Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tuesday, May 10, 2011:

This morning the skies are filled with clouds again and it’s raining off and on.  Occasionally the sun will find a hole in the clouds and shine a while, but the skies are ever changing and in minutes it’s quickly gone.  We decided that we would go in search of sun today and take a look at some of the other beaches again.  We haven’t seen them in a while. And maybe the other side of the island would be better, which it often times is.  We didn’t pack a lunch or anything, just took a bottle of water. So I threw some chicken in the crock-pot (Gerald loves that) and off we went.  As we turn the corner and head around the mountain behind our apartment, we see that the clouds cover the entire island, and they are dark rain clouds too.  Our hopes of finding a sunny beach have just disappeared, but we are going to go look anyway.

Our first stop was to go over on Simpson Bay Beach.  This beach is a pretty long one and is opposite of our timeshare condo at Flamingo.  It also runs directly alongside the airport runway.  Mary’s Boon Hotel is on that stretch and we have stayed there before.  It was a pretty nice place. We just didn’t like the little French gal charging us for drinks we never had at the steel-a-drink bar, and arguing with us about how it was no big deal. Whatever! I would like to stay there again, but my pride won’t let me! (darn genetics!) =)

We drive down the little lane behind the hotel to the end of the road which takes you to a place called Karakters.  It’s a relatively new (2 years old) bar/restaurant on the beach that has become very popular.  Looks like someone drove a bus to the end of the road and set up a business – typical.  The property looks like it use to be a residence at one point, because there is an abandoned foundation there.  I believe in 1993 hurricane Luis hit the island hard and tore up everything on this bay and most of the island really, and they just never rebuilt.  So the next best thing is to drive a truck/bus in and have fun! Unfortunately today Karakters was closed! Just our luck.  The beach is nice, but it’s course sand and steep.  The waters are a little rough here.  We walked around a little, took some pictures and headed out to the next stop…Baie Longue.

This is the beach in front of Mary's Boon, and Simpson Bay area:

 This is the destroyed remnants of a dwelling just before you get to Karakters:

 This is Flamingo out on the point - that's where our timeshare condo is!

 Mary's Boon again:

 Looking towards the airport:

 This is Karakters - we'll have to try it!

 This is what the sky looks like today! =(

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Baie Longue (Long Bay) is on the French side.  It’s a very long beach (hence the name)!  It too has course sand and mostly rocky shore.  The waters here are also rough.  This area consists of very expensive homes and the La Samana Hotel…one of the islands most expensive hotels.  It’s not a big place, but it’s got a big price!  The bad thing is there are no amenities unless you walk down to the LaSamana.  To get to the beach you have to go through security and a drive quite a ways through the Terres Basses subdivision (for lack of a better word – it’s more like an area).  Terres Basses is an exclusive and expensive area on the island. You don’t see any of the homes in this area as you drive through, just the massive stone or concrete walls and gates that mark where the properties are.  Just take my word…it’s like Ladue!  We finally got to the beach access and walked out…just in time for the next rain! But, I did take a few pictures before we left.

**Here is the entrance to the beach:

** 

Our next stop we figure would be Friar’s Bay (mostly because Gerald passed the other beaches up).  Friar’s Bay is also on the French side and north of Marigot.  We’ve been there before, but like I said, it’s been a while.  We get through the rain and pull in to the parking area.  You can see Anguilla pretty good from here…close enough it looks like you could swim…but I wouldn’t! We walk over to Kali’s and order a drink and sit at the tables for a while and enjoy the little bit of sunshine that peaks through the clouds. 

**This is Friar's Bay:

 In the distance you can see Anguilla:

 A break in the clouds! YAY!

 This is Kali's where we stopped to have a drink:

 It's a nice beach!

**

I think we probably sat there for about an hour and half taking in the sparse sun!  But it was about 4:15 and it was probably going to take us another hour and a half to get home because of the traffic at that time.  Plus we needed to stop at the store for a few things!  So, we paid the bill and bid ado to the Friar’s Bay beach and off we went.

We stopped at the Grand Marche and picked up our few items then came home to the wonderful smell of chicken cooking in the crock-pot!  Mmmmmmmmmm.  I made some stuffing and put some sour cream in the chicken…and it was YUMMY!  (if I do say so myself!)  

And that was it for today! 

Monday, May 9 2011

Monday, May 09, 2011:

The weather yesterday was cloudy and rainy – but at least it wasn’t windy.  Today, we’ve had a few breaks in the clouds, but we do have a little more wind, but not too bad.  Then it started to rain again so we decide to wait until the rain cleared and just drive around for a while. 

We ended up on Oyster Bay and walked around a while.  There is a pretty nice marina over there, plus some restaurants, villas, rooms and a resort.  The Westin is on this beach as well.  It’s supposed to be a very grand place, but as the locals say, it looks like a prison from the outside.  And it does.  Very institutional looking.  No personality at all.

