November 22,2023 St. Martin, French West Indies


We are trying to remember the last time we visited St. Martin. We think it was 2007 or 2008…we rented a one bedroom condo, in January, for one week.…it was a colleague’s time share, on the Dutch side … not a very memorable property…small beach…”Mountain” view. However, it was perfectly fine for the intended purpose: get us out of the New York winter and into some warm sunshine. Our visit before that was in 2002, staying at La Samanna on the French side…a completely different experience. In 2017, hurricane Irma destroyed a very large percentage of the Island. My former colleague’s condo still has not been rebuilt , but La Samanna is back and looks beautifully restored on the website.
Anyway, we were happy to debark the ship and search out familiar places.

We were anchored about a 15 minute tender ride from the port.
I snapped this pic of one of the tenders before we headed up to Marketplace for breakfast.
Eggs for all😍
As soon as we stepped off the tender we spotted a “Fluffy” pigeon.
So this is the site of the restaurant “La Vie en Rose” …we dined there on the second floor balcony during both previous visits. Very French, very romantic. Very delicious. Happy the building survived…sad the restaurant did not.
This is a small restaurant in the marina area, where we had our first ever taste of a Sancerre wine. Very happy to see that it has physically survived…not sure if it’s the same owners.
This photo was taken in the marina area of shops and restaurants.
Just another view from the marina.
Marketing done tastefully and ubiquitously.
These branding messages are everywhere.
The sea on the tender ride back to the ship was “sporty”.
We were rocking’ and rollin’.
Lunch in Marketplace. So healthy.
Canapés…not so healthy.
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We were in such a rush to get to the show…I didn’t double check the mirror selfie 😂 Whatever…Tim’s fault for being so tall.

Lemon Drops in Stardust before a funny show by comedian Tom Briscoe.
Tom’s 45 minute set flew by…we laughed throughout.
We both began our meal with Veal Consume’
Eggplant rollatini for me.
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I was quite surprised when Timmy ordered the vegetarian option. Quite surprised.

We concluded our evening back in the Stardust Club for a 25 minute show “Sweet Soul Music”. Lauren,Robert and all the Crystal singers and dancers were super. The Showband, excellent as always.

Another lovely day in the books. Thanks for following along. 🩵