I woke up late this morning because I set my alarm clock incorrectly…for those who know me, this is NOT normal. I was left with one hour to get ready and finish packing - STRESS!! But it’s like Christmas, it’s been 14 years since hubby (SQ) and I have been to St Martin. This was our honeymoon destination courtesy of my very generous parents, and now we’ve come back for our friends’ wedding.
I really don’t like Dulles Airport, but it wasn’t crowded for a change (we had a very early flight). Five people in the security line and some loser decided he needed to jump in front of me to get through the metal detector. The TSA agent said I should have kicked him where it counts. I would have been irritated, but I was headed to St Martin…karma was probably sending him to Boise. Our flight down was on United, my domestic airline of choice for the moment. Coach seating was atually not too bad and we actually scored a couple of blankets. Very interesting girl sitting next to us, all alone and slept the entire four hour flight. The group in front of us was very chatty, drank A LOT, and spent most of the flight trying to get everyone on the plane to meet up at Cheri’s that evening (on the Dutch side of the island). Between that distraction and the screaming child two rows back it was difficult to write. Who brings kids to St Martin??
We landed 40 minutes early (bonus!) and met up with our car rental agent, Lesley Bruce (Kenny’s Car Rental) - “Smartest Man on the Planet”. This is the most efficient person I’ve ever met in my life! If you ever get the chance to travel to St Martin, call him for car rental. The car was in better shape than most on the island, the price was highly competitive, and he had us out of there in 5 minutes.
We are staying at the Sapphire Beach Club, which is where we own a timeshare week. It’s sits on Cupecoy Beach, right on the border between the Dutch and French sides of the island. The drive over from the airport reminded why I wasn’t as crazy about the Dutch side when we were here before. And now it’s worse. Maho reminds of a mini-Las Vegas in the tropics, which just isn’t my speed. Maybe I just need to see it at night??
We were early to Sapphire and our room wasn’t ready, so we dropped our bags and headed to Marigot, capital of the French side. We chose La Belle Epoque for lunch based on a guidebook review I had read. It sits right on Marina Royale in Marigot, great atmosphere but lots of very loud French music seemingly from about 1985 blasting from unknown speakers somewhere on the marina. Between songs I was picking up some discussion on the upcoming presidential election in France, even with my limited high school French. I ordered the Steak Au Poivre with shallots sauce, rare, and a proper glass of Rose. SQ decided that sounded too good to pass up and ordered the same thing. The food was superb, guidebook didn’t steer me wrong. I wanted to inhale the shallots in spite of myself. And French butter is, even on the worst day, so much better than any butter we can get in the U.S. And we had visual entertainment as well - some crazy French guy dancing behind us, in front of the water.
After lunch, we walked down the street to La Gout du Vin. This is the most charming little French wine shop, very friendly and knowledgeable owner. She helped us pick out a great bottle of Pinot Noir (my fave!), then we discussed her trip to California last year and her opinion of CA wine…
Back to the room for a brief nap. Well, hubby slept a bit longer than I did. We went down to check out the ’superette’ onsite at Sapphire. This is just code for ‘tiny grocery store with dim lighting and bad selection.’ I don’t really know what I thought I needed, I brought enough sunblock for at least four people. Eventually we figured out how to get to the Cliffhanger Bar, which literally hangs on the side of the cliff at Cupecoy. I thought we could walk there from Sapphire, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I asked Janelle at our front desk about it, she said she wouldn’t walk down the street, at night and in the dark. She’s a local, I decided to take her advice. It’s low season, there wasn’t a lot of action at the Cliffhanger, plus it’s really tiny. We had missed the sunset and SQ’s belly was hurtin - he needed food. So we had Rum Punch, then drove to Cheri’s in Maho. They have a really crazy show at Cheri’s with a group called Sweet Chocolate (remind anyone of a certain Eddie Murphy movie?). It’s a bit touristy but it was silly and entertaining. The food was just OK, but Cordell Stuart at the bar took great care of us. I think we split a seafood plate with shrimp, lobster and fries. Some Cuban dance group came out around 9 or 9:30pm and performed in the middle of the street. I’m not sure if they are connected with Carnival, which ended today.
Back at the room now, need to figure out what to do tomorrow. This is why my mother-in-law has dubbed me ‘The Fun Nazi.’ I think this is an insult in most of the civilized world, but from her it was the highest of compliments. It has stuck, I think I kind of like it now.
End of Day One and SQ has already lost one of our room keys…