Hello Irene, thank you for sharing your story. I’m so glad you are planning on coming back to SXM to create new memories.

We just came back from staying on the French side. Although I do believe the restaurants are supposed to ask for your proof of vaccination, we only experienced one restaurant that did and that was Spiga in GC. When they confirmed our reservation, they mentioned that we would need to have our vax cards with us. But then when we arrived for dinner they never asked to see them. Go figure..

I miss the atmosphere at Dreams too. I do feel you can get that same feel at Wai Plage or Kontiki on Orient. I did not get a chance to go to Coco Beach on Orient, but from the looks of the pictures I’ve seen it looks very nice.

For us a day trip to Pinel is a must. You can park and catch the ferry at the end of road in Cul de Sac. The parking area is large and we’ve always felt safe leaving our car there. Is $12/pp cash to ride the ferry. Make a reservation ahead of time at either of the 2 restaurants (both are fabulous) of you want chairs/umbrella in the front row, a reservation will also secure you a time for lunch.

We never felt unsafe on the French side and there were no protests going on when we were there. But things can change quickly. As a rule, it’s generally safer to avoid Sandy Ground, especially at night. We drove through a couple times during the day and there were no issues.