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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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After a horrible winter (3 years ago), I called the travel agent and told her I wanted to go somewhere warm, with uncrowded beaches, and good restaurants. She steered me towards the Island of St. Croix. St. Croix is the largest of the Virgin Islands and not as busy as St. Thomas. We really didn't know what to expect. We traveled part of the day and finally made it. We had roundtrip transfers to our hotel. Waiting for a certain van to take us to our hotel, took over an hour of waiting. Warning: you must be patient in the islands--no one moves too fast. We didn't really want to rent a car (*as in the Virgin Islands they drive on the left side.) We got our room. Walked in was a sight to behold!! Hibiscus flowers were put on all the furniture, the bed, sink, etc. BEAUTIFUL!! We were on the bottom floor (highly recommended). When you open your patio door, you are on the beach. What a view to behold!! We were tired but couldn't wait to get some sun. The water is so clear and is a turquoise color. Approximately 200 feet from our room, we found a great snorkeling spot. After burning my eyes, and swallowing some salt water we finally got the hang of snorkeling. What beautiful fish!! We saw purple fish, yellow, red, orange, and many colors in between. That is where we would spend part of our day every day. In case you are wondering by now where we stayed, it is called the Hibiscus Beach Hotel. This hotel is only two stories and has 38 rooms. Outside the door is more than one-third of a mile of one of the finest white sand beaches on the island. It is only 15 minutes from the airport. The atmosphere is very friendly and relaxed. They have a small restaurant with a bar and five nights a week they have different entertainment. It also has a pool. With the ocean so close, who wants to go in a pool. It's more fun to get salt water in your eyes and mouth. Nearby, there are many things to explore. There is the rum factory, the whim plantation/museum, and the rain forest where the beer drinking pig lives. We found many fabulous restaurants in Christiansted. Our favorite restaurant is Indies Restaurant. For great hamburgers, Cheeseburgers in Paradise was good. The first time we went to Christiansted, we got lost. We were going down a one-way street the wrong way. The natives were yelling at us, and we became very frightened. We really didn't know what to expect from the natives. I was a little frightened when I saw most buildings had wire around their windows. We found the natives very friendly and helpful. But like any large city, you have to be street smart. Our all-time favorite spot is Buck Island. This is the United States' only underwater National Monument. It is a spectacular coral reef with unbeatable snorkeling. There are many different kinds of boats that leave Christiansted almost every hour. It is a must to see. The view is simply breathtaking. Jewelry, liquor, fine china, watches, and perfume are discounted on the island. There really isn't much shopping on the island. There are planes that leave many times during the day for St. Thomas. If you enjoy relaxation, quiet beaches, good food, no hustle and bustle, then St. Croix is for you.
St. John, the smallest of the U.S. Virgin Islands is located about 40 miles east of Puerto Rico. The first inhabitants of the island were the Arawak Indians. Then came the cannibalistic Caribe Indians (yum, yum). then came Chris Columbus in 1493 and after him the Danes. Finally the U.S bought the island in 1917. In the early 1950's came the "tourist" Indians, and one of them was Lawrence Rockefeller who bought about 3/4 of the island. He wanted to keep the natural splendor so he donated his part to the U.S. Department Of Interior, which they in turn made it a national park. Getting there: to get to St. John first you have to fly in to St. Thomas via a major airline and take a ferry from Charlotte Amalie ( cost $7.00 and a 45 minute ride) or from Red Hook(cost $3.00 and a 20 minute ride). Identification documents at a minimum are an original birth certificate with a picture i.d. or a passport (preferred). Peak season is December 15 to march 15. Where to stay: There are about a dozen small hotels on the island (mostly rustic but comfortable). the Hyatt Regency is currently closed but is in the process of being reopened. Also available is vacation villas, guest houses, bed & breakfasts and , last but not least, camp sites at the beaches (check with your travel agent for tent availability). a good way to find lodging in on the internet (do a U.S.Virgin Islands search). This author stayed at the Raintree Inn (non-smoking) which is in town (Cruz Bay) and in walking distance to all the restaurants and shops. Hotel rooms run $90 a night up and villas to $1300 a night). Transportation: No problem here. at the dock there will be taxis and open tour busses abounding. Car rental agencies are also within feet of the dock. Organized tours can be negotiated from the taxi drivers. Cars and land cruisers rent for $50 to $85 a day. Driving is on the left side of the road. What to see: The beaches are mostly on 1 side of the island (Hawknest Bay, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, and Maho Bay).The ruins of the old sugar mills are a popular attraction. From the higher points of the island St. Thomas, Tortola, Virgin Gorda( fat virgin) and Jost Van Dyke can be seen. What to do: Snorkel: At Trunk Bay you can follow the underwater trail via descriptive markers on the sea floor. rent a boat; from a small inflatable to tour and fishing yachts. See the British Virgin Islands; take the ferry back to Red Hook then to Tortola or Virgin Gorda. Shopping: The main shopping area is in Cruz Bay with a few individual shops and most in Mongoose Junction. The latter having island handcrafts to crystal. Some interesting shops are at other locales, consult the free guide books. Authors note: if you buy too much, shipping to the states is available, for instance: to ship a ceramic vase packaged and insured runs about $12.00. Allow 1 week delivery. Restaurants: As this is a small island there is no major food chains (yea). what you will find are colorful owner owned and operated establishments like: Ellington's (classy, reservations required), The Fish Trap (great seafood), Morgan's Mango (Caribbean cuisine) Don Carlos (Mexican, not affiliated with Don Carlos of St. Martin) Barracuda Bistro (great breakfast) Cafe Roma (Italian, great pizza by the slice) And my favorite Crash Landing (climb the stairs to a diverse menu, prime rib, chicken and seafood). The owners name is Sinbad and dresses the part. Most restaurants and pubs have happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Average cost for a breakfast for 2 is about $16, for light lunch about $16, and for dinner $24 to $80. Currency:The U.S. dollar is widely accepted but as with most of the Caribbean $100 bills are not !! (too many counterfeit). Major credit cards are accepted by all shops but some restaurants do not take them. This author rates this island an 8 with the stipulation that a long weekend (Fri. To Mon.) is enough time to see the island, shop, spend 1 day on the beach and do some watersports. Recovery from the hurricanes for the last 2 years is nearly complete. Some of the other islands in the area have barely started the rebuilding process.
The trip started out from cold and snowy Wisconsin, and by the end of
the first day finished in the warm surroundings of Cruz Bay. Delta
Airlines served us well through Atlanta and into St. Thomas. The cab
ride from the airport to Red Hook and the ferry to Cruz Bay only
added to our anticipation of what was ahead of us.
While waiting for the ferry at Red Hook, we met Nick and Maureen from
Philadelphia. They were going to stay at Maho Bay Campgrounds. We
made it a point to try to get together while we were in St. John.
We took the short taxi ride from the Cruz Bay ferry dock to Samuel
Cottages, our home for the next 10 days. Our first impression was
"wow" as we walked in, viewed the small neat and clean cottage, and
enjoyed the Arrival Survival Kit provided by chefs4u. We would highly
recommend their services. Our first night's sleep, as were all of the
others, was peaceful and full of Caribbean smells and calming night
sounds.
Much to our surprise, it rained every day we were in St. John. Most
of the rain fell at night, and the showers, sometimes heavy, during
the day lasted less than 30 minutes and had practically no effect on
our vacation plans. The warm sun quickly reappeared and dried
everything out. The night showers heightened the smells of the
foliage.
We slept late (8 AM) our first morning, and had breakfast at The
Rolling Pin, where we had our morning coffee and fresh baked goods
several times during our stay. We did a little grocery shopping at
the Marina Market. A taxi driver, Clyde, took my wife on a short tour
of the island, while I chose to take a brief nap. I walked the Lind
Point trail from Cruz Bay to Solomon and Honeymoon beaches. We had
dinner in the cottage that evening while being serenaded by tree
frogs and crickets.
The days that followed are a blur filled with:
- lunch at Chilly Billy's (the owners, Cathy and Bill Dove are really
friendly).
- many island excursions in a rental vehicle from Spencer's Jeep
Rental. (very reliable)
- dinner at Miss Lucy's near Coral Bay. (by the sea open-air dining)
- many visits to Maho Bay beach, officially proclaimed by my wife to
be the best beach in the world.
- a trip to the far east end of the island to do some shelling on a
beach just off the road. Since we were joined on the beach by a
black dog with a limp, we nick named the beach "Hopalong
Beach".
- lunch at Vie's near Coral Bay where we enjoyed her conch fritters
and chatted with other guests.
