St Maarten/St Martin 12 March 2017 Newsletter Other newsletters Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings ISLAND NEWS

Weather: Last Sunday was a perfect day for the last day of the Heineken Regatta, plenty of wind, some clouds, no rain, but Monday arrived with more clouds (right) with intermittent rain. Saba is in that photo. Tuesday was horrid with rain driven by 15 mph winds and temps in the lower 70's. The photo below left was taken at 6AM on Tuesday. It was cloudy and only got worse. The central photo below was taken at Orient Beach by Vikki Whitley on Thursday. The trade winds have been fierce, 17-18 mph but died out by sunset on Friday. Below right is Random Wind heading out for her daysail. Saba is in this photo also. On Saturday morning Saba was totally lost in marine haze, closing out a pretty bad week of wind, cool temps, haze, and some serious rain. It keeps the island green and gives us the rainbow pano (below) that was taken from our lagoon balcony on Monday afternoon. Today will be clear, then partly cloudy, then clear, then partly cloudy, then clear for three straight days. The temperatures are rock solid: 81 for the high and 75 for the low for the next seven days.
Here's the detailed forecast from Weather Underground and here's one from the Weather Channel. Sunset tonight will be at 6:21 PM providing 11 hours and 59 minutes of sunshine. We are close to the equinox! In 2017 the full moons will be 12 Mar (tonight!), 11 Apr, 10 May, 9 Jun, 8 Jul, 7 Aug, 6 Sep, 5 Oct, 4 Nov, and 3 Dec.

SXM-Beaches: It was a pretty tough week at the beach. You saw the waves at Orient above in the weather discussion. Wendy K went to Cupecoy early in the week and never went in the water. However, this morning she reports sand at baby beach and calmer waters. The photo was taken 10 years ago on a Regatta cruise on the original Celine. On the right is Sapphire, in the center is Ocean Club, and on the left is Blue Mall, currently closed.

Bone Box by Faye Kellerman - $28 (Hardcover) - Amazon.com Review: In this thrilling chapter in Faye Kellerman’s bestselling series, Rina Lazarus makes a shocking discovery in the woods of her upstate New York community that leads her husband, police detective Peter Decker, through a series of gruesome, decades old, unsolved murders, pointing to a diabolical, serial killer who's been hiding in plain sight. On a bright and crisp September morning, while walking a bucolic woodland trail, Rina Decker stumbles upon human remains once buried deep beneath the forest grounds. Immediately, she calls her husband, Peter, a former detective lieutenant with LAPD, now working for the local Greenbury Police. Within hours, a vista of beauty and tranquility is transformed into a frenetic crime scene. The body has been interred for years and there is scant physical evidence at the gravesite: a youthful skeleton, a skull wound and long dark strands of hair surrounding the bony frame. As Decker and his partner, Tyler McAdams, further investigate, they realize that they're most likely dealing with a missing student from the nearby Five Colleges of Upstate, a well-known and well-respected consortium of higher learning where Rina works. There's more, but you get the idea. As usual, Martha borrowed the book from our library via the internet and read it on her Kindle.

Sapphire Beach Club: Recently, Cheri Martel wrote: "We have now been at Sapphire for our first week. Things are definitely progressing but still need a lot of work. The pool and bar area look nice and the resort seems to be almost full. Lots of people and activity. Our two rooms have been completely renovated. We have had daily maid service. AC is working fine but can tell the new chillers haven't been installed yet. Staff has been great and it is great to see a lot of the same workers that have been here for years (that says a lot to me). We own 5 weeks and have paid all the assessments and maintenance fees as we feel that's the only way things will continue to get done. We've been asked repeatedly if things are okay in our rooms, they want to know every detail so it can be documented. This week the island has been packed with tourists for the regatta. Traffic is an issue if you don't know how to navigate. Hopefully this will encourage some of you to stick with your investment to give things a chance." On the right is Tanya-Michelle belting out the blues on at Friday party. Below left is a helicopter that appears to have popped out of dormant Mount Scenery on Saba. Below center is Mercedes with her lights on and on the right is a proud parent of two chicks on our balcony looking for crumbs.
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: The Grand Case Beach Club is a beachfront property on French St Martin. They are on the northwest coast of the French side of the island, just steps away from the fabulous restaurants in Grand Case. They have five two- or three-story buildings separated from the sand by a colorful garden of bougainvillea, hibiscus, and coconut palms. From your room at Grand Case Beach Club it's only a couple of steps down to the beach, dotted with umbrellas for shade. They have an artificial grass tennis court (lit for night play), a water sport center with a variety of complimentary services, and a swimming pool for your enjoyment.

SXM-Activities: We met Capn Neil in the lobby of Sapphire on Monday night and he filled me in on what he is doing. Celine still hosts the world-famous Lagoon Pub Crawl on Wednesday night. Currently, it starts at The Stone Restaurant with a drink and an appetizer. She then goes under the causeway to Rendez Vous in Porto Cupecoy for the main course. Her last dining stop finds dessert waiting at the Dinghy Dock. Finally, she returns home. It's a moveable feast of three courses with three drinks while motoring around the lagoon and the bar on the boat is always open. Celine also goes out on a day trip to Tintamarre and a beach getaway. Or just get up a group and dream up your own perfect day charter.

