St. Maarten: Waves, Wind, and Crave

If Wednesday was my favorite, Thursday was my least favorite but it really tried to redeem itself at the end. Here’s why. When the rain came down and the wind came up, this brought the waves to the island. Waves so bad that it cancelled our snorkeling trip, which in turn would require a rescheduling and also canceling Matt’s dive trip. The wind was bad and we didn’t want to fight it so we bummed around the room and resort and relaxed, even napped. What a bummer.  We split up a bit that day. We headed into Simpson Bay for a light lunch at Z’Best Bakery, I had the Caesar salad, Matt had a tunafish sandwich with fries. Matt and I also did a little investigating of possible resorts for our next trip. We haven’t exactly felt that Divi is “our spot” and we hadn’t been sure if the island is also it but then we ran across two options (the Atrium and the Royal Palm) that we want to try when we are ready to travel international again. The beach was beautiful, the resorts looked nice, and the locations were great. 

Randy and Michele headed into Phillipsburg for a change of scenery. They had also taken a walk up to the Fort Amsterdam. We met up at the end of the night and enjoyed the view and some of the fresh island pineapple that we purchased at the market the day before. We watched the cruise ship pull out and headed in for another amazing round of good food. We gave Michele and Randy a few options from what we had gathered in reviews. After seeing the menu of one, we decided we wanted something more unique and went to Crave, Taste Haven - the cuisine could be described as Mediterranean or Persian, depending on the reviews that we saw. Quiet little place right on the main road but the food was anything but. We started off with a chef’s trio of hummus, eggplant dip, and meatballs with pomegranate and pistachio. The hummus was the smoothest hummus I’ve had in my life. From there I enjoyed the gazpacho – so fresh. The main course broke into two options for us, Matt and I had kebabs, beef and fish, and Michele and Randy had chicken breast braised in two different ways, apricot and plums, and walnut and pomegranate. Michele was brilliant to add yogurt with sautéed spinach to the table and combined with the salad on the table it was amazing. The meal was so light and fresh. I enjoyed a frozen mint lemonade and it was like heaven in a cup. I have one major complaint with this meal, why didn’t we order more yogurt! What an experience, we didn’t bargain for that when we came in the door but was so glad that we changed locations. 

ALR: We would like to buy these cups. They are very unique.
Crave owner: I’m sorry, they are not for sale, I brought them in from Puerto Rico and already a few have disappeared. 
ALR: I understand.
Crave owner: You may be able to find them at, what you call it, Bass Pro Shop?

Day 7