The "SXM: Our Tearful Return To Our Favorite Island!" Story

Preface:  Carol and I recently took a vacation to the island known as St. Martin/Sint Maarten.  The island is part French and part Dutch.  We have been traveling to this piece of paradise for almost 20 years, but what we found on this trip brought tears to our eyes and sadness to our hearts.  Please read the next few days of stories, all beginning with the airport code of SXM, and see what we experienced when we walked down the steps of our American Airlines plane.  Some stories tell of the awful images we saw while others show the heartwarming and skin-tanning experiences we had.

This house in Grand Case is representative of what we found.

It was an ordinary day.  Until Carol and I got in our rental car and began to drive.  Brought tears to our eyes having to look at house after house missing a roof or windows or even see homes that were once beautiful, totally reduced to rubble.  Carol and I finally arrived in Orient Village, our home for the next three weeks, on the French side of the island known as Sint Maarten/St. Martin.  The island has two countries that share this beautiful piece of paradise where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.  Beautiful, that was, until September 6, 2017 when Hurricane Irma struck the island with 250+ MPH winds.  

The Mount Vernon is roofless.

It came barreling into the island close to where Carol and I have stopped to observe the damage ONE YEAR AFTER the storm struck!  After this hurricane they had to make a new category due to the strength of the winds which had never been registered that high before.  This part of the island has been our vacation destination for almost 20 years after our retirement.  Every spring Carol and I have made visits to the island and have always stayed in the Orient Village area.  A few of our favorite restaurants no longer exist.  Our favorite morning spot for croissants has disappeared.  And, Orient Beach...well it is heartbreaking!  This was one of the top 10 Beaches in the World just a few short months ago.  

Pedros Beach Bar stood at the top of the steps at one
time.  It was the oldest beach bar on Orient Beach. All
that remains of it is the restroom in the rear of the photo.

And now...well, it's a bit over- whelming!!  The very first beach bar on Orient Beach, Pedros, no longer exists.  The five beach bars known as the "Five Stars Of Orient" were wiped off the face of this earth.  The dozen or so new beach bars and restaurants that had just been finished on the south end of Orient Beach in 2017 were totally blown away.  On the north end of the 2-mile long beach which is known as the "St. Tropez" of the Caribbean" was the Mount Vernon, an old, but renewed, hotel which had most of the roof on the three-tiered resort blown off.  

In the town of Philipsburg stood the beautiful old hotel
known as the Pasanggrahan Hotel.  This is what it looks
like one year after Hurricane Irma struck the island.

And, on the far south end of the white-sand beach was the World-renowned Club Orient, the clothing optional beach and village that had everyone of it's quaint cottages destroyed as well as it's famous Papagayo Restaurant.  This end of the beach had the most gorgeous water color and calm waves which luckily is one thing that was not destroyed.  The ambiance of the yellow umbrellas and orange lounge chairs that welcomed visitors to the beach still remain, due in part to beach entrepreneur Cedric, though some umbrellas are now blue or red, but it is so heartbreaking to turn toward land and see the shells of the concrete cottages or concrete platforms where the wooden cottages once stood.  

This sofa sits on Orient Beach where Coco Beach once stood.

Insurance money was supposed to come, but never did and now the manage- ment company, who had ever intent to rebuild the resort has called it quits.  The owners of the property must now search for a new management company, rebuild the infrastructure and then try and get its clientele back again.  Some cottages were personally owned by people from all over the world while others were the property of the land owners who rented them.  

The remnants of Club Orient are shown in this photograph.

Carol and I never stayed at the resort, but did enjoy a few days on their beach and a couple of lunchtime meals in their beach side restaurant.  As I walked the edges of the property during our vacation I took a few photos to share to give you an idea what 250 MPH winds can do to concrete buildings.  Heaven knows how long it will take the island to get totally back to normal once again...yet maybe that will never happen! The stories I have included during the next few weeks will tell the story of what at one time was our favorite vacation destination, and now...well, it still is and will continue to always be!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.