Sint Maarten – Part One

20 January
Thursday
We slept in and then drove around to dive shops to book a dive for Sunday.
Then we went over to Phillipsburg which is normally where all the cruise ships dock. There were no cruise ships and the streets were empty like a ghost town. Still, it was nice walking around and we were easily convinced to support the local economy when offered happy hour rum punch. The rum punch was strong and the bartender laughed at me when I told her so.

Feeling great, we strolled and did some shopping. Carl and I are usually terrible hagglers and things in Sint Maarten are actually pretty expensive because they import everything (for example salmon pasta is about $25-$30 anywhere you go). But we must’ve found the deals because everything we got they said “5 dollars”. I got a visor and a floatable strap for my camera and Carl got a new phone case. As we were walking to the beach, Carl tripped and busted a plugger (his flip flops broke). So we went back and bought him some new flip flops – well timed!
For lunch we stared out over the ocean while sharing some curry goat, rice and peas, salad, and a couple Caribes.

On our way back we stopped at a grocery store in Phillipsburg to offset dining out expenses. We opted to get a big ol box of Presidentes ($20) and passed over the beef tongue the size of my friends new baby ($100). We also got some stinky cheese and foie gras.
By the time we got back to our place the sun was going down so we sat on the balcony and read. Then walked next door to Sandbar for dinner. There’s not much indication of Dutch culture on the Dutch side of the island but at Sandbar we got some Bitterballen – basically fried balls of beef stew – which are a pub snack and pair nicely with a cold Presidente. After dinner we played some foosball while our waiter watched and cheered us on.

21 January
Friday
Slept in again (https://youtu.be/S3kIwRsSF_8) and went over to the French side for brunch. There were three restaurants in Marigot that Carl used to go to and they all are closed or don’t exist now. We don’t know if they have been closed since Hurricane Irma in 2017 (Hurricane Irma was the first category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands, followed by Hurricane Maria two weeks later) or because of COVID-19 and the lack of tourism. The all you can eat lobster place was basically rubble. His favorite bakery, Serafina, had moved and was still under construction. So we went to the place next door, Chez Fernand. We got a tasty salmon sandwich, a dense almond croissant, and a couple cappuccinos.
Afterward we walked up the hill to check out the old fort. The fort had great views of the whole bay and some funny history signs that basically said “this thing was already demolished by the time we put these signs up”.

Then we drove south again, to a locals beach that Carl knew of. All beaches in Sint Maarten are public, but adjacent homeowners sometimes make it difficult for people to get to the beach. To get to Baie Rouge, you have to drive through a gated area. The gate is open, but there are signs all around it in French with red lettering that likely dissuade many non-local, non-french speaking tourists from entering. We braved it, and discovered a parking lot with a handful of cars, and stairs down to the beach.
The beach had more rocks, but was still Caribbean paradise with white sand and clear water and there was nearly no one else there. After a few hours of sun worshipping and vigorously apply sunscreen to our ghostly pale bodies, we headed back to the Airbnb.

That night we went on a dinner sunset sail around the south side of the island. We got a taxi to Simpson Bay and our driver was so nice and asked us to call him “X” as he took his hands off the wheel and made an X by crossing his arms. On board, the boat crew kept us well supplied with rum punches and served little appetizers as we sailed out from the coast. We turned and followed the southern part of the island before putting down anchor and having a buffet of mahi mahi, bbq chicken and of course rice and peas and salad. Carl and I made friends with a Canadian couple while we got our moneys worth in unlimited food and drinks. Basically we got drunk, eh.

When we returned to land, Carl joyfully threw up his arms in an X sign and our guy, X, magically appeared with a taxi to carry us away. We decided to check out the Friday night nightlife. First stop was the casino in search of live music. There wasn’t music but there was a comedian, Matt Baker. We had some free beers while watching him roast the cruise ship crowd and then stalked the streets looking for music. There was music at a honky tonk kind of bar but we decided that was not our scene. Travel lesson: sometimes live music isn’t worth the cost of the drink to be there. We pivoted, and decided to get a drink at Driftwood before trying a club. Our bartender was quite drunk and made Carl’s drink twice without realizing it so we got a nice 2 for 1 special!
We heard the clubs closed at 11pm because of covid so after 10 we went looking for music again and finally found an outdoor rooftop with a DJ. We danced for a bit and then at 10:56pm the music abruptly turned off. No one made any announcements, but we got the hint and left.

22 January
Saturday
Slept in. Had to message our Airbnb host to get a lighter for the stove but then we were able to make breakfast. We walked over to Mullet Bay which is the nicest beach I have ever been to. We hung out on the beach for most of the afternoon. For dinner we drove over to Pineapple Pete’s for some seafood. We got escargot and the crab stuffed shrimp. As we were wrapping up our meal we were told that another couple near us had offered to buy us drinks to congratulate us on getting married. This was news to us, but we didn’t want to disappoint them so we graciously accepted and said cheers to them.

23 January
Sunday
Finally went diving! We went out with a group called Aquamania that left from Simpson Bay Resort. Our guides were very nice – Jenny and Ryan- and the boat driver was so nice, he even helped me untangle my hair from my goggles.
The first dive was a wreck dive – Caribe Barge- and there were a TON of fish. We also saw the resident Timmy the turtle and a massive barracuda. Ryan guided us through the boat cabin which was pretty spooky! On the second dive we saw another turtle, that was even bigger. It was sitting in the grass munching away like a little sea cow. We also saw a Caribbean Reef Shark, which swam uncomfortably close to me. I was trying to play cool and back away from it and realized Carl had swam up next to me to get between me and the shark. The shark swam right under us and then hurried away. Definitely the closest I’ve ever been to a shark!
After the dive we went to Maho Beach and got some bbq chicken and laid on the beach until sunset.