St Maarten/St Martin 31 October 2010 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS

Weather: On the left is a sunset from the Cupecoy cliffs. In early October a tropical depression sat on top of the island for the better part of a week. I've often said that October is a great time to visit the island, but I certainly feel sorry for those who got stuck with that week. The road through the golf course from Maho to Cupecoy was underwater, causing people to drive off into the golf course or through the driveways and parking areas of the dilapidated condos. Just remember, it can rain or even worse as Hurricane Lenny arrived on 20 November in 1999. On 22 Oct Sunny at Radiant Gems said the weather was great and all traces of any hurricane or flooding are long gone. He's looking forward to your visit this season. A quick look at the forecast for the coming week shows a 20 to 30% chance of rain for every day. Sounds bad, but remember, that's not constant rain, nor is it island wide. The box shows the current local conditions and here's the detailed forecast from Weather Underground and here's one from the Weather Channel. Sunset today is at 5:37 and the moon is in its last quarter. The remaining full moons in 2010 will be 21 Nov, and 21 Dec. In 2011 the full moons will be 20 Jan, 18 Feb, 19 Mar, 18 Apr, 17 May, 16 Jun, 15 Jul, 13 Aug, 12 Sep, 12 Oct, 11 Nov, and 10 Dec.

SXM-Beaches: Simpson Bay Beach is a two mile strip of beach facing south, affording a view of Saba, 26 miles away. There are only two beach bars at the extreme western end, Karakter and one that was just opening as we left in early April. We've had good food and good times at Karakter. Here's a link to one of our visits. There are several places to stay on the beach. The Horny Toad Guesthouse has been there for quite some time and is about the closest you can get to the beach. Nearby Azure Beach Studios is similar. Turquoise Shell Inn is closer to the nightlife in Simpson Bay and while it is across the street from the beach, it does have beach access and a lovely pool. La Siesta Residence is brand new and is on the beach with a pool. All these places have kitchen facilities. I know some people go out for breakfast, but even so, I would not face the world prior to ingesting a liberal amount of caffeine, so a coffee pot is required in my room. All these places can give you some sunset views and a sundowner on your own beach is a perfect and inexpensive way to start the evening. This sunset photo was taken from the Toad.

Beach reading: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, updated ed. (2010) by Patricia Shultz - about $14 for a paperback - Publishers Weekly says: "This hefty volume reminds vacationers that hot tourist spots are small percentage of what's worth seeing out there. A quick sampling: Venice's Cipriani Hotel; California's Monterey Peninsula; the Lewis and Clark Trail in Oregon; the Great Wall of China; Robert Louis Stevenson's home in Western Samoa; and the Alhambra in Andalusia, Spain. Veteran travel guide writer Schultz divides the book geographically, presenting a little less than a page on each location. Each entry lists exactly where to find the spot (e.g. Moorea is located "12 miles/19 km northwest of Tahiti; 10 minutes by air, 1 hour by boat") and when to go (e.g., if you want to check out The Complete Fly Fisher hotel in Montana, "May and Sept.-Oct. offer productive angling in a solitary setting"). This is an excellent resource for the intrepid traveler." I say it's an interesting beach read as you won't mind being interrupted avery minute or so. There are a thousand short stories in the book, all about some interesting place.

Sapphire Beach Club: Our condo 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, including the use of our 2010 SXM Privilege Card that gets you discounts on many restaurants. Check the calendar on our website for available dates. A recent visitor said, "Erich, We had a wonderful time at your condo for the third year in a row. We appreciated the coupons. Hope to be able to do it again next year." For those of you who wish to sell or rent their week or unit, we have opened up the Sapphire Beach Club website for that purpose. We charge $25 per year. If you wish to rent or sell your unit, send us some text (and $25 to esk@sxm-info.com via Paypal). If you wish to rent or buy a unit without high middleman fees, check out the website. At present, there are 20 sales and/or rentals available directly from owners. Given a 25 to 35% standard rental commission, there should be some bargains in eliminating the middleman and dealing direct.

