Wednesday, June 30

When you leave Divi, you are not supposed to turn left onto Little Bay Road, but I (and many others) do it all the time. Last Saturday when I was leaving with my bags in my car, the traffic was pretty heavy and I decided to obey the sign for once. I drove down to the parking lot across from where Great Bay Sonesta used to be and turned around. When I was coming out of the lot, I hit something that I didn’t see; not sure if it was a curb or tree trunk or ?? But I significantly dented the right front fender of my rental.

I pulled out and read all the provisions of collision coverage on my Capital One card and then headed to Leisure Car Rental to see what they wanted to do. Jimmy was disappointed, of course, but glad I hadn’t been hurt. I filled out an “incident report,” and he gave me a copy. I left him with a list of what he needed to provide; the remaining item was a repair estimate. He said he would secure that within a day or two of my returning the car. Submitting all the paperwork is a nice little chore I have ahead of me when back home. Sigh.



I hung around the Toad for the afternoon and discovered the hammock! What a relaxing way to loaf!

I accepted an invitation to join a group for happy hour at, wait for it, Balls and Wine. On Wine Wednesdays they have discounts on select wines. It was a fun evening with nice people and we again left sated.




Thursday, July 1

Two storm fronts are supposed to be moving in, starting today, so I made an appointment to go visit Ruby Bute instead of going to the beach. (Turns out, it would have been a nice beach day.) I hadn’t seen her for a couple of years, and it was good to catch up. Since we are both vaccinated, we exchanged a big hug. Her stories about being in the hospital in Guadeloupe were pretty funny if it weren’t for the fact that she was ill. She is better now and just has to watch what she eats.



After her physical therapist left, we went over to the gallery. She now has mugs available with her art work, and I saw several new tiles (I already have about 17 in a wall display at home). I was especially drawn to this giclee; apparently it’s available in a tile, but she couldn’t find one. I decided to purchase the giclee, which was mounted on a frame. It would have been awkward in my suitcase so she painstakingly removed all the staples from the frame and rolled it up in a tube for transport home. I just love it.



Ruby’s cat. She is much thinner than the last time I saw her and is losing hair due to allergies. Nonetheless, she is very sweet and let me love on her.



It was a pleasant afternoon.

Dinner was with a group at Le Marrakech in Marigot, which is decorated very elaborately. I was told the owners handmade all the hangings themselves; very lavish. Since I neglected to take pictures of the interior, I am stealing one someone else posted on Facebook. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner: chicken with almonds and honey over couscous. And that was just half of the serving!




Friday, July 2

Departure starts to get real when you have to take your PCR test. My appointment was the first of the day at Medworks, in the Puerta del Sol building. I arrived around 7:45 a.m. for my 8:00 a.m. appointment. No one was there yet. A couple of staff folks arrived, but the nurse was apparently hung up in traffic. She finally arrived, and I was tested at 8:20 a.m. My results were received at 8:51 a.m. while I was having breakfast at Reveil Matin, at which time I noted that my last name was spelled incorrectly. I emailed them asking for it to be corrected, and they did re-send the test with correct name shortly thereafter. I dropped by for a hard copy, only to learn that their internet had just gone down. Knowing I could print it out at the Horny Toad office, I left. They did ask for my passport, and the number appears on my test result. I noted that a couple of other people presented driver licenses, which apparently are also accepted.

Dinner was at La Rosa Too in Maho; nothing noteworthy and no pictures taken.

Saturday, July 3

I was supposed to go on a rescheduled sail on No1SXM today but woke up to really active seas from the storms blowing through the region. I thought the water would probably be pretty rough when we got out of the boat so cancelled my reservation. I then regretted it for the rest of the day. While the water is still seemingly turbulent, it was a beautiful day. I could see them loading the boat from my deck and watched them sail away sans moi.



Went in to town to pick up my repaired Omega chain after the parrot chewed through the clasp. Back to Horny Toad for a relaxing afternoon in the hammock.

A few reports ago I mentioned an arts/crafts fair at Adonis Hotel that I attended. Finally got around to taking a picture of the rag quilt I picked up as a baby gift for a friend.



Some friends who live on the island had invited me to their home for dinner. After some back and forth about the electricity situation (off on the Dutch side), dinner was still on; it was a lovely evening. This is one of the views from their deck.



And you may recognize them.



After dinner, I went to The Palms for dessert, where Greg makes wonderful cheesecake. Tonight’s offering was peanut butter with strawberry sauce. While there, I met CaribbeanScout and her husband for the first time; we aren’t usually on the island at the same time.

Sunday, July 4

Spent time on the deck enjoying the sound of the ocean and the views. The innkeepers are off island for a while, but their dog is enjoying playing with the dog of the substitute innkeeper.





I am really going to miss these views.

I then headed to Anse Marcel, my favorite beach on the island, for my last day in the sun. I had made a reservation on line, which they said they did not receive. After quite a bit of back and forth, they acknowledged they remembered me from prior years and let a beach attendant get me set up. I showed them where I signed up on line, and they said despite the restaurant picture, that the reservation went to the hotel, not the restaurant. They gave me a business card with phone number and the personal email of the reservationist so I should be set in the future. It was a perfect beach day. It appears quite a few folks with boats arrive for time on the beach and/or lunch in the restaurant.





On the way back to the Toad, I took a photo of this mural at the beginning of the street leading to Friar’s Bay Beach Club.



I had leftovers on the deck at the Horny Toad and continued with packing. I am the only guest at the Toad tonight. After I leave, they will be empty for awhile and will be having some maintenance done.

Thus endeth a month on the island. I leave tomorrow on AA at 2:40 p.m., connecting in Charlotte for a flight home to Portland, assuming the flight doesn’t get cancelled. There were a lot of things I didn’t do, which will have to wait until late October, when I return for five weeks. Thanks for coming along with me and for your nice comments about my reports.