- a visit to Salt Pond Beach for some swimming and snorkeling.
- stops at the shops in and near Coral Bay.
- some casual conversations about the business opportunities and life
style on the island.
- picking up some hitch hikers.
- many simple, yet fine meals in the cottage.
- meeting a massage therapist and receiving a massage on the beach.
- lunches and refreshments at Luscious Licks.
- the required shopping for souvenirs and one-of-a-kind treasures.
- dinner at Morgan's Mango, complete with complimentary champagne.
- morning coffee on the porch at the cottage.
- a complete tour of Maho Bay Campgrounds by a gracious Dave
Hemingway.
- a visit to the Eagle's Nest, a beautiful home owned by Katha and
Vezio Ricciardi, a most charming couple.
- seeing a play "No Man is an Island" at Cinnamon Bay Campgrounds.
- dessert at Mongoose Junction Restaurant.
- met Fr. Joe and Fr. Jim at Our Lady of Mount Carmel church.
- a few very treacherous roads that only a four wheeler could get
through.
- a late afternoon and evening sunset at Maho Bay beach.
- a lot of hiking, swimming, snorkeling and sunning.
- a visit to Caneel Bay
- take-out chicken and ribs from Uncle Joe's Barbecue.
- a sunset cruise aboard the Appledore III.
- breakfast at Maho Bay Campground.
- a visit to the library/museum and signed on to the internet while
there.
I'm sure that my notes are not all that complete nor do they do
justice to the charm, warmth and beauty of St. John and the many
wonderful people, both tourists and residents, that we met. Mr. and
Mrs. Harley, our hosts at Samuel Cottages, were available when
needed. but they also respected our privacy. They possess a wonderful
blend of efficiency and hospitality.
The morning of our departure caught our mood with cloudy skies and
rain. This was our second visit to St. John and certainly not our
last. Thank you to all who not only made for a memorable vacation,
but also made a lasting contribution to our memories and to our
hearts.
Until next time...
This was not my first visit to the Caribbean to escape the harsh, frigid winters of northern Canada. But it was my best! During the week of January 18th-25th, my wife and I enjoyed what we considered to be a week in Paradise! Allow me to describe that "paradise" for you. It was the long cold spell and abnormal amount of snowfall we had been experiencing in Timmins, Ontario, that finally led me to make that important phone call to the Sunquest Tours desk in Toronto. A friendly agent booked us a trip to Club St. Lucia, an all-inclusive resort on a supposedly beautiful island in the Caribbean. I opted for an upgrade to an air-conditioned room, which proved to be a wise decision...only an extra $100 or so! It made for much more comfortable nights! The whole thing was hassle-free! That's what we wanted, and it was so right from day one. Sunquest have their own airline, so to speak, modern equipment like the A320, and they were smack on schedule! I was impressed. We've all heard these horror stories of certain charters being delayed at Caribbean airports while the Captain went around asking passengers for cash to pay landing fees!! Not so with Skyservice! The flight left Toronto on a Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M. arriving at the international airport in St. Lucia around 4:00 P.M. Customs and immigration were mere formalities that went quickly. Outside, a Club St. Lucia rep met us and pointed us out to our waiting vans whose drivers loaded our bags and promptly whisked us away to the resort, located about an hour and a half away on the northern coast. Some folks might find that a nuisance, but since it was still daylight I enjoyed that memorable drive as it gave us a chance to see a bit of the island. And I can confirm that it is beautiful! Winding, twisting roads up and down through hills and valleys, peaks and banana plantations, rugged eastern coastline, rain forests, hairpin turns like I'd never seen before...we thought it was awesome! Prior, I had contemplated renting a car, but that drive convinced me otherwise! Not that the drivers were bad...on the contrary, I thought they were quite skilled and professional. On a previous trip to Barbados which I had done solo, a rental was my main joy. But St. Lucia is not quite like Barbados, so I wouldn't recommend renting a car unless you plan to stay a while. We arrived at the Club as the sun was setting. At the main reception hall we were all warmly welcomed with hot snacks and rum punch! Another rep gave us a short welcome briefing, during which time our baggage was delivered to our rooms, and we were let loose! It was not yet late, so we could still enjoy the evening supper, free bars, entertainment galore, and the beach! Of course, being an all- inclusive, everything was free with the exception of motorized sports, such as para-sailing. If you really wanted to,you could leave your wallet in the safe at reception and not take it out again until you left. Tipping was not permitted! Club St. Lucia is a resort with a steady diet of activities catering from kids to adults. In fact, one could almost say they overdo it on that account. There's tennis courts, a nearby golf course, a racquet club, etc., etc. Other than kayaking the waves and some mediocre snorkeling, (there are better snorkeling sites nearby), we were quite content to just lie on the beach and soak in the 30 Celsius degrees, 65 more than where we had just come from! One thing about the beaches in St. Lucia...they're not the miles and miles of gleaming white sands you'll find on other islands. Nor will you find seashells in abundance, (a disappointment for my wife!). Because of St. Lucia's volcanic geography, the sand is more black than white. However, the beaches are fine, just the same, uncrowded, and there are several others not far away. The Club has bicycles one can use, and we found an interesting diversion was to cycle to Pigeon Island and Rodney Bay, where you will find some white beaches and better snorkeling. Pigeon Island is well worth the visit. The views from the top of this historic site are quite awesome! As can be expected, the Club does offer several tours on the side(Barefoot Holidays). Of the many options, all enticing, we chose the land/sea tour starting at 8:00 A.M. on Wednesday. It involved another memorable trip by hairpin roads(all in pretty good condition) along the western coast, through Castries(the capital-a town of about 65000), stopping at picturesque fishing villages and other scenic points of view. The end of the drive took in the sulfur springs, botanical gardens and waterfalls (in my view the whole island is a botanical garden), lunch in Soufriere (the island's 2nd largest town), where we left our driver and van and embarked on a catamaran for our return trip back up the coast to the docks in Castries. Known as the "booze cruise", the catamaran did a leisurely tour allowing for some snorkeling along the way(all equipment provided). It is also during this trip that we were able to get some fantastic shots of the two famous "pitons"...those two high peaks for which St. Lucia is well-known. (I didn't know it at the time, but you can actually see the top of one of them from the international airport.) The boat cruise also gave us opportunity to see Marigot Bay(well-known to yachters around the world), and other points of interest. The extra cost for this day-trip was $68 US per person, but well worth it. (We probably drank half of that!!) With regards to experiencing local culture and events, that was not a primary reason for our being there, but such events do exist. St. Lucia is not great for nightlife; I suspect some of the islands' best entertainment was right at our resort. There was no need to go elsewhere, but we did attend the famous street party in Gros Islet on the Friday night (a short drive from the club). It was interesting enough as it gave us a chance to mingle with the locals and witness Rastafarians getting high on whatever it was they were smoking! Generally speaking, we found the people friendly and helpful. Earlier that day we had taken a van for a nominal fee to Castries. It is indeed worth a few hours visit to shop at the colorful local market and experience a local tavern. It was only in Castries where we experienced some aggressive marketing by vendors trying to make a sale, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! As far as the rooms go, we found them simply furnished but large and comfortable. King- size bed, cable TV, bath and shower, private safe(available at a small charge-the safes at reception are free), more than adequate. Non-air-conditioned rooms have ceiling fans, but we opted for the air- conditioner, as I mentioned earlier. The rooms are all on ground level, in blocks of six or so. The club is large, yet the rooms are laid out as in a villa-style, giving the impression of privacy. A sliding glass door gave way to a patio overlooking (in our case), the lovely bougainvillea(sp?), tropical trees and well-maintained lawns. The whole resort is like a botanical garden...lots of space, well laid out. From our room to the beach was a 4-minute walk. There are rooms available closer to the beach, but they are also closer to the "activities center", which means you may find it somewhat noisy if you're planning to retire earlier than most! As for the food, no complaints! There was enough variety to satisfy any taste buds. My favorite was the variety of fish with their hot pepper sauce! There are two restaurants at the club, one being a "sit down and be served" pizza hut; the other, the much larger one, being the main restaurant. At this one you seated yourself for breakfast and lunch(buffet style), whereas for supper you were seated and served wine, followed by another large buffet. There were daily specials and local dishes as well. I'm told that vegetarian meals are also available. Unlike other resorts where I and many other guests got sick, I had not heard of any such thing at Club St. Lucia. Apparently you can even drink the tap water at the resort, although we found that the daily specials at the open bars more than satisfied our thirst! And so the days passed by, all too quickly for us, but still a blessed release from Winter's icy clasp. On the day of departure we still could enjoy the whole morning at the resort. Leaving for the drive back to the airport at 1:00 P.M. gave us ample time for duty- free shopping prior to the 5:00 P.M. departure with Skyservice back to Toronto. In summation, I heartily recommend Club St. Lucia to anyone looking for a hassle-free vacation in the Caribbean. My only complaint would be that one week is not long enough. For pure R&R, Club St. Lucia is hard to beat. My wife says she enjoyed it even more than our honeymoon two years ago, and that was on a cruiseship!
