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St Maarten/St Martin
31 December 2017 Newsletter

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Contests | Restaurants | Bargains and Happenings

ISLAND NEWS

Cupecoy sunset

Weather: Over the next ten days the high temperature will range from 83 to 85 and the low will range from 43 to 75. The days will be partly or mostly cloudy. That's some pretty nice weather, especially to a guy feeding chickens when it is 10 below.

Travel:I have been checking flights and Expedia found me a flight from Albany to Fort Lauderdale where I would spend the night (on my nickel). The next morning I would fly to San Juan for a final flight to SXM. Cheapo Air offered the same with the overnight in San Juan for $743 per person.

Alcohol: Sylvain from Select Wine Cellar is open and ready sell you some of the best wine on the island. He features this wonderful Deutz Champagnee. He's got a very good price on this very good Champagne. He offers wine (and cheese/charcuterie) tastings in his shop or at your home. Moulin Fou is open seven days per week and Sylvain Is the wine steward on weekends.

Dany's Beach Bar

I had a chat and several emails with WendyK. She sent these shots of New Year's Eve day at Cupecoy Beach with Dany. There he is getting some barbecued fish out of its foil. It looks rather cloudy with a moist beach below. As you can see, he is in operation with an even more beautiful structure. It isn't much of a structure, essentially a roof, but it will provide shade and shelter.

Below left and center is the remains of the Summit Resort. It was declared a knockdown immediately. On the right is Treasure Island. Never heard of it? It was blown out by Luis in 1995. It existed between the Atlantis Casoino, recently renamed Starz, and the Med school. The reinforced concrete walls stood up and after our recent hurricane, we hear that the Med school needed the space for parking and another building or two. There was a large bulldozer nearby and they put it to work.

Below left is Starz Casino. Rumor has it that it won't reopen, especially as the owner is in a European jail. Below center is a look at the vacant lot just to the south of Starz. A twin tower of great height and many rooms has been mentioned. Just what we need. The photo on the right is Casino Royale. Tantra used to be the second story of the Casino, but it blew away. Ive heard they may be opening in Simpson Bay.

I've heard from Sonya at L'Escargot Restaurant that they are open for lunch and dinner.

Mario of Mario Bistrot wrote to say that he had lost his apartment next to the old Mario restaurant in Sandy Ground. Tt was not the end off the world it was a bunch of old stuff that was not important. He relocated to Jordan village next to the Med school. The restaurant is open with a smaller, simpler menu,featuring a more traditional French Cuisine.

Florence at La Villa says "We are open every night and also on Saturdays and Sundays. We will do a nice 4 course menu for Christmas Eve and an other one for New Years eve. (ed note You can find all the information in our facebook page.

George at Skipjack's is in the US returning soon to start rebuilding.

Dino from Temptation is working as a chef at Emilio's, the new restaurant inside the rain forest park. Long term I have no idea yet what my plan is. I'd like to re open Temptation but no plans at the moment.

Many small restaurants in Jordan Village are already open: BBs, Beirut, Fat Tony's, and Bar Code

green logo Nature: On the right is one of several cacti that was on our porch at Sapphire. It hasn't been seen lately.

Small Island story: Cheri's has not reopened yet and it appears as if it will not reopen. Sheri Batson, the owner, said the business has lost between $50,000 to $100,000 per year over the last seven years. She says that she had a lawyer calculate the termination payment, but of course, any worker can make ant calculation they want and claim more which will then be debated in the Daily Herald. You can read the Daily Herald article here


SXM-INFO'S CONTESTS


I haven't awarded contest prizes since late June. I know four of these prizes are gone with the wind (or waves) and will not be there to give you a prize. Until this is all sorted out, new prizes will not be awarded.

Current Contest: None is currently scheduled
Lagoon Pub Crawl - two for one ticket
Skipjack's - $50 off a dinner for two
DK Gems - $150 off a $500 purchase
Random Wind - $40 gift certificate
Select Wine Cellar - Wine tasting and a bottle of wine
Piazza Pascal - $50 off dinner for two
Pizza Galley - $25 off on a dinner for two
Ti Coin Créole - $30 off on a dinner for two


Credit Cards and Exchange Rate


On 17 Dec the Euro was at 1.176. Today it's at 1.200. That's down about 2.0% over the last two weeks.

With the Euro still high against the dollar, restaurants doing 1 to 1 become more interesting. It behooves those of us with dollars to check the exchange rate offered by restaurants. For several years French side restaurants have been offering better than market exchange rates, especially for cash. However, 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.


RESTAURANTS


News and Changes: We frequently post some dining photos to Facebook. Less frequently we post activities and other things related to SXM or food. If you're interested, I trust you know what to do.
SXM-Info has chosen SkyMed to arrange medical transportation services. We hope you never need it, but when air evacuation flights cost $30,000 or more, it's good to have. Check out their offerings.

 

Regards,
Erich S. Kranz
www.SXM-Info.com
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