St Maarten/St Martin 19 January 2014 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS Weather: We arrived on a squally Saturday (11 Jan). Sunday and Monday were slightly better and Tuesday was very clear, so much so that we got a wonderful sunset shot from our balcony at Sapphire. As the photo below shows the sky was pretty clear and especially clear at the horizon - perfect conditions for a green flash. See below for a later photo. Wednesday (15 Jan) strated as a fabulous day, and though we saw some squalls off toward Saba, we saw the tip Nevis rising above the horizon about 90 miles away. Despite this clear day the sunset was cloudy and it has been overcast with some rain all week. On the right is a shot of one of the seven cruise ships in port on 15 Jan: Carnival Dream, Westerdam, Ventura, Oasis Of The Seas, Freedom Of The Seas, and Celebrity Reflection. It was blotting out the island of Saba as it passed. Note how overcast it was by sunset. 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 tonight will be at 5:46 PM. We are past the solstice and sunset is about 4 minutes later already. In 2014 the full moons will be 14 Feb, 16 Mar, 15 Apr, 14 May, 12 Jun, 12 Jul, 10 Aug, 8 Sep, 8 Oct, 6 Nov, and 6 Dec.

SXM-Beaches: There's plenty of sand and calm water at Cupecoy in front of Shore Pointe, but not much elsewhere. We made a quick stop at at the Horny Toad Guesthouse on Simpson Bay and am pleased to report that everyone there is doing well as is the beach. We continued on to Orient Beach and took the panoramic shot below from Paradise View Restaurant. It really is a paradise and the food is pretty good also. That's Green Cay in the center and Tintamare on the left. While we were here we stopped in at Local Rums & Spices to chat with Bernie. The shop is the same size, but the selection seems larger. We always get some hot sauce and chutney here and she has a large selection of Ma Doudou flavored rums in plastic bottles, perfect for travel. She also has a large selection of rescued cats and dogs. Stop in, pick up some rum and spices, and drop a dollar in the box.

Beach reading: A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva - (Hardcover $16, paperback $5, Kindle $8) - From Publishers Weekly: Silva completes his cycle of three interconnected novels (The English Assassin; The Confessor) dealing with "the unfinished business of the Holocaust" with this superbly crafted narrative of espionage and foreign intrigue. During the later stages of WWII, Sturmbannführer Erich Radek's job was to erase all evidence of the Holocaust. Radek, now known as Ludwig Vogel, is chairman of the Danube Valley Trade and Investment Corporation and lives quietly in Vienna. A bombing at the Austrian Wartime Claims and Inquiries office leaves chief investigator Eli Lavon near death. Undercover Mossad agent Gabriel Allon, protagonist of the two previous novels, is ordered by Israeli spymaster Ari Shamron to ferret out the perpetrator. Allon is reluctant-he's working as an art restorer on one of Bellini's great altarpieces in Venice-but Eli is an old friend from the secret service, and duty calls. The case becomes personal when Allon, reading his mother's account of her time in the camps "I will not tell all the things I saw. I cannot. I owe this much to the dead" discovers that not only was Radek a sadistic monster, his mother was very nearly murdered by him. The chase is long and complex as agents from a number of international spy groups circle and harass Allon as he hunts down the infamous and still deadly Radek.

Those seeking cheap thrills should look elsewhere. Action and suspense abound, but this is serious fiction with a serious purpose. Silva keeps the pressure on the reader as well as his characters as there are important lessons to be learned and vital history to be remembered. We listened to the audiobook and were quite pleased with the reader and the story.

Sapphire Beach Club: We are in our condo (Unit 255) at this time. The A/C works, the elevators work, beach towels are available, the common areas are clean, and the pool is lovely. It will be available starting in April at rates ranging from $700 to $1000 per week over the low season. You'll get a 10% discount from Unity Car Rental, one of the longest running and most trusted agencies on the island, and many more coupons as well. 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." The photo below was taken from our balcony at Sapphire. It came a few minutes after the sunset shot above and was the precursor to a fabulous green flash. Unfortunately, despite seeing about 25 green flashes per season for about 20 years, I have never managed to capture one on camera.

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 several 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. SXM-Hotels: We stopped in at La Vista Resort past the Simpson Bay Resort. That's their pool on the left and the photo was essentially take from their restaurant. The motto here used to be "Timeshare done right." I no longer see that on the website, but it is true. I don't believe I have seen a single complaint about this property in the 20 years I have been here. They have a few resales available and are in a convenient location. They are worth a look if you are in the market.

Travel: For the first time in several years we could get a flight from Albany to Newark in time to catch the Continental (now United) non-stop to SXM. We had been flying to Newark, spending the night there, and flying out the next morning. This year the flight from Albany left at 6:30AM. Subtract an hour and a half for check-in and TSA plus an hour and a half drive and we would have to get up at 3AM. Thus, the new early morning flight means we only change the location of our hotel from Newark to Albany. That does mean that we do all airline travel in one day which is something of a bonus, especially when traveling with a cat. For those of you in the Albany area, Cocca's Travelodge in Latham is quite close to the airport, accepts pets, costs only $62 for the night, and has a very good restaurant (Portofino).

We had a Checker Cab scheduled for 5:30AM and it arrived a bit early so we had plenty of time in the Albany airport especially as schedule changes moved our flight to a 6:55AM departure. This, however, had reduced the layover in Newark from 90 minutes to about 60. Takeoff from Albany was about 10 minutes late and arrival in Newark was another 5 minutes later. My large carry-on was gate checked and waiting for that added another 10 minutes. Thankfully, it was the first piece of luggage off the flight! The remaining 35 minutes was ample because for the first time in years, we did not have to leave the secure area to get to the new gate, thus, although it was a long walk, there was no TSA bottleneck.

