Yes, all of us who have been going to SXM for the past 20 years remember when there was little crime to speak of. Yes, even then we were told not to wear expensive jewelry (leave it home), keep the rental car unlocked without any packages showing, and watch your back at night -something you intuitively do anywhere, even at home.

There are two problems: 1) the island is overrun with too many people: locals, timeshare tourists, cruise ship visitors, and undocumented others without proper papers. And yet the government continues to approve new hotels/timeshares to be built. But is the government maintaining the roadways and providing decent police and fire protection? No. How about the Sea Lounge located next to the old Bliss that burned down last year? Someone threw a molotov cocktail at the building early on a Sunday night and the place burned down. No one was ever caught and no one ever will. How many other occasions have we heard about one of these devices being used on the island? Never. The island is quickly becoming the "Wild West of the Caribbean".

The other problem is the government. There are not enough police, they don't arrive quickly when needed, there aren't enough detectives on island because of so much crime, and the government doesn't have any timeshare legislation in place. Yes, they are working on something right now only because those poor timeshare owners of the Caravanserai lost their timeshares when the new owner decided to make it into a hotel. If the proper laws were in place, that would not have happened. I know someone on this board is going to say, "oh the timeshare owners got their units back". But they are only a small handful of the thousand-plus families who lost money and say they will never return to the island. Why would you want to?

Lots of people, for one reason or another, are now saying, I've had enough. SXM is not a 3rd-world country like Jamaica where you are bused to the resort, you stay at the resort, and only leave on supervised, guided trips. How sad!

So, Aruba is bigger, certainly cleaner, and the majority of the local people have a job which means there is little poverty. The beaches are beautiful and the sand is pure white.

Life is short and I say make every moment count. I don't want to always be looking over my shoulder and being fearful of going someplace, even in broad daylight. We've had enough.