Our first day at The Cliff consisted of swimming in the salt water, lying in the sun, then swimming in the pool, lying in the sun, and pretty much vegging out accompanied by the occasional adult beverage. As the afternoon wore on we started thinking about dinner. We decided to avail ourselves of the Concierge provided with the accommodations. Her name, quite aptly, is Gabby. She is a very knowledgeable resource, and when asked about dinner, she began by inquiring what we wanted to eat. Our reply was seafood. At that she sprung into action and sounded exactly like a Concierge, “oh I know this great place down the road a bit…….don’t know if I can get a reservation for 4………..you’ll just love the chef………sort of nuvo cuisine etc. etc”. We stood making noncommittal grunts and faces as she rattled on about this place or that, until I sort of cut through all the euro speak with “How bout a piece of grilled fish on the beach?” At this point, she immediately switched gears and became our best friend. End result was we were headed for Calmos Café to put our feet in the Caribbean with some great drinks and watch the sun go down, then walk down to the LoLo and get something cool to eat. Sounded pretty good to me.
We finished our afternoon of decadent indolence by retreating to the balcony of the villa to watch the planes and boats, read and doze, all with a background music of soothing surf below us on the cliffs.
As the afternoon wore on, showers were taken, plans were loosely made, and about 5 ish we headed up the road to Grand Case on the French side of the island. Roads on the French side of the island proved to be a little better in condition, but just as crowded and congested. We arrived at the Calmos Café, and made our way through its little souvenir shop, and were greeted by web slingback chairs with small tables and kerosene railroad lanterns, spread randomly on the beach. It was obvious what folks did was come here to watch the sunset on the beach…..all the chairs were facing the water. We chose a spot, and were served delicious cocktails by a very young very French waiter. (The girls wanted to take him home) The sun did it’s natural thing in a most beautiful fashion as we were surrounded by the moored boats of all kinds, azure blue water, and a generally dare I say romantic atmosphere. Those who know me know I’m not the romanticist, but this was one of those “don’t get no better than this” kind of place.
After sundown, we headed just a little way down the beach to what is called “The Lo Lo”. The LoLo is a place to eat on the beach, but with a twist. There are six or eight sort of restaurants all clustered together on sort of a boardwalk kind of setting, but more in a square. All of them have mostly the same food consisting of “stuff” grilled over charcoal in half an oil drum, and a row of large slow cookers with other “stuff” Pretty much how you decide where to eat is by the waitresses out front exhorting you to come to their particular establishment, and eying the “stuff” cooking on the grill. (Oh and also how close to the water do you want to be) We ended up at one establishment where the barker who was also the waitress, offered Brenda “your first drink is on the house darlin if you bring your folks here” We sat down and ordered, ribs for Vickie, chicken for Brenda, and Marlin for Jerry and I. (I hope Marlin isn’t endangered) The food came and was most interesting. The dishes were called “Foods” as in Chicken Food, Marlin Food etc. What this entailed was a huge plate with the meat main course surrounded by small piles of about 10 different items. Before dinner, she brought us some Jonny Cakes, which are like donuts only made with bread dough instead of sweet dough/batter, and deep-fried. They were delicious. Good meal, price not outrageous, and great fun. After the meal, we navigated home, getting lost and ending up coming back from the completely other direction we intended, but saw a lot of St. Maarten in the process. Everyone was pretty whipped, and books and magazines soon turned to snores and comfortable beds. We all say—it’s too early for bed, but then we wake up bright and cheerful the next morning ready to tackle another day in Paradise.
Note, yesterday I mentioned the huge abandoned golf/condo complex we had been driving through. We asked Gabby about that. Turns out it was built in the late 70’s early 80’s by the Saudi Arabian Finance Minister. Place was super deluxe, and folks like the Kennedy’s, Fords, etc. owned condos and stayed there. Then along came hurricane Luis in 1995 and decimated the place. (It also decimated The LoLo where we ate) Well according to the story, the Saudi Prince took all the insurance money and ran---not fixing anything. Numerous lawsuits flew back and forth and he ended up paying off all the condo owners ten years later, but still fixing nothing. So there it lays today as Gabby said “A national embarrassment” The wreckage still lays there, and the golf course is all grown up, untended. It looks like a den for drugs and homeless people. Gabby said the Government is still trying to gain control in the courts, but with limited success. She’s right; it is quite an embarrassment, a huge huge eyesore that you have to drive through anytime you head up the coast from the airport.
Next Wes and Vickie go on a sailing adventure.
More Later,
Wes
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