We arrived in SXM on time (2:00PM) in a rain squall. It was over by the time we got off the plane. That's good, because although there are jetways here, I have never used one. We always get uncovered stairways and a dash to a bus, or worse, a dash to the terminal. It is as if the designers don't realize that tropical weather includes tropical storms. We stopped at the rather expensive Maho Market on the way to Sapphire, getting just enough for breakfast. As we had unloaded the car at Sapphire, we got caught in another downpour.

On United, pets are allowed in the main cabin, if they stay in a carrier that fits under the seats. They cost $125 each way and require a health certificate from a vet within a week before departure and another from the vet here in SXM a week before return. Down here we always go to the animal hospital in Concordia. Just keep going up the road to Concordia and after it flattens out, the vet will be on the right.

Groceries: As mentioned we stopped at Maho Market on our arrival Saturday to pick up some breakfast items. Maho Market is convenient, but oftentimes expensive. Their yogurt was $4.50 per quart. The next day I got a better yogurt at a very depleted Grand Marché for $3.50. However, a carton of Juver tomato juice was essentially the same price. My advice would be to buy as little as possible at Maho. They have a captive audience as many people who stay there don't get a car. While standing in front of the rather forlorn plastic parma ham on the deli counter at Grand Marché on Sunday, I asked the server if they had the real thing. She said yes, so I asked the price. She replied that she had to weigh the meat before she could tell me the price as it depends on how much I want. I am not making this up.

Alcohol: Last Saturday, after we unpacked and unloaded the owner's closet, we found our cell phone and called Sylvain from Select Wine Cellar to order a case of Burgundy. He arrived about 6:30 with the case I had ordered and a bottle of Deutz champagne to welcome us back. We've already tasted the 2011 Guy Amiot Bourgogne ($25.50) with our usual lunch of paté, cheese, and crusty bread. It was quite nice with plenty of fruit and a lovely pinot flavor. We also have sampled the 2010 Savigny-Les-Beaune from Jean-Jacques Girard ($25.70). This was better and as they are almost the same price, I'll probably drink a lot of SlB this season. We tasted this against his 2011 Savigny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru, and while I correctly identified them in a blind tasting, it was very difficult. We went to a tasting at the house of Sylvain's former partner Marina and had some spectacular white wines including a Corton-Charlemagne. The red wines included one from the year of Marina's birth from a lesser vineyard (Ch Olivier). The greatness of that vintage was such that the wine was wonderful. I brought a 2009 Chambolle Musigny from Amiot Servelle ($86) to the tasting and it was remarkably good despite its youth.

Traffic: The causeway is most convenient for getting from Cupecoy and Maho to the far side of Cole Bay. We have used it several times already. The reflectors that WendyK has mentioned in the lowlands are installed in the tarmac, not along side the road. they are implanted every 100 feet or so in both fog lines and in the centerline. That is a very handy thing when driving through here at night. We read an article in the French Faxinfo that said the Prefecture was going to contine these reflectors all the way through Nettle Bay to the French bridge.

There have been changes in the Dutch bridge schedule: 8:30AM outbound, 9:30AM inbound, 10:30AM, outbound, 11:30AM inbound, 3:00AM inbound, 4:00PM, outbound, and 5:00PM inbound. That's one more opening but they should be shorter and the line of backed up cars should also be shorter because the causeway will handle some of the traffic.

	Nature: On the right is a flower from a cactus Martha picked up at Greenfingers. It is wild looking and putrid smelling. The odor attracts flies to enhance its pollination. Our office is well over 100% solar-powered and our hosting company servers are about 130% wind-powered.
Small Island story: A follow-up to the Chikungunya fever spread by small mosquitoes: When we a walked in from the immigration to the baggage area, airport employees were handing out mosquito spray. And as a public service, we present the Daily Herald story that says a KLM jet blew out some car windows and damaged 17 cars parked at Karakter in Simpson Bay.

Current Contest: now to 16 February 2014

Caribbean View Condo - half price summer rental (May-October)
Lagoon Pub Crawl - two for one ticket
Skipjack's - $50 off a dinner for two
Marci's Mega Gym - Two for One week with a shake
Random Wind - $40 gift certificate
Select Wine Cellar - Wine tasting and a bottle of wine
Piazza Pascal - $50 off dinner for two
Escargot Restaurant - $50 off a dinner for two
Pizza Galley - $25 off on a dinner for two

Read our rules, visit the websites of these sponsors, find their contest codes, and enter them on our entry form.

One of the rules is that you should enter each contest only once. You can enter five of the drawings on one entry. Thus, you could win a rather nice vacation at a considerable savings by combining accommodations with dinners and activities. I really check and while a Sulay entered 33 times, instead of increasing her chance of winning, she decreased it to zero as I deleted all of them. She did account for about a third of the entries.

Here's some comments from a past winner:

Future Contests:
16 February to 13 April | 13 April to 13 July | 13 July to 12 October | 12 October to 7 December
same cast of characters as current contest

SPN Café On the Saturday we arrived, we headed out to Pineapple Pete's SPN Café in another downpour. We had a barbecued half chicken for dinner and watched the last half of the first playoff game and the first half of the Pats game, returning home at 10:30PM. We are an hour ahead of east coast time, so that was only 9:30 EST. Four Heineken drafts and the chicken cost about $40 with a 15% tip added to the bill. We came over again on Sunday and watched the first playoff game here. The menu is large and inexpensive and there are plenty of TVs, making it a good place for watching the games.