Flew in yesterday afternoon AA 687 to SXM. Check in at MIA once again was a breeze. Arrived at airport around 9, and by 9:15 was at the gate!!! Miami still has the curbside checkin...even for international flights. Went right through security within 15 minutes.....and boom was at the gate with PLENTY of time to spare. Flight was uneventful....in fact we left around five minutes early, and the captain announced we should be getting in around 45 minutes early!!!! Nice.....but.....very smooth flight, captain comes on and tells us we will have to be circling for around 20 minutes or so around San Juan area, since the airport is a mess because of all the extra planes for the Carnival fiasco. After around half hour or so circling, he comes back in and tells us we will probably be continuing the same pattern for another fifteen minutes or so. Ok...what can we do?????? BUT, good news around a minute later, that we have been cleared to continue on to SXM. Arrived at the original expected time.(so much for the early arrival), and through immigration with two minutes!!!! Then, after waiting for about an hour to finally get our bags (some things never change), we were greeted by AAA to get our car. A breeze and great chat with Alain and Myra, we are off on our way.

Since both of us were kind of beat, we decided on Lee's for a quick dinner. A couple of weeks ago, there was a nasty thread about Lee's, BUT I can assure all of you it had to be BS. My ribs, and my wife's snapper were both grilled to perfection, and the service was EXCELLENT. We were in and out of there in about an hour, and that was sitting around for a while listening to some great music playing by the band.

Today, went to Grand Marche for supplies, and was surprised to see that the alcohol prices and the prices of fruits and veggies have increased big time in the last year. My wife is on a strict diet, and she is doing a lot of juicing, so what con one do??????

Tonight we weren't quite sure what we wanted for dinner, and remembered our nice meal at Chesterfields a few years back, and we were on our way. I ordered the duck, and was so impressed with it's preparation. I would probably say that it was the best tasting duck I have ever had...crisp, moist, and a banana/pineapple sauce to die for!!!! Will be doing this dish again before we leave in three weeks. My wife had the grouper, and she ordered it ''plain'' since this diet of hers, and she RAVED about her dinner also! Both meals under twenty bucks a piece!!!! Great value for a Great meal. Also, the service was EXCELLENT. They do add the 15 percent ''service charge'', but the food was so good we left extra!!

As for the airport and Royal Islander. Because of all the extra planes coming in because of Carnival's fiasco, it was a bit noiser than usual. La Plage presently has NO beach...probably the worst I have seen it ever (22 years). Hopefully it will reappear before we leave. Walk into our unit, and find all new artwork on the walls, which are now bright and island themed, new curtains, and new bedspreads. It really brightens up the place nicely. Once again, the grounds are impeccable, and the flowers and bushes are looking so full!!! they do such a great job here keeping this place up. No complaints here!

Will keep posting to let everyone know what's going on. Looking forward to the TTOL party next week.

Good night.