St Maarten/St Martin 26 December 2010 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS

Weather: On the afternoon of 8 December I noticed that SXM was hitting a lovely 82F when we had started the morning at 8.2F here in upstate NY. The next day was even colder here. It was still running about 82F in the afternoons and the Christmas winds let up on the second weekend of December, leading to this lovely shot of Porto Cupecoy and its reflection in the very still waters of the lagoon. The solstice and a lunar eclipse occurred very early on Tuesday morning. Both will not happen again until 2094 and the previous combination was 456 years ago. Kinda makes you special, doesn't it? The box shows the current local conditions and here's the detailed forecast from Weather Underground and here's one from the Weather Channel. Sunset today is at 5:41 and the moon is a waning crescent. We have just passed the winter solstice, so the days are getting longer. SXM will gain about 10 minutes per week for a while. In 2011 the full moons will be 20 Jan, 18 Feb, 19 Mar, 18 Apr, 17 May, 16 Jun, 15 Jul, 13 Aug, 12 Sep, 12 Oct, 11 Nov, and 10 Dec.

SXM-Beaches: In the first week of December, there was quite a bit of sand at the little cove on Cupecoy, but only rocks at the NW end, in front of Shore Pointe. As always, the sand moves around. Simpson Bay was just featured in the February 2011 Caribbean Travel+Life (Yes, it's a bit early). The Horny Toad Guesthouse, the Turquoise Shell Inn, and Mary's Boon were mentioned as inexpensive accommodations. Bonita's Cantina got a mention for breakfast. Lee's Roadside Grill got a mention for lunch and Kiwi Café got a dinner mention. On the right is a sunset view from the beach at the Horny Toad. It's much the same from the nearby Azure Beach Studios, which should also have been mentioned for inexpensive accommodations. The beach itself is long and wide and almost devoid of commercialism. At the far east, near the Dutch Bridge, is Kimsha Beach with some beach bars and the far west has Karakter: good, interesting food and cold beer, sometimes with live music.

Beach reading: The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin [Paperback] by Mark Yokoyama ($30 new) - From Amazon: This guide features hundreds of species of animal from both sides of our island. It includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates with over 400 color photographs. Mark Yokoyama was an avid entomologist throughout his childhood, culminating in a single term as president of the Oregon Entomological Society at the age of fifteen. His interest in zoology was largely dormant until he co-founded the world’s first extreme shallow snorkeling team, Les Fruits de Mer, in 2008. He currently resides on the island of Saint Martin, where he has explored a significant portion of the island and surrounding waters. From Barbara Cannegieter: This book by Mark Yokoyama is a fascinating book with wonderful pictures. Mark has hiked all over the island of St. Martin/St. Maarten and has taken beautiful pictures of wildlife on the island from mammals to birds to insects. I live on St. Maarten and he has documented species I didn't know existed. He did an excellent job and this would be a book that any nature lover would appreciate.

Construction: In case you were wondering, the Bleu Mall has not entirely blotted out the sun, although that may be mostly because it is still under construction (note the crane). Next door, Porto Cupecoy is open and already has the yachting types coming over for the 2 for 1 happy hour at Bateau Ivre. It appears that everybody is looking for a bargain in this economic climate. There was a thread on TTOL talking about progress (or lack thereof) at Caravanserai. The good news is that several units are open. The bad news is that several are not and even the ones that are open suffer from a lack of hot water.

Sapphire Beach Club: We will be in our condo from 9 Jan until 10 April. After that, our condo for $700 to $1000 per week until 15 Dec, when high season kicks in. You'll get a 10% discount from Unity Car Rental, one of the longest running and most trusted on the island, and many more coupons as well, including the use of our 2010 SXM Privilege Card that gets you discounts on many restaurants. Check the calendar on our website for available dates. A recent visitor said, "Erich, We had a wonderful time at your condo for the third year in a row. We appreciated the coupons. Hope to be able to do it again next year." 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. We charge $25 per year. If you wish to rent or sell your unit, send us some text (and $25 to esk@sxm-info.com via Paypal). If you wish to rent or buy a unit without high middleman fees, check out the website. At present, there are 20 sales and/or rentals available directly from owners. Given a 25 to 35% standard rental commission, there should be some bargains in eliminating the middleman and dealing direct.

SXM-Hotels: Timothy from L'Esperance Hotel called to tell me they had added onto their hotel in Philipsburg. It's an inexpensive but extremely new and clean hotel with a lovely swimming pool. I have frequently recommended it as a place to stay for a night or two at the beginning and/or end of a timeshare stay to avoid airport congestion. There was a recent thread on TTOL corroborating my compliments. Pelican was auctioned off to the only bidder: the holder of the mortgage, Quantum Investment Trust. While the Tenants Association (TAPRC) will no longer be the owner, the tenant's usage rights are protected and are NOT at risk. Activities: Susy and Juan at Tri Sport went out for the Anguilla Run on Sunday 12 December. the race began at the parking lot at Pinel in French Cul de Sac and finished at beautiful Plum Beach in the French lowlands. It's about 10 miles of downwind paddling in the Anguilla channel, taking you past the magnificent cliffs of Point Bluff and Lowlands. Tri Sport rents kayaks and bikes, so the more athletically-minded can continue their training program in the morning and recuperate on a beach in the afternoon before facing the rigors of a wonderful dinner.

