Sapphire

We are about to head off to St. Maarten with 3 of our kids (16, 20, 22) who enjoy snorkeling and swimming. Any advice on good spots for snorkeling and beautiful beaches?

We'd appreciate recommendations for restaurants on the island as well. It's been 25 years since we've been to the Caribbean, and it is our first time to St. Maarten. We are looking forward to sharing this adventure with our kids.

This forum has been a wonderful source of information for me over the years. Thank you all!

Sapphire

I just found out that the place we will be staying - Sunterra Royal Palm Beach Resort - is making major renovations (down to taking out bathroom tile, etc.). I am told that they are doing what they can to minimize the inconvenience for their guests, but we may want to be take some day trips. Any suggestions? Boat trips you recommend? Perhaps visiting a nearby island? Thanks.

MarionCK

Take the ferry to Anguilla !

Get a cab to take you to Shoal Bay East for the day.

You will all love it. The beach is gorgeous and lots of places to have reasonably priced lunches.

Have a great trip !

Marion

MarionCK

PS...

Good snorkeling at Shoal Bay too !

cartera

Plan to spend a day on Bay Rouge - get a map - not that hard to find. It is on the French side. You can rent chairs and umbrellas there and there is food available. We didn't snorkle there but were told there was good snorkeling aroung the rocky ledge. You may want to take a day long trip to Prickly Pear. We enjoyed the snorkeling trip to Creole Rock. The easiest access is from Grand Case beach. Grand Case Beach Resort has trips to Creole. You could have lunch there afterward. St. Martin is chock full of good restaurants. We really enjoyed Tropicana in Marigot. In Grand Case, we heard great things about the seafood at The Fishpot. We didn't spend much time on the Dutch side. You may want to search the message boards on www.traveltalkonline.com - perhaps the most active St. martin forum.

Sapphire

Thank you both for the great input! Looking forward to the trip!

Statia

Sapphire, we just returned from a long weekend at Royal Palm last night and everything was great. We stay there every few months and have not been inconvenienced by the renovations that have been going on this year.

As for day trips, I agree that Shoal Bay on Anguillla is a great one. Saba or St. Barth's also make nice day trips by either air or boat (if the seas are not rough).

We had my DH's 15 year old daughter with us this weekend and she and her dad did the Rhino Safari tour and absolutely LOVED it. It's a boat tour that takes you from Simpson Bay Lagoon, out the Sandy Ground bridge to the ocean, then around the French side of the island to Creole Rock in Grand Case for snorkeling. You can find more info here. The excursion is very popular and well liked.

http://www.shoretrips.com/common/sea...p?tcode=001005

We also did some horseback riding at Lucky Stables and the highlight of the trail ride was at the end when the horses took us swimming in the ocean right on their backs. So, if you are into horses at all, that might be another option for an excursion.

http://www.luckystable.com/trailrides.htm

As for dining, I can recommend the following that we enjoy nearby Royal Palm.

-Zee Best
-Jimbo's Tex-Mex Cafe
-Hot Tomatoes
-Lee's Roadside Grill
-Los Gauchos Argentinian Steakhouse
-Rancho Argentinian Steakhouse
-Top Carrot

Great nightlife can be had just across from the resort at Lady C Floating Bar. It's a popular nightspot for both locals and tourists. There are plenty more places to enjoy an evening out, but Lady C is just very conveniently located to Royal Palm if you aren't up to driving.

As for beaches, our favorites aside from the resort are Grand Case, Mullet Bay and Orient Bay. Also, be sure not to miss the afternoon jets landing over your head, or an evening sunset, at Sunset Beach Bar at Maho Bay.

Be sure to spend an afternoon of shopping and/or dining on the boardwalk in Phillipsburg. Marigot used to be our area of preference for spending time in town, but Phillipburg has been so nicely renovated lately that we now prefer that capitol over Marigot.

There are many, many more beaches, restaurants, activities, etc. that I can recommend, but that would take up quite a bit of space on this forum so I've just stuck mostly with what is near Royal Palm for now. However, feel free to ask away if you have any further questions. I live near St. Maarten and have traveled there frequently for the past 12 years.

Enjoy your trip!

cartera

I posted some pictures on the picture site at www.traveltalkonline.com They are mostly from Grand Case Beach Club. Here is a link. There are many other photo albums of SXM there also

http://groups.msn.com/sxmphotos2/car...nw?albumlist=2

Sapphire

I've been reading travel talk online, looked at the photos posted by Cartera and really appreciate the wealth of suggestions from Statia as well as the info that the renovations at Royal Palm are not inconveniencing guests.

Thanks again!

StanKase

Being an avid snorkeler amd skin, not scuba diver, I must be honest with you. I have been to all the snorkel spots mentioned and while Creole Rock may be the best St. Maaten is not an island offering quality snorkeling. An indication is the lack of sail and cats that offer to take folks out.
St.Barts which is a spit away, ferry or puddle jumper oddly enough offers 75% better snorkeling in terms of variety of corals, fish and water clarity.
Anguilla a ferry ride or a sail trip away and is also is better for snorkeling but not equal to St. Barts.

