St Maarten/St Martin 16 February 2014 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS Weather: The worst of the squally weather seems to be over. Finally. On the right is a bit of blue-ish sky (OK, it's mostly solid haze, but it's not clouds) around the local Coast Guard as they keep the island safe. Despite the seemingly good weather, Saba was almost obscured on Monday morning (below left). The center photo shows the start of what became a green flash. You can see the AVI here: GreenFlash. Be prepared to wait. The far right is another beautiful, although cloudy, sunset. Down below is a cloudy sunset pano. Lots of clouds, but little rain, so I call it pretty good weather all week! 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 6:14PM, three extra minutes. In 2014 the full moons will be 16 Mar, 15 Apr, 14 May, 12 Jun, 12 Jul, 10 Aug, 8 Sep, 8 Oct, 6 Nov, and 6 Dec. SXM-Beaches: On the left is the new sign at the NW boundary of Club Orient at Orient Beach. There is plenty of beach here but plenty of people also. On the right is a photo of the beach starting at Kakao looking north to the headlands of the island. There's quite a bit of chop lately, the far end of the east coast storms. We noticed it in Simpson Bay on Friday when we had a Valentine's Day brunch at the Horny Toad Guesthouse. WendyK noticed big swells this morning at Cupecoy, but not much beach erosion at Shore Pointe. Rum punch day for her, but no swimming!

Beach reading: Survival of the Fittest by Jonathan Kellerman - about $8 (Kindle) or $3 (paperback) - Amazon.com Review: Legendary L.A. psychologist-turned-novelist Kellerman raids real life when inventing the adventures of his psychologist sleuth, Dr. Alex Delaware, and some of the scariest parts of Survival of the Fittest are historical. Eugenicists lurk behind a murder spree Alex must solve, and he notes that the eugenics movement involved one elite U.S. college professor who advocated castration of ethnically lesser men, a forced sterilization ordered by Supreme Court Justice Holmes that Hitler used as a precedent to sterilize millions, and the pre-Holocaust coinage of the phrase "final solution." Besides a truly horrifying theme, Survival of the Fittest boasts sharp but not arch dialogue; savvy psychological insights into stressed-out cops, suicides' loved ones, and malevolent therapists; and a sense of place so vivid that the Los Angeles Times has rated Kellerman the most evocative L.A. author since Raymond Chandler. The plot's as twisty as a canyon road, and it's great fun to ride along with Dr. Alex and his sidekick, the burly, gay LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, as they dodge large red herrings and strive to find out why mildly handicapped kids are suffering "gentle strangulation" by killers who sign their handiwork with the mysterious letters DVLL, and what the devil this has to do with the high-IQ group Meta. Bonus for Kellerman fans: his Israeli serial killer catcher, Daniel Sharavi, star of his 1988 bestseller The Butcher's Theater, joins the sleuth team. But in the gory finale, Dr. Alex faces absolute evil all alone.

Sapphire Beach Club: We are in our condo (Unit 255) at this time. The A/C works, the elevators work (the broken one was repaired), beach towels are available, the common areas are clean, the pool is lovely, and even the hot tub has warmish water. 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." On the right is Random Wind going by under sail with the faintest outline of Saba in the distance.

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: L'Esperance Hotel on the outskirts of Pburg has a fabulous pool (left) and free Wifi. The rooms are clean and neat. The rates are low, so if you need an extra day (or two) to add to your timeshare week to get a cheaper flight or just to avoid the Saturday crush at the airport, spend a relaxing day here.

SXM-Activities: I bumped into Diane Smith in the line for mail at Mailbox in Simpson Bay. She's the owner and captain of Random Wind, the third boat we ever went on. It's been a while, so we made plans to join her for the daysail. If you want to sail, snorkel, swim, and swing (left), Random Wind is the boat. She's a real sailboat and when the wind is right, all you'll hear is the wind in the sails and the splash of the waves (and maybe some Jummy Buffet). To get to the very best snorkeling, you have to get to the far side of Anguilla. If you'd like to come back that day, you need power. On the right is Lambada, the first boat we ever went out on. In this photo she's on her nightly sunset cruise coming past our condo. During the day she makes a run out to the best snorkeling spots.

Groceries: We avoid holiday dinners (Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, etc). The restaurants are crowded, the staff is overworked, and frequently you are required to take a multi-course, expensive meal. Martha actually likes to cook, now that she is no longer doing it professionally. I have all the wine I want in my cellar (OK, it's a broom closet here). We have access to great groceries including frozen artichoke bottoms (left), frozen peas, frozen cepes (right), and frozen snails - all from Super U. Our VD dinner started with the snails in garlic and parsley butter and moved on to a fresh duck breast (also Super U) with a creamy, mushroom sauce accompanied by an artichoke bottom cooked in a broth made of duck trimmings filled with sautéed peas and shallots. There were potatoes of course, thin sliced with a bit of cream and cheese. Alcohol: Our wine was a 2010 Nuits-Saint-Georges from Chantal Lescure, $65 at Select Wine Cellar. Considerably less than you'd pay in a restaurant. Use the coupon on the website to get 10% off.

Shopping: Trouble in Paradise, I've blown out my flip flop. Surprisingly enough, there is still a shoe repair shop on the island. For $8, you can get a pair of shoes put back together. The shop is on Unity Road. That's the one that runs from Cole Bay past the Orange Grove Shopping Center (home of Select Wine Cellar), past the Harley joint, past Grand Marché and Princess Casino to the roundabout at the causeway and the border. The cobbler is near Divico and Greenfingers. His front door is on the side street, but he is the first building, so he is essentially on Unity.