(Ed Note: Carol first relates general details of her trip and then focuses on the Hotel La Plantation.)
Following is our trip report from our trip to St. Martin on 2/1/97 to 2/8/97. We stayed at La Plantation this time and will be doing a separate report just on the hotel. We had not really been planning on going to SXM in February, but happened upon a two day sale in August and could not resist a direct non-stop flight for $300 per person from BWI to SXM, especially since the normal price is around $500 PP. We left home around 5:30 A.M. and arrived at BWI about 1 and one half hours prior to scheduled take-off. Upon checking in, we were told that there were no seats available on the plane. We had booked the tickets ourselves for once, instead of having a TA do it and had completely forgotten to get seat assignments or boarding passes. As it turned out, US Air had overbooked the plane by around 20 people. A few people took a voluntary bump, but there were 6 couples including us who did not make it on the flight. The US Air customer service people were very nice and tried to help us out, although originally they offered only to put us on the US Air flight the next morning. This was not at ALL satisfactory, so we said that we wanted them to get us to San Juan today, even if it meant spending the night in San Juan. We got seats on the US Air flight to San Juan which left around 9:30 and received stand-by tickets on two different American flights from SJU to SXM on Saturday and confirmed seats on Sunday morning. Before leaving the airport in BWI, we asked about the return flight on Saturday and were told that the return flight was also overbooked. Over the course of the week, we spent quite a few nice moments contemplating being bumped on the return flight also and HAVING to spend a day or two extra in SXM. As it turned out, we made our regularly scheduled flight coming home--of course!! G!! We arrived in SJU around 1 P.M. and immediately went to the AA counter to see if we could get confirmed seats on the AA stand-by flight, which was due to leave SJU at 9:30 P.M. We were able to get confirmed seats on that flight and so decided to dump our carry-ons at the AA terminal. Our bags had gone on the US Air flight as scheduled. Therefore, we asked American to call down to SXM and have the US Air baggage people give our bags to the American people, so that we could pick them up when we arrived. They sent out some kind of a printed message. I didn't have a lot of confidence in the bags being there when we arrived. There are no lockers there at AA, like at the US Air terminal, which we found out later, but a kind of a "coat check" type situation, but it sufficed. Since we had many hours to kill before 9:30, we decided to head out to the Cruise terminal in San Juan. I don't know whether we would have done so otherwise or not, but Eric's parents and some of the rest of his family were leaving from San Juan on Carnival's Fascination on the same date, so we thought we might take a shot and go down to the pier to see if we could see them. Well, ERIC thought that we should do so. I thought that it would be a waste of $40 (for the round-trip) for the taxi, as I didn't think that there would be any way that we would manage to meet up with 2 people out of 2,600 on that ship, just by chance. Well, as luck would have it, we were sitting by the pier for less than 10 minutes when Eric's aunt and uncle came by to check in. We said Hi and they said they would try to find Eric's parents onboard the ship and send them down. Around 20 minutes later, Eric's parents came striding towards us. Actually, they had NOT met up with Eric's aunt and uncle, but just decided to come off the ship. They were very surprised and pleased to see us. We took a bit of a walk around downtown San Juan and Eric's mom and I checked out Touch of Gold while Eric and his dad went to buy a Hooters t-shirt for someone at home. Since we still had 3 hours or so before we had to be at the airport we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner for us and some cokes for Eric's parents, as they had dinner to go to on the ship! We did a little more walking around then walked Eric's parents back down to the their ship, wished them Bon Voyage and headed in a taxi back to the airport. It was certainly a lot nicer way to spend those hours than at the airport. As was the case with just about every other AA flight this evening, our flight was over an hour late leaving SJU. With nothing better to do, we went to the bar in the AA terminal. True story--overheard in the bar in the SAN JUAN airport this night--"That will be Nine Sixty- Three, Sir". "Is that U.S.?" True story, I kid you not!! Of course, even though the bar was packed, they closed the door to the bar at 9 P.M. and started dimming the lights, telling us to get the hell out. These guys didn't know it, but things could have gotten REAL ugly--I've been bumped from my non-stop flight, have been traveling all day and have basically lost a whole day of my vacation, now you tell me my plane is an hour late, and you won't even sell me another drink to pass the time!! As we were boarding the plane finally, we overheard a conversation between two of the stewardesses which inspired us with a lot of confidence. One stewardess said to the other "We have to follow special procedures flying into St. Martin this late". The other asked "Why, do they not have lights?" Answer "No, they have lights, just the guys in the tower go home for the night!" YIKES!! We finally landed in SXM around 11 P.M. We cleared customs and determined that our bags had either gone back to the U.S. on the next US Air flight, or were locked up in US Air baggage, but they definitely weren't on the AA carousel. There wasn't anyone to ask either, so we hung around till all bags were offloaded and decided to head out. Of course, as things would have it, the Hertz guys had also gone home already. We had pre-reserved a car with Hertz, as usual, but their offices were locked up and dark, so we had to take a taxi. And, you guessed it, there were no taxis by this time, as the AA flight was an hour late coming in, so all the taxi drivers were home in bed. They did call some more in and a bunch of taxis finally arrived. Because of the lateness of the hour, we had to pay $40 (!!!!!!) for the taxi ride over to La Plantation. And--does this sound like "The Perils of Pauline" yet??--the hotel reservation desk was closed up when we got there. We had asked the taxi driver to wait with us in case it was closed and we needed to go somewhere else. There was a night phone and he called for us and the night manager came in a hurry. We finally arrived in our room, sans car and sans luggage, around 12 :15 A.M. A very long day indeed, but we had made it to SXM and we have two free round-trip tickets on US Air back to SXM for our trouble. We'll probably be heading back down to SXM in September. And you can BET we will get confirmed seats this time! G!! We awoke fairly early in Sunday and headed over to the restaurant for the (included) buffet breakfast at La Plantation. It was OK, but certainly nothing to write home about. Croissant and baguettes were provided, along with apples, usually bananas, (usually SPOILED!) pineapple, corn flakes and coffee and tea. It was free and the surroundings were nice. That was the best that could be said. You could get a hot breakfast there, for around $7-$8 PP. We had omelets one morning, which were pretty good. We asked the lady at the front desk to call about our bags and our car, to see when we might expect either or both to arrive. US Air said that they had our bags but could give us no idea when they would be delivered. And of course, for one of the only times, we had not brought along any shorts in a carry-on bag and were getting quite warm in our jeans. We didn't want to wait around all day at the hotel waiting for the car and/or the bags to show up, so we bought some shorts--for an outrageous sum of course--at the hotel boutique and proceeded to walk down to the beach. The lady at the reception desk came running down after us and said that the Hertz people had called and said that our car would be there in 15 minutes. We went back by the pool to wait for the car, just as our bags arrived. We took the bags back to the room and waited for the car to arrive. For the first time we got a bit of a clunker from Hertz. It was your standard fire engine red 240 ZX. Really? Not, not really! G!!! It was a white Hyundai Accent. Although it only had about 14,000 KM on the speedometer, it had been rode hard and put away wet a few times, and had numerous bumps and dings. The transmission was a little out of sorts, also, but it certainly got us where we were going and the A/C worked great. Since we finally had bags, and a car, after unpacking, we decided to head out in search of some groceries and supplies. We decided we wouldn't need quite as many supplies as we thought, since it would probably not be a good idea to eat the meat which we had brought, as it had spent about 36 hours in the suitcases. We ended up going out to eat every night and did not look to find the grill we had inquired about here on the BB. Here's a word to the wise regarding the current schedule of the grocery stores on Sunday--Match is open from 9 A.M. to noon. They close PROMPTLY at noon, too, as we got to Marigot about 12:10 and the doors were closed! Food Center was closed by 12:30, if it was ever open on Sunday at all. Food World was open at 12:30 and doing a booming business. Food World sufficed for what we needed, as we were basically just looking for wine, booze, cokes, cheese and snacks and fruit. Their selection is not the best, however. The exchange rate for French SXM is around 5 to 1. The rate for Dutch SXM is to basically cut the price in half, then add 10%. Having nabbed our supplies for the week, we headed back to Plantation and dumped our stuff and headed down to Orient, FINALLY! We went to Pedro's for lunch. We had two BBQ chicken dinners with fries and salad, 1 mixed drink and 1 beer for $19. Sitting at Pedro's eating BBQ chicken, listening to Caribbean music and seeing that gorgeous water at Orient, I had a hard time from keeping a lump from coming in my throat, as I felt we had FINALLY arrived in SXM. It was too