St Maarten/St Martin 17 January 2010 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS

Weather: We arrived on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 Jan to a glorious sunny and warm afternoon. Given that we had left a foot of snow and overnight lows near zero, it was a pleasant change. We were told that the Christmas winds had died out earlier and the seas were now calm. We did some necessary shopping at the Maho Food Express and arrived at our condo at about 5:00PM to unpack our owner's closet. We got most of the contents out of the closet, put some aways and left the rest spread around the apartment as we headed for dinner. The next day was a very clear and warm day offering views of Saba, Statia, St Kitts, and Nevis from our balcony. On the left a shot of St Kitts in the center (about 55 miles away) and the twin peaks of Statia on the right (about 35 miles out). There were some clouds on the horizon, precluding a green flash, but producing an interesting sunset. The clouds on the horizon turned to rain by Friday and it continued sporadically into Saturday. At one point Saba was lost in the mist and rain and a half hour later we could see all four islands again. The temperature was in the mid-70s. Sunday has dawned with lots of clouds and a temperature of 75F.

The box shows the current local conditions and here's the forecast from Weather Underground and here's one from the Weather Channel. Sunset today is at 5:55 and the moon is a waxing crescent. The full moons in 2010 are 30 Jan, 28 Feb, 29 Mar, 28 Apr, 27 May, 26 Jun, 25 Jul, 24 Aug, 23 Sep, 22 Oct, 21 Nov, and 21 Dec.

Construction: Here's a couple shots of the new roundabout at the bottom of the hill in Cole Bay. We drove through there on the way to Grand Marché. For the last few years we would have turned left and headed through the lagoonfront area of Cole Bay and come out on Union Road between Select Wine Cellar and the Harley Shop, avoiding the traffic scramble at the bottom of the hill. This new roundabout seems to have sorted out all that trouble. The statue depicts Osborne Kruythoff, a gentleman who directed traffic in Pburg long ago and without much official authorization.

Here's a repeat of last month's photos from a different angle. On the left is the front of Bleu Mall, looking somewhat better than the back but even the mostly finished building on the far left is still a fairly blank monolith. Porto Cupecoy, billed as a village, looks something like a village with different styles and colors. You'll also note that being clustered around the lagoon, even the tall buildings do not rise up above the hills. Both photos show the cloudy, rainy conditions that are mentioned above.

Sapphire Beach Club: We are in our condo until mid-April but it is available after that for $900 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. Check the calendar on our website for available dates. 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. Given the large assessment that Sapphire just levied, there may be a lot of sales. 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.

Groceries: On our major shopping journey we got a couple baguettes (and breakfast for Martha) at La Sucriere in Simpson Bay. We cut the baguettes in thirds, put them in large plastic bags, and freeze what we don't use immediately. When we need them, a few minutes in a toaster oven makes them better than fresh, as they are crusty and warm. Our stop at Grand Marché revealed things to be much the same. There were some tasty Guadeloupe tomatoes available and a fragrant Petit Livarot cheese. We also picked up some Cure 81 ham, some cornichons, and some dry sausage. Put them all together and you get one of our favorite lunches on the balcony. They were also selling 5 lbs of frozen pork chops for about $7.50 or $1.50 per pound. There was fresh pork shoulder available for about $2 per pound. Martha braised it in sherry vinegar with carrots, red onions, lima beans, and zucchini - quite tasty with a sturdy Crozes-Hermitage and there was enough left over for spicy Chinese dinner with a zinfandel (see below).

Alcohol: Our stop at Select Wine Cellar didn't score us any of our favorite burgundy as Sylvain's shipment from Jean-Jacques Girard is lost at sea. We really liked his red and white Savigny-Les-Beaune. Moreover, Gerard Trembley's Chablis are missing, except for the very expensive version. Sylvain also informed us that François is no longer working at Philipsburg Liquors, so our access to the wonderful Pommard we have been enjoying is no longer. We did get some Sainte Croix Rosé for our ham and Guadeloupe melon lunches and some Le Belle Crozes-Hermitage for more substantial fare. Consequently, we stopped at Netco behind the Ace Mega Store in Cole Bay for some 2005 Montevina Red Zin ($9) and some 2008 Chateau St Jean Chardonnay ($11.75). The year on the Montevina has moved from 2004 to 2005 this season, but I can't discern much difference. It's a great wine with spicy food. We also picked up a 750 of Caussade XO Armagnac for $32.50. Man does not live by rum alone.

Traffic: On the Thursday after our arrival we headed over to the TelCell office in Simpson Bay at 10:00 AM after the 9:00 and 9:30 bridge openings. The new road around the back side of the airport parking lot worked fine, although at 10AM on a Thursday there shouldn't be too many air travelers. We arrived at the TelCell office near Mailbox and bought a new phone. Our cell had gone missing over the summer. We got our old number back and by early evening it was in operation. We then crossed the bridge and had MVG Technology call Caribserve to reactivate our internet connection. We then had to head back over the bridge and pay Caribserve at the Mailbox. We crossed the bridge again to go shopping at Grand Marché, traveling through the new rotary at the bottom of the hill to Pburg. By the time we finished shopping the 11:00 and 11:30 bridges had passed and we drove into the Orange Grove Shopping Center to see Sylvain at Select Wine Cellar. By 12:45 we had crossed over the bridge, heading homeward, when we saw a parking spot at Bonita's Cantina, previously Ric's Place. The point of all this is not to regale you with tons of trivia, but to point out that we managed to get quite a bit accomplished while crossing the bridge four times in a period of three hours at mid-day.

We did much the same on Friday, making a counterclockwise circumnavigation of the lagoon from 2PM until 5PM with little difficulty as we stopped at TelCell (again) in Simpson Bay, Ace Mega Center and Netco in Cole Bay, Grand Marché (again), and came home via Marigot and Sandy Ground. It was all rather quick even given a detour for a funeral blocking the road in Marigot.

Our conclusion is that the new rotary and the traffic change at the airport have helped. It may be a bit early to start the celebrations as there is always a lull in tourism between the year-end holidays and February. Then again, our maid did tell us that Sapphire was full.