Tuesday, June 12
We arrived via US Airways…PIT to CLT to SXM. On the trip was my wife, our two boys (ages 8 & 5) and our niece (13) and nephew (14). The flight, connections and immigration were all smooth. We have all been to the island before, but only one day stops via cruise. Everyone was clamoring to get a view out the window on our landing. We were finally here!
We were greeted at the airport by Peter, a rep from Carimo, and taken to La Bastide villa in the Lowlands. The kids quickly changed into swimsuits and jumped in the pool while we got luggage unpacked and things semi-organized. Then it was off to get our phone from Sharon’s and find something to eat. We decided to eat at Skipjack’s (after reading so many great comments on TTOL about the place). We were not disappointed; this was the first of many great meals. After dinner we did some grocery shopping at Grand Marche in Simpson Bay. The kids were intrigued with some of the fruit, so we bought two coconuts, a horned melon and passion fruit. Only the passion fruit was a hit. Everyone then swam until we were all wore out.

Wednesday, June 13
I cooked everyone breakfast at the villa. Kids swam in the morning, and then we headed out to Sunset Beach Bar to watch the planes, watch the Dutch/German soccer match and RELAX. A reporter from the Daily Herald was doing a Father’s Day piece, and interviewed the boys and me. She told us to buy the Saturday the edition and our pictures would be in it…cool stuff. My nephew and I sat down to watch the soccer match while everyone else played on the beach. Ten minutes before the match, the power went out for quite a long time. We never got to see the game, but lazing in the turquoise water at Maho was a suitable replacement!
We ate a late lunch, so no one was overly hungry at dinner time. We just shopped in Maho and stopped at Cheri’s for a drink. My wife and I were called up with 3 other couples for an anniversary celebration dance. That was fun.

Thursday, June 14
The boys wanted to stay at the villa and rest up for the Anguilla trip. I think they were both exhausted after the last two LONG days. They enjoyed the day by the pool.
I took our niece and nephew to Long Bay and Baie Rouge for snorkeling. Long Bay was beautiful! We were three of only seven people on the beach that afternoon. The closest people to us were over 300 yards away! The snorkeling was fun here, and the water was perfect. After an hour we went to Baie Rouge for lunch and more snorkeling. We ate at Raymond’s and had an awesome lunch. I think that was the best tuna salad sandwich I ever had…and the frozen “Raymond Special” wasn’t shabby either! The kids both had ribs. I’m guessing they were pretty tasty too because not a word was uttered while the food was devoured. Baie Rouge was beautiful (and I think my favorite on the island). We were back at the villa around 4:00 and cooled off in the pool before heading out to dinner. We have read a lot of good things about the Buccaneer Beach Bar, so that’s where we went to dinner. It was everything we expected, and more. Wife, kids and niece split a Hawaiian pizza. It looked and smelled incredible. After dinner the kids swam and played on the beach while my wife and I enjoyed a couple BBCs and most amazing sunset!

Friday, June 15
We only had to get up early on two of our seven days…and this was one of them. We booked the Prickly Pear/Anguilla excursion with AquaMania on board the Lambada. It was certainly worth the early wake up call. There were long lines to pay and process passports, but it went rather fast. The kids explored the area while I held our spot in line. The water was relatively calm, so the cruise was as smooth as the rum punches served on board.
Our first stop was snorkeling at Prickly Pear. We have only been snorkeling once before, and this area solidified the fact that we are hooked. We saw an amazing array of fish, and we even saw a sea turtle. The water was picture perfect! The boat didn’t have flippers small enough to fit the 5 year old, and he wasn’t too happy! So I didn’t get them either, and told him they didn’t have ones big enough for me. That made him feel better knowing he wasn’t alone. Once he was in the water and seeing the incredible sights, it certainly didn’t matter. The current was pretty strong, but manageable.
About 12:30 we were back on board and heading to Road Bay for a buffet lunch served by the crew (fish, ribs and chicken). The food was pretty good and were all starving after the snorkeling exercise. After lunch we all swam in the bay for an hour, then back on board for our return trip.
Given the close proximity to Aquamania and our experience from the night before…we ate dinner at BBB again. The results were the same; awesome food, drinks and sunset. BBB is tops in my favorite places to be!

