Beach Day #4 This One's a Plum

St. Martin Plum Bay Beach

FRIDAY 8 May 2015

Plum Bay beach is my new favorite. Hah! Thought we might not find it, but it was easy. 8 minute total drive from the NBBC condo. You just have to know to tell the guard at the private gate that you want to go to the beach. He tells you that you will drive through private property for 5 minutes and then you will see beach access. The private homes are high dollar villas with big gates. Then you see a little parking lot with a sand walkway between chain link fences. 

Beautiful half mile beach! One big villa and an empty beach. Crowd at noon of 15 people. No amenities here. We brought rented chairs and umbrella and our lunch (ham, cheese, French bread, fruit). In love with this beach. Light surf, a few rocks. Love this sand ... It is a little coarse and not sticky. 

Dinner in Grand Case!!! Finally made it to Spiga's Italian. 

It was excellent. The waiter was friendly and told us he has lived and worked in Grand Case for 4 years. He loves the low stress and short commute. Doug had Lobster, clams, and shrimp on linguini with marinara. Would you look at that! My ravioli with marinated short rib meat was equally delicious but not as impressive looking. 

Beach Day #3 No Waves

St. Martin Friar's Bay beach

7 May 2015 THURSDAY

Friar's Bay beach today. We loved it in 2012. It is still great. Lunch place has spruced up and has better bathrooms. We accessed from the north, unpaved road that is just barely a road. I would call it a wide path of large rocks. But you see large iguanas on it -this one was maybe 3 feet long- and it gives a shorter walk to the beach. We rent chairs and eat lunch at the north end .. Friar's bay beach bar. There is paved road from the south you can use instead. It has a different parking lot and is near a second umbrella chair rental place.

The calm waters of Friar's Bay.

Lunch was so fine. French food just rocks, even on the beach. I had a ham and cheese crepe that melted in my mouth. 

Thursday dinner at Mario's Bistro was excellent! It is 3 minutes from here, on a canal in Sandy Ground. We had asparagus soup (omg so good), wahoo sushi appetizer, shrimp & scallops entree (Julie), Mahi entree (Doug), and a divine chocolate fudge dessert. Watched schools of tarpons swim under the lights. 

Beach Day #1 Time to Unplug

St. Martin Bay Rouge beach

Monday 4 May 2015 

Beach day #1. Bay Rouge is a new beach for us that we didn't visit on our first trip. It is literally 2 miles from our condo at NBBC. I think this is the best beach so far. But I'm pretty sure I always say that at every new beach haha. Only a few people here, perfect large cove semi-circle beach. Tropical breeze, beige coarse sand, turquoise water. And my Kindle and iPad haha what else do I need? 

Shouldn't any self-respecting sabbatical start with attempts to unplug? I think so, but free time for me means time to actually be social and get back in touch with the world. So  I want to read the news, Facebook, and blog and such. Unplugging is just not reasonable. Also reading the last of the James Rollin's Blood Gospel trilogy.

There is a strong undertow here, at least today. Just don't fight it and you can swim past it. On the north end (right) of the beach, the rocky point includes a neat arched opening in the rock, called David's Hole. 

A nice guy from Minnesota just took our photo. Yep, he said MinesOAta. 

Venus rented us the chairs for $15 total for the day. Lunch from Justin - Mahi sandwich that was just amazing. Rice with black-eyed peas. Yum!  Fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice. Dinner was soup and salad (from Simply Grocery)at the condo.

Alarm at 2 AM

Saturday 2 May 2015. It's get-away day. Here's proof that I need a sabbatical:  I purposefully booked a flight at 5:20 AM. That flight time required getting out of bed at 2 AM. Say what? Let me just say that even if you do get up and make it to the airport with all your stuff, it is not because your brain helped. It was all muscle memory and luck. One neglected factor - the 2:30 AM traffic. This drive time coincides with all those folks who left the bars at closing time. Defensive driving took on a whole new meaning. One guy almost sideswiped us, then tried to hit the freeway median. Let's just say I wasn't sleepy after that.

The day took a great turn with our first flight - I upgraded to first class when I checked in, on one of those cheap deals. Just the leg to Miami. First time in first class and it was wondrous. First to board, two big reclining seats, and breakfast! The flights to Miami and then on to St. Martin were uneventful as desired. Arrived at 1 pm. Picked up the rent car and drove 10 min to our condo. Another win. This location on Nettle Bay is just perfect. It is centrally located, so that we reach all the beaches and shopping without a long drive. Very different from the more remote Anse Marcel beach hotel at the north end where we stayed in 2012. And we are on the beach, so cool.

At dinner time, we discovered a French pastry shop and a pizzeria directly across the street. Convenient calories!