Allure Day 5 - Stingy Sexy and Orient Beach

Back on the bus, we were now headed to Orient Beach.  It would take about 20 minutes to get there, so we decided to try the rum punch.  Sexy had some little cups for the rum punch, the size of the ones they put pills in when you’re at the hospital.  Smaller than a Dixie Cup.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he would serve rum punch in Dixie Cups. I mean, I’ve had rum punch in the Bahamas and in Jamaica and maybe in Key West.  I remembered it being like a Hurricane.  Red and fruity.  Where’s my Red Solo Cup when I need it?

Chris and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and decided to try what little bit of rum punch Sexy was willing to share with us.  Stingy Sexy.

He poured it from an unlabeled, rectangular bottle he kept in the cooler.  We each got our Ounce and went to be seated.  As Sexy set off to drive us to our next stop, we toasted and sipped our first sips.  Whew!  Rum PUNCH??  I think it was just straight rum.  WOW!  Yep, 1 Ounce was plenty for me.  And like St. Thomas’s Bushwacker, I was glad I tried it.  Now I can say I did.  And I never have to again! Ha!

And after that, Chris switched to beer.  Imagine that.

On the way to Orient Beach, we saw goats along the sides of the road.  Lots of goats.  I mean LOTS of goats!  Someone asked Sexy (ok, at this point I’m just getting a kick out of typing his name) where all the goats come from, and he said “each and every goat on this island has an owner.”  This amazed me.  I mean, these goats are roaming free.  How do the owners know where they are?  Or that they are ok?  Or if they have babies?  And why do they own free-roaming goats?  For milk? Cheese?  And if it’s time for milk, how do you find your goat?  Or do you borrow someone else’s goat?  I’m as inquisitive as a 5-year old.  Or maybe it’s the rum punch.

Orient Beach is pretty long, and there are several resorts and cafes along the beach.  Sexy parked the bus near a bar and grill called La Playa and told us what time to meet him back.  We had about 90 minutes at Orient Beach.

 

Seriously?  It’s picture perfect. This has to be the most beautiful beach I have ever visited.  It really is one of my new favorite places on the planet (next to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Brixen, Italy – but they don’t have beaches).

Just look at that white sand!  And the color of the water.  And the soft breaks of the waves.  Can I go back?  Now?

This is La Playa, looking out toward the beach from the back of the bar. 

They had a bar, some tables in the shade, some out in the sun with umbrellas, a band stand, and a kiosk bar on the beach.

 

The bar kiosk

Menu (hard to read).  

The exchange rate that day was $1 = 1 EU.  I’m sure that’s not the international exchange rate, but it keeps it simple.  Chris and I talked about how they had to be losing money at that rate, unless everything was just incredibly overpriced in Euro, which it probably was.  We knew from being in Germany last summer that the exchange rate was running about $1.25 to 1 Euro.

 

Along the beach in front of La Playa, you could rent some cushy chairs.  Two chairs and an umbrella were $10 US.  We needed  a place to leave our “stuff” while we walked along the beach, so we rented the chairs.  If we had had more time at Orient Beach, I’m sure we would have used the chairs more, but we ended up not really getting much use from them.  90 minutes goes by quickly.

Out we went for a romantic stroll on the beach.

Are you KIDDING me??

We recognized a couple from the ship and asked them to take our picture.

One more photo of this unbelievable beach.  I can’t get enough!

Incidentally, Club Orient at Orient Beach is a clothing-optional resort (“nothing is better”).  It is a little down to the right from La Playa as you face the water.  We walked up and down the beach, but didn’t wander that far toward Club Orient.  The beach itself is also clothing optional (or at least top-optional for the ladies), but we didn’t notice anyone taking the option.  We didn’t really look for that, but there was nothing obvious.  Just in case you plan to visit and want to avoid that, or have kids with you, know that it may be there, but we didn’t notice.

It was 11:00 and we were hungry, so we decided La Playa was as good a place as any to grab lunch.  We took seats at the bar.

We decided to order from the Cuisino Creol (Creole local food) portion of the menu.  I ordered Accrus de Morue (cod fritters) and Chris ordered Colombo de Poulet (chicken Columbo).  And Chris ordered a Carib beer (local).

The food was good, and filling. It was served with baguette slices, which I used to sop up some of the sauce from Chris’s chicken.  It had some curry flavor.  I think we spent $40 with tip, so it was a relatively expensive lunch.

While we ate, the DJ played a mix of island and pop music.  He kept announcing that it was the Orient Bay Resort Owners’ Welcome Back party.  We did see an influx of people who didn’t appear to be from our ship.  I assume this was for owners of resort property who come to spend the winters on the island.  Hmm…should I look into that?

By the time we finished, it was time to board the bus again.  Sexy asked us to change to dry clothes, as the seats were cloth.  Some people opted for another Ounce of death rum punch.  Not us.  Off to Marigot we headed.