Friday, June 16, 2017

St. Maarten Travel Post

Pinel Island


                           









Pina Colada duty. 

Shoal Bay Beach, Anguilla






Mullet Bay


Cupecoy Beach, right around that rock was a nude sunbather!

Ice cream boats instead of trucks on Pinel Island







Just wanted to share some photos from our great trip to St.Maarten and maybe offer up some advice. This was our first time in St. Maarten even though we have had a timeshare for about seven years that offers us a space there. The first day we got in, it was raining heavily, so we hung out in the Greenhouse restaurant which had pretty good food and 2 for 1 drinks for happy hour. The day after, we went out to Pinel Island. Once you get to the spot where the 'ferry'(its a small boat) leaves from, you can park and rent kayaks or paddle boards and get over that way. It was $15 for a single person kayak and $12 for the boat ride over. Get there early, they do not have many kayaks/paddle boards. Once you are there, I really suggest the Karibuni restaurant($20 for umbrella and chairs). Their drinks are really good and strong and the food is great! I suggest getting the cuttlefish dish. The service is super fast and friendly and they gave us a try of their home made banana rum, which was so yum my dad kept trying to get the recipe. 
The next day we drove with plans to go to Cupecoy Beach and snorkel. It is beautiful in pictures, but in person, there is not much sand or beach and the water is quite rough with a lot of rocks through out. It's not great for smaller kids, so we traveled on to Mullet Bay Beach. This beach is really pretty and I would suggest it for young kids and inexperienced swimmers. The snorkeling was okay. We got to see a few fish and urchins. The highlight here was the woman giving massages on the beach(I think her name was Trudy). 
The day after was my daughters birthday and she kept talking about going to the pool. Instead of taking her to the dinky pool at the apartments we went to Loterie Farm. They have a really beautiful pool in a lush rain forest setting. Entrance fee gets you a lounge chair and towel. The food here was pretty great, too. Here, I suggest the chicken and brie sandwich and BBC drink. You can also zip line or hike here but we decided to just chill. In the evening, we went out to a nice dinner at Ocean82 in Grand Case (get the lava cake, trust me). The views here are amazing, so make sure to make a reservation before the sun sets. We made the mistake of thinking there is no traffic on this island.. because island life, right? Wrong. Give yourself more time than you think you need, especially when traveling at rush hour(there are a few draw bridges near Simpson Bay). 
The day that followed really pissed me off. It was the only day we had planned perfectly and woke up super early to make sure everything went according to plan. We were going to get on a catamaran to go to Anguilla. It included food, drinks, snorkeling, transportation. We booked with Bluebeard Charters. Their website said to be at the dock at 8 am. 8:30.... 9:00.. still no one came. We tried to instagram direct message them. Nothing. The hotel tried calling them. Nothing. We finally get in touch with them after calling them and they say they had to cancel due to electrical issues. No one emailed, no one showed up to let us know. We just waited and wasted time on our last full day there. Finally, we decided to take the ferry over. Anguilla was AHmazing. We spent the entire day at Shoal Bay Beach. Be warned, their sun is no joke! Bring nothing below 70 SPF sun screen. You will not tan. You will burn. The drinks here were much much cheaper than St. Martin. The food was lacking a bit of something though. The snorkeling here was phenomenal and there is a big reef that is very much alive. Here, we saw many fish in all colors. You can rent snorkel equipment 40 ft from your beach chair. 
If you are going to party,drink, and eat this is the place for you. There are restaurants literally everywhere. Anguilla was a bit more peaceful and less developed, and I love it for that. If you are going for relaxation and to get away from people and de-stress, go elsewhere. Such as Anguilla, St.Lucia, or Antigua. 

Thanks for reading!





1 comment:

  1. It looks like you guys had such a nice, relaxing time!

    ReplyDelete