harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #751 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Harry - Do you know if Sarafina's restaurant in Marigot was open? I heard rumors that it was severely damaged. This seemed to be the standard place to stop for lunch on a Bernard's tour in the past. They had great sandwiches and outstanding macarons. I was just wondering about that, too. We stopped there with Bernard's in March and had a delicious croissant and some chocolate cake. :)Heather Mailman didn't say anything about a pastry shop when we were there. The lunch stop is now at the beach for 1.5 hours. I just looked up Sarafina at trip advisor and someone said they are closed https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147348-d1754928-Reviews-Sarafina-Marigot_Saint_Martin_St_Martin_St_Maarten.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #752 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Harry: I agree, I drive my vehicles until the wheels fall off. I think many accountants like the fact that a fully depreciated asset on the balance sheet is still providing value instead of having to use the resources to acquire a new one and take a hit on the P&L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #753 Share Posted January 28, 2018 So as we wind our way back to the Dutch side of the island, Mailman stopped here right at the border Note the 2 color difference on the road. That is the boundary between the 2 countries Also check out the power line just stops here - there is connection to the left but not the right. As you typically see power lines connect with others in the endless chain, this one stops here as that is the boundary for the French side. I didn't know both sides uses different voltage system (110 versus 220) until the Mailman informed us This is the spot where they sign the annual agreement between the two sides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #754 Share Posted January 28, 2018 As we approach the airport area, we saw some fairly large boats by the side of the road from the hurricane damage Now this bad boy is pretty big (compare it with the car on the road) and the storm carried it onto land Don't think the car is supposed to be in this position... Another boat flipped over on its side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #755 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Here we are at the entrance to Princess Juliana airport. Technically the airport is open for business with flights coming in and out but that is don via the auxiliary building on the side. Mailman said the main airport building sustain water damage to its electrical system from the hurricane so that is still not in operations. So people that flies in and out of SXM is being processed on the auxiliary side building. Totally empty parking lot as the main terminal is still closed You see the entrance to the main airport building is still closed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #756 Share Posted January 28, 2018 More pics of structural damages as we head for Maho beach As I have no zoom camera on me, can't get a close up shot here The building's top floor is basically gone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #757 Share Posted January 28, 2018 So we are here at the world famous Maho beach. It is my first time here. Per Mailman, after hurricane Irma, there were couple boats that were washed up at the runway that had to be cleared before the planes can land. Warning sign for the few dumb people who are clueless on basic dangers of life The Mailman parked the bus at the parking lot of the Sunset bar and grill and we all just walked over to the beach. Maybe some the pictures I saw of the place was old but it sure looked like there were more sands by the big rocks area in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #758 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Now the area is all big rocks such that you can’t walk on it to get to the beach easily coming from the parking lot. So if you are coming from the Sunset bar area to the beach, you either have to walk the balance beam like an Olympic gymnast or walk onto incoming car traffic to get to the middle of the beach to be close to the planes. As before, they have the plane schedule written in chalk on the surf board. Think the bigger planes are later in the day. I want to say I read somewhere that the bigger planes from Europe might not be running as regularly as before since many of the hotels are still not 100% repaired A whole lot of rocks by the Sunset Grill & Bar. Lots of people waiting for the next plane There was one small propeller plane taking off just as we got there Plane schedule Sunset Grill in the back serving food and drinks. So without much sand to walk on, to get to the beach, you either do the balance beam maneuver or walk onto incoming one lane traffic at which point, you will need to move out of the way Everyone get out of the way when there are cars coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #759 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #760 Share Posted January 28, 2018 The beach itself is pretty and when a plane comes in, the whole beach area stop whatever they were doing and everyone gears up their phones and cameras for the pending plane arrival. I will do my Fantasy Island impersonation of Tatoo, “Hey, boss, DE PLANE, DE PLANE” (Al l the young readers have NO CLUE what I am talking about – Go Google it). Oh, yeah, get that selfie stick ready... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #761 Share Posted January 28, 2018 After the plane lands, you hear all kinds of car horns honking as every the drivers just STOPS in the middle of the narrow 2 lane road to look/take pictures and the whole traffic flow grinds to a stop. So if you are driving around the area, be aware that the car in front of you will likely stop if a plane is coming in. I must admit, trying to photograph a moving plane right above you takes some practice. But time was something we didn’t have a lot of. If Maho beach is important to you, then come early on your own, and camp out at the beach and enjoy yourself watching planes land and take off. There’s isn’t much to do at the area while you wait for the next plane to arrive. So we took few more pictures and tried the family selfies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #762 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #763 Share Posted January 28, 2018 OK, people, squint really hard over at the horizon. Is there a plane coming yet? Nada... Oh, wait. I see something... We don't have enough experience in judging the speed of the planes in getting the right angles and shots as prop planes come in at different speed compared to jets. If we have the 1.5 hours here at this beach instead of Friars, we would have had better pictures but you get the idea. Just go online to find the better pictures of Maho beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #764 Share Posted January 28, 2018 So 30 minutes came and went really fast and time to head back to the bus. While inside the bus waiting for another family to show up there, we saw a much bigger Delta jet landing. Dang, only if we had 15 minutes more at the beach. We could have taken a picture of that. Instead, you get to see the plane landing on other side of the roof. Not nearly as dramatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coralc Posted January 28, 2018 #765 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Wow! That is an awesome house at the end of the bluff with the deck. I would be a