Orient Beach Update

Although we haven't been lucky enough to make the trip to St. Martin this year, our friends have. We got the following update when they returned from their trip in March:

The updates at Club O - new mesh lounge chairs at each unit instead of the orange vinyl ones. The boutique is larger, brighter, and a better check out area. Not too much in the way of new products but they certainly have room to add things as needed. Papagayo has new tables and chairs(not plastic) and new large ceiling fans in the tropical paddle style. Kitchen and bar have been redone w/ new tiling. The food quality was consistently good and the menu had some nice additions, like a couple chicken dishes. Denis the GM [told us] that Papagayo will have pizza next year. Beach was in good shape. Unfortunately, no more burgers, etc at the Perch Bar. Word was they changed to a regular charcoal grill which caused too much smoke and now can't find the gas grill they used to have. We did not walk the entire beach naked - seems they are frowning on that more and more.

On Thursday, Club Fantastico has a wine and cheese w/ music that is open to the public ($35/couple for non-guests). It is a 6 room villa w/ pool and hot tub and is now affiliated w/ AANR. In fact, the night we were there, a PR person from AANR East was there and will be doing an article for the Bulletin. It is a bit more expensive than Club O but does include breakfast, all your alcohol, free calls to the US and free WiFi. The guests that were staying there were great and showed us their rooms. Very nice - king size beds, huge tiled bathrooms, a/c. It really is an easy drive also if you want to get to the beach. It sits above the beach at the Coco Beach end but the road to it is very close to the entrance to the Club O road.

Caliente Caribe

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Caliente Caribe! We stayed for 5 days (Jan 11-15) and had a spectacular visit.



The resort has undergone major upgrades, to the facilities and to the amenities since it was Eden Bay. We wanted for nothing during our visit. The staff was attentive, the management made sure we were happy, and the other guests were so lovely. The grounds were impeccably maintained. The different areas of the resort (the upper area with lobby, pool, pool bar, hot tub, spa, and hotel rooms vs the lower area with the beach, bear bar, pools, hot tub, and free-standing units) really lent themselves to the feeling of being in two resorts.

We made great new friendships with other people we met during our stay, and have hopes to see them again (and of course, stay in touch).

Mike and I plan to organize our thoughts and experiences into an article [hopefully] for publication. Once that is ready to roll out, we'll provide more detailed information here. In the meantime, if you have any questions about Caliente Caribe, just send us an email!