SXM-Activities: On Saturday we caught a few tunes by Miek-Miek at Sapphire's restaurant before we left for a dinner at Le Cottage. That's her on the left with the sun setting behind her. As the restaurant is just off our Caribbean balcony, we hear the music quite well. After a wonderful dinner, we returned to the pay parking lot. As we walked in to the lot, the band started up at Blue Martini. It was Remo and the Barb Wire Band. We went in for a couple adult beverages and didn't get home until midnight.

Rental Cars: I knew Starlite Car Rental via Brinks Car Rental. There was a man on the island by the name of Brinks who had a car rental called Brinks Car Rental. Seems reasonable, but not to the Brink's company. They got in touch with me as I was listed on the domain registration. After a few years the Internet authorities ruled that Mr Brinks could not use his own name for a totlally unrelated business and the domain was transferred to Brink's. Today they are Starlite Car Rental working out of the Belair Hotel. I've seen emails from many satisfied customers. Ask them for a quote, if you haven't got a car for your next vacation.

Gas: The Nettle Bay Cadisco was charging 0.88€ per liter and not doing 1 to 1. Delta Petroleum on the western side of the French bridge in Sandy Ground is at 0.89€ and taking dollars at 1 to 1. The Cadisco on the other side of the French Bridge is still charging 0.88 and giving 1 to 1. Delta's station in La Savanne was charging 0.92 and not doing 1.1. The Artsen station near the Super U was charging 1.02€. The Cadisco in Orient was charging 0.90€ and doing 1 to 1. The Blue station near Marigot's beach at Galis Bay was charging 1.01€ and not doing 1 to 1. The Artsen station near the Super U was at 1.02€. The winner seems to be the Cadisco station along the eastern side of the French canal. The Delta station in La Savanne has gone from first to worst in terms of price???

If you are looking for fine jewelry or watches, look no further than Jewels by Love, a fifth generation jeweler with shops in Pburg and Marigot. The world's greatest watchmakers have chosen only one official agent to show their creations in the Caribbean. That agent is Jewels by Love where Love Mahtani (in Marigot) and his son Rish Mahtani (in Philipsburg) are passionate about "Haute Horlogerie". A testament to the Mahtani's success came in the mid 80's with the granting of Official Agent Status by the World's Finest Watchmakers. The most prestigious and exclusive watch brands are mow represented by Jewels by Love. They include such venerable names as: Patek Philippe | Breguet | IWC | Vacheron Constantin A. Lange & Sohne | Jaeger-LeCoultre | Ulysse Nardin | NOMOS| Snyper

Groceries: Carrefour in Cole Bay near the causeway has been having extravagant ice chests topped with fresh fish, supposedly caught the night before, which I think is true if you show up on Thursday. There was a chest topped with red snapper ($8/lb) and another with yellowtail ($12/lb). The middle photo had some really expensive seafood. the expanded version has some labels on the fish. Martha picked out some mahi ($17/lb right) I'm not saying they were cheap, but they were fresh.

Our office is well over 100% solar-powered. In fact, in seven years of operation our solar panels have produced over half the electrical needs for the house, my work shop, and a large animal barn. Our hosting company servers are about 130% wind-powered.

Small Island story: On Wednesday, the Herald's lead on-line story was about two guys who robbed two supermarkets in Sandy Ground. The photo however showed two shipping containers. Other than "two", I saw no connection until I got to the bottom of the article where the last two paragraphs switched to another story about a citizen who had illegally started building a restaurant on Friar's Bay Beach with two shipping containers. This happened two weeks after I had written about the beach!

The dump in Nassau is on fire also. Seems to be contagious.

With the Euro being so weak against the dollar it behooves those of us with dollars to check the exchange rate offered by restaurants again. For several years French side restaurants have been offering better than market exchange rates, especially for cash. If a French side restaurant offers a bad exchange rate, ask for your credit card to be charged in Euros. Assuming you followed my advice below and got a card that has no charge for foreign transactions you will get the wholesale rate on the exchange.

There was a recent article in the NY Times about credit cards and travel benefits. Check it out here.

You should not be paying a currency transaction charge as there are many credit cards that don't have this onerous charge. My United Mileage Plus Explorer/Chase card no longer charges it and gets my first bag checked free for all United tickets purchased on the card.

We now use the Capital One Quicksilver Visa Signature Card that gives us 1.5% cash back - no fooling around with miles. They do not charge an exchange fee on foreign transactions and they do provide rental car insurance. This has been our primary card as airline miles are not as valuable or as easy to use as they used to be.

We always notify our card companies of our travel. Chase and Quicksilver actually accept this info on-line, making it much easier than working through the hell of telephone answering systems.

There are discussions on Credit card Forum and Daily Markets that may help you decide what card is best for you. The first one has a review of the new Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. It gives you 2 points for travel related purchases and then allows you to take 20% off when purchasing your rewards through their Ultimate Rewards portal. It's tempting.