little concerned about the very large hole in the cliff underneath it if it was my house. :) But maybe that is a California concern with our larger waves. Great photos of the hurricane damage Harry! I think that all of us on Cruise Critic were wondering how the island had fared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #766 Share Posted January 28, 2018 After Maho Beach, the tour made couple more photo op stops before making it back to the pier. Overall, it was a solid tour. The island is still in the recovery phase. The French side has further to go compared to the Dutch side as they wait for the insurance settlement money to help them rebuild. It may not be the exact St. Maarten people want it to be prior to the hurricane but still very beautiful island to visit if you are willing to make some adjustments. As things are likely to change on a daily/weekly basis, the info I have provide will likely be outdated by time you visit. But just be sure you do visit. I read so many people wringing their hands about not visiting the island. That’s silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 28, 2018 Author #767 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Our bus: Our ship: Look at the color of the water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #768 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Wow! That is an awesome house at the end of the bluff with the deck. I would be a little concerned about the very large hole in the cliff underneath it if it was my house. :) But maybe that is a California concern with our larger waves. Great photos of the hurricane damage Harry! I think that all of us on Cruise Critic were wondering how the island had fared. Hi, Patti, Didn't realize you dropped in a post here as I was busy uploading pictures earlier. Only when I saw the email notification did I see your comment. We too were wondering what was shape the island was in. Our sailing was the second wave of ships to go there from RCI after the Grandeur went there the week before so there wasn't much info. Even when I email Bernard couple weeks before we left, he wasn't sure how much of the planned itinerary he can keep by time we arrive. Hopefully our info will benefit others in the pre planning for the island this year. As for earthquake, actually Mailman told us on the tour that the day before we visited St. Maarten, on December 24, there was a 5.8 earthquake centered near their sister island of St. Barts few miles out and people at St. Maarten felt it. So if we had gone in the day before, we would have felt it as well. With my luck, I would be just at the unsecured platform that we talked about before when the earthquake hit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #769 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Few more pics of damaged buildings as we head back to the cruise terminal: This place doesn't look like it's ready for any cocktails yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #770 Share Posted January 29, 2018 So we are back at the cruise terminal. Time to visit the uncle in prison to see if he can make a special parole visit to have dinner with the family it was Christmas Day at all (aka shopping). I’m telling ya, every port I go, I see many people milling about at all the shops. But hardly anybody talks about shopping at the ports in their trip reports at CC. People talk about the wonderful sexy cool excursions or the fancy cold drinks they had at the port but shopping must be a bad word on CC. Look, kids, remember that wonderful T-shirt grandma got you from last year’s cruise? It only cost $5. But keep telling yourself it’s the thought that counts as grandma rather spend $10 sipping on a frozen alcohol drink and only budgeted $5 on you as grandma has her priorities, you know... The wife inquiring about prison rules... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #771 Share Posted January 29, 2018 You can't cruise in North America/Caribbeans without running into a Diamonds International somewhere. We made a quick stop at the welcome center as I wanted a map of the island similar to what Mailman had so I can remember all the places we saw today Big map on the back wall Time to walk back to the ship This part of the cruise terminal is not ready for visitors yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenatorsFan Posted January 29, 2018 #772 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Mailman didn't say anything about a pastry shop when we were there. The lunch stop is now at the beach for 1.5 hours. I just looked up Sarafina at trip advisor and someone said they are closed https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147348-d1754928-Reviews-Sarafina-Marigot_Saint_Martin_St_Martin_St_Maarten.html Thanks, Harry, for the update. I've been meaning to look this up myself. Hopefully, they are able to rebuild (maybe they're waiting for their insurance money to come through). I've been to St. Maarten before, but had never been to the French side until my DH and I took Bernard's tour in March 2017. It is truly heartbreaking to see the devastation caused by the hurricane. This won't stop me from going back in the future if I have the opportunity. Heather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #773 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Following the bare chested Santa back to the ship Their butt Our butt I think we easily won the "butt off" competition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #774 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Thanks, Harry, for the update. I've been meaning to look this up myself. Hopefully, they are able to rebuild (maybe they're waiting for their insurance money to come through). I've been to St. Maarten before, but had never been to the French side until my DH and I took Bernard's tour in March 2017. It is truly heartbreaking to see the devastation caused by the hurricane. This won't stop me from going back in the future if I have the opportunity.Heather The insurance money will partially help rebuild some of the place as we all know insurance won't be able to restore you to be 100% whole prior to any disaster. Some of the damage payments will have to come out of their personal savings. Another issue is if their main livelihood is offline, they have no current income so it's a double whammy to not have regular cash inflow as well as having to pay out of pocket to restore the store/home to the way it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryfat1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author #775 Share Posted January 29, 2018 After making a prison visit, it time to get back to the ship as we need to chow down. Officially the WJ is only opened until 3 PM for lunch per the daily compass, but the sign at the front (which I don’t believe I took a picture) and on the compass said from 3 to 4 PM, WJ serves a light snack. Whatever that means? Light snack? Who cares? Food is food. When you are hungry, it matters not. So we rushed back to the cabin to freshen up and made it to the WJ 5 minutes before they closed their doors at 4 PM. Since they will take away the food soon after the closing time, I told everyone to grab all their dishes now (including dessert) and just lay them out at the table. This is what it looks like. Dang, we can eat or what? After walking around in the hot sun, I wanted a cold salad to start Then load up on the meats and carbs... There's always dessert Grab all the food before they are gone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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