I'm not sure of the most efficient way to organize this so here goes. If anyone wants more info on a place we visited, please feel free to send me a PM. I'm leaving all the food for part II.
This was our honeymoon and followed an absolutely picture perfect wedding May 27 at the Oceancliff Hotel in Newport, RI. Beth (wife) and I were blessed with great friends, family and weather--we were able to have our ceremony outside on the lawn overlooking Narraganset Bay.
Monday 7am we left for three days at Jumby Bay in Antigua. Keeping it short: private island, insanely expensive, absolutely gorgeous, completely luxurious and world class food. 3 days was the perfect amount of time.
Thursday 6/1 we island hopped via a cheap, convenient and ON TIME flight on LIAT from Antigua to SXM. Customs was a breeze. We had to hold over two nights at Caravanserai before our Saturday check in to our studio at Divi (all nights were an RCI points gift from a family member). Rather than go through all 9 days, here are our grades for some various places.
Unity Car Rental, A-; service was great and price was good but our first jeep broke down one night. Michael responded quickly and we salvaged our night and avoided potentially scary situation. Overall, we highly recommend.
Caravanserai, B; room was clean but the hotel on the whole was somewhat dumpy and there were drug dealers in the parking lot at night.
Divi Little Bay Hotel, A-; were able to check in early because I had come down with a stomach bug, studio was newly renovated, and snorkeling was very good, also a very safe place. Good bar with a great bartender-Leroy.
BEACHES
Orient Beach, A; this was our first time and we loved it! Much nicer than anywhere on the French Riviera. Food at Bikini Beach was good but service very slow. Kontiki had better service but worse food. Good crowd all over and just a great experience. Very easy drive from Divi.
Little Bay, B. Good water, nice hills, great snorkeling but poor sand and can get crowded real quick. We didn't spend much time here.
Mullet Bay, B-. Perhaps not a great choice. Lots of ugly construction going on and amenities weren't too good. I noticed the "golf course" and I can't believe anyone would actually waste his/her time on it.
Friar's Bay and Kali Beach Bar, A-. Pretty nice beach but great bar and we liked watching the Marlin tournament boats speeding back to Marigot at the end of the day. Jaba the beach boy gave us a great day.
Safety: driving through Back Street in Phillipsburg at night was legimately scary. Other than that, we felt pretty safe for most of the trip. We lived in New Orleans for a few years so we got used to being in rough places and from what we saw, St. Maarten has lots of rough places. For all the complaints about traffic, we didn't find it that bad. Besides, having a jeep made being in the car fun.
Shopping (all in Marigot): Fendi shades for the wifey, good deal on a watch from Leena's for me, bag from MaxMara for wife, Murano glass for family. Lots of fun. A little disappointed with the art galleries. I expected better.
Weather: the only day it rained we were 85 feet under water diving the Porpoise wreck! We highly recommend Dive Safaris.
I'll get the restaurant reports up soon but overall no one on TTOL made a recommendation that did not work out well. SXM grew on us while we were there--we weren't thrilled at first but by the end of our trip we had settled in nicely. We'll be back sometime but I don't know when. Too much of the world left to see and I now have a wonderful person to see it all with.
Thank you to everyone for all your help in planning our trip. It was perfect.
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