hard to get there this time!! It was kind of a "new" Pedro's, though, with a full roof over the place, PVC chairs, and live music. It was packed! After a wonderful lunch, since it was now 2:30 or so, we were trying to decide whether to spend the money to rent chairs for the day. We found out something that we had not known before--you can rent 2 chairs and an umbrella from Club O for the week for $75. Basically, you pay for 5 days and get 7 days. Since we knew that we were going to have to leave the next Saturday anyway, we got the chairs on Sunday afternoon and spent a delightful couple of hours on the beach. The guys at Club Orient give you an index card with your name and the dates on it that you carry to show you have paid for the chairs for the week. And they take credit cards. Great deal, so you don't have to worry about carrying money every day. It also saves a little bit of money if you're planning on going to Orient almost every day. While at Orient, we checked out the days and price for the nude cruise. They are running only the gourmet cruise now, at $80 PP, supposedly Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, although they do alter the schedule based on the weather. We signed up for the cruise on Tuesday. After cleaning up from a hard day at the beach, we headed out to dinner, intending to go to Sambucca, as we were still kind of tired and not real hungry. They had apparently just seated a huge group and said that they would not be able to seat us for maybe 45 minutes and we were not in the mood to wait. We went to the Rancho Argentine Steak House for dinner instead. We walked in and were seated immediately. It was good, with good service and a nice band playing background music, although the steak was not in the caliber of El Gaucho in Aruba, for all you Aruba fans. Two steak dinners with a half carafe of wine was $42 plus tip. We spent Sunday night, as most nights, at the casino. There were supposedly two new casinos open down on Front Street, but we did not get to P'burg at all this trip. We basically ended up splitting our time between the Pelican and Atlantis. We went into the Casino Royale one night very briefly and decided that we couldn't afford to play there. Blackjack, Caribbean Stud and Craps were all a minimum bet of $10, which we considered excessive. The Pelican had $.50 roulette (my favorite), so we spent quite a bit of time there. Atlantis was very busy most nights, and we probably spent most of our time there. Atlantis was very good about bringing drinks, even bringing me drinks if I was only standing watching Eric while he was playing. They also brought the drinks in glass glasses, not plastic cups, like at Pelican. Atlantis also offers a version of Caribbean Stud called Second Chance. You could play it like regular Caribbean Stud if you wanted. Or you could decide to try to buy another card, for the same amount of your ante. Eric played that game quite a bit. We found some match play coupons for Atlantis in one of the entertainment books, but that was it as far as match play. Over the course of the week, we lost some money, but had quite a bit of entertainment also. Monday morning we made some coffee in our room, then headed out to Marigot for breakfast. We ate at a little tiny place on the harbor called Bryan's. We had two lovely omelets and two coffees for $10 total. We enjoyed some fascinating conversation with a native SXM'er who was half Dutch SXM and half American. He was sitting (at 10 A.M.) drinking a beer and chilling out at Bryan's. Bryan's is right next door to the set for Speed II, which they started demolishing while we were there. This fellow had done some of the welding for the movie. He had lived all over the world and was a great fellow to talk to. Monday during the day was spent at Orient Beach, as always, and then we headed to the Cloud Room (on the hill over Orient Beach) for dinner, just as it was getting dark. It was pretty neat watching the lights come on over Orient, then watching the lights of the cars climb the hill below us. We had a lovely dinner of Weiner Schnitzel for me and spiced sausage for Eric, 2 drinks, 1 cheesecake and 2 coffees, for $42. It was well worth it. We were also treated to their singer, who was kind of an Eric Clapton- esque type of fellow and even better, to a guest singer, whose name was Mo Mo, I think. He was just sitting at the bar having dinner and was prevailed upon to sing. I heard that he is sometimes the cook there but don't know. He had a wonderful deep voice. The meal and the singing made one of our best memories of the trip. After the Cloud Room, we headed to Atlantis and I played roulette and lost and Eric played Second Chance Caribbean Stud and used the option to buy a card only once, but it paid off, as he bought into a flush! This Second Chance game is kind of interesting but many people seemed to be throwing good money after bad, buying the extra card every time. It seemed to us that it only made sense to buy the card if you already have two pair, trips, or a 4 card flush or a 4 card straight. It also makes sense to always play the slot, with the possibility of picking up something that paid on the slot. Not that Caribbean Stud isn't the ultimate in house games, but it is fun!! Tuesday was the day of the nude cruise. We had coffee, OJ and pastries on our deck for breakfast. By this time, we had picked up a stray cat that slept most of the time in one of the wicker chairs on our balcony. He wasn't successful in scarfing any food out of me on this day, although he was successful by the end of the week. The nude cruise from Club Orient was $80 PP. We had gone on another nude cruise the last time we had gone to SXM which was a lot cheaper, at $50 PP. The food was burgers at that time. Even though the price was much more for this one, it was worth it. The cruise left around 9:45 A.M. and returned around 4:30 P.M. There was an open bar all day and the crew began serving drinks almost as soon as we left Orient. BTW, they have pressure seasickness bands onboard, if one feels the need for them. The trip goes over to Tinatamar, sailing for around 1 hour to get there. Once on the beach, umbrellas, floats, snorkeling equipment and drinks were provided. Lunch was served on the boat around 1 P.M. and consisted of your choice of steak, chicken or mahi mahi plus baked potato or corn on the cob, salad, cheesecake with raspberry sauce, champagne, white and red wine, after dinner liquors and coffee. It was a wonderful meal. After the meal most of us were too lazy to head on back over to the island but lounged around on the boat for an hour or so until we headed back toward Club O. There were about 9 people onboard the cruise we took, which was about the maximum number they could take, along with Guillome and Phillipe and the young lady whose name escapes me at the moment, who comes along on the cruises these days. The nude cruise is a good way to meet people, so it's good idea to take it early in the week, if possible. Unlike the last nude cruise we took when it poured rain while we were on Tintamar, the weather this time was beautiful and we had a lovely time. It was well worth the $80 per person. BTW, on the cruise we took, no one was staying at Club O. After the open bar, wine and sun all day, we stumbled back to La Plantation and crashed for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner at Sambucca. One pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of Cokes was $16, including tip. The evening was spent at the Pelican for roulette (where I finally won at roulette) and then to Atlantis for Second Chance Caribbean Stud. Wednesday morning we went to LaPlantation for breakfast of cheese omelets and bacon, as well as the fruit and croissant which are provided free to patrons of La Plantation. Breakfast was good, until the rain came up and drove us further under the roof of the restaurant. Wednesday morning was on and off rainy and windy. We headed down to Orient and enjoyed bouts of sunshine and endured a rather cold wind, on and off. Here on $P$, we had arranged to meet with Terry Minnick and friend for lunch on Wednesday at Papagayo's. They were staying at Orient and had just come in Tuesday night. We had three drinks apiece, Eric had the club sandwich and I had the (rather fatty) spare ribs. The bill came to $42!! We talked for quite a while with Terry and Kathy, then headed out for some more sun (and wind!) then came back to Papagayo's for the free wine and cheese party. I don't know whether it's supposed to be only for people staying at Club O or not, but Terry was staying there, so we figured we came as his guest, right? After the wine and cheese, we weren't particularly hungry and weren't feeling up to driving those great SXM roads, so we had some leftover pizza for dinner and toddled off to bed. ....Or should I say, tottered??? G!! Thursday morning we again headed to Marigot for breakfast. This time we chose La Vie En Rose for breakfast. Breakfast was a continental buffet, with meat and cheese, a selection of croissant, juice, coffee and fruit salad for $19 including tip. I needed to do some shopping for my secretaries, so I checked out the stalls in the harbor in Marigot--along with three busses of cruise ship passengers. I found a couple of lovely little prints for them and a larger one for me, and we had done our shopping for the week. I had brought my camera along on this trip to Marigot as I wanted to take some pictures of the Speed II set before it was demolished. I was standing in front of the chain link fence readying myself to take a picture of the fake Seabourn Legend, when the Rent-A-Cop that was there on the site told me that I couldn't take a picture. Or, I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying, as he was talking in French. Well, I don't understand French, so I walked down a little further and took my pictures anyway. G!! I have no idea why this guy didn't want me to take the picture, but I succeeded anyway, for anyone that wants to see the pictures. It was pretty cool looking at it, as it's amazing the number of buildings that they built for the set. They were in the process of tearing them all down when we left. We spent the day at Orient, meeting Terry and Kathy for lunch at Pedro's. We had an assortment of burgers