Thursday, May 12, 2011:
Well, the skies are FULL of clouds this morning. No sign of the sun peaking through at all! And the weather is calling for 60-70% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Looks like the next few days are going to be much of the same too. Bummers! So I doubt we will find sunshine today. The air is so thick and heavy with humidity that droplets of water are forming on the screens. It’s like a steam sauna! I don’t recall it ever being like this before. Not the best day in paradise, but still better than snow!
Since the beach is pretty much out, we’ve decide we will go to Cheri’s tonight for dinner to get some of our favorite fettuccini and then go to the Casino Royale to gamble a bit.
Evening finally came and we got ready and headed over towards Maho and Cheri’s. While we were coming into the Simpson Bay area we came upon a Claude VanDam checkpoint (that’s what Gerald calls the police). We’ve seen lots of these this year but we have never been stopped by them. I guess they recognize us as tourists and waive us through, but tonight was not going to be one of those times and we got pulled over! They already had about a dozen cars pulled over. The officer came up to the car and asked Gerald for his license and then the registration and insurance. Great, I have no idea where that stuff is in this car! I looked in the other car and knew it was there, but didn’t check when we got this new car! (hey…I was busy getting my hair done!) Unfortunately I couldn’t find the insurance paper, and the sticker in the window was expired as of March 26. !!! Let that be a lesson…ALWAYS check to make sure you have registration and current insurance in your car!
Well, the officer was not happy! We told him it was a rental, and he was surprised – I guess he didn’t know, but now he was stuck doing his thing. He then went into his lecture of the importance of insurance and then proceeded to tell us why he had to confiscate the car because he couldn’t let us drive around without insurance in case we hit someone! AAAAAAAAHHH!!! Then he took the keys (like we were going to abscond on this little island!) and said he would not ticket us personally for no insurance because it was not our fault. I told him we understood the importance of insurance and that I would contact the rental company. He said if they can bring proof of insurance right now, then he would let us have the car back. I’m sure they will (they better!) but the problem is that it’s like 5:30, on a Friday night! I just hope someone is around still!
So we sat on the side of the road, being glared at by the Claude VanDams, while I pulled my phone out and frantically tried to call the rental company. I tried and tried to dial the numbers to the rental company that were on the contract, but I was so nervous and upset, I couldn’t get the darned number dialed right no matter what I did. I was about to have a major panic attack! (my daddy raised me with an over abundance of fear of authority!) The officer came back to the car, running out of patience, and I told him I couldn’t get the phone to dial the number and he told me to try to dial the + sign first. DUH! I should have remembered that, but I was a little verklemped at the time! So I dialed the + (after remembering HOW) and then got through to the emergency number and left a message. Then I dialed the office number and thankfully got a hold of Anthea, one of the gals in the office. She was just getting ready to leave! I told her the police had us pulled over and they wanted proof of insurance because the window sticker was expired. She said to tell the officer that the car was insured but I told her that if she didn’t bring proof to him now, he was going to have the car towed and impounded – he already had the keys. And just as I was saying that, the guy in the car next to us was being hauled out of his car and they took it away to be towed. I looked over in the open lot across the street, and there were 4 tow trucks waiting…1 just left with 2 on its back and within 10 minutes he came back for more! Anthea said she would be down in a minute! Luckily the office was not too far down the road.
I thought I was going to have a major panic attack…being pulled over, the insurance expired and not being able to get a hold of anyone at first, and then being faced with the car being towed and impounded, and possibly the car place charging us and saying we needed to pay for thousands of dollars in damage. This was all flashing in my head! But Anthea showed up shortly with the company policy and we stood there another 15 minutes waiting for the police officer to come back and look at the policy. When he finally did come back (in between hauling off another 3-4 cars), Anthea told him that the insurance company did not give them the window stickers this year and he proceeded to lecture her that she should have put a copy of the policy in the car. (Calm down Claude!) He carefully read over the policy then agreed we could leave, unfortunately he forgot that he had taken our car keys and he had to go look for them! (I think he gave them to one of the tow truck drivers!) Finally the officer returned with the key and apologized but said he was just doing his job. I told him we understood the importance of having insurance, mostly I was just thankful to be let go!
Anthea and I were talking about us getting a copy of the policy for the car, because I didn’t want to go through this again. Then I tried to take pictures of it with my iPhone, but it wasn’t coming out so good. Then Anthea remembered that The Post Office was just down the road, so we decided that we would go there before it closed, which would be in 10 minutes! OMG! What a night! I know the island made tons of money tonight! About $100 for each impounded vehicle plus no telling how much for the tickets themselves! Taxi’s should have been there waiting too, because there were lots of people that were standing there watching their cars being towed away.
Anyway, thankfully it all worked out. We met Anthea and got a copy of the policy and have it in the car now, so I feel better. With the incident over, and no real damage done, except to my psyche, we headed to Maho for our planned dinner at Cheri’s. Although I think I need a stiff drink first!
Now, if you ever get to St. Maarten, you simply have to go to Cheri’s. The food is absolutely great and there is a show every night at 8pm put on my the Sweet Chocolate Band.
(that's Tina...as in Tina Turner!)
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These guys do a phenomenal job too! I know it’s kind of a touristy place, but it’s so much fun. We parked the car and rather than get a table, we just hopped up to the bar and talked with Cordel - the awesome bartender. He has been there for years and is so funny! He was like a carnival barker trying to get people to come in and sit at the bar! During this time of year (off-season) there are not a lot of people walking around, so they try to get as many as they can! But we weren’t really there for the show, we came for the fettuccini, which in my opinion, is one of the best I have ever had! But first things first…I ordered a cosmo…
**cosmo…mmmmmmmmm. Cordel makes the best ones!
Gerald got a soda, then we ordered a salad, fettuccini (to split – cause it’s a large order) and garlic cheese bread. Gawd it was so good! Then at about 8pm (Caribbean time – which means about 8:30) the show started. We sat for a while and watched just to give our dinner a chance to settle in our stomachs. It was dark and my camera doesn’t take good pictures, even with a flash, so I took some video…it turns out better that way! Go figure!
Here are some videos...you can see better!
Then after a while, we were having fun so Gerald ordered a BBC and I got a chocolate martini (for desert!). MMMMMMM!
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And promptly at 9pm, the Casino Royale dancers did their thing out in the middle of the street. I tried to take some pictures but ended up with a video of that too! They always do it right in the middle of the Cheri’s show…I’m not sure why they don’t stop for a while! Anyway…hope you enjoy!
**video
Our bellies full – almost to the point of miserable – we said goodbye to Cordel and walked next door to the Casino Royale (yes…just like the James Bond movie!). We went to the VIP desk and signed up for a card and got $10 free play! Nice! Then quickly deposited it into the slots. I found one by the door and put my last $20 in. By the time we left at 10:30, I cashed out with $30 and enough points to get a little lunch/beach cooler!
Here’s a picture of our booty for the night! A little Casino Royale cooler, clackers and the potential for a small hangover tomorrow from the martinis I had! =) (see photos above!)
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