Okay, I have 37 visits to the island of St Maarten over 20+ years and I’m finally submitting my first trip report. Please be gentle with any comments and I apologize in advance for any poor spelling, poor grammar or just a poor report.

Prior to leaving, we both took two tests each on Friday the 6th of November. I wanted to maximize our chances of getting timely results while allowing us plenty of time to submit on the St Maarten website and get a timely pre-approval. Our first results came back within 30 hours (5pm on Saturday) and the second results came back at about 60 hours (midnight on Sunday). We took our first tests with the State of Maryland and our second tests through Patient FIrst. Both were quick and easy and required a minimal amount of time. Both were by appointment with no costs associated. On Monday morning I went to the St Maarten website and submitted my requests and was quickly granted pre-approval. I would just mention, as you submit your request for entrance, take your time and make sure you are not clicking the wrong response. On my first try, I was so used to answering no to all of their questions that I clicked on “no” when it asked if I had health insurance. I was quickly denied entry. I saw my error, resubmitted and received pre-approval.

We arrived on Wednesday, the 11 of November on American flight 2219 out of Miami. I will say early on, that the day ended perfectly with us arriving on the island on-time, being met at the airport by Mr Leslie and driving away a few short minutes later to our condo on Simpson Bay Beach. Our first leg, from Baltimore to Miami (bwi - mia) was a nightmare of anxiety and peril. It started out with us arriving at the terminal (5 a.m.) to find over 250 people waiting inline to see a ticketing agent for check-in (no preflight check-in allowed). The terminal was such a zoo because there was a Company of Army soldiers who were being deployed and on top of that the luggage conveyor belt had decided not to work that morning. Security we thought was a breeze (at first) and we arrived at our gate, 10 minutes before boarding started. We boarded, grabbed our seats in first class and settled down. 2 minutes later, Carol says to me “ do you have my iPad and Nook”, I jumped up, looked through my backpack and said “no” at which point in time we realized that her iPad and Nook had been left behind at security. Long story short, they allowed me to deplane, I ran to security, acquired the missing items and returned to the plane prior to them closing the door. THank you AA for allowing me to deplane and get those items and thank you to AA for making both segments wonderful, getting our bags to the destination and making the whole experience enjoyable while in the air.

Wednesday evening, we settled in and drove into Pizza Italy for our go to arrival meal. Their pizza is always excellent, we love their thin crust, light on the sauce and always loaded with whatever you choose. There were some showers and light rain on Wednesday evening. They were fairly busy with about ¾ of their tables occupied.

Thursday, the start of our first full day on the island, and we woke up to beautiful skies with partly sunny and partly cloudy weather. The water was a little choppy but we always find it that way early in the morning. I headed off to Cafe Atlantico for BLTs on baguettes and pastries to bring back for everyone for breakfast. First day on the beach was as near to perfect as you could hope it would be. Lunch, as on most days on the island for us, is cheese and meats and crackers and condiments. A lot of picking of finger foods and leftovers. We are early eaters on vacation so around 5:30 pm we headed over to the Greenhouse for dinner and had our second enjoyable dinner on the island. Back to the condo after dinner and we all sat down to play our first round of Hand & Foot(card game).

Friday started out with breakfast in the unit. A huge skillet of scrambled eggs with cheddar and ham pieces, bacon, and toasted baguette with butter, brie and jelly. Friday, on the beach was near perfection and we enjoyed sitting out and our time in the water. We skipped lunch for Friday as we planned to head over to Avantika for their happy hour (runs 3-6pm). Avantika is one of our most favorite restaurants on the island and we have always enjoyed every meal we have had there.

Here it is Saturday, late morning, and I’m trying to finish this so I can get on the beach with everyone else. Breakfast was at Vesna Taverna and dinner this evening will be Cowboy Steaks grilled on the deck. Did I mention that the weather has been perfect.

Let me just say that the two months prior to arriving on the island was spent preparing for all of the new demands and jumping through all the hurdles that were placed in front of us. There was quite a bit of anxiety and much that was unknown, but there was never any doubt that we wanted to be here. All of it was worth it. St Maarten has a well organized arrival area and we breezed through the health verification, immigration and baggage in record time. I am amazed how quickly word spreads on the island because in less than 3 days we have had 5 different sets of residents(friends) stop by to welcome us to the island and let us know how glad they were that we are back again this year. I know this is a mess, I did apologize at the beginning, and I hope that all are staying safe enjoying life and family wherever they might find themselves.