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St Maarten/St Martin |
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ISLAND NEWS
Weather and Beach
report: Saturday started cloudy but turned into a
lovely day. There is still a bit of beach in the little cove at Cupecoy, none at
the NW end and a lot at Cliffhanger. On Sunday
morning it clouded up and rolling whiteouts made it moist, but by 11 AM it was
beautiful, and by 3 PM it was ugly again. Monday morning arrived to blue
sky with clouds obscuring Saba, but it cleared up and was very warm and a bit
muggy. Tuesday was more warm and muggy. The rest of the week was warm and clear,
but by Friday the wind had shifted. It was pushing large rollers onto Cupecoy,
but there was still some beach left in the little cove.
Dawn Beach Hotel: A new group has taken up
the cause of this property and claims they will build a four or five star,
150-room hotel branded as either a Marriot or Westin on this site. It does mean
that Scavenger's
Beach Bar will be history.
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. 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.
Gasoline: I returned a car to Unity Car
Rental this week and, as I had forgotten to fill it up, got
into a conversation with Michael about the cost of gasoline. Earlier this season
I had reported that Dutch gas was 1.29 NAFl per liter and they raised it to 1.36
NAFl ($2.92/gallon at Texacos using their 1.8 NAFl/$) and French gas was 0.7 to
0.74 euro cents per liter. Today that is about $3.74 per gallon. Michael said
the white pumps (offbranded gasoline on the French side) are taking the dollar
at 1 to 1. That was news to me and, if so, the price is about the same. I
haven't tried it yet, but I did check out the offbrand on the Galis Bay bypass
and the pump said 60 euro cents per liter ($3.10 per gallon). This is getting
harder than Chinese algebra and almost as complicated as choosing a
restaurant.
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.
Photo feature:
This week's photo feature is in a a secret location not posted here. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the location. It
has some very large sailing ships passing
between our balcony and Saba and a great shot of waves crashing at Cupecoy.
There is a sunset at the Horny Toad Guesthouse on
St Paddy's Day.
CONTEST
Hot Tomatoes is sponsoring the contest
that runs from 5 March to 26 March 2005,
giving $100 toward a dinner for two. 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. 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
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
AIA Massage - Two
massages for the price of one
Cupecoy Feature - 18 July to 24 August 2005:
Villas in Paradise - $100
gift certificate to Temptation for two
Marigot Feature - 25 August to 30 September 2005:
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
Philipsburg Feature - 16 November to
15 December:
Lucky/Hibiscus Cars - $100 off a one week car rental
Lucky/Hibiscus Cars - $100 off a one week car rental
Karen and Pascal's Restaurant Feature - 16 December 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
Montmartre Restaurant - $100 off a meal for two
Sunset Café - $100 off a meal for two
.
RESTAURANTS
On 12 Mar the euro was at
1.347 and today it is at 1.333. 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. We
noticed Rainbow
Cafe, Alabama, Balaou,
Santal, Sebastiano, and Marlin's Cafe 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.
TTOL party:
The Wharf Restaurant will be having a TTOL party from 6 to 8 on 28 March. Bernard
will be supplying appetizers, happy hour prices will be in effect, and look for
a discount on dinners afterward.
Dining: We
went to Bamboo Bernies for
sunset on Sunday, where we bumped into Patty, the sungoddess, from TTOL..
Nothing like free drinks: mudslides, margaritas, or beer. Starting at 5:00 PM
they are free for a half hour, 50 cents for the next half hour, a buck for the
next hour, and two bucks for the next hour. Pretty cheap sundowners with a great
sunset. Pictures are in the features section of
SXM-Info.
On Monday we went to L'Escargot for
lunch. The Creole cottage is much the same on the outside but the improvements
on Front Street make it look even better. The sidewalks, palm trees, and the
lack of cars traveling along the street and parking on the street and sidewalks
make this a pedestrian paradise during the day. (Note that parking is not
allowed on Front Street during the day and traffic is not allowed if there are
several cruise ships in port. At night, traffic is allowed and Escargot does
have a parking lot behind the restaurant.) We had a grilled snapper special in a
tasty red sauce and garlic soup with a half bottle of chardonnay. It was a
very fresh snapper with a nice sauce and garlic soup with snap. The inside is as
pretty as ever in an eclectic sort of way.
