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Newsletter:
Seasonal greetings from St Maarten. Going with
the festive season, we’re having glorious weather – calm waters and cooler ambient temperature. The welcome Christmas
winds bringing a cool breeze to the island have arrived. We’ve had quite a bit of rain in October. The mountains are
lush with foliage. Only thing is, is rain is such a let down for the visitor’s who seek sunshine, sea and sand. That
same feeling when visitor’s to the Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana, where we lived, would over a weekend not see ONE
elephant out of 45 000. And believe me it happens. Spectacular are the many rainbows that we see from our studio. Here
is a picture of a full rainbow stretching over the Simpson Bay lagoon with both ends having a pot of gold.
Rainbow over Simpson Bay Lagoon in front of
our Studio
This is indeed going to be a long newsletter. So
much is happening on the island. The biggest news is that new airport was opened by Queen Beatrix from the Kingdom of
Netherlands. This caused a flurry of excitement and much national pride.
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Being transported by bus
– The Queen and Dignitaries - this photographer is clearly not paparazzi material |
School
children lined the road to wave at the Queen and her Entourage |
The other big news is that St Maarten signed an
accord on the 2nd November, which will set the process in motion to disband the Netherlands Antilles Island
Coalition and obtain separate status for St Maarten within the Kingdom. This agreement was ratified by St. Maarten, but
Curacao voted against the ratification. We’re not quite sure how the individual islands will be affected by this vote.
The Netherlands seem to be moving forward without Curacao. To
top all the Netherlands had elections. A long drawn-out process to form the new coalition began, so Island politics is
not high on the agenda.
We’re all very proud of the new
Princess Juliana Airport. An opportunity presented
itself to take pictures of the airport, a week before it was commissioned. The airport is spacious with an open air
feeling. The most stunning feature is the glass column panelling in the arrival hall and the coloured glass wall décor at
the baggage claim area.
With high season approaching, the authorities
have implemented some much needed changes to the traffic situation in Simpson Bay. The changes and repairs were done
over a three week period, causing havoc for motorists. During this time it took an hour or more to do the Simpson Bay
stretch any time of the day. The traffic situation improved 100% since the circular route from Tropicana, using existing
roads, was introduced The bridge openings are 9.00am, 9.30am, 11.00am, 11.30pm, 4.30pm and 5.30pm. Expect traffic
congestion lunch time and after 3pm on the Airport Road travelling east. Feel free to contact us for an on the ground
traffic report, if you happen to have rented a cellular phone.
The bridge had to undergo urgent “surgery”
Technical advisors had severe doubts as to the continued reliability of the bridge unless a bearing was replaced
immediately. They coaxed the bridge down and went ahead with the repairs. This meant that yachts were either trapped
inside or outside the lagoon. It was speculated that the bridge will be out of operation for over a month. That sent
jitters around the yachting community especially with the upcoming Yacht Show. Luckily those were only rumours and the
bridge was functioning ten days later. Not without hiccups, when the bridge got stuck in the up position for 30 min on
the first test run.
Now, our news. We’ve had a long season lasting
until September. That left little time for us to re-group, work on new designs, touch up on some maintenance and tackle
the upgrading of the cabinets. We’re happy to report that the parking area in front of the studio was finally upgraded.
We’ve made another jewelry cabinet to go with
the same décor as the other cabinets.
And here are some of our exciting new
designs. Hans has been doing a lot of gem cutting and gem carving work lately. Gems, seem like destiny…a full circle
since it runs in both families. Hans’s father got him started on gem cutting. My grandfather did a lot of prospecting in
the Spitzkopje area in Namibia. Gemstones, particularly Tourmalines, were his passion. In hindsight I would’ve loved to
hear all his stories and garner knowledge from him. Whatever happened to his gemstone collection is still a mystery.
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Right: Blue amber
pendant in 18ct gold and diamonds
Left: Carved blue amber pendant set in 18ct Gold
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Right: 18ct reversible
Larimar Pendant with Diamonds and Emerald |
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Below: 18ct Purple Gold
pendant with circles of yellow, rose and white gold |
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Left: 18ct White and yellow Gold
Art pendant of a swan on a pond with Diamonds and Emeralds |
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18ct Gold Diamond Ring |
For more new
designs click on
New Designs
Jewelry Catalog
Popcorn - grabbing headlines. An ad was put in
the lonely hearts club section. It seems like a gorgeous lady friend will arrive shortly in St Maarten (all fingers
crossed). Other than that, Popcorn has been extremely busy becoming an avid bench worker…sometimes causing havoc. The
other night he was sorting through the dops, a tool to keep gemstones locked in position for cutting. The rejected dop
was dropped on the floor. There we were, on a Friday evening, on hands and knees looking for a 15ct pre-formed
Aquamarine that could be ANYWHERE. Thank you, Popcorn! One sideway inquisitive look and all is forgiven.
Big buds…Hans and Popcorn
hard at work
See, I did warn that this was going to be a mega
newsletter. We haven’t even touched on the cultural events yet. A Dutch dance group Introdans gave a professional
riveting modern dance performance at Maho Theatre. The local dance companies did us proud with their supporting acts.
St Maarten is known as the Cuisine Capital of
the Caribbean. This is evident in participation of Culinary Competitions and Awards received from the Gault Millau
Netherlands. All 30 restaurants inspected will be featured in the Dutch version of this prestigious rating guide.
I have not seen this rating guide on the island
yet. Thirteen awards were presented to St. Maarten / St. Martin restaurateurs. The Award for Overall best restaurant on
the Island went to Le Gaïac. Dino Jagtiani kept the Dutch side flag flying high with a scoop of two awards for Best
Restaurant of the Year - Temptation and Best Concept Restaurant – Rare. Other winners were Hidden Forrest Café at
Loterie Farm for Local Restaurant of the Year. Saint Severin was awarded for Best Price Quality. La Samanna won Wine
List of the Year Award. Chef of the Year award went to Cécile Briaud-Richard of Le Chanteclair and Scott Clagett of
Terra was voted Talent Chef of the Year.
Scott is no longer with Terra. He and his wife, Edwina took a
break, touring the Far East. Scott is planning on opening his own restaurant in the near future in St Maarten. We will
keep you posted on any developments. Wayne, the manager of Terra mentioned that David is the new chef there. He is
formerly from Cuisine Art and Le Chanteclair.
On another note, Mario Tardiff has just released “Mario’s Bistro
Recipe Book”. His restaurant is situated in Sandyground.
Well, that’s about it from us. On Sunday, St.
Maarten had their Thanksgiving – a celebration day marking the end of Hurricane season. We are grateful for being spared
this year. End of the year is such a special time for togetherness of families, of reflection and starting afresh in the
New Year. We can’t wait!
Stay snug in front of the fireplace with
Glühwein in hand. If that does not sound so cozy, then come visit sunny St Maarten. Hope to see you soon.
Wishing you compliments of the Season.
Hans & Anne
Other News Links:
Newsletter : Summer Holiday's
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