Monday, August 14, 2023

December 16, 2023 Exporling Marigot and anniversary dinner

We made French toast for breakfast with the leftover baguettes that we had.  I walked to the shopping area of downtown and bought a swimsuit coverup and a hat.  

SXM is the airport code for St Martin

 

 

replenishing our supply of baggettes

Back at the condo, I walked the beach and found a lot of sea glass and shells.  Then I enjoyed a swim in the pool rather than the ocean.  Dave enjoyed relaxing at the condo with a view of the ocean. 


our condo was the first one on the left with open shutters on the ground floor

The open shutters went into our living room, the right door was our bedroom with the shutters closed
shoreline by the jetty with iguanas in front of our condo


looking west towards town past our condo

we loved listening to the waves on the shore
my beach collection

We found these in our condo and had to try them out.  They are disposable ice cube trays.  You fill the bag that already has the cube shapes and freeze the bag.  Then you just break the cube through the plastic to use them. 
 

We had made dinner reservations at O Plounge for our anniversary.  It was recommended by Laura, our condo “concierge”.  Sue, our waitress, remembered that we were celebrating our anniversary from when we stopped by a couple days ago to make the reservation.   We had a Camembert cheese appetizer that was amazing.  Dave had lamb confit and I had Pastis (a licorice liqueur) flamed shrimp.  It was a wonderful meal and relaxing evening.

this was their business card
this was the wine list

specials for the night


our view of the boats in the marina across the street

flaming Camembert cheese





our waitress taking a photo for us


fun to see Christmas decorations


December 15, 2022 Pinel Island, St Martin

Thursday We drove to Cul de Sac on the north shore this morning.  From there, we took a ferry at 12:00 to Pinel Island for $12/person round trip.  We hiked along the shoreline to find a place to snorkel.  The visibility was pretty bad and rough waves near coral.  So we gave up on snorkeling.  We hiked further along the shoreline before returning back to the beach where the ferry landed. 

the drive to the ferry dock


Island map



our ferry boat
 

 
boat dock at the island

lobster in the cages

drink tables in the water

WC


unusual toilets

 

view back to beach from our snorkel area


pathway

waves breaking on the reef


water was calm here, but underwater was boring

 
hike atlong the western shoreline






 You had to pay for a beach chair, so we went to the Yellow Beach Restaurant and had a view of the water.  We shared an appetizer of calamari, codfish fritters, jalapeƱo poppers, and mozzarella sticks.  That was too much fried food.  We also shared a medium rare hamburger with goat cheese.  It was very dry.  Should have sent it back.  Not a great dining experience.  There were several protected turtles wandering throughout the restaurant and island.  I walked the beach and swam a little before we headed back on the 4:00 ferry.  


 

 








 
all I needed was a cold drink at the table in the water

looking back at the beach from the water
Back at the condo, I went for a swim in the pool, mostly to rinse off the salt waster and sand.  We had dinner at the condo.