 This is the Westin - from a distance:

We were talking to a gal on the beach and decided we would go over and take a look at the place…so we agreed to do the timeshare thing.  Not looking forward to it for sure, but it will get us in to see the rooms and resort, and we will get $100 worth of something.  We aren’t employed…so we wouldn’t qualify anyway! =)  And…as Gerald says, we are on a fixed income now…so the $100 will be a bonus! Ha! (too bad I couldn’t use it at a jewelry store!)

We left the beach and headed over to the Westin.  It’s hard to tell where you are going in this hotel.  You pull in to the back side of the resort.  It’s kind of like driving on the back side of a strip mall.  It’s not very tropical or ornate in anyway, just flat concrete walls with no windows. The overhang at the front entrance had a beautiful wooden coffered ceiling, unfortunately the wood was not sealed and it is stained, faded and warping.  How sad that they would not seal it to preserve, what I’m sure was a very expensive design and build.  Maybe it’s teak, which I suppose you don’t have to waterproof, but like any wood, it turns grey if you don’t seal it, which is not pretty unless you have a rustic cabin in the woods.  We walk through the front door, and are greeted by a sterile wall. Go right and you see the check-in area, go left and you end up going towards the conference areas.  On the other side of the wall, past check-in is the casino.  I didn’t realize they had one there.  There weren’t too many people there, of course, it is off season. 

No one was there to greet us at the entrance so we stopped someone and asked directions to where we could take a tour.  She directed us to the timeshare area. We get signed in and a young woman came to give us the tour.  (I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember her name for sure! I think it’s Tasha, but she was a very nice gal.) We went outside through a courtyard and then through more doors and hallways eventually outside to the pool area.  It was very nice. All done in a contemporary design. Nothing extravagant, just straight lines and very plain, but definitely a nice area.  The pool (according to her) was the biggest on the Dutch side and it had two levels.  The lower level having the most important area…the swim-up bar! Again, all in a sterile contemporary design with straight lines, flat colors and nothing special to indicate you are on a tropical island.  Walking past the bar, they had a nice beach area set up. No one was there.  (I’ll take pictures when we go back – I didn’t have the heart to do it now.)

We sat at the bar, had a soda and talked for a while.  I think she wanted to get us an adult beverage so we would get a little tipsy…for signing later! =)  But we only got a soda. We felt sorry for her really. They assigned her to us because of our likelihood of not buying.  Anyone really interested (or someone without a timeshare already) will get a top salesperson.  We finished our soda and then walked up the hill to the timeshare condos.  Apparently the Westin has the hotel side, which is in the main area that consists of typical hotel rooms and then some 1 bedroom type apartments.  The timeshares and condos are on the back side.  They supposedly have both fractional and normal timeshare features.  She walked us to a building – indistinguishable from any of the other buildings on the hill and we went in the garage.  The condo buildings have parking garages underneath.  Each condo is assigned 2 parking spots.  Then there is an elevator that takes you up to your desired floor.  We take the elevator up to the 2^nd floor (there are 3 total) and then to the room. 

The room was very nicely appointed, with elegant furnishings and warm soft colors.  Each condo has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  Although the 3^rd bedroom is basically set up as a den with a fold out couch. Each room has a large flat screen TV. The bedrooms aren’t that big (who needs a big bedroom anyway) but they are very nicely furnished.  There is tons of storage and a washer/dryer. The master is up front and opens to the deck and obviously is larger than the others. The kitchen is excellent with everything you would need. Stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops – very beautiful.  The living room naturally has a large flat screen and two large couches (they don’t pull out to beds, but they give you linens so you could put 2 people on them).  Unfortunately, there is a small sized deck that is only big enough for 1 chair.  That was disappointing. The view is ok; nothing special.  The big bummer is you are looking at the roof top of the hotel part.  Yuck.  If you can get past that, you have the ocean, and if you stretch your neck and look right, you can see part of St. Barths. Certainly not a top dollar view.

We finish our tour and walk back through hallways and courtyards back to the sales area.  Here we go! To make a long story short, we played good cop/bad cop and didn’t buy. (guess who was who!? =)  Of course it was expensive.  Regardless if it was nicer, it was too expensive for us – even if they could do a trade in with what we have got now.  Plus, we would basically be trading 2 weeks for one week and paying an additional (huge) amount.  So no thanks. The offer was just not good enough!  So we got our $100 certificate and off we went.  We’ll go back and take some pictures when it’s nicer ‘cause we’ve got the certificate and will have to go back anyway.  (not that we’ve been so busy lately!)  Besides, I don’t know if I want to spend it at the resort store or it could even be a free dinner at a nice place.  Decisions, decisions!

We came back to the apartment, made dinner and the day was done!

May 7 & 8, 2011

Gotta say, ever since I complained last week to the internet company, I haven't had any problem getting on my website! 

Saturday, May 07, 2011:

Didn’t go anywhere today.  It was cloudy and not beach worthy. 

I got a taste for potato salad, so I cooked some potatoes and eggs and made a small batch.  Smallest batch I’ve ever made! =)  I figured that we would have it for dinner.  So what to have with it?  Hmmm….chicken.  Fried chicken! Yeah!

