Jan 5
Started the day again with a beach walk and met Steve at the Club O boutique. They have lot's of stuff there and they get fresh croissants, bread, pastries etc each morning but you have to be there when they open because it goes quick! I bought some stamps to mail the postcards I wrote yesterday and a croissant for Paula which we enjoyed when I returned home. We're also just about out of mango so we'll need to get more of that soon. Today is the day we planned to go to the Butterfly Farm, located conveniently close by, because we
didn't think the weather would be too awesome. As it turns out, the weather was fine but off we went anyway. Paula loved it, they take you on a tour and show you butterflies in their various states from egg to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly! The guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot. They also obviously have many beautiful butterflies and I took lots of pictures.
Next off we decided we'd check out the cruise ship port of Philipsburg which is also the capital of the Dutch side. It was only about a 20 min drive from where we're staying so very convenient. I checked the schedule and there were only two ships due in so it was a perfect time to go. There can be as many as 6 ships in at a time so we thought this was as good a day as any. Philipsburg is obviously geared towards cruise ship guests because finding a parking spot was quite a challenge! Front Street is very narrow (one car only) and parking is up on the curb or sidewalk. One fat idiot stopped in the street to get ice cream for his family from McDonalds backing up all the traffic along the street. We finally found a spot in the library parking lot and went for a walk. First stop, $1.50/beer that you can take with you, awesome! There was also a duty free shop where Paula got some perfume for Holly and I reluctantly bought a bottle of scotch. Paula was right though, it was a really good deal. One litre of 18 yr old Glenlivet for $80, would probably be about $150 or more at home. Can't wait to taste it! We then walked along the beachfront where there are lots of restaurants. We passed quite a few then finally decided on one, Lizzy’s Bar and Grill.
When we sat down I noticed a hand written sign that said no credit cards. I was pretty much out of US cash (which is commonly accepted in St Maarten) so I asked for their exchange rate on Euro's (which I knew should be about $1.35:1). The guy came back and mumbled something about $1.20:1 which is crappy and should have been my first indication to go somewhere else. We didn't. Someone quickly took our order, Paula got the shrimp and I got the ribs and we had a couple of beers. I didn't keep track but about 40 minutes later we still didn't have our food and I was about ready to leave when out it came. By this time a couple of Italian guys sat down at the next table and lit up cigarettes which also didn't impress me. Finally the bill came for $37. I gave her €35 which including exchange should have covered the bill and the 15% gratuity already added in (luckily for them). The girl then asked for €2 more saying they only take Euros at par. That was the last straw. I refused to pay more and went to the bar to discuss with the manager. She eventually gave me $2 back and said that the man who sat us doesn't speak English so whatever he told us doesn't matter. I replied "he spoke it well enough to seat us and take our order!" It was still a bad deal for us but we had already wasted enough sunshine hours there and moved on. Somehow out of all those choices I picked the worst one!
From there we started walking down Front St checking out the shops. Unfortunately our lunch kind of soured our enthusiasm and it seems many of the stores close about 3-4 pm so the whole thing was kind of dying down. Paula did go in to one jewellery shop and got a free gift (sort of) while the salesman suggested a nice little, inexpensive $600 bracelet to take home as a gift for someone. Quite honestly we're not so into expensive jewelry so Paula declined. We're also beginning to realize we don't like busy commercial areas so much as we like the quieter, more natural areas.