Activities: Diane on Random Wind sent along this story: As hurricane Earl approached we knew we were in for a good storm. We tied off stern-to at the Port de Plaisance Marina. Captain Trevor left nothing to chance; tying us off with 11 lines. We bound the sails in their bags, took all the cushions, noodles; EVERYTHING down below into our home. We rented movies, stocked up on paints, water, ice and food. Since we live on Random Wind and it was not looking like more than a category 3 hurricane, we decided to stay on board. Trevor stayed with us to ensure the kids and I were safe. There was a catamaran to our left and a motor yacht to our right. About two hours into it, Trevor was up on deck observing, as he did often to be certain we were ok. He saw a 60 foot sailboat, a monohull, that had broken free and was blown up against the catamaran next to us. Knowing it was damaging that boat and that it was a matter of time before it would come our way; he dove into the lagoon and swam over to and boarded the cat. The winds were 125mph. He started to prep the lines when two friends on the land saw him and came to help. Their boat had been damaged by this stray boat already; they were eager to help. Pulling a 60 foot sailboat against hurricane-force winds was too hard so someone brought their car over to the dock. They were then able to pull the boat alongside. It was a heroic rescue to say the least. It was quite an experience that we will not soon forget, except possibly for daughter Caroline, who at the age of three seemed blissfully unaware as she worked on her puzzle.

Zuzu and Alain have started yet another business. They have bought a 45 ft catamaran and have started SXM Cat Charters offering a variety of sailing packages, ranging from a day sail to a 2 day, one night sail, to a regular weekly (or longer) charter. The boat has four cabins each with a head with additional accommodations for the captain and hostess/cook. They will go out for a daysail with an open bar and BBQ lunch for 95€ per person with a minimum of six people. If you and two other couples go out, you get a private charter for about $250 per couple.

Shopping: Deepti, the D in DK Gems says that Kamal (the K in DK Gems) is engaged. There are photos on her Facebook page. She is on a trip through Hong Kong to India, returning on 21 Nov. She says the store is great but she is so happy to be on vacation though. I have been warned that there are several new pieces she wants to show to Martha. On restaurants, she says, "I am still waiting to go back to Bistrot Caribes with you guys. You guys need to try the grouper burger once at Baywatch."

Alcohol: The NY Times reported that Marcel Lapierre died earlier this month. Noted US wine importer Kermit Lynch dubbed Marcel and three similar Beaujolais negotiants (Jean Foillard, Guy Breton and Jean-Paul Thévenet) the "gang of four", as they produced a better quality wine, eschewing the marketing hype (and fast bucks) surrounding the rise of Beaujolais Nouveau in the 70's. By 1981, Mr Lapierre was producing organic wine to be laid down. The photo shows his 2009 Morgon amongst some of our fall cucurbits in our kitchen. We drank a toast to Mr Lapierre over a beef stew on the cool fall evening that we heard of his death. The wine, of course, was his recommended by The Wine Cask in Somerville, MA. The same wine (but an earlier vintage) is available at La Samanna. The beef came from nearby Lewis Waite Farm, available via CSA shares in several locations near NY City.

Eric Azimov wrote up an interesting and intelligent review of zinfandels in the NY Times recently. He liked zins in the 70's but they turned into higher alcohol (over 15%), over-the-top blockbusters that overpowered any food within 50 meters. Lately they have been tapering off such that the top rated zin (a 2007 old vine Porter Creek from Sonoma County) came in at 13.8% alcohol. It also came in at $35 and probably cannot be found anywhere outside of California and NY City. Number two was a Seghesio, one of my old favorites, but also difficult to find and not cheap at $30. Azimov's best value, was the "the juicy, exuberant 2007 Old Vine Sonoma County from Ravenswood, was $15, about half the price of Ravenswood’s single-vineyard zinfandels." You can get their wines on the island. We've seen them at Food Express in Maho. We also pick up several bottles of Montevina at Netco to accompany our spicier lunches and dinners at home. Any zinfandel is a lot harder to find at restaurants, especially on the French side. For another take on Zinfandel, check out this listing from Gregory Dal Piaz at Snooth. You will note that no bottle appears on both lists, somewhat like the duelling "Top Ten Steakhouses" lists that appear in the flight magazines.

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