The "SXM: Part I - Orient Village" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just arrived at the Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) on the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin (one half Dutch/one half French).  Exited the plane, walked to the airport terminal where we had our passports stamped, gave the immigration officer our form we had filled out on the airplane and exited into the area where we got our luggage.  Took very little time for any of the stops.  Suitcases were deposited into one large area through a series of holes in the wall.  After getting the suitcases we headed outdoors to find our rental agent.  In our case we found Leslie who helped us to our car in the airport parking lot, helped put our luggage in the car and filled out the paperwork.  He paid the parking fee and off we went to our rental at Orient Village.  Crossed the Swing-Bridge, headed into Marigot and exited toward Grand Case and the Village.  Total time might have been 45 minutes.  After passing through the security stop at the entrance to Orient Village, I stopped and asked the guard to place a call to Magali, our rental agent.  

The beach is at the bottom.  All homes, restaurants, stores,
apartment units, condos, hotels and villas were covered
with water if they were no more than 10 feet above sea
level.  Here you can see a deposit of sand everywhere.

Within five minutes she pulled up next to our car and told us to follow her.  Another few minutes and we were in front of Joie de Vie Villa.  After getting the necessary information on the villa, we hopped in our private pool.  During our trip to our villa we commented on the multitude of houses that were damaged or were no longer there.  Upon entering Orient Village we noticed some damage, but also noticed workers busy repairing roofs, siding and fences.  

From the top of Orient Village I took this photo of parts
of the roof missing from this condo unit. Some have been
repaired recently.

At 6:00 pm we drove into the village for our evening meal and found we had two choices.  Luckily one was our favorite, Le Piment.  The following morning, while on my way to Good Morning Restaurant for breakfast croissants, I noticed the tremendous destruction that still had not been addressed during the past year since Hurricane Irma had struck with winds in excess of 250 MPH.  

Click on photo to enlarge.  Looking toward the Mount Vernon on the left,
you can see most units, if not all, are missing their roofs.  Center right you can see
the beach.  Missing is Palm Beach Restaurant and any buildings that may
have stood at the closed BooBooJams.  One house bottom right is missing
part of its roof.  This is one year after the hurricane struck. 

The rental we had previously paid for wasn't available since the entire village had been under close to eight feet of water.  Our scheduled April-May vacation had to be changed until one of Magali's rentals became available.  

In the top-center of the photo you can see a structure without a roof.  That
sat to the south of The Alamanda Hotel which also was severely damaged.
I was told that an electrical fire began in the building and the fire department
couldn't get to the fire fast enough and most of the building burned.

Though Joie de Vie was damaged, it was one of the early ones to be repaired.  We later drove to the top of the village to take a few photos and from that vantage point we could see more of the devastation.  As we looked to the left (north) we could see the roof of the Mount Vernon Hotel was missing.  

This panoramic shot from my phone will show you how high above
sea level I was when I took most of the photos.  The road that winds
from high above the village to water level is directly at the bottom of photo.

Directly in front of us we could see quite a few roofs on some of the hotels were missing.   We found one of the places we had stayed a few years, The Alamanda Hotel and saw that it wasn't open.  Directly next to it was a building that had evidently been destroyed by fire.  

My final photo shows very little damage, due to the fact that the
buildings are so small and I am so far away from the destruction.
I was amazed the red metal roof on the buildings directly beneath me
were in such good shape.  Perhaps they had been replaced recently.

Photos were taken and as we were getting back in our car, Magali came driving up the hill.  We talked and she pointed out more of the destruction to us.  The following morning I walked the beach and snapped a few more photos to share.  My images today are a collection of my photos as well as others which I found online.  Today's coverage takes you from the Mount Vernon to Pedros Beach Bar on the south end of the beach.  Tomorrow I will give you a first hand look at the devastation done to the popular resort known as Club Orient.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.