Shopping: Deepti is back from world tour and says if you are thinking about diamonds, think of DK Gems. Groceries: It's truffle season, essentially from December until March. Normally France produces about 50 tons of truffles. Last season was about half that, causing truffles to reach $500 per pound. This year seems to be better, but the price is still around $400 per pound. Something that is that expensive and readily salable for cash in hundreds of restaurants attracts thieves. This attracts protection and Yahoo had a news story about a gentleman who was shot while attempting to trifle with a farmer's truffles. We had a a risotto with scallops and porcini and quarter-sized slivers of black truffles in 2006 at David Foini's Gondola Restaurant in Cupecoy. Fabulous. The dish itself combines some great tastes and textures, but the earthiness added by just a tiny amount of truffle shavings made it sing.

Alcohol: Select Wine Cellar has just put up a new wine list on their site. Sylvain says he has been fairly busy. I haven't heard too many people say that in a while. He'll be offering some fabulous Champagne specials for the new year: Deutz Brut Classic ($42), Belin Brut ($29.90), and Belin Rosé ($35). The Deutz is very good at that price, the Belin Brut is a less expensive alternative, and Belin's rosé has plenty of flavor and very little sugar. As the saying goes, "a hot tub, a glass of champagne, and thou beside me."

Last week we went to NH and Boston to pick up some holiday cheer. The NH Liquor stores were selling Ravenswood Zinfandel for $8, $4 off the normal price. We bought every bottle in the Keene store, so you'll have to try elsewhere. Zinfandel is great with spicy food such as Créole (as in Ti Coin Créole - if you add Carl's home-made hot sauce), Indian (as in Shakti Restaurant or Lal's, both in Simpson Bay), or barbecue/Mexican (as in Bonita's Cantina). Many restaurants don't have Zin, but you can get take-out and buy your own Zin. We can usually get some at the Maho Food Express. But I digress. We headed deeper into darkest New Hampshire and arrived at Windham, where we had lunch at the Lobster Tail Restaurant. I was on their e-mailing list and they sent me a $10 coupon. When a two pound lobster lunch goes for $22 and KJ Chardonnay sells for $25 per bottle, $10 goes a long way. It goes even further because the Lobster Tail participates in the American Airline's dining program, which is an part of the iDine program. AA gives you airline miles and iDine gives you cash loaded on a prepaid Amex card. Just sign up, giving them a credit card number and if you use that card at any participating restaurant, you automatically get your reward. No special card, no chats with the wait staff and/or management, it's seamless. I earned 6300 miles on AA this year, just having lunch as we traveled around. But I digress. We headed to the Wine Cask in Somerville (Mass) for their sale on two Pinot Noirs from Willamette Valley in Oregon: Adelsheim at $20 and 90+ Cellars at $15. Pinot Noir quality and quantity has come a long way since my first visit to California wineries in the 70's. Back then, they didn't know where to grow it, how to grow it, or how to vinify it. By now, they have realized that they should grow it in cooler climates (like Oregon) and figured out the rest. All that was then required was a marketing push such as the movie Sideways and the colossal strength of the euro. At this point we drink a lot more US Pinot than Burgundy. On the island you can get an inexpensive Pinot with lunch or dinner at Skipjack's (Concannon at $29) or at Piazza Pascal (Ropiteau at $20 - it's French, but not a Burgundy. It's a Pinot from the south of France).

The cost, of course, depends on what you need. For timeshare owners, the cost of tickets and the weekly timeshare maintenance fee are not that great and you may be able to bank your week(s), even at the last minute. For minimal trip cancellation insurance ($1000 per person to cover airfare and possibly a maintenance fee), a policy from Travel Guard costs $140. Adding serious trip cancellation to cover a deposit at a villa or hotel costs more. If you had a $300 per night room, not terribly expensive in high season, you might end up at about $3000 each for airfare and room rental. That brings the insurance cost to about $350.

You can also get medical insurance coverage, generally overseas, as most US insurance is good in some fashion anywhere in the US. Even our bargain medical insurance covers us overseas and since the US is high-cost central for medical bills, they are probably happy to have us get services in a low cost country. Check your policy before you go, especially on longer trips.

And then there are medical evacuation services. When Theo has his surgery done in Miami, shouldn't you follow his lead? Well, actually the local hospitals have French or Dutch-trained doctors and nurses. As English is the universal scientific language, you will have no trouble communicating with most of the staff. For most routine procedures, they are quite competent, although there are not as many specialists on the island and the hospitals do not have all the whiz-bang gadgets that you see on the average episode of House. For that matter, they don't have House himself - probably a good thing. Thus, if you have some serious problem on the island, it may be best to seek treatment in the US and that may require medical evacuation. This is not cheap, but not very likely either, so the cost of the insurance is a fraction of the $20,000 to $30,000 bill you will have to pay BEFORE you get on the plane.

I'm dropping the restaurant exchange rate numbers because I am no longer on the island to check them. Charging your credit card in dollars used to save the 3% currency transaction charge that most cards are now charging for foreign currency transactions. About a year ago my Citibank card said they would charge me 3% just for doing business overseas - even if it was in dollars! I now use a Capital One card and get an excellent exchange rate. The frequent flier benefits can be used on any airline and there are no blackouts. Note that you won't get frequent flier tickets quite as fast. It may be best to use the Cap 1 card out of the country and take the rewards in merchandise. We just picked up an 18 bottle wine refrigerator with half of our points from the previous year, but we couldn't even fly one of us to SXM.