On Monday night we went to La Gondola with
two other couples. The facilities are certainly better than David's previous
location in sandy Ground and he keeps making them better. An awning has been
added on the patio and several tables are available for dining on pleasant
evenings - and we have had several recently! We were inside, next to the patio
in the smart dining room. We started with Pinot Grigio as David described his
specials: a lamb ravioli, crusted tuna with a papaya sauce, and osso buco. I
didn't have to look at the menu and as David recommended a Chianti Classico, I
passed on the wine list also. It appears my tablemates felt the same way. We had
three orders of the tuna, two osso bucos, and a lone holdout of salmon. For an
ap, Martha and I split the very tasty lamb ravioli and the others had Caesar
salads. The tuna was of the highest quality, nicely crusted and seared,
leaving the inside moist and pink. The papaya sauce was an interesting addition.
The osso buco came with saffron risotto and the entire package was fabulous.
David's wine recommendation was so well received that we had another one before
our dessert sampler, which did a good job of showcasing the wonderful desserts.
David offered after dinner drinks and we ended up paying about $140 per couple
(with tip) for a very fine meal and some great wine. It's certainly not the old
Gondola, but it is one of the best Italian restaurants on the
island.
We went to Grand Case for Harmony
Night on Tuesday. There were four bands along the street and many more vendors
than last year. Some things in the Caribbean never change, so don't expect
it to start promptly. We heard about two songs before our 8 PM
reservations for a deuce on the water at Rainbow
Cafe. Sol e
Luna may regularly win the most
romantic award from the Daily Herald (with good reason), but these
deuces on the water are on a separate level below the main dining
room. They can't fill up with large, noisy parties - it's just you and the waves
washing up on the beach - pretty romantic in my book. After dinner you can
remain there or go to the upstairs deck for a great view of all of Grand
Case Bay in the moonlight (full moons around 25 March, 23 April, 21 May). Nori
remembered the 2002 Crozes Hermitage Columbier - hearty and robust,
ready for the big flavors coming from the kitchen - and brought it over.
We ordered the baked goat cheese special with spinach and endive and bacon.
Rainbow is doing 1 euro equals 1 dollar for cash and only 1.1 to 1 for
credit cards, so don't be surprised to find bacon rather than lardons.
Similarly, Dino's recently roasted chevre at Temptation came
from Vermont, which is still denominated in US dollars, but wishing to secede.
The goat cheese in this case was full-flavored with a wonderful crunch from
the roasting, a creamy center, great greens, and crunchy bacon, just add a
full-flavored red wine. Our dinners were the old standby crispy duck with
West Indian vegetables and a banana rum sauce and braised veal grenadins with red rose potatoes and mushrooms in a
morel mushroom sauce with a sweet potato puree. Martha thinks the duck is better
than ever and the veal tenderloin bits were fantastic - tender and tasty with a
great sauce surrounding interesting veg. We lingered over rum and watched the
waves. By virtue of the 1 to 1 pricing, our bill was only $123, a bit of a
bargain for food of this quality in this setting.
On Friday night we were at
the other end of Grand Case for another dinner on the water. As the wind
had shifted, there was very little breeze coming in from the NW. All the
curtains were open at Sunset Café and we dined at the far end of the "room", on the open-air deck
with the waves crashing ten feet below us. It was an absolutely lovely evening,
We ordered a bottle of Bouchard's 1999 Chassagne-Montrachet and settled in to
enjoy the view of the boats rocking in the bay with Anguilla in the distance.
The shoreline is lit, but Creole Rock is only noticeable in that it blacks out a
bit of Anguilla's string of lights. Our duck nems (egg rolls) arrived in a very
crispy crust with shreds of tasty duck inside on a bed of greens with a dipping
sauce. Martha's shrimp with two sauces had two rows of four good-sized shrimp on
either side of the veg that included tasty chopped leeks, a very nice
gratin of potatoes, and julienned zukes and carrots. The sauces were a
creamy lobster-based sauce and a sharper sauce with a hint
of vinaigrette. My lamb in puff pastry contained two bits of lamb filet in
a nice puff pastry with a bordelaise sauce backed up with the same veg. the
portions were more than ample for us. We switched to coffee and
banana-flavored rum as we listened to the waves crash. On a warm and calm
evening, this and Rainbow have to be two of the best places to
dine on the island. There are a lot of fine places for food, but at these two,
you get the sea at your feet, Grand Case Bay in front of you, and Anguilla in
the distance, AND you are pretty much guaranteed a great table, at least if
you book for two and ask.
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.
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 $750 and the two bedroom, sleeps
six, maybe more, is $1100 for the week. They have just added a villa next door
on the beach, three bedrooms, great views, at only $2800 per 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
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SXM-Info newsletter 19 Mar 2005
SXM-Info newsletter 19 Mar 2005