Friday, May 13, 2011

Friday, May 13, 2011:

This morning the clouds are still thick, but occasionally we see the sun breaking through.  We decided we would go checked out a place in Parc de la Orientale where are friend is going to stay next year, and then head around to Friar’s bay again.  Looks like the sun might be shining pretty good over there.  We headed out, took some pictures and then we were beach bound.

We got to the beach and set up our chairs and umbrella.  Not too many people on the beach today, but it is a lovely day with just the right amount of breeze!  After a while, we went up to Kali’s and ordered a drink. Gerald wanted to sit at the end, which was next to a little place that was selling clothing and stuff.  Of course I had to go look…there were cute things hanging there!  I was like a moth to a flame! I immediately fell in love with a couple of things (of course), but unfortunately (or fortunately – if you are Gerald) I didn’t bring very much cash with me, so I couldn’t get anything.  I don’t know if Gerald will take me back to get what I wanted, but I could always take a cab I suppose. Ha!

Speaking of Gerald…his selection of seating is becoming questionable.  First, he tortures me next to the little clothing shop, but he also sits us down wind of a Rasta man who lit up a big fatty! Wow! That thing was as long as a Capri cigarette and as big around as a small cigar! I’m wondering if Cheech and Chong are here making a movie?! (you youngsters probably won’t get that reference) Well, my glaucoma is better, I can tell you that and I’m thankful that I don’t have to take a drug test anytime soon!  GOOD GRIEF!!!! I finally got up and went back to the beach before I caught too much more of it!

The sun was starting to hide behind the clouds, so it was time for us to leave.  And, they got worse as we went towards the apartment.  We stopped at a KFC to get dinner on the way.  We had gotten some coupons in the paper yesterday and it made me hungry for KFC!  But when we got there we ordered something totally different than what was on the coupons! Then it started to rain. We got our dinner and out the door we went.  When we left KFC, we heard a band and looked down the street to see a parade coming up the road towards us! OH NO! We don’t have good luck with parades! We quickly ran to the car and got in! Gerald nearly ran over the photographer that was in the front of the parade taking pictures, trying to get out of the parking lot before we got stuck there for the night!

Then it started to pour…buckets…and buckets…and buckets.  We waited in the car for about 15 minutes and it never let up. So I braved coming up to the room. Of course we got soaked.  Unfortunately, the water had run under the door again and was running into the bedroom.  It got all the clothes wet that were in the laundry basket.  We mopped up the floor, picked up the stuff and hung up what we could around the apartment.  After that we showered (with soap) and ate. 

The rain only let up for a brief moment, and has been raining pretty steady ever since.  There has even been thunder!  It rained for at least 5 hours and it has not let up.  W even had to ring out the towel that we put at the bottom of the front door and had to put another towel down too! Then it started blowing and raining in the bathroom and living room windows! (there is only louvers and screens, no window to close.)  Sigh…it’s probably going to be a long night!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

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!)

 Look at the stuff hanging from the ceiling! You know this is my kind of place! =)

**

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!

argh...I'm having trouble uploading the rest of the videos! Will try again later!

Then after a while, we were having fun so Gerald ordered a BBC and I got a chocolate martini (for desert!).  MMMMMMM! 

**

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!)

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011:

It poured down rain this morning…for a long time too. Currently as I’m writing this, we have a break in the clouds and may head to the beach.  But from the looks of the forecast…it appears we will have lots of rain and storms for the next week.   It’s not yet hurricane season, but it wouldn’t be out of the question to have one during this time of year.  Depends on if the conditions are right.  But I think they are only right for maybe tropical storms…not a hurricane. So we’ll take our chances and find a beach to see if we can get some sun today.

We got ready and drove over to Orient to see what it was like there today.  Unfortunately as we drove over there we watched the clouds build and develop into nice, big, tall rain clouds that hung in the mountains over and behind the beach.  When we got there, we didn’t even take the chairs out of the car.  I told Gerald lets just walk the beach for a while and see if the rain goes over us, and if it does, we will take the chairs out then.  So that’s what we did.  

**Darned rain clouds!

We started walking and noticed that the beach was awful crowded! I couldn’t believe the number of people! There were 2 cruise ships in today, and everybody on the boat must have been here!  You couldn’t even walk between the lounge chairs it was so crowded!

It’s quite congested with little bars here too.  They are all right next to one another.  Most of the bars and restaurants are the same as in previous years, but I did notice a couple new ones.  This one called The Sun Beach Clubber had inflatable chairs and couches, and it had a second floor! Looked like a pretty neat place.

 ** The Sun Beach Clubber! Looks like a cool place:

 We just kept on walking and went all the way down to Mt. Vernon and then headed back.  My ankle was killing me!  We stopped at Bikini Beach for a while because they had a band playing and we got a drink and fries.  (and that way I could rest my food for a while). 

While we were at Bikini Beach it rained off and on.  It looks like the clouds are not going away so we walked back towards the car, but before we could get there, the clouds opened up and it started to rain hard. 

We got back to the apartment and I took a nap (because the margarita I had this afternoon made me sleepy!) then I got up and we ate dinner, and that’s about it for excitement today. 

  

My gawd it’s hot and muggy today and worse tonight!  There’s hardly any wind, so no breeze to help cool you down.  It’s going to be a long night!

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! =(

** 

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!