50th Anniversary Trip of Chuck and Joni- Start of the trip, Haulover and St. Martin



Hi everyone!



We are on our big beachtrek for our 50th anniversary!  Itinerary: 3 days at Haulover Beach near Miami and 10 days in St. Martin (French West Indies) for just the 2 of us, and then a week in the Turks and Caicos with our whole family, 6 adults and 6 kids. 

We just finished 3 very nice days at Haulover in the company of friends Gary and Pauline and Charlie and Cate.  Was sunny every day with temps in the low 80s and fresh seabreeze. (see Joni's sketch, attached).  Since we were there on weekdays it was not at all crowded but still plenty of sun lovers showed up. We drove our motorhome down here and stayed in it at Oleta River State Park which is only a short drive from Haulover.  Oleta rents cabins but we slept in our rig  in the parking lot next to our cabin. It was fine except for the man-eating no see'ums around dusk and in the morning! We needed bug spray just to leave the RV. Cheap though, about $57 per night and very nice bathhouse!


Wed. night we stayed at a Hampton Inn near the Miami Airport- we snagged a Sleep n Fly deal so that we could leave our RV in their lot while we travel. It's very nice and there was plenty of room for our small RV in the back parking lot.  Tomorrow we hop on a plane to St. Martin for 10 days of fun, we hope. Everyone wonders how the island is recovering from Hurricane Irma that wiped out the French side, especially places on Orient Beach, in 2017..  Club Orient was leveled and has not come back at all but the rest of the beach is doing ok as described by this report from someone who has just returned:
Also just got back after 28 days. Orient Beach still a wonderful beach. Seaweed in the water & on the beach when you have a rainy night. Or a windy night when the water gets mixed up. The bottom of the ocean is a little rocky but still wonderful. The beach has the Perch Lite, Kontiki, Bikini beach,La play, esmerelda,Koko, (beach restaurants) plus Orient village has about 10 restaurants. Plus a couple of small eatery's in the village my favorite 'Good Morning Cafe' with to go breakfast & lunches. Also Le petite casino a small grocery store. Have Fun.

So we'll go check it out while we stay for 4 days at Club Fantastico, 3 at Jardin D'O and 3 at Residence Adam and Eve, all on the French side near Orient. Will try to give updates as we move around.

Your pals,
Chuck and Joni


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

50th Anniversary Trip: Comparison of naturist accommodations near Orient Beach, St. Martin

Because several folks have asked for our opinions, we took a stab at comparing the 3 naturist-friendly accommodations that we stayed in near Orient Beach (OB) for our 50th Anniversary trip to St. Martin, 12-22 Dec, 2019. Of course these criteria  and rankings are totally subjective, based on our personal whims, likes, etc. I should preface this with the statement that all 3 of these places are VERY nice and we would not hesitate to stay in any one of them again for a week or more at a time. Our rankings  are based on very slight differences for us, excepting the view. I guess a 4th contender should have been mentioned i,.e. a private villa. There are lots of them from what I see in the forums, many with private enough pools that could render the place naturist-friendly. We had our eyes on several but in the end wanted to be pampered on our 50th. Might do a villa next time if we go with friends, for example. There were few or no other guests besides us at all 3 places, quite a su
Read more

50th Anniversary Trip; Jardin D'O and Rancho del Sol, 16-17Dec

Image
So we  moved to Jardin D'O Monday AM, just a 5 minute drive but quite a different neighborhood from Club Fantastico. Here is their website:  Jardin D'O . It's located across N7 (main road around the island) from Mt. Vernon behind 2 gates. Seems secure but also a bit of a pain to get to . The idea of this place (and our unit Indigo) here is more like a  group of small 1 BR apartments each with their own kitchen and patio area. Guests are on their own more than at Club F, i.e. no breakfast, provide your own stuff like paper towels and hooch! Nice little kitchen with BIG frig, TV in living room but with only French stations, big bathroom, queen bed (vs king at Club F). Nice pool, (no hot water for the shower), fairly uncomfortable wicker lounge chairs, no view other than the garden flora.  But we do like it anyway, we feel somehow more like French locals here.  And really close to the pharmacy, bakery and supermarkets! We hit the beach again today (a pattern has been set?) b
Read more