So, off we went back home and decided to stop in a Le Galion which is another beach nearby. We left about 15 minutes later as it just wasn't anything that interested us. It wasn’t as clean and sandy as Orient Beach although it did have a multi-lane swimming pool just offshore! It seems the French Gov’t had bought it for Grand Case but then moved it down to Le Galion. It’s a large inflatable device anchored just off the beach which essentially turns that section of the beach into an olympic sized swimming pool! Pretty cool actually. When we got home we just relaxed for a bit, rehydrating and catching up on some emails. Besides we both kind of had headaches and decided a rest would be good. Once home we got thinking and realized there would be plenty of time for rest at home when it's -30ºC! So, with Grand Case only 10 minutes away we decided to check out the low key LOLO's for dinner. LOLO's are open air BBQ restaurants and it's something we wanted to try. Grand Case was very interesting at night and we'll definitely be back for some gourmet dining at the upscale restaurants later! We decided on "The Sky's the Limit" when they offered to pay for our first two drinks although I think any of them would've been good. Paula had the shrimp meal and I the rib meal (“meal” includes rice, spaghetti, mac and cheese, potato salad and salad) plus we added in two Johnny cakes and a stuffed christophine because we didn't know what they were! Johnny cakes are a cornmeal flatbread and the christophine is sort of like a stuffed baked potato except they use a christophine or chayote instead. We sat roadside to people watch although the entertainment really ended up being inside the eating area. They had a singer providing some karaoke type music for the place. They also had an unofficial entertainer who was pretty drunk and got up and sang along with the real singer in a very unusual, and attention getting, fashion. When the singer would finish a verse the drunk would belt out his own one or two word expression. He was unstoppable on the Bob Marley or bluesy type stuff and the only way the singer could get rid of him was to play a couple of mushy ones like Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and Frank Sinatra’s My Way. We thought he was funny and he eventually staggered off somewhere else. After that we walked back to the car and found room for a crepe from the street side vendor where $3 got us a tasty treat for dessert. I had read quite a bit about crime in Grand Case before coming down but we didn't feel threatened or unsafe at any time and only once saw the Gendarmes truck roll down the street. Either safety concerns have been addressed or were overblown to begin with. Granted, we were probably back home at Mt Vernon by 8:30-9:00 so maybe that had something to do with it. All in all, a good day for us!
Started the day again with a beach walk and met Steve at the Club O boutique. They have lot's of stuff there and they get fresh croissants, bread, pastries etc each morning but you have to be there when they open because it goes quick! I bought some stamps to mail the postcards I wrote yesterday and a croissant for Paula which we enjoyed when I returned home. We're also just about out of mango so we'll need to get more of that soon. Today is the day we planned to go to the Butterfly Farm, located conveniently close by, because we
So, off we went back home and decided to stop in a Le Galion which is another beach nearby. We left about 15 minutes later as it just wasn't anything that interested us. It wasn’t as clean and sandy as Orient Beach although it did have a multi-lane swimming pool just offshore! It seems the French Gov’t had bought it for Grand Case but then moved it down to Le Galion. It’s a large inflatable device anchored just off the beach which essentially turns that section of the beach into an olympic sized swimming pool! Pretty cool actually. When we got home we just relaxed for a bit, rehydrating and catching up on some emails. Besides we both kind of had headaches and decided a rest would be good. Once home we got thinking and realized there would be plenty of time for rest at home when it's -30ºC! So, with Grand Case only 10 minutes away we decided to check out the low key LOLO's for dinner. LOLO's are open air BBQ restaurants and it's something we wanted to try. Grand Case was very interesting at night and we'll definitely be back for some gourmet dining at the upscale restaurants later! We decided on "The Sky's the Limit" when they offered to pay for our first two drinks although I think any of them would've been good. Paula had the shrimp meal and I the rib meal (“meal” includes rice, spaghetti, mac and cheese, potato salad and salad) plus we added in two Johnny cakes and a stuffed christophine because we didn't know what they were! Johnny cakes are a cornmeal flatbread and the christophine is sort of like a stuffed baked potato except they use a christophine or chayote instead. We sat roadside to people watch although the entertainment really ended up being inside the eating area. They had a singer providing some karaoke type music for the place. They also had an unofficial entertainer who was pretty drunk and got up and sang along with the real singer in a very unusual, and attention getting, fashion. When the singer would finish a verse the drunk would belt out his own one or two word expression. He was unstoppable on the Bob Marley or bluesy type stuff and the only way the singer could get rid of him was to play a couple of mushy ones like Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and Frank Sinatra’s My Way. We thought he was funny and he eventually staggered off somewhere else. After that we walked back to the car and found room for a crepe from the street side vendor where $3 got us a tasty treat for dessert. I had read quite a bit about crime in Grand Case before coming down but we didn't feel threatened or unsafe at any time and only once saw the Gendarmes truck roll down the street. Either safety concerns have been addressed or were overblown to begin with. Granted, we were probably back home at Mt Vernon by 8:30-9:00 so maybe that had something to do with it. All in all, a good day for us!
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