The
year 2001 marked our seventh year vacationing in Saint Martin during the month
of January. We vacationed between January 7th and January 21st, and, as always,
the vacation was superb.
Saint MartinJanuary 2001by Rick Mollica |
The
year 2001 marked our seventh year vacationing in Saint Martin during the month
of January. We vacationed between January 7th and January 21st, and, as always,
the vacation was superb.
The painting on the left by Peter Lynn appears on the cover of an AT&T sponsored road map for St Maarten * St Martin. Peter Lynn has a studio at 83 Boulevard de Grand Case.The AT&T map contains good street maps that you might find useful. Ti Gourmet is still my favorite guidebook because it is pocket-sized and packed with information. I notice that others are mimicking Ti Gourmet's format now - The Quick Pick Guide and Discover, for example. In any case, you can find these free guidebooks and maps at your resort, and in stores and restaurants.
The island has recovered well from the hurricanes of prior years (except for Cupecoy), the Mullet Bay ghost town was finally being torn down, and Phillipsbug is undergoing a rejuvenation. Cruise ships now dock near Bobby's Marina at the head of Phillipsburg, so the shops at that end of town are getting a lot more business. They've built a boardwalk-like string of shops on the beach at the head of town, and the beach itself is in excellent condition (for the first time I can remember). Also, parking is prohibited on Front Street when ships are in port. The whole scene was much nicer than I had experienced in the past.
Grand Case and Marigot don't seem to change - except that Marigot's Market gets better each year. Over in Simpson Bay, there's a new movie theater complex near the drawbridge and several new stores are being built to take advantage of the theater complex's expected drawing power.
Saint Martin continues to change ... for the better, I think.
You can find more travelogues on my Travel Page or in the Caribbean Travel Roundup (which has hundreds of travelogues about St Martin and other Caribbean islands). As usual, this year's travelogue covers the weather, rental cars, beaches, restaurants, and miscellaneous topics. There are lots of great things about Saint Martin that I don't cover each year - but you can find information about those things in my travelogues from 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000
 |
As was the case last year, thirteen of 14 days were gorgeous at least half of the day and usually all day; the remaining day was too overcast to go to the beach. |
Weather in Saint Martin |
We used Adventure Car Rental (011-43688) again this year. We didn't have a reservation - just stopped at their concession at the airport. Instead of getting our usual jeep, this year we rented a vanilla-flavored Toyota something-or-other. It was a relatively new vehicle in outstanding condition, which I find to be true of Adventure's cars in general. It was a little worse for wear when we turned it in (we scraped a quarter panel and broke a turn indicator light), but Adventure only charged us what I thought was a very reasonable $75 to repair the damage. I have no qualms whatsoever recommending Adventure to you. You can reserve a vehicle via their web site.
Next Page: Beaches | Back to Main Travel Page