and fries and ribs and a drink apiece and the total for the four of us was $32, plus tip, as compared to the meal the day before at Papagayo's. At Pedro's, BBQ chicken, fries and salads were around $7, beers $2 and mixed drinks $3. A burger and fries, chicken sandwich and fries, etc., at Papagayo's are around $9 We went to Sebastiano's in Grand Case for dinner. We arrived early, maybe around 6:30. The place was empty except for one other couple who had walked in right in front of us. They asked if we had reservations and we kind of laughed, considering the place was empty. We said no, so they seated us on the upper tier of tables, away from the windows. It wasn't quite as nice as being next to the windows, but it's a nice restaurant with lovely background music and, after an initial slow start, we had wonderful service. Eric had black ravioli stuffed with lobster and I had fettucine with ham and mushrooms. We shared one tiramisu and had 2 coffees, plus a bottle of wine at $25 for the bottle. We asked for water and were charged for that, which I was kind of miffed at, but I will get over it. There was an entertainer of sorts who made the rounds of the tables, doing card and coin tricks, which added to a lovely evening. We had a wonderful evening but thought that the meal was a little overpriced, at $91 total. Thursday night we rounded out the night with an exciting 15 minutes of winning at craps, which did a great deal to defray the losses for the week! Friday we had breakfast in our room and lunch at one of the shacks right beside Kontiki. A great burger and a large load of fries for around $5 PP. We put on clothes for the trip down the beach, but noted several people nude on the beach just in front of the Kontiki. Dinner Friday evening was the best meal of the week. We went to Grand Case and kind of walked around and decided on La Auberge Gourmand. Again, we were somewhat early and were able to get basically the last table in the place without a reservation, as the place filled right up within maybe 15 minutes of when we arrived. Eric had scallops with broccoli in a white sauce and I had the steak in a pepper sauce. The food was sizzling hot and wonderful. We shared a creme brulee and 2 coffees. The bill, including a half bottle of wine, and tip, was $72. It was wonderful. Saturday we ate breakfast at the buffet at the hotel, checked out and put the bags in the car and got down to Orient by around 9:30 to get in at least a morning of sunshine, as our flight wasn't due to leave until 4:20 P.M. We said good-bye to four friends we had met on the nude cruise, and gave them the rest of our cokes which hadn't finished and made light-hearted plans to meet again next February, as they have a time share at Cupecoy. After a last meal at Pedro's and saying good-bye to Terry Minnick, we set off for the airport. We arrived around 3 P.M. for the 4:20 flight, with about 2 people in line in front of me at the US Air counter. I asked about the bump list for seats and the grumpy lady at the counter said that the list to take a voluntary bump was already full and assigned us seats--not together--for the flight home. I was already checked in and in line to pay the departure tax before Eric arrived back at the airport after turning in the car. Here on $P$ many of you may remember "Jamaica Jim", who frequented particularly the Hedonism BB in years past. JJ has departed $P$ for Compuserve, but we have kept in touch with him on and off since his departure, although never met "in the flesh". We thought that we would have such a chance on this trip, as he was due to arrive in SXM about one hour before we were supposed to leave on February 8. We saw his plane land and rushed over to the window to see if we could see him standing in line for immigration and in fact saw him and waved madly. It went downhill from there, though, as we hung around until time for our flight to depart and we never saw him come out of the mass of people. I even waited till the security guard was distracted and went back into the baggage area but he missed us somehow. I was very disappointed. Our flight was scheduled to leave around a half hour late, then we sat on the plane for another half hour or so, as there came up a huge rainstorm. Our pilots said they couldn't take off until they could see the tops of some of the mountains by the airport. (!?!?!). As a result of the delays we got free drinks and free headphones on the way home and we arrived in BWI uneventfully, other than the SIX INCHES of snow on the car, that is! We thought very seriously about that American Express commercial--you know, the one where the guy goes up to the counter and just says, put me on the next plane leaving to somewhere warm!! All in all, a trip too short, like all trips to SXM, but otherwise near perfect, after we finally got there. We spent the days on Orient and the nights in the casino. What could be better?? La Plantation Hotel This is our report from our stay at La Plantation from 2/1/97 to 2/8/97. This report deals exclusively with the hotel and is intended for those who might be considering La Plantation for a stay. Our trip report is under a separate subject as a trip report. This was the third time we had stayed in SXM for a week, after many times of visiting SXM on cruise ships. As always, we stayed on the French side close to Orient Beach. Previous stays were at Green Cay Village and L'Hoste. La Plantation is a little cheaper than L'Hoste and a LOT cheaper than Green Cay--if you're renting Green Cay by yourself, that is. We booked through Jim Ruos (here on $P$) at Caribbean Islands Travel Service, as always. If you want to book any of the Orient Beach hotels, Jim's your man. Plantation is located on the hills above Orient Beach, roughly in the area of Green Cay Village, if you know where that is. It is not directly on the beach, but you can walk down directly to Coki or Bikini Beach, if you have a mind. It's not a bad walk, maybe 5-10 minutes, depending on which unit you are staying in. If you normally head to the beach at Club Orient and are kind of lazy, like me, you will drive to Club O. We timed the drive--taking our time--at 6 minutes one day. There is a pool and restaurant and small boutique at the reception area. We were never at the pool during the day, so don't know how much traffic there was there. The reception desk could arrange various tours and water sports for you, but we never took advantage of their services. We did note that the car rentals through the hotel were significantly more per week than what we paid through Jim Ruos. The restaurant served breakfast, lunch and dinner. We ate breakfast there a couple of mornings but no other meals. Included with the cost of your hotel room at LaPlantation is their continental breakfast. The restaurant is pretty and the coffee and croissant are good and it is free, so one can't be too picky, but it wasn't the greatest. Croissant and baguettes were provided, along with apples, usually bananas, (usually SPOILED!) pineapple, corn flakes and coffee and tea. You could get a hot breakfast there, for around $7-$8 PP. We had omelets one morning, which were pretty good. The restaurant was usually pretty busy for breakfast. There are 17 units at Plantation, most of which consist of 2 studios and one suite within each building. We paid $178 per night for the suite (with two people), vs.$210 per night for the top floor rooms for the same time frame for L'Hoste. When we had called for reservations in August, #304 was already gone at L'Hoste and we had been wanting to try Plantation anyway, and were glad that we did. At Plantation, the studio was $149 per night, vs.$178 per night for the suite. We felt that the extra few bucks were well worth it. If Jim Ruos' figures are to be believed, cause I didn't measure it myself, with the suite you get approximately 750 square feet vs. 377 square feet for the studio. We had specified when we booked that we wanted the room with the best available view and were assigned room number 630. We certainly had nothing to complain of with regard to the view, as we were situated in the first row of buildings at Plantation, with no buildings in front of us, basically all the way to the water. We looked straight out at Tintamar and off to our right in front of us was L'Hoste and off to the left in front of us was Esmerelda. Our suite, as well as all the others, was surrounded by beautiful flowering plants. The gardeners were always busy around the hotel, grooming the plants and planting more flowers. Our unit, as did the others, had parking spaces for three cars. We did not specify that we wanted the best available facilities for nudity on our porch and there was a road which had a really good view onto our porch. Because of the railing, though, Eric could be nude and it would have been hard for anyone to see even from the road. There were a couple of units right on the hill above us--namely, numbers 860 and 870--which it looked as though no one could see in to their porch. However, this was because the flowers and plants had all grown up around the porch and it's possible that you could not see OUT very well either from there. If you want a studio unit with a really good view, request number 832, which was right next to us and had a wrap- around porch which looked out right over L'Hoste and had a beautiful view. OK, let's describe the suite in detail, starting at the patio. Our patio faced Orient Bay, as I said, and was approximately 10-12 feet deep and 30-35 feet long. We had a wicker dining table and four wicker chairs (2 with pads). We could have wished for a chaise lounge or two, but there were none. Facing the ocean, there were two single and two center full glass doors. We kept the two single doors locked all the time. As you faced the ocean, off to the left was the L-shaped kitchen area, which consisted of an apartment-sized refrigerator and stove, with coffee maker and toaster, with a tile-topped counter with 4 bar stools. Standard silverware was provided, including a corkscrew and a can opener (which sort of worked!), paring knife, and 8 plates, 4 cereal bowls, a wine carafe and coffee cups. Glasses were kind of light, with 6 miscellaneous assorted water glasses and 4 juice glasses. There was one small and one large sauce pan, 2 small fry