St. Martin

The stamps which were put in our passports upon arrival in St. Martin said "A little European, a lot of Caribbean," which nicely summarizes the atmosphere of the island.St. Martinis jointly held by France and the Netherlands in peaceful cooperation. We heard some American tourists repeat a saying -- "Stay on the Dutch side, eat on the French side." Well, to each his or her own preference, but we stayed on the French side and ate on the French side, although we were happy to visit the Dutch side as well.

La Samanna

"The days spent lying on the beach at La Samanna aren't meant for making decisions..." --me

(This picture was taken from the beach in front of our suite. Click on the picture for a double-sized version.)

The resort where we stayed is calledLa Samanna,which, I believe, is French for "the Samanna." (In addition to the official web site linked above, there's another nice web site aboutLa Samanna).

Upon arrival at the La Samanna, we were offered glasses of Caribbean fruit punch by a gentleman carrying a tray, and then another gentleman with a French accent brought us to our suite for registration. After he showed us the suite, a housekeeping lady arrived to turn down our bedcovers, while another gentleman delivered complimentary fresh fruit and French champagne (Laurent Perrier) and still another gentleman delivered our luggage. This wonderful welcome, easy registration, and smooth move-in characterized our stay at La Samanna and our entire vacation. Another thing that characterized the stay: The Laurent Perrier was wonderful and strong, yet, after drinking the bottle, we woke up the next morning without hangovers.

I could say a lot more. The information book in our suite made parallels between a stay there and the island life of Robinson Crusoe. The staff was friendly, efficient, knowledgeable, and discrete. Fresh fruit was complimentary, replenished in our suite every day. The French food and wine in the restaurant were beyond belief -- enough for me to add French cuisine to my personal list of favorites (the other cuisines being Japanese and Korean). Staff members on the beach (Baie Longue) put out beach chairs, towels, and umbrellas, and every once in a while, someone would come by and offer some fruit or sorbet or take a drink order. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that days spent lying on the beach aren't meant for making decisions...

Breakfast at La Samanna's restaurant was complimentary, every day.

The view from breakfast on the terrace. Scroll right and left for the view. This is sort of a poorly-done panorama, but I think it gives a fair representation of what the view was like.

Apart from just lying on the beach, Heather and I spent a lot of time snorkeling -- the time I spent snorkeling almost equals the time I spent just lying on the beach. There were a few rocks around which hundreds of tropical fish accumulated -- more different types of fish than I could count, including a couple of flat sand fish, a rock fish... I've never had so much fun snorkeling. On our last full day in St. Martin, I realized that I had been so overwhelmed by the sights that I had forgotten to buy a Kodak one-use, underwater camera to take pictures, and when I checked with La Samanna's boutique, I found that they had sold out those cameras. This is the kind of picture you can take with a non-underwater disposable camera in a Ziplock bag, under water. Oh, well...

Another view from the restaurant at breakfast. (Click on the picture for a double-sized version.)

By the way, beaches in St. Martin are top-optional, with the exception of a part of Orient Beach, which is clothing optional. The attitude on the French side is very "European" and relaxed with respect to nudity on beaches, and I get the impression that the Dutch side may be a little more conservative. We never visited Orient Beach.

Sunset as seen from the beach just outside our suite. (Click on the picture for a double-sized version.) We could also see Hale-Bopp quite clearly in the evenings.

Drinks at La Samanna's grill and bar late at night. If I had known my haircut was this bad, I would have had a lot more to drink, both during the honeymoon and at the reception after the wedding.

The Fish Pot, Grand Case

No pictures, unfortunately. However, I can't neglect mentioning the restaurant we visited in Grand Case, which is a town on the island with many world-class restaurants. On Thursday, we had dinner at the unfortunately-named Fish Pot (82, Boulevard de Grand Case, 0590.87.50.88), which is well-known by local people as possibly the best restaurant on the island. The restaurant has an excellent terrace view of the beach. The cuisine is French, and the restaurant is apparently named after their bouillabaisse. Our dinner there was superb. I had beef and lobster, while Heather had a tuna steak, and the chef also provided hors d'ouevres (amuse bouches?) and a complimentary dish of potatoes au gratin that made the analogous stuff we get in America seem like a pathetic joke. Our wine was Chateuneuf du Pape 1994. We had profiterolles for dessert -- a kind of light pastry stuffed with sorbet and covered with chocolate sauce.

The service was superb, as well -- fast, friendly, and efficient. When we arrived without reservations, we were initially seated in a side room, probably used for overflow seating and which has a view of the beach but isn't on the terrace. When a table on the terrace opened up a few minutes after we were seated, however, we were immediately offered the nicer table. We also had an excellent waiter, and since I've forgotten his name, we'll call him Jean-Luc, although his name might have been Claude. Once, when I was about to refill our wine glasses, Jean-Luc suddenly showed up at my elbow, surprising the hell out of me (was he taking away our wine?), taking the wine bottle from me, and apologizing profusely for not being fast enough. He then proceeded to refill our wine glasses and our water glasses. Now that's service!

Scuba Diving with Blue Ocean

On a lazy Friday afternoon, we got up the energy to make a decision -- we'd go scuba diving. I wanted to scuba dive before turning 30, and my birthday was the day after we were to go back to Chicago. So we called up the concierge, who arranged for us to go scuba diving with a small company called Blue Ocean (Baie Nettle, 0590.87.89.73).

The Blue Ocean staff took us and a small group of other tourists out to a large rock just offshore near Grand Case. Heather and I were the only American members of the group who were going scuba-diving; the other Americans were there to snorkel. Furthermore, this was to be our initiation/baptisme dive, and we were the only beginners in the group. We had an excellent scuba instructor. I forgot his name, so we'll just call him "Henri," although I think his name might have been Michel or Stephane. That's his head in the background behind Heather. Henri instructed us on how to use the diving equipment and what the hand signals were, and after we suited up, he jumped into the water first. I followed. Heather came last, then she panicked massively and said she wanted to get out. Henri calmed her down, after a while, though, and we made our descent with Henri holding our hands and guiding us. After getting used to sucking air from a hose while underwater, you find that the sights become overwhelming. We saw lots of coral and fish, including a big barracuda, and we went pretty deep (for beginners). You quickly forget all the equipment, the fact that you're wearing a wetsuit previously worn by uncounted people before you, and the fact that you're holding hands with another guy.