Crime: The police have reported lower crime statistics for 2013. Of interest to tourists would be dwelling burglaries dropping 37%, robberies dropped 20%, and car thefts down 16%. The car theft figure for St Maarten is half that for St Martin. There are more details in the Daily Herald.

Travel: St Maarten just released figures for visitors in 2013. The fourth quarter showed occupancy increasing by 7% versus the figure for 2012 and the total yearly occupancy for 2013 was 69% versus 63.3% for 2012. I've been thinking it wasn't so crowded, but this may be because of the better traffic flow with the causeway in operation.

	Nature: The fluff balls on the right are two very young ring neck doves being protected by their mother. The Daily Herald picked up the story on renewable energy here in the Caribbean and the Herald says GEBE may add 2mW of solar panels. Our office is well over 100% solar-powered and our hosting company servers are about 130% wind-powered.
Small Island story: I sent an email to the Miami Herald that is freely distributed here, pointing out that page 7B had a rather large 5B directly under the 7B. Moreover, every story on 7B claimed to be continued on 7B, when a quick glance to the left showed them to be continued onto 6B. I never expected an answer, but they replied they had sent my comments to the local Daily Herald who prints the paper. I really expected nothing from that, but amazingly, the pages are now numbered correctly.

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

Bistrot Caraïbes On Monday evening we headed over to Bistrot Caraïbes to meet some friends. We parked quite close as the restaurant comps the parking in the pay parking lot, if you show your receipt. We ordered water and a bottle of Chablis, thinking how the crisp wine would cut the oiliness of the wonderful smoked salmon that I would order as my appetizer. Thibault had just received a few cases of a very good white Mercurey (2011, right, 55€) and suggested that instead. I do like a good white Burgundy and in truth, when the salmon is long-smoked, it isn't as oily as other preparations. So we had the Mercurey and I was astounded by how good it was. I also ordered the 2011 Brouilly (36€, a grand cru Beaujolais) for the main course. The salmon was quite full-flavored, even moreso with capers and onions (below left, 15€). The big round flavor of the Mercurey, the unctuousness, worked well with the salmon, which comes with toast points for added crunch. Martha had marmite of red snapper, wonderful dish that she has frequently as it features a tasty fresh fish with saffron and mussel sauce (24€, below center). I had the lamb chops on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with a thyme sauce and a vegetable medley (28€, below right). The Brouilly was very good with these dishes. We passed on coffee and dessert, having complimentary balloons of Armagnac. The menu here does not change much, but that doesn't bother me because I like almost all of it and they rotate some wonderful specials. Altogether our dinner cost us about $166, at an exchange rate of 1.3, versus 1.36 at the bank. Our friends both had the flown-in-fresh French sea bass, another of our favorite dishes, and the special Tataky tuna appetizer. Thibault gave us a taste of this new appetizer couple weeks ago and it has now become another of our favorite dishes here. If I have a complaint, it is that there are too many dishes that I like here.

Kakao Beach Bar We stopped in late without a reservation and didn't get a front row seat on the beach. Let that be a lesson to you. The view from the front tables was quite nice (below left with a parasailor in sky). Our view wasn't quite so good. Plan ahead and be rewarded. Our waiter brought us Guigal's Cote du Rhone (28€), a sturdy red wine capable of standing up to the many flavors (and extra anchovies) in Martha's Salade Niçoise (below center, 14€) and my mixed grill (22€). Martha thinks this is the best Niçoise on the island. My mixed grill had beef, lamb, duck, and chicken. The potatoes had been deep fried and drizzled with a persillade. I had a difficult time fending off Martha's attempts upon my potatoes. Our total bill was about 70€ ($95) plus a tip - good food and service at a reasonable price plus great views.

L'Excellence, French Restaurant School From WendyK: "Today was our first day back at the school after a long break. Unfortunately, they still haven't replenished the wine stock. Our cocktail of the day was a screwdriver, not very inventive or picturesque. The amuse bouche was a crustless cheese quiche, decorated with a bit of phyllo dough. The ap was a Guadeloupe melon with prosciutto, garnished with some cornichons, which made a nice contrast with the fruit and salty ham. (below left) The main course was mahi with a beurre blanc sauce, pommes vapeur, and haricots vertes (below center). There was a buckwheat crepe for dessert. We drank a bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water (3€) and a bottle of Chablis (14€) As the lunches are 12€ each, our total was 41€."

Ti Bouchon Restaurant On Thursday we counter-programmed the karaoke at Sapphire by going to Ti Bouchon in Cul de Sac. The colorful old Créole house has the bar and kitchen and the porch that wraps around two sides of the house serves as the dining room. There is a small but most interesting menu with aps ranging from $10 to $20 and main courses from $25 to the low $40s. As usual, Momo has several specials that are worth your consideration and he is more than happy to discuss his menu and specials with you. Momo and family spent three months in Spain last summer so he has returned with renewed enthusiasm for Spanish wines and influences on his cuisine. We ordered fizzy water and a 2005 Bentus Rioja (right, $59). Our amuse bouche was a lobster carpaccio with a hint of lime and a whipped cream topping sprinkled with poppy seeds. (above left) My ap was the eggs murette, eggs poached in a red wine sauce with little silverskin mushrooms, bacon, and tiny button mushrooms. Very tasty and very Burgundian (above center, 13) I followed that with a special of scallops and shrimp with a risotto topped with a medley of vegetables all swimming in a tasty sauce (above right, 36). Martha had a special long cooked veal shank on a bed of crushed potatoes with an orange caramel glaze and veg (right, 39). Momo presents a bill and says he doesn't care if you pay in euros or dollars. Just like last year's visit, you should choose dollars. Our bill was $153 to which we added a tip for his entertaining service.