pans, a medium stew pot with lid and a small casserole dish. There was NO ice bucket, so we kept the ice cube tray filled and dumped the ice into the plastic collander, which we kept in the freezer, so that we would have ice for our trips to the beach. There was dishwashing liquid and a dishtowel provided, but no food or supplies of any nature--salt and pepper, etc. If you want to do any cooking here at all, you might bring or buy either paper towels or napkins and some paper plates, as well as powdered cream and sugar and coffee filters for those coffee hounds like us. The coffee machine technically took the cone type filters but our Mr. Coffee-type filters fit fine into the basket. The coffee maker made around 3 good sized cups. The spacious main living area consisted of about 25 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The furniture was rattan but very comfortable. There was a small round dining table with 3 chairs, 2 sofas (one a sleeper sofa), a coffee table and two other side chairs and a TV. The TV featured cable, with HBO, CNN, and a couple of other channels. Two of us kind of almost rattled around in the space and it would have been more than adequate for a couple and two children to share. The bathroom had a double sink with about 5 feet of mirrors. There was a typical French shower stall, no door. There was some storage under the sink, plus a large key-type safe. There were two hanging knobs in the bathroom and a 110 shaver outlet ONLY. All other outlets were 220 and there was NO hairdryer. Toilet paper and bath soap were provided, but NO shampoo or lotion. The bedroom could be closed off from the main part of the unit and held a king-sized bed with 2 night stands, 1 small dresser with 2 drawers over 3, plus a closet with 3 feet of hanging space and 4 shelves beside it. There was much more than adequate storage space for a week at Orient Beach! The entire unit was air-conditioned, and the a/c worked well, although it was supposedly automatically turned off from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. and sometimes you had to manually turn it back on. There was also a ceiling fan, if you preferred, but it was at the top of the cathedral ceiling and provided little air to the actual living space. Kind of an oddity that we noted was that all the doors locked with a key--even when you were inside. You had to use the key to let yourself OUT. The front door also did not automatically lock when you left and it took a little getting used to. There were signs on the doors for the patio which stated that for security reasons, people were always supposed to lock their doors at night, as well as close the shutters. We did always lock the doors, although we never bothered with the shutters. Maid service was OK, as we always had clean towels and the bed was always made and she did the dishes which we left in the sink. If it wasn't actually IN the sink, it didn't get washed though, and the crumbs which I deliberately left on the counter in the kitchen stayed there for the course of the week until I couldn't stand it anymore and cleaned them up myself. Early in the week we picked up a stray cat that spent most of his time sleeping in one of the chairs on our patio. By the end of the week, he was always waiting for me by the door when I walked out and he scarfed up his share of hand-outs over the course of the week. One thing that we did notice was that the place seemed a little quiet. If we go back there again, we would probably bring along either a radio or tape player so that we could have some music to listen to. The stereo unit at Green Cay made our enjoyment of the place so much greater. Beach towels were provided at the front desk and I would assume that you could get fresh ones each day. We didn't bother but just let our towels dry each day and re-used them. We had also brought a couple of towels from home, which I would do again. Would I return to La Plantation again? Absolutely! Was it a good value? Absolutely. As I said at the beginning, during the winter, it is technically a little cheaper for the suite at Plantation than the top floor rooms at L'Hoste. Rates during the summer at L'Hoste were $150 per night for the 3rd floor rooms, times 6 nights. Rates for May to September 1 at Plantation for the suite were $118 per night. L'Hoste is right ON the beach, which has lots of advantages. With Plantation, you can get a larger space, with almost full kitchen facilities, a great view and a separate bedroom for less money. You can't go wrong with either one.
Well just got back from a week in St. Thomas USVI. Thought that I would post this to the net so that everyone would have the benefits of my views and opinions. This was not our first time in St. Thomas. Last year we were on a cruise and won 10 years worth of a time share at Megan's Bay Resort. We got to check out the property and selected the 4th week of January as our week. We had not timeshared before and were somewhat concerned. We travel more than most and prefer small B&B or Pensions. We tend to stay somewhere for a couple of days and then move on. The following narrative is in the form of a Trip Diary and has some general notes on attractions and things to see and do. Where possible I included phone numbers and used the "This week in St. Thomas" road map references. All opinions are just that, I'm not an authority. Where I've posted notes on places to eat they are brief. I'll post a more complete set of restaurant reviews later. Saturday--Arrival We departed from Washington Dulles at 7:30AM on American and arrived in St. Thomas at 2:50PM after a two hour layover in San Juan. There is a moderately new terminal in St. Thomas and even though the baggage area reminds you of a Caribbean Bazaar things went smoothly. I had reserved a rental car from AVIS (1-800-331-1200). There was no trouble getting the car. The car rental desks have counters in the baggage pick up area. ****Note--You pick up the car on the upper lot across the main parking lot. If you have lots of bags it might be smart to get the car and drive down and pick up the bags. Be sure to check the car for damage. Almost all the AVIS, Hertz and Budget cars have some dings. If they look major then you should have them noted by the agent.**** In St. Thomas every one drives on the left even though all the cars are US and the steering wheel is on the left. I've driven in the UK and Japan, but it seems easier in St. Thomas. It takes about 15 minutes to get used to it. The max. speed limit is 35, but given the winding roads its hard to go faster than 20-25 most times. We picked up a "St. Thomas This Week" guide at the airport. It has a pretty good map that can be used for basic navigation and is critical. It has some local history, major event schedules and most important the list of what and how many cruise ships will be in Charlotte Amalie ( CA is the main shopping area) each day. The reason the latter is critical is because you want to avoid being down town on those days because with 7 ships and 6000+ shoppers it is a zoo. We checked into our condo at Magens Bay resort and found that the cable TV was not working and that the vertical blinds were stubborn. We told the folks at the front desk and were told "No Problem". There was nothing they could do about the cable since they are still rebuilding the cable plant from scratch. The blinds never did get fixed, but it wasn't a big deal. The Magens Point Resort (Magens Bay Road right at the intersection of Rts 35 & 42, 809-777-6000) is mostly time share with some "sold by the week spaces". It is well maintained. While not on the beach all the rooms have good beach views and there is a good bar and restaurant (The Brass Parrot) which specializes in Tex Mex. There is a pool, tennis courts and a beach shuttle. If your going to stay for a week, I recommend a car. It may be cheaper to taxi since resort picks up 1/2 the fare, but a car gives you lots of flexibility. We hit the bar for happy hour and met some of the folks that work at the resort and lots of the "Time Share Sales Crew". The time share business attracts some interesting types. Some of the folks included a retired school teacher, a former major league baseball scout and a former Las Vegas stand up comic. Right away I got the impression that most of the folks who were not born there are refugees who came on a visit, fell in love with the lifestyle and decided to stay. That night we headed for Charlotte Amalie (CA) for dinner. We had read reviews on the Internet for a place called "Craig and Sally's" (Frenchtown, 809-777--9949) and wanted to try it. We didn't have reservations, but got to eat at the bar. The food was great (See Dining Review notes in another post). Met some more refugees. One was a self confessed "boat bum" David who was from LA, but had given up the rat race to sail for a living. He had been at it for 12 years and was on his way to pick up a 27 foot ketch at St. Martaeen to sail to Bermuda and then to Italy. He said it was sort of a lonely life, but it was fun. He made the point of telling us that if you live in the USVI there is a "paradise tax". What he meant was that the main answer to everything is "no problem mon", but things take a long time to get completed. The pace is much slower. He said that a good example was that it took 20 minutes to get an Egg McMuffin at McDonalds. Christa the bartender was also a boat bum who was working till she found a good boat to crew on. She was originally from Mississippi, cam down on a trip and never went back. She was trying to talk her way onto Dave's crew, but he didn't have any slots. We also met Susan and Fritz. They were formally from Baltimore. They had come down on vacation and liked it and then moved down here. Susan has a Boutique in CA and Fritz is a pilot at Ace Flight Center (St. Thomas Airport, 809-776-4141). Fritz was a former Federal Express pilot for 15 years and got really fed up with flying back and forth between Baltimore and Memphis at night week in and week out. I'm in the process of renewing my private pilot rating after 15+ years of inactivity and so we started to talk flying and got invited to go flying with him on Friday. We noticed that the mix of folks in Craig and Sally's was about 50% locals and 50% visitors. Sunday On Sunday we slept in a