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Sint Maarten, Netherlands
  • CWBuff
  • CWBuff

Sint Maarten, Netherlands

This is truly one of the very few, as we are not in the habit of taking winter vacations and going into warm places (although Jan.2020 Palm Springs, CA would qualify).
In any case, never been to the island (either side) and looking forward to it. Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 28, 2023
    CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Welcome to Sint Maarten

    January 28, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    The beginning of the trip went off without a hitch... we made good time to JFK, reasonably breezed through TSA and took of on time.
    SXM welcomed us with slightly overcast skies but typical 80 degree weather.
    Our driver Kris was waiting for us once we got through customs ( also a breeze) and off to our Caribbean adventure we went.    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Oyster Bay Resort

    January 28, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    Check-in was also very easy; we took a look at some options of activities that we will take advantage of in the upcoming week and went to our room - we have a Marina View, after which we did a preliminary walk through a small portion of the resort and participated in the Welcome CaribbeanRum punch reception....
    And a door...
    AND CANNON (Hark,I hear....)    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler
    1

    Caribbean Night Din din

    January 28, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    Rice and beans steamed and grilled veggies plantain and creole shrimp
    Laurie opted for BBQ chicken and pronounced it amazing so I might go and get me some as well...
    And so I did with some barbecue riblets to boot and Johnny cakes which is very reminiscent of New Orleans beignets but a little bit more savory
    😋
    ...and a little lap around the pool afterwards...    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Oh what a beautiful morning

    January 29, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    Woke up , fell out of bed
    Dragged a comb across my head...
    Actuallythereisnoneedforthecomb so we simply got up at 7:00AM quite refreshed and having a simple breakfast of cereal and coffee on our balcony.
    We can see a small part of the bay, which has a marina; there is a big white house that Laurie really loves right in front of us and we can also see a sliver of resort's Beach.
    Morning doves and other birds are providing a bit of an entertainment and we actually saw a pelican flying by most likely going to the water.    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Orientation

    January 29, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    What could possibly be better after cereal and coffee...why mimosas of course! 😋 ...so we have a couple while we sat through orientation presentation that told us about various tours by their representatives.
    We got pretty good idea as to what we might be doing through the rest of our week and went on a island highlights tour
    The bus was filled to the gills

    So... Saint Martin (French: Saint-Martin; Dutch: Sint Maarten) is an island in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 300 km (190 mi) east of Puerto Rico. The 87 square kilometres (34 sq mi) island is divided roughly 60:40 between the French Republic (53 square kilometres (20 sq mi))[1] and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (34 square kilometres (13 sq mi)),[2] but the Dutch part is more populated than the French part. The division dates to 1648..
    Of course you can get more information on Wikipedia    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Iguanas

    January 29, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    So so there is this whole bunch of iguanas hanging out next to the road at this particular place and of course you can feed them, touch them, pet them, take pictures with them...
    we're really didn't get out of the bus, just looked at them from the side...
    by the way I did and do have more pictures but I took them on my 35 mm camera and I thought that I would be able to upload those pictures here,
    unfortunately that is not the case..
    I still might be able to do that but only after I come home, so if anybody is so inclined has to go back and revisit some of my days - feel free to do so sometime after we come back
    ... and by the way we are on the French side of the Island right now so we are officially in Saint Martin    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Grand Cage (La Grand-Cage)

    January 29, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    First small town that we stopped at; you know it is a little bit disappointing because these towns, if one can so call them, is really nothing but tiny little villages ...nothing is going on here and it's being Sunday pretty much everything is closed
    we had about 1.5 hours here which allowed us to check out very few shops that were open and had nothing- at least for us, and have lunch
    At least that was plenty
    we had a barbecue combo which had both ribs and chicken along with vegetables and salad
    I also tried one of the local beers and it was pretty good

    We are contemplating to rent a car for a day, and if so we will return here while at it (as well as many other places on the island)    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Lady Liberty

    January 29, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    Theo Bonev is in the Agrément roundabout in Marigot, the capital of French St. Martin.

    The “Lady Liberty” statue at the Agrement roundabout was unveiled on July 12, 2007, the 159th anniversary of the abolishment of slavery in all French territories in 1848
    It is by a Bulgarian sculptor Theodore Bonev
    Localsrfequently celebrate the end of slavery at its base.
    I also took a picture of the hair of a young lady sitting in front of me... basically for no other reason but "just because "    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Marigot

    January 29, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    For a capital of Franch side it really doesn't have a lot;
    same thing as the first town - because it's Sunday 80% of all the shops and even restaurants are closed 😑
    we took a fast stop at the port, gawked at the pretty boats and went back on the bus... and back to Dutch sideRead more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Sentry Hill

