Caribbean Recommendations

[botdrnk]

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I think we've got it worked out and the itinerary is as follows. If you've been to any of the following, please feel free to make suggestions where to visit when here.

Sat-Tues: St. Maarten/St. Martin (accomodations undecided, suggestions welcome)
Wed: Day trip to St. Barths (sounds like I'll miss Jimmy by 3 weeks)
Thurs-Sat: Anguilla (Cap Juluca)

Does anyone know the exact location of Jimmy's former restaurant on St. Barths. You know, the one that was destroyed by the proverbial "kitchen fire"? Will certainly get a cocktail and a snack at Le Select.

[bravedave]

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I think we've got it worked out and the itinerary is as follows. If you've been to any of the following, please feel free to make suggestions where to visit when here.

Sat-Tues: St. Maarten/St. Martin (accomodations undecided, suggestions welcome)
Wed: Day trip to St. Barths (sounds like I'll miss Jimmy by 3 weeks)
Thurs-Sat: Anguilla (Cap Juluca)

Does anyone know the exact location of Jimmy's former restaurant on St. Barths. You know, the one that was destroyed by the proverbial "kitchen fire"? Will certainly get a cocktail and a snack at Le Select.

Near Lorient. As you drive from St Jean (airport/ Eden rock) it will be on your left just as you approach Lorient. You can see it from the beach in Lorient, but I can't name the road that gets you there.

[McGee]

We almost always travel to the caribbean in October. The rates are still summer rates and the weather is usally good. I say "usually good" because last year we DID in fact get hit by a hurricane while on Tortola last October. You say you are ready to "reason with hurricane season" but just keep in mind the following advice....

The experience of being on an island during a cat 4 hurricane aside, you need to be prepared you may be 3 or 4 days late getting home (you'd be surprise how quick airlines shut down and ferry boats are tied up when a hurricane is in the forecast!!) and make sure you have no important work appointments and that the kids (if you have them) can stay extra time where they are for several days AFTER your scheduled return. Also be prepared for extra cost if your airline can't accomodate you and you switch airlines to get home faster.

Asking if your chosen resort has a generator big enough to power the whole resort is a good question too. no generator means no water, no lights and no A/C as most islands cut power when winds reach 40mph as a safety precaution.

We're seriously considering St. Croix this October and figuring what are the chances it could happen two years in a row.....

[Missing B'dos]

St. Martin... Grand Case Beach Club. You will be quoted in US dollars and pay in US dollars not Euros even tho' it is on the French side. Two beaches. Pool. Breakfast included. Great view of Grand Case bay. Easy access by car or taxi to ferry for Islet Pinel (which you MUST go to). AND you can WALK to most of the lovely restaurants and clubs in the village of Grand Case. TIP carry US cash and ask if you can pay for dinner in US cash they will often make it flat Euro/dollar exchange if you have cash. We left our cash in the room safe, had a $100 dinner tab and if we had had our cash could have paid $100 (this included dinner, dessert, coffee, a bottle of wine, and two glasses of St. James rhum naturel from Martinique, so $100 was not bad) BUT we had to use our card and ended up paying $165 for the same meal due to the dollar being at a loss to the Euro... so CARRY CASH! Also great sunset views and views of Anguilla.

Cap Juluca. Pretty posh. Make sure you 'tour' Pyrat rum and get a bottle (these people make Patron tequilas also). Dinner tip; Blanchard's... make your reservation now... then read the book. And don't forget the Dune Preserve... we rambled in during the afternoon, we had been drinking at a nearby beach bar and were staying in condos near there, and it was pretty quiet but they had Mount Gay and we got to meet Bankie who was just hanging out talking and were invited to that night's rehearsal... well after Blanchard's we went, and we hit the final night of rehearsal before he went on his 2008 US tour, great music and lots of Mount Gay and very relaxed people and waves and Bankie was in prime form... also they thanked us for coming back in the evening!! It was excellent and memorable even to we, us, who have been all over the Caribbean. So do that!

Marigot is dirty and full of cruise ship tourists. We would skip it and go to Islet Pinel. The restaurant you choose there determines which beach chairs you can use for free. Also note the bar with a boat as the bar. And the Oxcart. We didn't do Orient Beach except for eating in the shore community one night, but if you are cool with topless or nothingness you will like it. You can't get topless on any of the former British colony islands. Just not done. Dutch side is cheaper, has American chains, has great shopping, and has traffic. But the gorgeous and very efficient international airport is there. They have ATMS that dispense in US $, Netherlands Antilles guilders, AND Euros! Oh, and you will need EC dollars for Anguilla, although really we just used charge cards there.

this has been very rambling, but then Jimmy is just home tonight from Trinidad and I have had a couple rums, so will leave it at that....

