<font face="Comic Sans MS"> I already did a sort of mini-trip report in response to the Little Diva post on the Little Divi, but thought I would do an official newbie report too. I got back last Saturday, my primary observation is wow. [Linked Image] Now I know why so many of you go back so often I want to thank all of you for all of the good information in your trip reports, the general information all over this site and those of you who responded to my previous post requesting information. [Linked Image]<br><br> I had a great time. I did the intro to scuba at Little Divi, I parasailed and rode a Jet Ski at Orient Bay, did a day trip to St. Barts and had a delicious and fun lunch there at Nikki's restaurant at St. Jean's beach there. The first two days we were a little hotel trapped because I couldn't convince Mom that we needed rent a car before we left and I didn't really win her over until after two or three of our fellow guests a Divi suggested it. Once we decided to do it, it was a Sunday and we had trouble getting through to the rental car company. We used Tropicana and got great service from Mickey and a cheap rate, $150 including taxes etc for the week. [Linked Image]<br> <br>One problem we had was finding some of the beaches because we couldn't always find the right highway signs, so we mostly did Divi and Orient Bay. One day we were looking for Nettle Bay after a little trip to Margiot, but we could not find it for the life of us. I think we missed the turn off signs on the drive from Margiot, went way past it and eventually turned around and came back. When we pulled onto what we thought was the right road it was so bumpy and nasty that my Mom concluded it had to be the wrong place plus she was worried about messing up the rental so she refused to keep driving down it. So we said screw it and drove all the to Orient Bay instead. I think the sun may have baked our brains [Linked Image] some because we'd spent a good chunk of the day shopping in Phillipsburg and planned to do the same in Margiot, but after we climbed up to Ft. St. Louis we were so hot that we needed to go cool off somewhere, so we said skip the shopping and lets hit the beach. I knew there would be other beaches along the way to Orient Bay but since we were so discombobulated, we just kept on trucking to a place we knew.<br><br>We really enjoyed Orient Bay and we made two trips there. Mom and I are a little more uptight or I guess more body-self conscious than a lot of folks so we kept our bathing suits on. The first day we pulled into the resort part on the clothing option side and although we felt kind of weird at first, after a few minutes it wasn't a big deal. In a way it seems like seeing people naked is much less of a big deal than seeing people in tight skimpy clothes. I guess your imagination runs wild a bit more when people are wearing tight or revealing clothes, but when you actually see them naked, you realize they are just another person with a body that basically isn't too different from your own. That didn't make me feel comfortable enough to take my own clothes off though. I did get in some parasailing (my first experience) at Orient in there and a quick ride on the jet ski was included in the ride out to the boat and doing that naked probably would have been a wee bit too awkward. [Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image]<br><br>I really enjoyed the parasailing, it was much more peaceful than I expected. I went spinnikering (sp?) last year in Cancun, [Linked Image] where they have a semi parachute/semi swing that sits behind the boat, which is stationary, and you go up fairly high but not as much as with the parasail, and depending on the wind you sort of fly through the air and get buffeted aournd. I got a lot of twisting and turning excitement from that one but the parasailing was mostly very peaceful with an excellent view. I would recommend it even to the faint of heart.<br><br> On our next visit to Orient Beach we wound up on the choppier side and I really enjoyed body surfing on the waves. Mom thought it was too choppy, but I had a grand old time. [Linked Image] [Linked Image] We enjoyed a few beers and some excellent fries at Wakki. Another plus of each Orient Beach trip was that both were toward the end of the day so it wasn’t too crowded either time.<br><br>My intro to scuba was also a blast; I'm looking into doing a certification up here so I can go on a real dive on my next trip to the Caribbean. Snorkeling is still fun, but it is cool being down deeper. <br> <br>Our trip to St. Barts was a real treat, although I did get a little sea sick on the ride over, and they said it was a gentle day! I purchased some Dramamine when we got there and took it before the boat came so the ride back was fine. Once I got over my seasickness on arrival we had delicious French bread and jam at a cute little café near the bay. The waiters were so cute and had adorable little French accents. It was a hoot (I know I sound so uncultured) and then we took a little walk around the main down town. I think we took one or two cameras full of pictures. It was so colorful and bright there, it had a much more European feel than