The Waiting Game: When “Standby” Feels Like Forever
Since our last sailing holiday with Fern, we had been waiting with anticipation for the message to pack our bags. The ‘plan’ was a standby trip to the Caribbean with Fern and her two friends, Phil and Phaon.
Fern had told us it would be either St Martin, Tortola BVI or possibly Martinique. Fern was also keen to take a monohull rather than a catamaran. As it was only a 5 or 6 week wait since our last holiday, we only had 3 weeks to wait to see if we would be off again. Boy, did those 3 weeks drag!
We promised each other we wouldn’t check flights or boat availability in any of the preferred destinations, but we did, numerous times a day!
As the boats got reserved, our chances of going were diminishing. There was only one monohull left in the WHOLE Caribbean! And then it vanished from the Sunsail website! We didn’t hear from Fern so presumed the worst.
Janine didn’t speak for a full day much to the pleasure of Alison’s ears!
Fern can only book 2 weeks in advance in the Carribean and 1 week in Europe. Talk about stressful! We resigned ourselves that the plan was off but secretly hoped it might not be.
Plot Twist: “Do You Want to Go to St Martin?” (Obviously!)
The day came when Fern could book and the message came that we were able to have a Catamaran from St Martin, do we want to go?? Do bears… well you know the rest. Of course we wanted to go, and so started a mad rush to book flights, a few nights accommodation, car hire etc.
Before we knew it we were heading to Toulouse airport for our flight to Paris CDG and on to St Martin.
We dropped the car off in P2, and headed to the NH Hotel for a very short nights sleep.
Sleep? What’s That?
At 03h30 our alarm went off, why are all our flights from Toulouse at 6am? Quickly showered, we left for the short walk to check in, in a sleepy daze.
Our Air France flight to Paris CDG was on time and seemed to be more a commuter flight, most people looking smart and rather awake for the time of day, unlike us in our ‘comfortable’ long haul attire!
Without even having time for a snooze, we were landing in Paris and planning our transfer to the right terminal with the help of the airport guide. Luckily our bags were checked through so one less job to worry about.
Being newbies to Paris airports, we’d googled the trials and tribulations of CDG. We were armed and ready for chaos and queues.
Upon arrival into the terminal, we were greeted by a very friendly chap directing passengers to the correct terminals and boards telling you which way to head. After a couple of minutes’ walk, we saw a bus going to our terminal and gate! Instead of the anticipated hike and stress, we were on a bus almost directly off the plane and heading to where we needed to be….hurrraaaahhhhh! We didn’t need to go through security again as expected and soon we were sitting at the gate waiting for our flight to the sun.
Nine Hours, One Ginger Dog, and Questionable Seats
Air France are still running pretty old Airbus A330 planes on this daily direct flight to St Martin. The good thing about this plane was the option to reserve a ‘duo’ seat.
The layout is 2-4-2 and it seems most people travelling reserve these seats, we did too. The seats were not comfortable, not a lot of legroom and the thought of nearly 9h sat on an old cloth seat with little padding wasn’t great but it had to be done! It wasn’t a full flight but unfortunately we weren’t quick enough to move to one of the vacant 4 seats in the middle that obviously nobody reserves! As it was a daytime flight, although we were tired, I think excitement was keeping us from nodding off!
We can’t say the flight passed quickly, it didn’t! It dragged on even watching a couple of movies and getting up to wander around quite regularly. The only distraction was a very cute fluffy ginger dog across the aisle! Janine did think there was a strange woman stroking a cuddly toy so went to ask if it was real. It was!
Rent-a-Wreck: Our Luxury Island Ride
Finally we touched down on Sint Maarten.
The airport is on the Dutch side of the Island and we were staying on the French side.
We were quickly through customs, maybe the advantage of coming from Paris rather than a non EU country, and were glad to see our bags on the carousel.
Our next step was to find our car hire man. The company we had chosen was off airport as most are in Sint Maarten. We’d gone for a budget car BUT they had great reviews…
Finally we found our guy and were whisked away in a battered minibus to a yard a couple of kilometres from the airport. It really was a yard with a few old and new cars scattered around. We went into the office, filled in the paperwork and were introduced to our car for the next 4 days.
