ISLAND
NEWS
Weather,
Hurricanes, and Beaches: Many people
have written to say how rainy it was in October and early November. The island
is as green as can be and no major hurricanes have even been close this
season. Some sand has been shifted around, but things look pretty
good.
Trip report: Wendy K
reports they arrived Tuesday afternoon (2
Nov) after a very easy, uneventful trip from Boston. Lefty, the
cat, did well with 1 tranquilizer. (Note, there is more info on traveling
with animals on the SXM-Info website.) Our flight was in a
bit early and we breezed through immigration, got our luggage quickly, and were
on our way "home" in no time. The island is greener
than I've ever seen it. It has rained nearly every night, but nothing in the
daytime. There was a wonderful breeze the first two days, which has
diminished some. It's taken us a few days to get settled,
acclimated, and stocked up, but we're there now. Lefty is
"tres content" and so are we!
We had our first restaurant meal last
night at Durreche on the Marigot waterfront. Our favorite waiter, Regis, is no
longer there, but the place is really fixed up, with iron grills, painted floors
& beams, and lots of plants. There was a new cat, as well. Moules/frites
were as good as ever.
The building on the island is
incredible. Rainbow & the Cliffs have progressed significantly. Boniface's
property, next to us on the lagoon near Delfina Hotel, was sold to the people
who own Goldfinger. They are making villa lots, and there are dozers and trucks
at work every day leveling things; leaving a few trees here and there. It was
quite a shock at first, but it actually looks quite nice. And we are certainly
relieved not to have an apartment building going in next door. We haven't been to Cupecoy yet - will go tomorrow. But we did go to
Mullet yesterday and it was lovely. Just the right amount of waves.
Windward Island ATMs: From
Jeff
Berger: "In the last few years, there have been several
incidents involving fraudulent duplicate withdrawals made from the Windward
Islands Bank ATM in front of Casino Royale, and we've posted warnings about it.
Americans used the ATM and discovered when they got home that their accounts had
been debited for multiples of the true withdrawal amount.
Now we hear exactly the same thing about the WIB
ATM near the Peli Deli at Pelican Resort. Bottom line: This has gone on for
years. At this point, we urge you to never use any Windward Islands Bank ATM for
any reason. Until we hear that a few people have wound up in the slammer on SXM
because of these fraudulent transactions, this warning stays put. Don't use WIB
ATMs."
This may be hard to believe, but I have never used
and ATM, although I also have heard complaints about these ATMs. Almost
everyplace (except gas stations and a few small restaurants) accepts credit
cards and the exchange rate is generally better than what you can get at the
change places or from the retail establishment. One note, many places are now
offering 1 to 1 exchange rates, a savings of about 30%. Sometimes, but not
always, this is applied only to CASH, not credit cards.
Tourists: KLM says
that starting 4 November, they will have three flights per
week to SXM, up from two, adding a Thursday flight to their current Tuesday
and Saturday schedule. The Daily Herald reports other
airlines are following suit and tour operators report that bookings are up. It
seems to be shaping up as a good season. In late October, the cruise terminal
received its one millionth passenger of the season, marking three years in a row
that they have achieved that mark.
Gas price increase: As of 9
Oct, unleaded gasoline will cost NAf. 1.36 per liter, an increase of nine
guilder cents. That's about $2.80 to 2.90 per gallon, depending on the exchange
rate offered by the gas station. I have seen some postings as to whether this is
an Imperial (British) gallon or a US gallon. The truth is that they don't use
any gallon on the island so the gallon quoted above is based on my
calculation of a conversion from a liter to a US gallon (3.8 liters = 1 US
gallon).