St Maarten/St Martin 23 March 2014 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS Weather: Last Sunday I mentioned that I could hear the rollers crashing on Cupecoy as I entered the living room. On the balcony I saw that they had become larger and shifted to the south west. Before I could even get to the beach, WendyK sent an email saying all of Cupecoy Beach was largely under water or at best, consisted of wet sand. It was a very nice day. On the right a three-master glides by with Saba quite visible. Below left is a close-up of the three-master. The view photo in the Rosemary's review below was taken on Wednesday during lunch on the waterfront in Marigot. It was cloudy, hazy, hot, and though humid, it hasn't rained in quite a while. The golf course (our rain gauge) is crisping up. The center photo below is Passat gliding past on a cloudy Thursday after a squall with Saba barely visible on the left. 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 6:24PM, two extra minutes. In 2014 the full moons will be 15 Apr, 14 May, 12 Jun, 12 Jul, 10 Aug, 8 Sep, 8 Oct, 6 Nov, and 6 Dec. Last Sunday's full moon was fantastic because of clear skies. The right side photo below was taken on Saturday around noon. I assure you that Statia is behind the big sailboat. Obviously, some hazy (and warm) weather has arrived. This is a sunset shot taken taken from the shore road along the cemetery on the west side of Marigot. From here the sun does not set into the water, but drops behind the French lowlands and notably Les Mammelles, the two wonderfully shaped hills in the lowlands. SXM-Beaches: A picture is worth a thousand words. This is a picture of Le Petite Plage at Grand Case Beach Club taken while we were on Funseaker. As you can see there is a wide, but not very deep, beach. Beach reading: Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin - $3-17 (Kindle, or CD) various prices for hardcovers or paperbacks, new and used - Scottish homicide detective John Rebus has been sent from "North of the Border" to help London police catch a serial killer with a gruesome M.O. Teamed with a London cop he wants to trust but can't, Rebus lets a beautiful psychologist into the case develops a bizarre portrait of a killer who leaves bite marks and tears on each victim's body. Now it's only a question of who is going to get busted first: the cop with the accent who breaks all the rules--or the pyscho painting London with blood... The New York Times calls Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books "A superior series," and Tooth and Nail is another outstanding entry. [ed note: Obviously I like these if I'm onto the third one already.] Sapphire Beach Club: We are in our condo (Unit 255) at this time. The A/C works, the elevators work (although one has had problems), beach towels are available, the common areas are clean, the pool is lovely, and the hot tub now has water although no heat. The condo 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." Below is a shot across our Caribbean balcony, over the pool and villas, and about 25 miles across the Caribbean to Saba. 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: On St Paddy's Day we started around noon at a party in French Cul de Sac. Joe, from the parking lot in Grand Case, had a DJ out by his pool, plenty of libations, and the usual dinner at 3PM. He is just finishing work on a Villa Yellowcliff, a two bedroom villa on his property with the view as shown on the left. At about 5:30 we shifted over to our normal party at the Horny Toad Guesthouse for more corned beef, etc. The weather was spectacular. SXM-Activities: The Heineken Regatta finished on Sunday and I have about 30 photos on my Activities website. There were 211 entries and they looked as if they were having fun as the went past our balconies on all three days. Art: In several of our wanderings around Grand Case we have gone into the Tropismes Gallery. On our most recent visit, we found Paul-Elliott Thuleau manning the gallery. He is the artist responsible for the lovely paintings of Grand Case cottages. Martha has an earlier one hanging above here desk here in our condo. I now have one hanging above my desk. That's Paul-Elliott on the left in front of some of has larger works, holding our new acquisition. The larger view on the right shows that there is a typical open window, this time with a see-through view, a very intricate shadow on the building and a Ting soda advert on the building. I believe he said the building was in Barbuda.

Alcohol: On Saturday we made a brief stop at Select Wine Cellar. We tasted athe last of a Robert Denogent 2010 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Carrons, a superb Chardonnay ($71). We were supposed to have this with lunch on Friday but we got a report that our driveway was still impassable, so we had decided to stay another week. Many people, airline included, needed to be notified and plans rearranged. We also needed some more of our house wine, JJ Girard's 2009 Savigny-Les-Beaune ($25.70), but we had a long discussion over a bottle of Pierre Morey's 2009 Aloxe-Corton Premier Cru ($107). It's a bit young for such an august wine, but with a bit of breathing it was spectacular. Use the coupon on Sylvain's website to get 10% off.

Shopping: We went back to the Marigot market on Wednesday and made our final choices at The Garnet, formerly Octaedre Gems. They are in the permanent buildings at the eastern end of the market. Candy showed us the bracelet ($150) and Martha picked out the two sets of earrings for another $110. Candy is wearing a pendent very much like one that Martha bought a few years ago. It's very pretty jewelry and seems to hold up well. We also stopped in at DK Gems and found a very nice sapphire and diamond ring. We have no photos at this time as it is off-island being resized. When we get it we'll let you have a look. Even though Deepti has departed for China, her brother Kamal, and cousins Raj and Jeff, provide great service (and cold beers).