We didn’t realise our company was called rent-a-wreck but it seems it must have been. Our jalopy had no boot liner, no spare tyre, bits missing from the bodywork and was damp! The guy did salvage a bald spare tyre from another knacker so at least he tried…
It was a Nissan from the 90’s and how they’d dare ask for a €500 deposit I don’t know. We’re not sure if the car was worth that for scrap!
Welcome to Friars Bay St Martin: Paradise with Puddles
We set off with some trepidation to the other side of the island, to a little beach called Friars Bay where we had rented an apartment. The car actually ran fine and we fitted in with the locals!
Upon arrival in Friar’s Bay we discovered it had flooded a few days before, hence why the car was wet we presume. The road, if we can call it that, to our apartment was an obstacle course of flooded pot holes of varying depth. Very carefully, we picked our way through the pond hoping not to end up getting stuck. We didn’t. Suddenly we were very pleased with our far from new car!
The beach at Friars Bay is beautiful and our apartment was walking distance. We had chosen well.
The apartment was called Sunset Paradise and was a great home from home apartment with 1 bedroom. The bed was really comfortable, had everything we needed and cost €454 for 4 nights. We booked through Booking. Each morning sitting out having breakfast, we were joined by 2 green iguanas sunbathing. What a treat!
After getting unpacked, we headed towards Marigot the capital and Super U! Being a French island, it was rather like being at home, just more humid and tropical! We did a quick shop and were even able to use our loyalty card!
By now we were knackered! We’d been up since silly o clock and couldn’t wait for bed. Being a day time flight, we didn’t sleep but with the difference in time, it’s a never ending day!
Finally it was bedtime.
Settling into Island Life
After a good night’s sleep, breakfast with the iguanas and a bit of a tidy up, we headed to the beach.
Wow! What a beautiful bay. Pale sands lapped by clear warm water, Janine was in paradise. We rented 2 loungers and a parasol and got set up.
The cost was €20 if you weren’t eating in their restaurant which was a bargain for the location!
After resting on the beach for most of the day, we decided to go exploring. We didn’t get far, just to the shop to pick up some bread and cheese for an easy dinner, this beach life is exhausting!
The Lolos of Marigot: Where Time (and Food) Slow Down
The next day our routine was pretty similar except we did manage to get out for dinner. We drove to Marigot and discovered the Lolos, traditional St Martin food shacks serving freshly made food. Lolos are to be found all over the French side of the Island. In Marigot, the original shacks were destroyed by the last hurricane but the whole area has been redeveloped and the Lolos are back!
After having a wander around, we chose to eat at Sandy’s Lolo. We ordered a couple of burgers, a cold bottle of Carib (the local beer) and a coke.
It’s certainly not fast food but what a great experience it was. The prices are great and the food was tasty. It’s pretty basic, don’t expect French gastronomy but I’d have eaten there every day!
Road Trip & Rum: PHILIPSBURG’S BIG BLACK D*CK!
Day 3 and we decided to go to the other side and have a drive around the island.
We arrived in Philipsburg after checking which day had the least amount of cruise ships in. We still couldn’t get parked. Round and round we went getting further away. Alison was losing patience and was about to give up when suddenly we saw a space.
We had a nice walk along the boardwalk, looked in a few shops, picked up the obligatory fridge magnet for Rita (Alison’s mum) and found a bar! For some reason we didn’t go and watch the planes arriving over the beach which is one of the ‘tourist attractions’ in St Martin. Next time….
We found a bar called The Lazy Lizard and it was advertising happy hour so we ordered 2 ‘local’ daiquiris.
Bloody Nora! That’s all we can say!
Something else caught Alison’s eye… Sitting loud and proud on the bar was a bottle of Big Black Dick! A local chocolate rum that Alison would like to get her mouth around! There’s a first time for everything and she suprisingly enjoyed it!
The Final Night: Friends, Food & LOTS OF LAUGHS
All too soon it was time to pack up and go sailing.
On our last night at Friars Bay we’d arranged to meet Phil and Phaon, our fellow crew members and go out for dinner. We picked them up from their overnight accommodation and headed in to Marigot and back to the Lolos. Another great evening was spent with our new friends. We were looking forward to our next adventure!
