Sint Maarten: Girls Trip
Hey Sunnies,
I hope this post finds you well. Especially after the unfortunate re-election of former president Donald Trump. I pray you have taken the time you needed to feel the hopelessness or the mourning of what life could’ve looked like for the next four years. It took me a while to feel normal and I tried not to judge myself for that! Very luckily for me, I had a girls trip planned for the following week. Planning a girls trip is no easy feat, so if anyone is interested in the tips and tricks I’ve learned after successfully pulling off our second trip with six girls, let me know!
St. Maarten is the perfect place for a girls trip, across any age range. We flew into SXM on Thursday 11/14—November begins their busy season on the island. They usually have the highest volume of travelers between November and May. We organized transportation with Alpha Transportation (+1 (721) 522-3017 on What's App). HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Most rides were about $10 USD per person and we paid in cash, card options are also available with a fee, but we planned to bring cash for taxis specifically. We stayed at an Airbnb in Indigo Bay, which was absolutely beautiful, look at the view from my bedroom.
On Day 1 we arrived and had our driver take us to the grocery store for essentials—water, oatmeal, ramen noodles, and cocktail ingredients. We got dressed and went to dinner at Bamboo House, which is asian fusion and has live music. A driver will take you up the hill to the restaurant upon arrival. I had the Chicken Pad Thai, which was delicious. Then we headed to Nowhere Special and it was everywhere special! I highly recommend this place on a Thursday night. It was fun, live music, good cheap drinks, I loved it! Me and my friends had a ball!
The next day we woke up and took a ferry over to St. Barts. We went on the Great Bay Express but two members of our party were on the Voyager. (The Voyager came with rum punch btw.) It is important to note these were completely different ports for planning purposes—we initially all wanted to go on the Great Bay Express because it was the closest port to us on the Dutch side. However, we had to pivot when two of our group members discovered that ferry was sold out. The taxi over to the French side to catch the Voyager was not too long. TikTok made it seem like the ferry was terrible, we saw lots of “St. Barf” videos. But, I enjoyed it and even the girls who do get seasick were just fine! When we arrived at St. Barts, we headed to the strip of beach clubs. We wanted to go to Nikki Beach but they only take reservations by phone at 9am day off. We ended up at GypSea and it was a TIME! We sat at the beach and had delicious food and drinks before going down into the water. Then we headed back over to the port to explore the shops and we ended up at a dive bar called Select St. This was honestly way more fun, and much cheaper, than the beach club. That was the best Pina colada I had in my life! We headed back to St. Maarten and unfortunately we got caught in the rain at immigration. Yes, it is outside. We finally made our way back to the airbnb where we crashed for the night.
On Day 3 we took it easy before heading to Rainbow Cafe on the French side of the island, this was my favorite day! We reserved day beds on the beach for $20, which came with the bed and the towel. We again, had delicious food, I had the Lobster club; and the besttttt drinks, I had an Island Fever—rum, passion fruit, and ginger, delicious! After it got dark we headed over to a nearby rib shack called Lolos. The island is actually known for ribs. They did not disappoint! After eating way too much, we headed home to get dressed for the night. We went to Lotus Night Club and it was a $15 cover but it was worth it! They played great music, the drinks were flowingggggggg. Yes, I enjoyed myself.
Day 4 was a Sunday and the island closes early so we decided to rest and explore near our airbnb. We were looking for fresh coconuts from the street vendors but we didn't find any. The area of Indigo Bay is pretty gentrified with a lot of developments that are used for visitors and partial residents. We did go back to the grocery store to re-up on cocktail supplies because we had a private chef come for dinner. The food was incredible!! We had lobster bisque, a small lobster roll, lobster tail with sweet potatoes and zucchini, and we ended it all with creme brûlée topped with raspberry sorbet. I highly recommend having a night in for a girls trip. We then went to the pool at our airbnb and laughed the night away. On Monday, we traveled back home. I did not want to leave!
This was the best tropical vacation I have ever had. I’ve only ever stayed in all-inclusive resorts when traveling to warm places, excluding Puerto Rico, so this was a treat! We experienced the culture while also having that treat luxury getaway feel. Feel free to leave your questions below. As always, take good care.
forever blooming,
Mikaela Amira