Saturday, June 16
Everyone was a little slow moving this morning. We were all tired from the AquaMania trip the day before. We all swam and relaxed at the villa in the morning, before heading out to Marigot. We parked at the West Indies Mall, and made that our first stop. We were all surprised at how quiet the mall was…I don’t think we saw more than a dozen other shoppers. The boys bought some stainless steel rings, and that’s about all we bought at the mall.
The Marigot market place was fun, but after about 4 booths they all started looking the same to me. The girls really liked it, and bought all kinds of gifts there. The 5 year old wanted to capture Fort St. Louis. While the girls finished shopping, the guys sat on a bench in the marina and planned our military strategy to capture the fort.
We went to Mario’s to eat lunch, but found it was closed. We turned back around and ended up eating lunch at Los Toques in Marigot. We had white pizza, and some had steak. It was a good lunch, but not great. All in all, we really liked Marigot but feel like we could skip it on future trips. We drove to Friar’s Bay afterwards, but didn’t stay too long. The young kids were getting tired, so back to the villa to relax. I went to the Gourmet Marche in Cupecoy to pick up the “Fathers Day” edition of the Daily Herald. There was a cool picture of me and the boys at Sunset Beach Bar, and little paragraph about what Father’s Day means to us. I bought 4 copies…the cashier laughed at me.
Dinner that night was at Skipjack’s. It was incredible! Our nephew wanted lobster, and the kids had fun picking one out for him. Skipjack’s was near the top of our favorites list, and is on our “must do” list for the future.

Sunday, June 17
This is the second morning we had to wake up early. We wanted to go to church in Philipsburg, and it was at 8:00 am. We were staying in Lowlands and wanted to grab breakfast on the way, so we were out the door by 7:00. We stopped at Piece of Cake in Simpson Bay area and picked up a lot of tasty pastries to eat on the way to Philipsburg.
We went to St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church on the boardwalk. It was CROWDED, so I dropped the family off and went to park the van. By the time I got to the church, it was standing room only. I stood on the side porch, and the magnificent view of Great Bay distracted me a little from the mass. I’m sure God understands!
After church, we swam in Great Bay and did a little shopping. We left in time to go to Pineapple Pete’s for lunch. That place is great! The kids wanted to get Pineapple Pete water bottles, and the manager gave them free of charge. Pete’s is another “must do” place on return visits.
After lunch, we went back to the villa and swam/relaxed/tanned. The guys were ready for some red meat after all of the seafood thus far, so we decided on Peg Leg for dinner. To our dismay, the restaurant was rented out for a private party that night. Princess de Plaisance (sp?) was a beautiful place, and we will be back. We ended up going to Jimbo’s for dinner. What a great atmosphere! The atmosphere was only outdone by the food and drinks. Group consensus made Jimbo’s our favorite place to eat. We would be back the next night.

Monday, June 18
Orient Day! Wow, what a day this was. It was the quintessential beach experience. We set up shop at Waikiki. We snagged four chairs, two umbrellas, bucket of beer and four virgin daiquiris in the first five minutes, and the rest was total bliss. Wife and niece got a massage. Guys went to the trampoline at Palm Beach. No one was really hungry, so we just grabbed some apps and picked at them. The rest of the day was spent swimming, castle building, burying kids in the sand, etc. When we return, this is probably where we want to stay. We met a lot of nice people sitting around us. This is what we came to St. Martin for!
Kids wanted to go back to Jimbo’s for dinner so they could use the pool/swim up bar. Same delightful experience as the night before. We loved this place. Our nephew saw a pair of Dr. Dre headphones in Maho for $175 a few nights ago, and decided he wanted to get them before we left. We stopped to buy them, and this time the owner said they were $150! Not sure how that works, but he got a $300 value for half price.

Tuesday, June 19
We were up early, and got everything packed up for our trip home. It was an uneventful morning. Smooth trip through the airport. It took us 20 minutes to get through customs at CLT, and to our gate only to find a three hour delay from CLT to PIT. Some weather issues with arriving flight from Houston. No big deal really, we were all exhausted and used the time to make some calls, answer emails and listen to iPods, iPads, etc.

Observations and Comments:
- Best vacation ever
- Marigot was nice, but probably won’t make a point to go back on future trips with kids
- Pictures and YouTube videos of Sunset Beach Bar and plane landings don’t do the experience justice…it literally took my breath away when the big 757s flew directly overhead
- Speed bumps appear out of nowhere, and Suzuki vans weren’t built to handle them
- Buccaneer Beach Bar deserves to be visited more than once per trip, especially at sunset
- Jimbo’s Blues Bar and Grill should be on a “must do” list
- Somehow, time slipped by so fast we never made it to Mullet…still don’t understand why, we passed it everyday
- Day trip to Anguilla was worth every penny (AquaMania – Lambada crew rocked)
- I will think of SXM everyday for the rest of my life.