[mommar]

St. Martin... Grand Case Beach Club. You will be quoted in US dollars and pay in US dollars not Euros even tho' it is on the French side. Two beaches. Pool. Breakfast included. Great view of Grand Case bay. Easy access by car or taxi to ferry for Islet Pinel (which you MUST go to). AND you can WALK to most of the lovely restaurants and clubs in the village of Grand Case. TIP carry US cash and ask if you can pay for dinner in US cash they will often make it flat Euro/dollar exchange if you have cash. We left our cash in the room safe, had a $100 dinner tab and if we had had our cash could have paid $100 (this included dinner, dessert, coffee, a bottle of wine, and two glasses of St. James rhum naturel from Martinique, so $100 was not bad) BUT we had to use our card and ended up paying $165 for the same meal due to the dollar being at a loss to the Euro... so CARRY CASH! Also great sunset views and views of Anguilla.

Cap Juluca. Pretty posh. Make sure you 'tour' Pyrat rum and get a bottle (these people make Patron tequilas also). Dinner tip; Blanchard's... make your reservation now... then read the book. And don't forget the Dune Preserve... we rambled in during the afternoon, we had been drinking at a nearby beach bar and were staying in condos near there, and it was pretty quiet but they had Mount Gay and we got to meet Bankie who was just hanging out talking and were invited to that night's rehearsal... well after Blanchard's we went, and we hit the final night of rehearsal before he went on his 2008 US tour, great music and lots of Mount Gay and very relaxed people and waves and Bankie was in prime form... also they thanked us for coming back in the evening!! It was excellent and memorable even to we, us, who have been all over the Caribbean. So do that!

Marigot is dirty and full of cruise ship tourists. We would skip it and go to Islet Pinel. The restaurant you choose there determines which beach chairs you can use for free. Also note the bar with a boat as the bar. And the Oxcart. We didn't do Orient Beach except for eating in the shore community one night, but if you are cool with topless or nothingness you will like it. You can't get topless on any of the former British colony islands. Just not done. Dutch side is cheaper, has American chains, has great shopping, and has traffic. But the gorgeous and very efficient international airport is there. They have ATMS that dispense in US $, Netherlands Antilles guilders, AND Euros! Oh, and you will need EC dollars for Anguilla, although really we just used charge cards there.

this has been very rambling, but then Jimmy is just home tonight from Trinidad and I have had a couple rums, so will leave it at that....

I have friends who go to Anguilla every year, and every year they go to the Dune Preserve for drinks, or lunch or whatever , and every year they chat w/Bankie, they say Bankie is almost always in "rare form" and at leasts acts like he remembers them from year to year, whether he does or not, they're not sure or if he's just that sociable....and no matter whether he does or doesn't remember them the big point is that he really ,really makes them feel welcome and comfortable. GO and ENJOY!

[Big Green PH]

Harbor Island, in the Bahamas, if you can get there. Getting there takes about 3 planes and 2 boats, and there aren't many hotels on the island, but it's a damn nice place. Jimmy's boat (Continental Drifter) was docked about three slips down from us when I was there a few years ago.

[Patm123]

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I think we've got it worked out and the itinerary is as follows. If you've been to any of the following, please feel free to make suggestions where to visit when here.

Sat-Tues: St. Maarten/St. Martin (accomodations undecided, suggestions welcome)
Wed: Day trip to St. Barths (sounds like I'll miss Jimmy by 3 weeks)
Thurs-Sat: Anguilla (Cap Juluca)

.

In Anguilla, you can try Ripples Restaurant in Sandy Ground. Good food, fun bar. Also Smokeys Restauarant on Cove Bay beach. (Cove Bay is one of the more secluded beaches in Anguilla, across the bay from Cap Juluca.)

In St. Maarten, you have a huge selection of hotels. Personally I like to stay in downtown Philipaburg, at the Holland House Beach Hotel on the boardwalk. Downtown is not where most folks stay and it can get busy during the day when the cruise ships are in. However I've always enjoyed it there. You're within walking distance of a number of interesting restaurants and bars, and evenings in "The Greenhouse Bar and Restauarant" can be memorable.

Enjoy your trip.