So, I thawed some chicken.  When I was frying the chicken, I had a taste for gravy.  Yummie fried chicken milk gravy.  Mmmmmmm.  But we didn’t have any milk, so I improvised with sour cream and water. And you can’t have gravy with potato salad, so I had to make mashed potatoes.  (we’ll eat the potato salad tomorrow) Then  I opened a can of black eyed peas.  Gotta say, it all turned out pretty good; even the gravy!  No complaints from Gerald, except I only cooked 2 pieces of chicken. Guess I should have made more; it would have been good leftover.

So pretty much all I have done today is cook and do dishes. (That should make Skip happy!)

Sunday, May 08, 2011:

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

May 6, 2011

Friday, May 06, 2011:

Not feeling too well this morning.  Don’t’ know if it was the burger I ate last night or all the medication that I’m taking for this sinus infection. My ear is killing me too.  The wind last week didn’t help I‘m sure. Probably have sand in there! Either way, I may just stick around the apartment today and do some laundry, maybe if I’m lucky I'll be able to update the blog!

At the last minute I decided I wanted to walk outside so we decided to go downtown while the girls were cleaning the apartment and maybe see if Monica was in her store and visit with friends. (maybe shop a little! =)

We went to Monica’s store, but she wasn’t in.  And no…unfortunately I didn’t buy anything =(. Although, I did stop at a little bitty store before we got there and I picked up some head bands. So I didn’t come home empty handed !

Then we walked out on the boardwalk.  How’s this for a view!

 Vanna White presenting the view! =)

**

We walked all the way down to the Pasanggrahan Hotel to see Janet. She works just about every day! We sat for a while and visited, of course we got a drink.  Gerald talked to her about playing music and she said she would ask the owner.

We talked about the new wing they are building.  I thought it was going to be condo’s but I guess they tore down the old and put up a new high-rise building with rooms! It’s not quite finished, but Janet said there was a room almost finished they were using as a staging room.  She got us in to see the showroom and it was FANTASTIC!  They even let me take pictures!  This new wing is going to be awesome! Tons of room and very well appointed.  Take a look:

The furniture came specially hand made from Bali! Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL! It looks like plantation furniture which fits the style of the place since it used to be the Queen’s residence in the early 1900’s.   (That’s the Netherlands – not England)  The rooster is a theme of the hotel and everything was hand carved. And gorgeous travertine marble on the floor!

**

They haven’t gotten the couch and chair in yet for the living room but already it’s gorgeous.  The size of the armoire is ridiculous! Like 8 foot wide!

**

Check out the view from this room! (this is only on the 2^nd floor!)

**

This is the bathroom. It’s massive and very elegant! The tub is a Jacuzzi tub and huge, then there is a monster shower with a movable showerhead, which is great for us short people! And a dressing/make up area and a water closet!

**

Here is a little kitchenette area that will have a microwave, fridge and coffeepot.  No stove or oven.

There is going to be a penthouse, and it looked like there were some bigger rooms as well.  It’s going to be very very nice.  So you have a great option here! I don’t know how much they are going to charge for the new rooms (if there’s even going to be a difference), but the current ones aren’t all that bad.  The food is great here too and lots to do downtown.  Not too far from the Hard Rock Café! So if you come down, you have to visit Janet at the bar/restaurant (and the other girls too) and tell them we sent ya! (and tip them good, they’ve had to put up with Gerald and Bob all these years!)

After we finished our drinks and said goodbye to Janet and the other girls, we walked back on the boardwalk. I told Gerald we would look at some tablets for him while we are here so that he could have a bigger screen (than my iPhone) to see the words of his songs (cause he is getting older and a little forgetful about the words). I’ve used the music app on my iPhone to download words to some songs, but he has to stop and flip the screen.  I figured we could get him one of the small tablets, instead of having a paper notebook, and that would work pretty good.  We stopped at a few places and took a look at what they had. 

Klass had a Galaxy Tab for $540.  They also had a really really neat electronic keyboard dock (for $125) that the tab sat in and turned it pretty much into a little computer.  It also worked as a phone if you put your SIM card in it! (biggest cell phone I’ve ever seen!) Course, I fell in love with it, but it was more than what Gerald wanted and WAY more than he wanted to spend.  Even though they offered to sell the keyboard for $99, or both for $635, which included an additional 4 gig of memory for a total of 20 gig.  They had a Blackberry and iPad, but that was not what we were looking for, plus the iPad was $800+ (without negotiations, so it could have been a little cheaper). There was another small tab, it was cheaper, but I didn’t like it at all.

Then we went to World of Electronics.  They had a Coby brand tablet there.  It would be perfect, and was the right size and everything, but it was $250.  I don’t know much about these things so I’m going to have to do some more research on them.  I’ve never heard of the Coby brand.  I also have to remember that they don’t charge taxes down here. I did see some on the internet for $100, but I’m sure they were off brand and old.  Which is ok for Gerald.  But now I’m hooked on the Galaxy Tab with it’s WAY COOL keyboard. I gotta get it out of my head! Does anyone have any recommendations? =)

We left downtown, sans a tablet, and headed back to the apartment.  Gerald had some leftover spaghetti and I cooked some rice.  That’s it for the day.  I’m going to start doing some research on some tablets so I can be better prepared! =)