More of St Maarten
15 April 2016 | Simpson Bay, St Maartens
Ros Brice
The third day we hired a car and decided to brave the traffic ourselves. I say traffic because we got delayed several times on the previous Dennis trip, in lines of traffic at a standstill. We endured the slowest crawl up a hill we've ever experienced, behind a fuel tanker that seemed it would barely make it to the top. There was no opportunity to pass and even at the top, the tanker did not pull over to let the long line of cars through. Other delays were caused by Dennis going into back streets to try to take short cuts, only to find the streets were barricaded off because of earlier heavy rain flooding the streets. We did a lot of 6 point turns to get back in the queue behind where we had left!
Garth got a surprise when he was completing the car rental paperwork, to find his Aussie driver's licence had expired on his birthday. This resulted in Peter being the nominated driver and Garth became the navigator....a change in the regime! Off we went to explore all the things we'd hoped to see the day before!
First we drove up Pic Paradis, a 424 metre peak. The hire car lacked good suspension and there were substantial roadworks on the very steep and very deteriorated concrete road! We were rewarded with fine views of the west coast. Half way down we visited Loterie Farm, a privately owned 52 hectare nature reserve with great walks and a great bar and restaurant. We then drove to Anse Marcel, where we joined in the French Resort scene, while we dined in a beautiful setting, right on the beach. By 3pm we were on our way to Grande Cayes, which looked great from the approach road, but ended up to be a huge disappointment: the local tip at one end of the beach with large noisy trucks arriving; a couple doing c'lose encounters' in the water; condoms scattered everywhere for us to behold and seaweed like you would not believe...yet we were so keen for a swim, we went in....but not for long! Next stop was Orient Bay Beach Resort, which Dennis had introduced us to. There were a series of bars along the beach and quite a lot of people enjoying the late afternoon sun but the azure blue water lured us in for a relaxing swim. We walked in one direction to the nudist beach area and returned to witness a couple of disproportionate age almost having it off on the beach. The young female was topless and almost bottomless and the aged male was totally in raptures while she flaunted her body. There was a sense of prostitution and what about the children playing nearby?
The traffic was significant on the way back and it was really quite hair raising as motor cyclists and bike cyclists rode with an attitude that made them temporary citizens in our eyes. The roads were only wide enough for two cars, yet the motor bikes moved at high speed and overtook out of nowhere. Peter narrowly missed having a blood splattered windscreen as we all gasped!
If we had to put a character to the island, it was all about the resorts and casinos and not enough about the magnificent beaches. It seemed to us that every decent beach had been swallowed up by a resort. The resorts on the French side seemed attractive but on the Dutch side they were large and lacked appeal. There were the usual quality, very large homes on the hill sides owned by wealthy Europeans and Americans, which afforded the best views.
Back at the safety of the marina, we dined at Crave and had a most delicious Persian cuisine meal. The oddest thing was that although this restaurant was rated No1 on Trip Advisor, there were no other guests that night! However, from the first mouthful we were tantalised by the flavours. The wine was excellent also, except that the waiter gave us the wrong bottle after we had sampled two and made it clear what our preference was. Otherwise, a memorable meal of tender and flavoursome food. We met the young wife who was the chef and passed on our compliments.
A new morning arrived and we prepared for leaving the marina. The bridge lifted at 10:30 and we were required to queue. This was quite an experience as several super yachts and a tug pushing a large barge were all gathered. There was one yachtie on Dreamy who lived up to his yacht name. However, Ignorant would have been a better name!
We motored in the light breeze northwards until we were lured by long stretches of golden sand and turquoise water to stop at Longue Plage for a refreshing swim and morning tea. This was our last stop on St Maartens before heading for Anguilla and it left perfect memories.