Phillipsburg, but I guess it was about the same as Margiot in that department. We also took the $10 taxi tour around the island with 8 other people from our trip. That was great. We got to see Nuryev's former house (his crazy family sold it after he died! If I were them I'd have kept it and moved there permanently), and the driver stopped there and in several spots other so we could take pictures and admire the beautiful homes and flora and fauna. He told us about the $1500 a night hotels and the expensive houses for rent. He also told us that there were some apartments but most locals owned their homes which averaged around $200,000 (kind of high for the Caribbean I thought). We also found out that they have no high schools on St. Barts and most of the regular families send their kids to Guadeloupe, or Martinique, I believe, in the area for high school. The richer ones send them to France. Pretty strange. Plus, I found out that my guide book (St. Barts, St. Martin Anguilla , Alive)was inaccurate [img]/images/icons2/mad.gif[/img] because it told me there were no slaves on St. Barts back in the 18th and 19th century but he said that was not true and there were about 500 slaves imported to the island at one point. We were then dropped of at St. Jeans beach which was gorgeous and as a said before we had an awesome lunch at Nikki's restaurant. [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] It had a great atmosphere, most of the it was done in white: white chairs, white ceiling drappings white chairs on the beach, neat looking wooden crocodile looking benches at the long tables and most of the staff wore white. They also had a great DJ who was pumping out old school funk and R&B, and most of the wait staff danced while they served the customers. It was a blast. We also got some nice shopping in too and generally had a great time there.<br> <br>I'd say St. Barts was one of our most fun days, a close second was our day on the Random Wind. [img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img] Barbara and Martin, the couple running the tour for another Martin, who owns the ship, are a hoot! They kept us in stitches all day, and gave us an opportunity to see many of the beaches we couldn't find from the road. The one beach that we actually stopped at was a little tiny bit of beach between two cliffs, one had a sort of gazebo on top and the other I think has a house on top. I can't remember what the name of it was I think Martin told us that Cindy Crawford's house was nearby. We got to snorkel around there, and there was a lot to see, unfortunately, my mask didn't fit properly, water got in and one of my contacts washed out. [img]/images/icons2/mad.gif[/img] Still, even with one eye it was pretty cool. We also snorkeled near some exclusive resort, I think it was called La Sammana or something like that near Baie Longue.<br><br> A funny little side story about La Sammana ,there were 2 young college girls on the boat (or maybe they were grad students, I never got the full story) and they said they'd gone to that resort for lunch one day and took a dip in the ocean to cool off before they left. Well, some snooty rich folks who were also paying probably the amount of my monthly rent per night to stay there approached them and asked what room they were in. They were honest and said they'd just come for lunch. The snooties were aghast and said "they just let anyone in here?" So ,the girls, who had just planned to take a quick cool off dip, decided to make themselves comfortable and claimed some beach chairs and ordered a few drinks and decided to make an afternoon of it. They struck a blow for us poor folks! [img]/images/icons2/smile.gif[/img] Another lady on the boat said that during the on-season they don't let non-hotel guests in for meals at all, but they are a bit more liberal in the off-season. <br><br> The boat also stopped briefly near Maho Bay so we could see a plane coming in. It looked cool, but there is no way I would stand on that beach and let the plane exhaust blow me in the ocean, too crazy! It was a really enjoyable afternoon, and Barbara made us a delicious lunch, with chutney, cheese on a nice little salad with a scrummy little dessert. She also made the best egg salad, plain tuna, and tuna with capers, on bread for a snack. [img]/images/icons2/clapping.gif[/img]<br> <br> Martin and Barbara also told us about a great restaurant called Jimbo's [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] which is near Simpson's Bay back in a shopping plaza. For some reason he doesn't have a big sign at the front of the plaza proclaiming his restaurant, but I think he's only been there for six months. It was wonderful, the food was good and it was in sensible portions so you didn't come out feeling stuffed. He made a little bit of everything, Tex-Mex, Seafood, several types of steaks and lots of other good all around food. The atmosphere was great too; it was open no walls or doors so it was nice and breezy. It was all wood, not a blonde wood but of a nice medium brown shade. There was also a little pool/waterfall like area in the back and the bar was kind of sunken a few steps down from where the tables were.