The beaches on Anguilla are magnifciant and worth a day trip. If water calm (the area is not prone to the major tropical disturbances found elsewhere in the Caribbean) swimming can be quiet good. If your hotel has a large pool swimming at 9-11 AM and after 4 PM can be pleasant. On our last trip though we hit a heat wave so some tours in A/C vans that take 6-10 guests would be worthwhile.I'm not sure your children will be overly interested but with swimming, a trip to St. Barts and/or Anguilla you can have a pleasant vacation. We enjoyed an excellent lunch and a dinner at Le Vie en Rose but that was 2 years ago but folks say it is still good. Enjoy!

cartera

I agree that St. martin is not a first choice for snorkeling - I didn't find much better on Anguilla though when we were there but it was very windy that week. I just love to snorkle even if I don't see a whole lot and I did find the Creole Rock trip to be particularly relaxing. We did see several large sea turtles and the guide from Grand Case was very good.

ksunshine91

I just returned from St Maarten on 5/31. Great beaches are Orient and Mullet. We took a day trip via ferry to St Barth's and that was absolutely wonderful. We also did the "booze cruise" to Anguilla- an all day cruise with a snorkeling stop and lunch on the island. It was the best thing we did all week. We had an AI at the Maho Resort so I can't recommend any restaurants but the Sunset Bar was fantastic. It's a must to watch the planes come in. Enjoy your trip!

Sapphire

Thanks again for your help. I've printed out the dialog to take with me for reference when we are pondering which restaurants to try, etc.

We leave tomorrow and so far the only glitch is that one of the kids (who just graduated from college and moved back home) can't find his passport and his birth certificate doesn't have the raised stamp that I see mentioned in the literature. Don't know if this will be a problem or not, but I'm hoping his passport turns up.

Thanks again. I'll give a trip report when we return.

Statia

Sapphire, as of now you can enter SXM with an original, raised seal birth certificate and you can re-enter the US with same. As of December 31, however, you will not be able to re-enter the US without a valid passport even if you departed with only a birth certificate.

If you don't have an original with the seal, you can get one in the city your child was born. Naturally, if you still live in that city it can be obtained same day, in person, which is much quicker and easier than obtaining it by mail.

Sapphire

My son found his passport at the last minute, and we were able to visit Anguilla for a day. (We had sent off for several copies of his birth certificate several years ago but none of these had the raised seal, so I was greatly relieved when the passport showed up.)

I'm going to write a trip report later but wanted to say that I saw Statia's message about the flash flood. I was sorry to hear about the loss of life and the extensive damage, but I am thankful that there weren't more tragedies.

We were driving on the flooded streets of Phillipsburg on Saturday night, trying to get back to our hotel after an early dinner. It took at least an hour to travel the 4 miles back to our hotel, as people had to turn around and try other roads that were less flooded. We knew we were on the right track (literally) when we saw that two firefighters were in the vehicle ahead of us (unmarked but with emergency lights). We identified them as firefighters when they stepped out of their vehicle to empty the water out of their boots. Really.

I wish everyone had been able to make it home safely through the flood waters.

Carola22

To Cartera: Thanks for your nice pictures of the Grand Case Beach Club. Really took me back. Isn't it a wonderful place? You must have been there around the same time as us - we were there from July 7 - 18. As soon as I get over my jetlag (we just got back 2 days ago, stayed in Anguilla after St. Martin) I will write a trip report and include a link to my pictures too.

cartera

You're welcome Carola - yes, we would have been there together for two days - We were in a 2 bedroom unit near the end of the resort towards Grand Case. We never spent a day on the beach near the restaurant with the chairs - we much preferred the little "cove" in front of the condo. We joked about going over to see "how the other half lives." I am a real Jamaica lover and it took a few days for me to stop comparing but Grand Case really grew on me - felt like home. Looking forward to your report.

Carola22

Thanka again cartera, for your response. Yes, we preferred the little beach in front of our unit too! Though we did sometimes like to sit in the shady 'garden' with the comfortable chairs above the 'other beach'. I haven't written the trip report yet, should get round to it tomorrow. However, I have posted some of my pictures of Grand Case on:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mariet...aard/my_photos

learyac

Hi, Sapphire! I'll soon be going to St. Maarten/St. Martin ("SXM&quot for the sixth time. I highly recommend Baie Rouge - a simply gorgeous beach. Definitely take the ferry over to Anguilla and get to Shoal Bay. The colors are so bright that they're almost blinding. The sand feels like flour between your toes! Pinel Island off of Orient Bay is a wonderful place for snorkeling. Shopping on Front St. in Phillipsberg is a must. Barter with the jewelers - you can usually get a good 60% off the price they quote you. Keep saying, "you can do better than that!" They will. A good place to grab a drink and sit on the beach while on Front Street is "Every 'ting Cool" (I think it's called). Great frozen drinks. Also, go to the Sunset Beach Bar at the end of the airport and bring your camera. Great burgers there. The butterfly farm is a lot of fun, too. There's horseback riding next door to the butterfly farm with decent horses. That's also the animal adoption center for cats, but one year there was a monkey there. Check out and see what may be there when you are. If you take the 2-hour ride, they'll take you swimming with the horses. The 1-hour ride is nice, too. There are so many nice things to discover on this island, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

KruzinKevN

Cartera
Thanks for the pics! We are headed to Grand Case Beach Club in a little over a week and your pics were great! I can't wait to be on that beach!