St. Maarten

Put an umbrella in my drink.

I began writing this in January as January makes me antsy. I think it's the comedown after the holidays, the usually bad, cold weather and the excruciating short daylight hours. It's usually in January that I start to daydream about warmer, sunnier places that perhaps smell of fruit juice and rum; sunscreen and beach funk; and the general debauchery that accompanies rum and sun. There are many places that welcome this type of debauchery and the Caribbean is definitely one of them. Years ago I was a chef/stewardess on a private sailing yacht for a famous handbag designer. We were mostly docked in Tortola, BVI, but spent time on St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Five months of bombing around islands with the main purpose of drinking and dancing when the boss wasn't on board exposed me to the general acceptance of bad behavior on these islands. The bartenders understand that their job is to pour and bullshit, to open bottles but not to never clean the old rum smell off the sticky floors. The scent of rum and very fermented tropical juice blends are a signature scent of the bar scene on islands. It's a fact. It's also a fact that some bartender somewhere will reward seeing your boobs with free drinks so there's that... Now that we’re dealing with Covid-19 and all of our future travel plans have come to a screeching halt, I feel that the need for a little view of St. Maarten is needed more than ever before!

Over the past few years my husband and I have traveled the first week of November which is wedged at the end of hurricane season and before high tourist season. Somehow booking a sunny trip during January seems to help my sun starved psyche even though travel may be quite a ways away. Being located in New York, traveling to the Caribbean is an easy escape as there are direct flights from NYC to the island of Saint Martin. St Martin is a great place to fly for two reasons: 1. it's a great island to eat, sun bathe, drink 2. it's a good jumping off place if you are interested in seeing other islands. When you land at Princess Juliana international airport you can either connect on to other islands through some of the smaller, more local airlines or you can take ferries to Anguilla or St. Barths. It is also easy and cheap to rent a car at the airport and driving around is very easy. Saint Martin is half Dutch (Sint Maarten) and half French (Saint-Martin) but you can drive from one side to the other without worrying about customs; there are no check points, you only have to clear customs when you land. The island is small enough to drive around in a few hours. Certain parts of the island were badly damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, including Maho, which is where the airport is located and is a neighborhood with many hotels, restaurants, casinos and shops (most still closed in Winter of 2018, the last time we were there). The airport is currently undergoing major renovations but is generally a pleasant experience when clearing customs; it is a hub for island transport and they are efficient.

My husband and I stayed in Maho for a few nights while on our honeymoon in 2015, before the hurricane. Maho Beach is literally at the end of the runway and there is a strange tradition there where people line up where the jets take off to be blown back onto the sand/water. It is loud and seems like a serious health risk but it's fun to watch silly people get sand blasted by jet engines. There is a fantastic supermarket in Maho. Compared to some of the other Caribbean islands I've visited, Saint Martin has amazing supermarkets and restaurants. Liquor and beer is generally cheap on the islands, however, wine is an expensive luxury but being Dutch/French this rule just doesn't seem to apply to this island. Our favorite place to stay on Saint Maarten is a little hotel called Mary's Boon Beach Resort in Simpson Bay. This place has been there since the early '70s and is independently owned and operated. Located directly on the beach, it offers many room types but our favorite has always been the beach front studio which has a tiny kitchen, private patio and is literally steps to the sand. The restaurant on site is fantastic, offering fresh fish at dinner and basic approachable items for breakfast and lunch. There is an incredible beach bar and restaurant a 5 minute walk down the beach, called Karakter which offers lunch and dinner. It also offers beach chair service if you can get there early enough to find a spot. They have live music on Wednesdays. This little stretch on Simpson Bay is never crowded and the water is always the perfect temperature, however, it is very close to the runway, which Mary's Boon has embraced by building a roof top viewing deck to wave goodbye to your friends as they are propelled into the sky or to admire the giant Europe bound jets.

The world won’t stop forever. Keep in mind that our favorite vacation destinations will still be there when we can safely travel again. In the meantime, enjoy some pics and make yourself a rum runner to tide you over. Mary’s Boone http://www.marysboon.com/ rooms starting at $95/night