    January 29, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    Sentry Hill - the highest point on the Dutch side at 341m (1100 ft)
    It is overlooking Cay bay beach - a silent, quiet beach at the back of St Maarten’s energy plant, and provides access to Seaside Nature Park. An ideal location for kids to be around animals, or take a horse bak ride. It has a magnificent view of Great Bay and Phillipsburg. The town consists of only a few streets – mainly reserved for duty-free shops – and a population of less than 1,400 St. Maarteners. At the top of this mount are the remains of Fort Tig built by the British in 1801. When it became part of the Dutch territory in 1816, they renamed it Fort William in honor of Holland’s first king.
    The monument is to Harold Jack the man who used to own the land    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    2 4 1

    January 29, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    Back to resort; sitting on a terrace, enjoying the 2-4-1 happy hour 😀
    Laurie is having something called Painkiller and I opted for Sint Maarten Mama 🍸🧉🤗
    ....and The Birds just scored a TD 👏
    The crowd gathered around the bar and many are watching the game.
    Yes there are some 49ers fans here;
    and there were a couple of gentlemen that have been running numbers since the beginning of the day so obviously the crowd is quite excited and into the game
    2 4 1 means just that so we had "seconds" ... of course 😇
    ..and thirds...
    Now we were told that in the Caribbean the regular drink is typically gets doubled so I'm going to say that we had 8 drinks each by this time... but what the heck Eagles are up 21/7 into the third quarter and life is good

    So .... the end of it is...
    Laurie went back to the room and got us some cheese sandwiches, made from provisions we bought earlier, while I ordered us " round 4", we cheered Da Birds to the Victory and went to the gym to finish off the night    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Aqua arobics

    January 30, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    So I decided to get up a little early today and went to take an aqua aerobics class while Laurie was still enjoying the Morpheus' Embrace
    Surprisingly it was a little bit tougher than I expected but I did have much funRead more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Lazy Day

    January 30, 2023 in Sint Maarten

    "Blue sky, sunshine
    What a day to take a dip in the pool
    Ice cream, daydream....

    Lazy day just right for lovin' away
    Lazy day made for a stroll in the lane....
    To the spa..."

    Completely lazy and relaxed day
    after breakfast we did the timeshare presentation then walked a little bit more around the resort, snuck in some gym time and went to the pool.
    we stayed in the pool for a little while until the mini Monsoon drove everybody away ...but we had a reservation for spa where Laurie got her nails done and I had a relaxing massage. Then we went to the pool and stayed there until another mini monsoon drove us away (you know dem 5-minutes hits) so we went back to the room had some lunch
    Then back to the pool side to just sit there and do a little relaxing reading... Will be getting ready for a big welcome party and then dinner soon afterwards    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Evening has broken...

    January 30, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    Open bar for 2 hours
    Salt n Pepper are taking good care of us
    These ladies are more than generous with their pours...and just the fact that the booze is free 👌 😉...

    ...Noticed this rock formation earlier in the day; at that time it reminded me of a seagull but now (different lighting and couple of rum punches) it looks more like an Alligator...😵‍💫

    The is a live band providing entertainment and we all are having a MAH-velous time.

    The dinner theme for tonight was Lobster Night
    Laurie went with Lobster Ravioli but I decided to forgo crustaceans and chose pan-seared Red Snapper.
    We shared a not NY-style cheesecake for dessert... as you can guess it was yummy 😋

    The outside festivities continued with Karaoke night...
    Another day in Paradise under the belt    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Babit Point

    January 31, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    Babit Point is a high hill that rises up from the entrance of the bay. There are rock outcroppings and clusters to enjoy along the way to the top. Many hikers opt to use them as places to take a break, sit for a while, and enjoy the views, which are undeniably some of the best on the island.
    Some four-legged friends greeted us as we got on the short trail proper    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Bread n Butter

    January 31, 2023 in Saint Martin ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    Bread n Butter is a small French Bakery and Supermarket that we heard of from many people in the resort including employees.
    We stopped over for some lunch which included a totally magnifique Pizza au Jambon et Fromage avec quelques, Libations pour Adultes et un Croissant au Chocolat...😋
    We picked up a freshly baked baguette for later on as well
    ... oh and I finally got me some apples and took more pictures of flowers.

    Je suis vraiment un gars heureux. 😍    Read more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    Ready, Steady, Go

    January 31, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    After the hike we went back to our room chilled out a little, had lunch of nice smoked aged gouda cheese and that baguette that we bought and got ready to go on our Sunset Catamaran Cruise.

     Here we are all snazzed up in our inner Court and the receptionist lobby of the resortRead more

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    On the boat

    January 31, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    Our boat's name is Too Rhum Punch
    There is only 19 of us so this should be a really good Cruise because they stock up drinks for about a hundred 😊😉

  • CWBuffSint Maarten, NetherlandsTraveler

    A sunset that "almost was"

    January 31, 2023 in Sint Maarten ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    At the very last moment the sun hid behind the cloud... but the ride was still beautiful and .....(sigh) more of nice boats to look at

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