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Day 3 in paradise! We got a late start today (see a pattern here 🙂 ) but headed to Dawn Beach for the morning. The weather was absolutely perfect today.  The last couple days we had seen a few clouds but today was all sunshine.  It was finally clear enough that we could see St. Barths from our balcony.

Although the Westin takes up most of Dawn Beach, we found a quiet spot under a palm tree towards  Busby’s beach bar. We did some snorkeling and explored the reef just off the beach. Snorkeling on St. Martin is not great but we did  see a lot of reef fish.

For lunch we headed to Simpson Bay and had lunch at Pineapple Pete’s. I really like this place for lunch. Good food and good service. Crystal had the chicken caesar wrap and I had the grilled chicken sandwich.  Both were excellent! Total bill: $25. We might have to try out the dinner menu later on this week.

After lunch we went on the Rhino Rider Safari. This was one of our favorite activities from last year and we had a blast again this year! You start in Simpson Bay Lagoon and ride a 2 person inflatable speed boat along the french coast to creole rock on the north west tip of the island.  We spent about an hour snorkeling at creole rock and the highlight was seeing a 2 foot barracuda! It was a really fun way to spend the afternoon, highly recommended!

You can see from above that I have not been working on my tan.  Still rocking the biker tan 🙂 Looks like I might have to drop down from my SPF 50 to get rid of those tan lines. Crystal has been doing a much better job than me.

Since we were already in Simpson Bay we decided to drive over to Marigot on the western side of the island and watch the sunset:

After watching the sunset, we were going to go to Mario’s Bistro for dinner but forgot they were closed on Sunday. We headed north to Grand Case but that turned into a mess as the traffic and parking were awful. The main parking lot was closed so it was gridlock with everybody trying to find parking. After driving around, we decided to head back to Oyster Pond and went to Dinghy Dock.  I had Fish & Chips and Crystal had the special: Shrimp & Mussels in a white wine sauce over pasta. Both were very good. Total bill: $35

Not sure what is on the schedule for tomorrow I might go SCUBA diving or we might just spend another day at the beach 🙂

We slept in today after having to get up at 6:30 am yesterday to catch our flight. It was nice to be on island time with nothing to do but relax 🙂 We had breakfast on our balcony:

and then headed to Orient beach for the day.  We set up camp at Brice’s Paradise and spent the morning lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean. We also took a long walk all the way to the end of Orient.

For lunch we headed to Baywatch. Andy was in good form, and we enjoyed a very tasty lunch:

Andrew – Pork Sandwich
Crystal – Grouper Burger
Total: $32

We also found out about a July 4th party that Baywatch will be having next Saturday so I think we will head back there next weekend.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach reading  (Andrew – The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life / Crystal – The Hour I First Believed) , getting a little sun, and swimming in the really warm water of Orient Bay. We also took a stroll down to Club O the “clothing optional” section of orient beach. We kept our clothes on but Crystal did have a good quote:

What’s the point of wearing a t-shirt when you don’t have any pants on???

For dinner we went to Big Fish right down the street from the hotel in Oyster Pond. This was the only restaurant we went back to last year and I think after tonight’s meal it is our favorite on the island.  Here is what we had:

Andrew – Grouper with a lobster sauce
Crystal – Mahi “Renee”
Total: $56

The service was a little off tonight (they forgot our appetizer) but the main courses more than made up for that oversight. The food was outstanding! I usually don’t order fish but this might have been the best fish dinner I have ever had. It was that good.  The entrees offer good portion sizes and come with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Simply perfect!

After having such a good time on our Honeymoon in St. Martin last year we decided to come back this summer.  Since it is low season I was able to book everything just 3 weeks ago.

Our flight from Atlanta was uneventful and we got into St. Martin about 30 minutes early. Since we flew on a Friday the airport was very quiet and we got through immigration in 5 minutes and our bags came out a few minutes later. We met Lesley Bruce from Kenny’s Car Rental and were on our way in about 5 minutes. Traffic from the airport was heavy as they are doing bridge rennovations on the Simpson Bay bridge. Once we got over the bridge, traffic eased and we headed to Princess Heights on Dawn Beach where we are staying for the week.

(We stayed at Princess Heights last year and loved it! Here is my review from last year)

We found our way over to Princess Heights and checked in.  Since we were staying in the new building up the hill it was quite an interesting drive to access it! Although the office is a few hundred feet from our room you had to drive up a very narrow and steep road to access the upper rooms.  I was a little worried walking out from the car as they are still finishing up all the landscaping so it looked like a construction site.  My fears were quickly gone as soon as we stepped in the room.  The room was BEAUTIFUL!  I also quickly realized that they had upgraded us from a studio room to a 1 bedroom. This was easily the nicest hotel room we had ever been in.  Marble floors throughout the entire area, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, complete sets of plates and utensils, two Sony LCD tvs, Jacuzzi tub with shower, beautifully decorated, and a balcony overlooking Dawn Beach with views of St. Barts.  I looked at Crystal and said “Are you kidding me!” – We are paying $112 a night for this place! I was thinking to myself there must be some sort of catch. But after 8 days there was no catch.  We had a great time staying here and highly recommend it. It was a 12 minute drive to Orient Beach and 20 minutes to Phillibsburg and Simpson Bay.  It was perfect for a quiet Honeymoon.  I think there were only a couple other guests staying here.  We felt like we had the place to ourselves.  If you are looking for a lot of action or a full service hotel this is not the place but a quiet vacation getaway we can’t imagine a better place to stay.

Here are some pictures from the hotel: https://andrewknight.smugmug.com/gallery/5562063_kdxYF#340870355_zpdiX

This year we got the same suprise as last year:  they had given us a free upgrade from a studio to the same 1 bedroom we had last year! After unpacking some things, we quickly got our suits on and headed down to Dawn Beach. The beach was very quiet and we just enjoyed swimming in the ocean and relaxing after traveling for most of the day.

Before coming last year, I spent a lot of time reading the TTOL (Travel Talk Online) forum.  We go so many great tips and recommendations from this board.  If you are coming to St. Martin just lurk around on TTOL and you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration! Since St. Martin has so many great food options narrowing down the options using TTOL was very helpful.  Before I get into the food reviews a few notes on our perspective.  We don’t eat out that much at home but enjoy good food that is not over the top elaborate.  We both don’t drink and we usually just go with a main course so our bills will be much lower than most!  All totals include tip.

For our first night out we headed to Mark’s Place for the best ribs on the island.  We went to Mark’s last year for the all you can eat ribs and I had been looking forward to these for an entire year!  Mark did not disappoint- the ribs were amazing. Total bill was $30. This might be the best value on the entire island!

Orient beach is is up tomorrow.