little and caught the end of orientation that the resort puts on. One of the things they tout is the activities. You can go sailing, snorkeling, tour the British Virgin Islands and lots of other organized things. We like to mix and match. My wife is not the outdoor type, but loves to sightsee, shop and eat out. I'm more of an outdoor guy who runs 20-25 miles a week and likes the beach, sailing, snorkeling. I'm not a shopper, but I do like to sightsee and knosh. I signed up to go on a sea kayak tour of the Mangrove Preserve and I signed both of us up to go on the Tiki which is a "drinking, partying tour of St. Thomas". Hell, it works for me! At the orientation we found that there was a "Stepping Party" at the Sapphire Beach Resort (Red Hook Road, Rt 38 , 809-775-6100) from 2-5. Since St. Thomas is laid back on Sunday we planned to go. We did a little sight seeing. There is lots to see. St. Thomas is very hilly and the roads are narrow. However, the reward is some really breath taking vistas of the islands, beaches, and the harbours filled with ships, sailboats and other craft. Even though it tends not to rain a lot, everything is green and nature has recovered well from the hurricane damage from Hugo (93) and Marylin (95). There are still more than a few places that are still recovering from Marylin, but overall everything is open and working well. Went shopping over at Tutu Mall area. (Intersection of Rt 38 and 384) Got some rum punch mixin's and rum. Rum is cheaper than milk. A litre bottle of rum is $2.85, milk is more than $4.50 per half gallon. Also got some breakfast stuff since we don't really go on vacation to cook. Went to the "Stepping Party" at Sapphire Beach. The band there was a local one called "Deep Unda Kuva". The party started off slow, but then about 3:00pm the places started to be flooded by locals. By 3:30 the place was jumping. The band played mostly SOCA music. SOCA is a mix of reggae, calypso and latin music. I guess that if I had to describe it would be like "Miami Sound Machine with steel drums and a calypso flavor. It really makes you want to dance and party. The local version of "stepping" is very erotic and makes the lambada look like a square dance. But it's fun and the crowd made it more so. Seems that Sapphire Beach is "the" place to be on Sunday afternoon and lots of folks come. Everyone has a grand time and you can't beat the price it's free. After the stepping we returned to hit "Happy Hour" and met some more folks. Seems that there are lots of doctors that have the same week that we have. Three were from the Philadelphia area, one from Boston and one from Nebraska. Had dinner at the Cafe Sito (CA right on the waterfront Rt 30 near Dronningens Gade, 809-774-9574). Mostly Spanish food. Service a mite slow, but hell this is the USVI "no problem mon". Monday It's shopping day today. Mondays and Saturdays are perhaps the best if your staying on the island. This is because it is the day with the least cruise ships. The St. Thomas This Week guide has when each ship is due in. The main shopping area is CA. My favorite store is Pussers (CA, 809-777-9281). Of course I can't afford anything in there, but they have neat stuff. They have a sailing jacket that has about 20 pockets, 10 hooks and clamps and even can inflate itself as a life vest. It is the ultimate gadget. No possible real life use, but what a toy!!! My wife did find something. She found a neat sun hat that she got lots of complements on. It was pricy, like most of the Pussers stuff, but what the hell. We are on vacation-"no problem mon." Flo spent the rest of the morning looking at jewelry. She loves jewelry and she was shopping for her Christmas present. In downtown CA there are over 50 jewelry stores on main street. Almost all are reliable and prices for emeralds, tanzinite and rubies are about 20%- 30% less than the mainland stores and there is no sales tax. I'm not a die hard shopper, but it's a good way to people watch. She shops and I find a seat and watch how the USA is spending the excess GNP. Had lunch at Glady's Cafe (CA, 809-774-6604). It was supposed to be highly rated local fare, but I was underwhelmed. Maybe we hit it on a bad day. After lunch we went music shopping up on back streets out of the main shopping area. Met lots of nice folks in the music shops and got introduced to the SOCA sound. Found out that SOCA was invented in Trinidad and that it has a large local following. Got a Deep Unda Kuva Tape and also a couple of other tapes to play in the car. Found out that Deep Unda Kuva plays on Saturday night at Sapphire Beach and on Friday night at the Hard Rock Cafe in CA. In our travels we stumbled onto a sushi place. It is called Benny Iguana and we stopped to try some. It was pretty good and we made a note to return. Also went sight seeing downtown. Visited Ft.Christian which is the old Danish fort. It is made from red brick and looks like it would never withstand a cannon shot. But I guess it never had too. Drove up to Lookout Point to have a beer. It is served by a tramway, but you can also drive up. What a great view! It overlooks the CA harbour and all the cruise ships, yacht basin and the seaplane base. Although we didn't do it lots of folks recommend going up to there to watch the sunset. I'll bet it is stupendous. Went back to catch and afternoon nap and hit the pool. I went running and then relaxed by the pool. The folks at the resort are mostly returnees. They have the option to trade their timeshare weeks, but like the resort and the people that come there. They come back every year. One of the doctors stated that it is sort of like a club. You don't see folks for a year and look forward to meeting them during the weeks vacation. Most people do their own thing during the day and then meet by the pool at 4:00 have a few drinks, watch the sun set and decide where they will go for dinner. Not a lot of pressure. Also realized that you should not plan on bringing any dressy clothing to St. Thomas. Everywhere we went was casual. You can't wear swim suits but topsiders, deck shorts and a polo shirt will get you in over 95% of the places. They had "Caribbean Night" at the resort so we stayed. They had a steel drummer who played local music and featured Caribbean food. It was okay, but not great. Had lots of fun talking with the other guests and they had a raffle and Flo won a tee-shirt. Tuesday Went on an Eco-Tour of the Mangrove Reserve today. (Virgin Island Ecotours--Rt 32 near Nadir, 809-779-2155) It was very interesting. You show up at the tour site at 9:00am and get a small orientation and team up with someone else and get a sea kayak. the tours are small (15-20 people) and very interesting. I didn't know that there were 3 kinds of mangrove trees (white, red & black) and that mangrove areas are ideal habitat for fish and crabs. Saw quite a few things that I'd not been familiar with including an "upside down jellyfish". You paddle a couple of miles to a lagoon where you beach the kayak and go snorkeling. There was a large school of mackerel (over 10,000) in the lagoon and you get to swim among them. I also got to see a small Manta Ray and a couple of Amberjack. The others on the tour were mostly from cruise ships and my partner was a female lawyer from Washington. Most of the folks were pretty knowledgeable and asked some pretty interesting questions. As with lots of folks the people who led the tour were refugees from the north. One of the female guides had come down to work on fixing boats after hurricane Hugo and had stayed. Jim the young male guide had finished school and then decided to go to the USVI. They have only started this operation this year and are having lots of success. It sure beats riding around in a powerboat. At the conclusion of the tour I returned to the condo to do some serious relaxing. After lunch I went down to Magen's Bay and just blended. It was nice to lay in the sun, watch people and do nothing. One benefit was that I picked a quiet spot on the eastern side of the beach and later noticed that it seemed to attract all the topless sunbathers. Works for me! That night we ventured to eat at Eunice's Terrace. (6076 East Smith, Rt 38, 609-775-3975) This is where President Clinton had supper when he was in St. Thomas in early January. The place is just off the Red Hook Road in a sort of non-descriptor section, but the food is okay and the atmosphere is fine. Food was better than average, but not great. Wednesday Got up and ran today. Had to work off some of the serious calories that I've been ingesting. St. Thomas is not the easiest place to run. The weather is great, but there are lots of hills. However, no pain, no gain. Did some more exploring today. Hit some back roads and took pictures and looked at some houses. Can still see that folks are still recovering from the 1995 hurricane. This afternoon we went to do the "TIKKI BOAT". This is really just a pontoon barge with a band and a bar. It is touristy, tacky, has no class and is lots of fun. It is a combination, harbour tour, beach party and floating hoedown. The tour leaves from the CA West India dock and goes across the harbour to Brewers Bay Beach and then returns. What makes it fun is the great steel drum band, the crew and a bottomless barrel of rum punch. The crew helps by roaming the deck and "sweetening" your punch with 151 proof rum that adds to the already potent mix. It seems silly, but it is an excuse for a party and everyone has a good time. The music is good, everyone is in good spirits and it even has some educational value since the boat has some glass viewing ports in the bottom that let you look at the coral reefs as you drink and dance your way to the beach and back. The crew guarantees that they will get you back to the ship no matter what you condition as long as you have some indication of what your name is and what ship you are on. Even though we didn't need it we went back to the condo and made Happy Hour by the pool. I was the semi host in that I created a special rum punch recipe that everyone loved. It is 3 parts of "Berry Juice" (Available in any market) 4 parts Sunny Delight Orange and Mango Juice, a couple of limes and 3 or more parts of 151 rum. Its tasty and potent. Given the price of rum on St. Thomas ($2.75 a litre at the supermarket) its also cheap. At night we went down to Red Hook for dinner at the Blue Marlin (Red Hook, Rt 38,). It overlooks the American Yacht Harbour and the food was very good. They make a point of not serving it if it isn't caught that day. It is nice to sit over the water, sip your coffee and forget that it is cold and snowing up in the states. Thursday Today is St. John day. I went for my morning run and then we drove up to Red Hook to catch the ferry to St. John. There is a ferry every hour and the fare is $5.00 each way. ***Hint--if the parking lot is full you can park up th road or park for the same price ($5 all day) in the lot by the American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook.