We arrived back to SXM after our trip last year was changed due to IRMA. We are staying in Grand Case, and overall I think the recovery efforts have paid off, though of course, there is much more to do.

We ate the first night ate at the Lolo's - the scenery looking out over the beach was very nice.
The second night we went to Piazza Pascal - I thought the Shrimp Scampi was perfect, not oozing in melted butter, or overpowering garlic, just everything seasoned exactly right. My wife agreed. She had the pork tenderloin with blueberries and described it as yummy.

Tuesday during the day we went to Orient - due to some not positive posts here, we went past Bikini, and went to Kontiki. Very impressed with the rebuild, and I had a burger which was pretty good, though the fries were excellent, my wife had the Kontiki bowl with mahi and sesame dressing, and she said it was quite good, for dessert, she had the key lime cheesecake with rasberry sherbet. I told her it was not a contest, but she won, I had a peach infused with jasmine tea and we both agreed it was not very flavorful. I thought the service was pretty good, we got there at 10 and were able to get chairs in the first row ( $30 for two chairs and an umbrella) but the chair guy said if we wanted to stay for lunch we should make reservations, which we did. Within a short time, all 3 rows of chairs were full, and they were pretty busy at lunch. Lunch came out pretty quickly, but there was a delay for dessert, in part because a 5 minute rain shower emptied the beach into the restaurant.

The next night was Capt Frenchy's. He is now operating out of a container, and normally serves lunch only, and rents chairs, but he said he would be open Tuesday night due to the Festival, and I wanted to support him so we went. It is a few picnic tables on the sand, and we were the only ones there around 6, but the chicken was great, and so was my wife's burger. We then went back down the street for the festival - much more crowded than the last time we were here Pre Irma - and not only crowded with visitors, they had some great offerings. In addition to artwork, jewelry, and food, they had 3 bands of live music, spread out enough so they didn't conflict, and my favorite was a children's sized mechanical bull - I watched two kids ride it and they had a blast.

Today we went to Friar's Bay. A little disappointed, the beach has lots of pebbles, and in my opinion, not as nice as Grand Case beach. The restaurant did not accept credit cards, and I may have misread it, but I think the sign said the exchange rate was $1.4 dollars to the euro. We didn't stay very long, and headed back the Grand Case beach. For dinner tonight we wanted something quick, and found a pizza stand Olympia Pizza, near the bridge. He only had 4 bar stools and a bar facing the street, and seems to have a fair amount of takeout traffic. He had a great pizza - a cross between a New York Style and a neapolitan . Not a cracker pizza like Orange Fever, and boy do I miss OF, but still very good.

All in all, the beach itself in Grand Case is in great condition. Capt Frenchy's and Rainbow offer chair rental, though I don't know where people park. While many of the restaurants on the water are still not open, and probably quite a long way from it, if you include the many hotel restaurants, there are still quite a few choices in walking up and down the street.

Sorry, no photos, I took some but have not figured how to upload them to the web from here.