Parting views

La Petit Hotel

Our room, as seen from the balcony

Lisa's toes

Day 5--Grand Case Beach Club and more snorkeling

Grand Case Beach Club
Creole Rock, on the left

Grand Case Bay

Well, today did not turn out quite as expected. It started off with a flare up of John's eye infection. Apparently, sometime yesterday, my eye became infected and made it difficult to see, especially on the beach. It went away in the evening but when I woke up this morning, it flared up again; so much so that Lisa went down to the pharmacy to get me eye drops (and some baguette and pastries from the French Bakery next door of course). Meanwhile I popped in some Ibuprofen which helped with the inflammation, and the eye drops helped with the redness. We'll "keep an eye on it" when we get back to the States. Yes, I make myself laugh too, sometimes...

Meanwhile this meant that we were unable to make the 12:00 boat out to Creole Rock. So when my eye improved we did some snorkeling here at our beach for about an hour. My eye was doing fine now so we caught a cab out to Grand Case Beach Club where the boats go out to Creole Rock for what is billed as some of the most impressive snorkeling on the island. But first, before we get to that, let me tell you about today's cab driver Michel Gumbs Bute. Easily in his late sixties or early seventies, this man was a true philosopher. He started us off with this (please read aloud or in your head with a Caribbean accent):

"There are only two thing in life. If it is not right, it must be wrong. If it is not true, it must be false. It is a black and white world. There is no gray area. Except on my head, where I have a few gray hairs."

He went on to tell us about his wife of 49 years:

"See, when I met her I said "I love you." But that was a lie, because I only wanted to have sex with her. But now, 49 years later, when I tell her I Love You it is true."

And when he dropped us off, he gave this piece of parting advice for our relationship:

"Remember: he is not Mr. Perfect. And she is not Miss Perfect."

When we got to the desk to book a couple of spots on the boat out to Creole Rock, we had to wait five minutes while an attendant with ADD went flying around helping people with their beach umbrellas. When he finally got to us it was to tell us sullenly that there would be no boat going out to Creole Rock today. Apparently only one guy operates the boat, and since no one else apparently booked anything for the 2:00 sojourn, the guide decided to bag it and pick some people up with his boat from the airport. Now I was under the impression that this company was dedicated to taking people out to Creole Rock--hence the name Creole Rock Water Sports. Not so! The only guy on hand to pilot the boat also moonlights as a water taxi service for those folks unwilling to stoop to the level of taking a land taxi (where they would have met the likes of Michel!). We were told by the boat guide/taxi driver that we should have booked in advance. It would have been nice if he had mentioned that in his email response. And besides, we planned to take the 12:00 session, but we would've had to cancel and postpone to 2:00 anyway because of my eye. By then our friendly guide would have made his switch from Jacques Cousteau to Travis Bickle. We inquired as to the availability of another boat (seeing as the rock was only a mile or two from shore), but our friendly guide was the only game in town. And to further emphasize just how in demand he is, he showed us his day planner! Yes, indeed, it was full! I guess that's what happens when you're the only person around involved with nautical transport. So--this brings me to a travel tip that I always try to hammer home, and hopefully someday I too will get it: never presume ANYTHING. And never book an excursion on your last full day. Always book an excursion at the beginning or the middle or your trip, so you have the flexibility to prepare for the unexpected--and not have to worry about looking at someone's day planner.

So once again we had to be content with swimming and lying on the beach. :-D

The beach at the Grand Case Beach Club was not too impressive, but any beach in the Caribbean is nice. Lisa and I parked ourselves under a couple of trees and tried some snorkeling but there was nothing to see. So we headed in to the Sunset Cafe and had some Jamaican scampi for lunch (pictured above). Yeah, it was good.

After lunch we had the reception desk call Michel, who was able to come out and take us back to our hotel. He was not as talkative but he did manage some more philosophical musings such as "If God bless you, no man can curse you." Not being a religious man myself, I will leave it to my religious friends to verify that. Once he got us back to the hotel we let him go so he could go home to his wife for, as he called it, "a kiss and a squeeze."

Lisa and I did some early evening snorkeling around the coral reef behind our hotel, and spotted another eel, some anenomes, and many schools of colorful fish. Then we went into town for a tremendous French dinner at La Provencal. Lisa had the Queen Snapper, a fish which blew her mind. I had lobster linguini. An old hippie two tables down gave us his bottle of wine to finish. I am not a drinker, so Lisa had to take care of it. As she would say if she weren't already asleep, French wine is the best.

