Many people here will know Jim Ruos, who owned and operated Caribbean Islands Travel Service, which focused on resorts on Orient Beach, St. Martin, mostly Club Orient. I received an email today from Mary, his wife, and partner for many, many years, stating that Jim passed away at the end of 2019.

We became acquainted with Jim on the old Prodigy bulletin board. We visited SXM many times on cruises before that, but made our first trip for a land vacation to St. Martin in February 1995, staying at Green Cay Villas. After that, there were many trips to Orient Beach, including several to Club Orient, including over the Millenium, Caribbean Princess, L'Hoste, and a bunch of other places through the years, all booked through Jim and Mary. Through it all, Jim and Mary were the consummate professionals, providing us with the best information about travel to St. Martin, and knowing literally EVERYTHING about the places we stayed. Two stories--One time we were on a flight from DC to San Juan, then SJU to SXM. Our flight into SJU was way delayed, and thus our flight onward to SXM. We called Jim from SJU to have him contact our lodging, La Plantation, and let them know we would be delayed. Our plane landed at SXM around midnight. Since all the car rental guys had gone home for the night by that time, we took a cab from the airport to the French side, after a detour for the cab driver to pick up some KFC take-out!! We arrived around 1 AM at La Plantation and were greeted by the manager, who stated that Jim that called them. They gave us our keys and said we could do the formal check in, in the morning.

Second story, we were staying at Caribbean Princess and somehow, it was very important to us how many wine glasses were at the unit. I honestly don't remember now why that was so important!!! So, as compared to telling us we were entirely TOO anal and telling us to screw off!! Jim found out that there were in fact 8 glasses of every kind at the unit, which was the answer we were hoping for. And of course, his information was correct, as always.

Over the years, Jim and Mary became great friends and we enjoyed many lovely times at their home in Virginia, as well as meals at restaurants in the DC area, and were fortunate enough to also spend some time with them in SXM. He and Mary have been great friends over the years, and a joy to have known.

Rest in peace, Jim. Our condolences, Mary. Our thoughts are with you.

Post edited to add the obit.