Banana
Cabana, a one bedroom studio on the
lagoon in Cupecoy, is only $695 for the week all taxes and service
included.
California has two apartments for rent that are right on the water
in Grand Case. The one bedroom, sleeps four, is $900 and the two bedroom, sleeps
six, maybe more, is $1100 for the week.
Sandy Molloy at Molloy
Travel says that she has
negotiated a great deal at Alamanda and has can't beat rates at Le Petit,
L'Esplanade, Maho, and La Plantation. If you like great food, Le Petit and
L'Esplanade are the two bookends on Grand Case's restaurant row. Maho is in the
thick of the action in Simpson Bay and if you're part of the birthday suit
crowd, La Plantation is a lovely place within walking distance of Orient beach.
I've never been in Alamanda, but it's even closer to Orient Beach.
Regards,
Erich S. Kranz
Erich S. Kranz
Click here to unsubscribe
SXM-Info newsletter 9 April 2005
SXM-Info newsletter 9 April 2005