Tomorrow our flight leaves at 2:30, which puts us into BWI around 9:30. And then John has to get up bright and early Monday morning and do a beach party-themed storytime for the kids--sunburn and all.

Au revoir! Next stop--?

John

Day 4--Shoal Bay, Anguilla

Main harbor of Anguilla

Shoal Bay

Today we returned to the island of Anguilla for another day of beach exploration. I'm currently reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, in which Marco Polo related to Kubla Khan the individual cities of the Khan's empire. Each city has its own character, moods, personality, and distinctions. I have found that to be the case with the beaches we have visited. Today's beach, Shoal Bay, is not as expansive and scenic as Meads Bay, but it is rougher-hewn and more rustic. The principal source of food and a bathroom was Elodia's, a nearby beach restaurant. While Elodia's doesn't quite have the atmosphere of Blanchard's on Meads Bay, the food is better and not overpriced.

The water was still too pitchy and murky from recent storms out at sea for us to do any snorkeling, so once again we had to be content with swimming and lying around on the beach.:-D

The waves were nowhere near as treacherous as the one's at Meads Bay, so John was in no danger of drowning himself. By the way, we finally got the money and transit situation worked out, and Lisa was able to barter a cab ride down to $20. We shared the cab with a couple from Quebec who were very nice; and our cabbie, Neil, gave us a nice guided tour of the island and some interesting history, too. Anguilla used to have quite an active agricultural community, and was active in salt manufacturing. All of that disappeared over the years as tourism slowly turned the island into a service-sector economy. So now they have to import eveything--hence the high prices, which they give back to the tourists. Cycle of life.

Our cab ride back to the hotel was f**king brutal. The cab was a noisy, squeaky, rickety van which rocked and rolled up and down hills and through the crowded congested roads with Lisa and me sliding around in the back. We took quite the battering.

Tonight's dinner saw us come to the end of our run of good meals. We tried the local pizza. As was the case when I was in Italy, I found the local pizza could not compare to the best pizza I ever had, which was on the New Jersey boardwalk. Italian food is one of the best things this planet has to offer, but good pizza is definitely an American thing.

Tomorrow is excursion time! We are going over to the Grand Case Beach Club for a boat ride out to Creole Rock for some snorkeling with a trained diver. We hope to go out with a bang!

Au revoir!

John

Day 3--Meads Bay, Anguilla

Marigot harbor, St Martin

Meads Bay, Anguilla

Blanchards on the beach

Today's adventure takes us to the British West Indies island of Anguilla. Known for its pristine beaches, it's about 20 minutes from mainland St. Martin by ferry. Now, here are some very important travel tips for anyone thinking of doing their own Caribbean adventure: transit is expensive. Many of the guide books recommend renting a car to get about, but the drivers down here are batshit crazy. Or, as one of our cab drivers (a nice old man named Uldridge Brooks) said, "They don't know how to die. They are like Tom and Jerry, you know?" He was referring to the motor scooter drivers weaving in and out of cars. So anyway we elected to take a cab to the ferry. So here goes: cab ride to and from Grand Case--$40; ferry ride to Anguilla--$80 round trip for two people; taxi ride to one of the beaches--well, it depends on what beach you want. Most people went to Shoals Bay, which is regarded as the best, but it's on the northern tip, so the cab ride is $26 one way. We didn't bring plastic (always bring plastic) so we elected to go to Meads Bay, which was closer and only $18 one way (not sure about the cabs, but the ferry only takes cash). As you can see from the pictures above, it's pretty darn nice. Not many people and extremely pretty. However, the waves were very severe today, so no snorkeling was going to happen. John managed to go for a swim, and managed to ride the steep waves fairly well, and only almost drowned once (or twice). However, there was not much else to do but lay around, be a lazy lima bean, and get a tan--or in our case, a selective sunburn anywhere the sunscreen neglected to be. The sun down here is very unforgiving, and so is our pasty white Irish skin.

For lunch we ate at Blanchards on the beach which served some very tasty and very overpriced food--a Mexican bowl and two bite-sized tacos. But the atmosphere was outstanding. Lisa brought along a fresh mango we got at a local market yesterday, and it too was outstanding.

We got home about 6:00 and went for dinner at one of the Lolos restaurants. Lolos is the name of a series of restaurants on the island that serve mostly grilled foods with cole slaw, local-style cuisine, at a reasonable price. But the trip into downtown Grand Case has lost some of its charm. This area is not very pedestrian friendly. And since everyone seems to own a car (and many of the tourists are renting them), it can be extremely congested. We'll alter our meal menu over the second half of the trip.