Travel: An article in the Daily Herald said that the Court of First Instance agreed "that all European Union (EU) citizens, currently 28 nationalities, have to be treated no differently than Dutch citizens when applying for residency in St. Maarten." In effect, "like Dutch nationals, European Union citizens wishing to reside here still will need to submit proof of ability to maintain themselves financially, as well as their police clearance (proof of good conduct). In other travel news, the Daily Herald reported that Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas stayed overnight in St Maarten on Thursday because of an oil leak. The leak cannot be repaired until the ship enters drydock, so it will be operating at a lower speed until then. Michael Maghiro has sculpted three bronze pelicans that have been installed at the airport roundabout. They cost a bit over a quarter million and are a gift from the airport to to SXM. The pelican is the "national" bird and has traits that are inherent in the St Maarten personality: grace, resourcefulness, courage and sacrifice.

	Nature: On the right are the two baby doves who hatched out and were fed by mother and father for a couple weeks while they learned to fly. Next they were taught what to eat and now they are gone and mother is sitting on another couple eggs. Our office is well over 100% solar-powered and our hosting company servers are about 130% wind-powered.
Small Island story: You know you are in a third world country when you hear that it is now safe to drink water on the French side.

Current Contest: now to 13 April 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:
13 April to 13 July | 13 July to 12 October | 12 October to 7 December
same cast of characters as current contest

Antoine Restaurant On Tuesday we headed over to Philipsburg for some shopping and a lunch at Antoine on a lovely day. The restaurant can be entered from the board walk along the beach or via Front Street. The dining room is along the beach with superb views of all of Great Bay. We started with sparkling water and the 2011 Brouilly from Chateau de Pierreux, (below center, $36). Martha ordered the shrimp with garlic, parsley, and pastis (below left, $27) and I had the a wonderful fresh snapper in a spicy sauce based on olive oil (right, $27). Both lunches came with a bit of brocoli, some cauliflower purée, some squash purée, and rice. The total was about $100 with the added 15% tip. We had a lovely time on a beautiful day. It is a great spot for a relaxing and very good lunch, if you are downtown shopping. They do serve a lighter lunch menu and serve at the beach chairs in front of the restaurant. The left hand photo is the view to the east down the boardwalk with the Segway crew cruising by. The center photo is view straight out across the beach and Great Bay to the three cruise ships calling today. On the right is the view to the west off to Divi Resort.

Anse Marcel Beach WendyK headed over here on St Paddy's Day. It's a long and harrowing drive, but I have been there several times over the years. This was her first trip and here's the report: A friend of a friend kindly agreed to drive us old ladies to the beach at Anse Marcel. He had been there several times over the years. I'm ashamed to say, I had never been there. When I arrived, I felt like I was on vacation at a tropical resort: the super calm, clear water, and flat sand reminded me of photos from a travel brochure. Two chairs and a sturdy umbrella that shaded both chairs pretty well were 20€. There are several wooden structures with table and chairs for dining, as well as a large bar and restaurant seating area plus spiffy rest rooms. We ate in a separate structure with four tables in it. Service was excellent and friendly. Two of us had tuna tartare (22€, below center) and two had tuna carpaccio (below right). A glass of rose was 5€, and I'm sorry I didn't scrutinize the menu for the other charges. "Tips not included" was printed on our receipt, so we left a good tip, (after deducting the 40€ cost of the chairs/umbrellas.) The total bill was about $65 per person with 2 beverages each and a bottle of water. Not an inexpensive day at the beach, but a new experience for me, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. [ed note: The beach is on the north side of the island facing north to Anguilla. It is an extremely protected area with high hills rising on each side of the beach. You can see the eastern hill extending quite a way out past the beach in the left side photo. It's also true of the western hill. This does make for a calm beach but the sun is behind you (if you face the water) and it rises late over the eastern hill and sets early over the western hill. It is, however, spectacular from 10AM until 3PM.]

After our purchases at The Garnet we walked over to the local food stands just outside the market. While we were looking about, a tout came up to us and pointed at an empty table in Rosemary's Seafood and Créole Cuisine. Decision made, we sat down, ordered a Red Stripe (2€), and checked the menu. Conch Créole was there at 13€. Two more decisions, in the blink of an eye. I just may be the new decider. On the right is our waitress showing off her menus. The beer arrived almost quickly and the food arrived promptly (below center). The conch stew is at the bottom of the plate, tender conch (not easy to do) with a spicy tomato sauce and some crunchy, but not hot, peppers. Starting from there and proceeding clockwise we have provision, a fried plantain, rice and beans (with hot sauce), and salad. That is a pretty healthy and filling plate of food. Beans and rice are complementary proteins, meaning together they contain all the essential amino acids. The conch supplies more protein with less than 10% of calories coming from fat. The same weight of lamb loin would contain 2.5 times the calories with almost 70% coming from fat. Provision is starch, in this case we believe boniato and green banana mixed and boiled. 3 oz are about 100 calories and 12% of daily fiber needs. The plantain has about 20% more calories (sugar!) and 50% more fiber. The salad has almost no calories or fat, but a bit of fiber. The salad is undressed, but dressing is brought to your table. You will probably add more calories from fat with the dressing than there is on the plate. Sorry to go all food police on you, but I think this is pretty tasty food and I know it's pretty good for you. On the left is the view from our table across the parking lot to the West Indies Mall with Fort Louis at the top of the hill. On the right is a photo of the entrance to this fine food emporium.