IWNA 2019 Issue 2

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52 INTERVAL WORLD n Issue 2, 2019
Most meals I’ve eaten on var-
ious beaches around the world
are delivered on paper plates or
wrapped in heavy-duty napkins.
Not at Bikini Beach. When Paul
returned with our food, it was plated
on porcelain dishes with real silverware and cloth napkins. The top
of my crusty baguette was set strategically askew to reveal the
vibrant sandwich contents: green lettuce, purple onions, black
olives, red tomatoes, and large chunks of pink tuna.
It was divine. And the fact that I was eating it right on the beach
made it that much better. It’s hard to explain the joyful juxtaposi-
tion of noshing white linen–caliber fare — in both presentation
and flavor — while your bare feet are caked with sand and your
also-bare shoulders glisten with freshly applied sunscreen, but it’s
something I’m now convinced every beach lover should experience.
JET FUELED
A few days later, we headed to Maho Beach, the most popular
stretch of shoreline on the Dutch side of the island. This is where
airplanes fly right overhead, and I can tell you from experience that
all those pictures you see of people posing with massive jetliners
coming in for a landing over their shoulders are not tricks of pho-
tography. There’s the beach, a narrow two-lane street, and then the
runway at Princess Juliana International Airport.
And at the south end of the sand is Sunset Beach Bar. Similar
to Bikini Beach, they rent lounge chairs and umbrellas. Their menu is
more gastropub than French bistro, but the food is just as satisfying.
Shawn and I both ordered cheeseburgers topped with bacon
and egg; Valeria had the sesame-crusted goat cheese salad with
candied walnuts, apples, and raspberry vinaigrette; and Michelle
went for the vegetable panini.
After our simultaneous first bites, Shawn beat me to the five-
star review. “This hamburger is delicious.” The ladies were equally
impressed, and Valeria pretty much summed up the entire trip
(even though we still had a few days to go) with, “ All the food
here is delicious.”
By then, we’d had several meals on both sides of the island and
had done nothing but rave about them. Seafood, pasta, barbecue,
pizza. It was all scrumptious. St. Maarten is known for its food,
but I had thought it was because of a few highly rated restaurants.
Nope. Everything’s really good. “It’s probably thanks to all those
gourmet restaurants that everyone’s gotta raise their game, even
these casual beach bars,” Michelle reasoned.
EPICUREAN DIY
The next day, we decided to raise our own game and pack a small
picnic for an afternoon on Dawn Beach. I’ve always thought part
of the fun of staying at vacation ownership properties is having a
kitchen because it provides a wonderful excuse to stop at the local
supermarkets and various roadside produce stands. And on an
island where all the food is good, you can score a bevy of fantastic
ingredients for whipping up some tasty do-it-yourself snacks.
We strolled the aisles of Le Grand Marché, St. Maarten’s grocery
chain, which were packed with plenty of the usual suspects — citrus
fruits, thick-cut steaks, potato chips, and so on — as well as some
things you might not see at your home supermarket: lychees, monk
fish, and freshly baked macarons.
We left with a range of Gouda and cheddar cheeses, saucisson,
daveswallace/Getty Images; LanaCanada/Getty Images
Indulge on
St. Maarten/
St. Martin.
or
at .
Getaways start
at $960.
The Getaway price is valid Aug. 1, 2019,
through Jan. 31, 2020.
BACK IN BUSINESS While things aren’t
completely back to normal after Hurricane Irma struck
and devastated St. Maarten in September 2017, the
island has made big strides in recent months. The
beaches have been restored, nearly all of the popular
land excursions are running (including Rainforest
Adventures’ Rockland Estate ecopark), and, as of this
writing, an estimated 80 percent of the restaurants,
including all of the ones mentioned in this story, are
open for business — though, you might not recognize
them. Bikini Beach was completely redone and now has
can’t-miss lime-green umbrellas set up out on Orient
Bay. At the other end of the recovery spectrum, Captain
Frenchy is reportedly operating out of a modified
shipping container — but operating nonetheless, and
that’s the important part.