Tomorrow we are going back to Anguilla, this time to Shoals Bay, depending on the weather and ocean conditions. Saturday we may go snorkeling off Creole Rock here in Grand Case Bay, and then hopefully spend a nice relaxing evening in our fantastic hotel room. A little relaxation--isn't that what a vacation is all about?

A demain!

John

Here's some video of Lisa with the waves today. Listen with the sound down since the woman sitting two chairs down from us wouldn't stop talking.

Day 2--Snorkeling

I suppose a blog about someone's nice relaxing vacation couldn't be that riveting a read. Nevertheless we spent most of the day snorkeling in the bay near our hotel. There are several coral reefs not far from the shore and we swam around looking up close at various multi-colored tropical fish, sea urchins, and brain coral. Because Lisa isn't near-sighted she saw a lot more stuff: a sea slug, an eel, and either a manta ray or stingray (a small one). With the crystal clear waters it is like swimming in an aquarium. Although every few minutes I had to come up to empty saltwater out of the goggles. We bought them at Target--you know how it is.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the island of Anguila for more extensive snorkeling that should hopefully involve seeing more diverse marine life. Until then, enjoy this rather silly video of John snorkeling:

In the evening we went downtown and, wow, what a difference a day makes. While it was crammed full of people last night, tonight it was quiet and almost deserted. A few of the shops were open but no merchants were on the street. Now that the peak season is over it is a lot quieter, and we prefer it that way. It's easier to move about. The restaurants, however, are open, and tonight Lisa and I had our first "kick-ass" meal of the trip at a restaurant called Bistrot Caraibes. Our meals are pictured above. I had the scallops, Lisa had the "fisherman's platter" in a lobster bisque. Tres delicieux! The place is run by a couple of brothers from Lyon, France.

A demain!

John

Lisa writes: I loved the snorkeling!!! So cool. But I miss my four legged girls. There are dogs all over the island. One was sitting in the water today just chilling. I think Rosie would be an island dog if she were here with us. Skyle would run off looking for free food from the restaurants. We also went to a local market today and bought some french bread and cheese for snacks. The French side is very European in atmosphere. We sat under this beautiful gazebo for lunch. Vines with yellow and purple flowers grew up the side of the gazebo and sheltered us from the sun. Very pretty! It looked like something you might find in Greece or Italy. Tomorrow we are going to Anguila for another day of snorkeling and hanging out on the beach. SPF 50 is working. John missed his forearms and has lobster arms. I have sunburn on my butt. I missed a butt cheek. Ouch!

Day 1--Arrival

Hi everyone! Not much to report on our first day. The flight was good and all in all everything went very smoothly. However, I do have a travel tip: if you plan to travel during spring break, prepare for the security line at BWI to stretch all the way back to the international hub. All security lanes were open, however, so we got through in about 20 minutes. Which brings me to my cardinal rule of travel: always arrive at least an hour before board time.

The hotel is beautiful and so is the view (top and bottom pictures above). We have a great room with a full kitchen so we hope to cook some meals during our stay; especially since the prices at the restaurant are a bit expensive. For lunch Lisa had a seafood salad and I had a mahi-mahi burger. Then we came back to our room for a snooze. For dinner we ventured into town. It's the last night of the season (or festival as they call it) with merchants galore on the street. The crowds were immense. Here's some video:

We ate at an extremely crowded and crazy place:

It was so crowded that they sat us at a table where one of the chairs was teetering on the edge of a step. Lisa was dead certain I was going to topple over the steps so we asked them to seat us elsewhere. They put us at a table with three sisters from Toronto who were very nice (or as we say au francaise: tres sympathique). I had curry chicken, cole slaw and Johnny cakes (look 'em up) and Lisa had grilled chicken and fried plantains.

Tomorrow we plan to spend most of the time on the beach doing some swimming and snorkling. Starting Thursday we plan to do some excursions out to some of the other islands, so hopefully things will get a bit more interesting then. Until tomorrow: Au revoir! A demain!

John

Welcome to Adventure

John and Lisa will be on the island of St. Martin from Tuesday April 3 to Sunday April 8. Pictures and anecdotes will hopefully be posted on a daily basis, provided the wi-fi connection works. Until April 3---Au revoir! (We're staying on the French side of the island.)