**** You can get a round trip ticket if you wish, but it doesn't save any money. The trip over takes about 20 minutes and was scenic. We saw a couple of dolphins and a sea turtle. St. John is much different from St. Thomas. It is smaller and more compact and if anything more hilly. We rented a small 4WD and did some exploring. There are a few paved roads and some good gravel ones. After seeing the roads I'm glad that we got a 4WD. St. John is mostly a National Park and the local property owners are mostly well off northern refugees who either live there full time or rent out to visitors. The major resort is the Rockerfeler established Caneel Bay Resort which is world class and low key. The main town is Cruz Bay and it has a selection of stores that cater to tourists. We had lunch at the Fish Trap, (Cruz Bay-St. John 609--693-9994.) It seemed that it was a locals spot and the food was pretty good. Our waitress was a boat bum who was waiting for her boyfriend to arrive back from Barbados so they could ship together on a Charter they had lined up in two weeks. Like lots of folks in the USVI she was from the East Coast, liked to sail and come here for a visit and never went home. She says she makes hardly any money, but what the hell, its a great life!! Ummm--I'm envious. Did some more exploring, but forgot to bring our bating suits so we didn't do any of the beaches. The scenery is very rustic since most of the island is park land. Everything is turning back to nature and it looks like the park service must make quite and effort to keep the roads open. Overall I got the impression that St. John is more well off than St. Thomas and a lot lower key. The locals are for limited development and want to control growth to the max. Got back to St. Thomas and the condo in time for happy hour. Since I was not sure that I was going to be back in time for Happy Hour on Friday, I made a double batch of punch to use up the rum. I was well received. I was it's greatest fan. It was so great that I was in no condition to drive so we eat at Magens instead of going out. I don't remember what was for supper, but I remember having a good time. Friday Got up late (wonder why??) and ran to get the cobwebs out. Today is the day I get to fly. Flo went into town to do some last minute shopping while I went to the beach to lay around. In the afternoon I joined her and after a nice lunch at the Hook Line and Sinker (Frenchtown, 809-776-9709) we headed to the Airport. We had a little trouble finding Ace Flight Center since it is on the opposite side of the airfield from the main terminal, but we found it and also found Fritz. He was the refugee FEDEX pilot from Maryland that we met on our first night here. We checked out a Cessna 172 did a preflight and took off. What a surprise! When you take off you realize that all the islands are very close together. You can see Puerto Rico once your 500 feet above the ground. St. John is a 5 minute trip and across from St. John is Tortola and Virgin Gorda. It's really amazing how close everything is. I spent lots of time flying over St. John and seeing it from the air. Then we flew over to Norman Island which is the supposed scene of Treasure Island. We also hit some of the other islands such as Jost Van Dike. It is a yacht destination where folks sail in anchor he yacht and party. I think that I heard that there are 300 folks on the island and almost 70 bars and restaurants. Looked from the air like they were having a grand time because there were at least 50 sailing craft moored in the harbour. We flew over several privately owned islands where the only house was a mansion with a big pool and quarters for the servants . Flying for a couple of hours we returned to St. Thomas and dropped off he airplane. Even if your not a pilot it is a fun way to see the islands and provides a great way to appreciate the beauty. Ace does air tours and is pretty flexible about schedules. Got back in time for happy hour and a last visit with the folks we had met. Some couples were staying another week others were going home on Saturday. I guess we will see them again next year. Ate again at Craig and Sally's on Friday night. The food was really great. It is innovative and the menu is different every day. Highly recommended. What a great way to end the trip. Saturday Slept in a little and had to check out by mid morning. for the first time the sky clouded up and it started to rain. I'm glad it was the last day. We checked out and then went into CA to hang around and see I we could find any bargains. One hint. Pussers has a discount store over across the street from the Havensite Mall which is where all the cruise ships dock. They were the only place in St. Thomas that had some real bargains. If you're in St. Thomas it is "always" worth a stop since most of the items are marked down at least 30%. We had lunch at a local restaurant in CA called "CUZZIN'S" (7 Back Street 809-777-4711). The food is Caribbean, the service is good and the prices are very reasonable. It is on Back Street and is a favorite of locals and cruise ship crews. I think it has the best Caribbean food in St. Thomas. The rain got worse after lunch and we headed to the airport to drop off he car. It was no hassle. As we checked the car in the sun came out. We checked in and flew back to Washington Dulles airport via Miami. All in all we had a great time and we are looking forward to going again. Helpful hints. 1. If your in a hurry don't be. No one else is. 2. I'm glad I had a car because it gives you lots of flexibility. Driving on the wrong side of the road is easy to get used to. 3. Buy your rum at a supermarket it's slightly cheaper and you can also pick up other local stuff. 4. Everyone takes major credit cards except the taxis. 5. If you take a taxi ask the fare first. All the drivers are honest, but some destinations cost significant $$$. 6. There are lots of ATM's so you can get cash. 7. If you have time spend at least one day on St. John. it's different and its fun. 8. Don't be afraid to do something touristy. Hell your on vacation. 9. You can call home/office from any phone. Note it may be easier to use the 800 calling card number because some phones don't support long dialing strings. 10. Don't be afraid to hit some of the local roadside bars and restaurants out in the country. The people are nice and the price is right. 11. Relax and enjoy. You have to back at work next week.
We just returned from a relaxing week in Turks & Caicos and I thought I'd share some of our experiences -pro and con . We started off by booking the Royal Bay after hearing it would be managed by Sandals. We have vacationed at Sandals Antigua (excellent pre hurricane and renovations) and Sandals St. Lucia (a bit too glitzy for me but well managed) and were impressed by both the accommodations and quality of food and services. We left Thursday Feb. 13 with threats of an airline strike looming for Friday at midnight. The airport was surprisingly empty when we departed Newark and the flight to Miami and on to Provo was fine. We had booked return tickets on Northwest for Sunday February 23 just in case American went on strike on our scheduled departure date of Thursday Feb. 20 but will now be able to get a refund since the strike was averted. Many people may have switched dates or airlines which would account for the empty airport on a normally busy flying day. We, along with about 10 others, were put on a van for our ride to Royal Bay where we were told they had overbooked and we would be put up at Turquoise Reef for the night and would receive a refund for the night and an upgrade at Royal Bay for the remainder of our stay. Not a bad deal but a disappointing start for a long awaited vacation. The Turquoise Reef looked a bit worn at the edges (one other couple described it as a Super 8 motel) but we did have a nice dinner at the better of their two restaurants(Royal Bay was picking up the tab so why not). The other couple ate at the more casual restaurant and said they only had two menus, the cook was late for work, and they had to wait an hour and a half to get served after they had ordered. The next day after breakfast and a morning at the beach we were taken to Royal Bay and put in a Honeymoon Suite. Very nice-living room, separate bedroom, 2 tvs, Jacuzzi, ac, ceiling fans, four-poster bed, and 2 patios. Some construction still going on but not any problem. Beach and pool area nice, walking distance to the White House and great free snorkeling, one fair restaurant, one great one, breakfast buffet OK, people very nice but still need training. One kink they need to work on is the phones. It seems some wires must be crossed because we kept getting calls at all hours of the day and night due to a glitch in their voice mail. Took a beach cruise ($40) that took us to Iguana Island, snorkeling at another reef, and shelling for sand dollars in the clearest, bluest water you have ever seen. Also took a cab to the conch farm(interesting but not worth the $6 since the Island Sea Center there was burned down last year by someone's jealous boyfriend). Otherwise it's beach or pool. No nightlife whatsoever (they could use a band or something). There is a casino at the Turquoise Reef which we did the night we were there. All in all beautiful water, quiet lay around type vacation, beach a bit windy(watch for flying umbrellas), and great diving and snorkeling. Construction going on all over the island condos, etc. so if you want to experience laid back island life better go quick it may not last. Enjoy!
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