Observations from SXM 2018- 1st Five Days
Last trip was June 2017. First trip since Irma.

August 16 - BWI-MIA-SXM - AA - all uneventful flights, arrived in SXM 5 minutes early. Immigration and baggage collection went quickly. Took a cab to our family home in Orient Bay Resort (Parc de la Baie Orientale). Cab driver asked if I wanted to go the Dutch way or French and I said French. Really saddened by the devastation I saw. Lots of debris and destroyed homes.

My in-laws built the house in 1997. My family of 5 has been visiting there ever since. My kids who were babies when we first went are now 21, 20, and 17! I started this trip by myself but my husband and 17 year old arrive 2 days later.

I started my visit by getting basic groceries at the Ocean Star grocery on the road where Yellow Sub and Petite Casino used to be. While not a huge selection they had everything I needed to start.

Dinner was carryout pizza from Le Piment and it was good! It was pretty early 6:30 on a Thursday night and Orient Village was pretty quiet.

August 17 - Friday was a full day at Bikini Beach and leftover pizza dinner (told you I was boring!).

August 18 - Saturday I picked up
my husband and daughter from the airport. First Philipsburg shopping! I always buy tablecloths in SXM, Longchamp (they had a lot of extra 40% off items which makes them such a good deal!), and visit a lady I met on a previous occasion in one of the stores. Boy was I happy to see her, I had no status report regarding her well-being after Irma.

Then I hurried off to one of my favorite places.. Sunset Bar and Grill.. I LOVE that place! I love photography and I could sit there all day watching the planes fly in. I also had a sweet waiter and a delicious cheeseburger! I know there are a lot of opinions on this place but I have never been disappointed. Of course the highlight was watching my husband and daughter’s United flight arrive. I got a big kick out of that! They were 20 minutes early! Got great pics of them landing, paid my bill, and went off to pick them up.

Dinner was at Talk of the Town. We drive in the back way and park in the public lot. No issues. We had rib platter, conch platter, and chicken platter. All was good.

August 19 - all day at Bikini Beach. Dinner at Pineapple Pete. Food was good.

August 20- started my day at the MaDoudou shack in Cul de Sac. Hate to say it but Cul de Sac looks like ruins. Gate is broken for MaDoudou so you don’t need a code. Bought Banana Vanilla Rum, pineapple and banana jams, and some hand painted shot glasses! Beach today was Orient Bikini! Lunch was paninis from Coda Bar (a new place for us). Dinner was chicken on the grill with salad! Yum!

Now I am on the lanai helping my daughter with her common app for college.

I brought a suitcase full of new clothes to be distributed wherever needed. Jeannie from ShopNDropSXM put me in contact with a lady named Luci who will pick up the clothes and distribute them either to the Ican foundation or to homeless people she is aware of. I encourage anyone who can help out to do so.

That’s it for now. We are here until 9/2. Happy to answer questions. Hope I didn’t put you to 😴 sleep! We love SXM!