<br><br><br><br>Well, this was truly a fun-filled awesome girl’s vacation! My very good friend Amanda and I went for 2 weeks this year-and her sister Stacy joined us for the first 5 days. We had a glorious, fun, action-packed 2 weeks, and wouldn’t trade it for anything! Amanda’s boss treated us all with a limo ride to the airport—thanks John! Cocktails began at 3:30am with bloody marys. Hey—we’re on vacation!! We traveled direct from JFK, arrived about 20 minutes late, but otherwise no problems. Myra from AAA car rental was there to greet us with the car, and a few minutes of paperwork in their “office”, and we were on our way. We stayed at the Sunrise Hotel in the cul-de-sac area. It’s not directly on the beach, but this was fine for us as our objective this year was to see more beaches and do more things. Our first visit was last March, stayed at the GCBC and didn’t move off the beach or the blvd for most of the entire week. The Sunrise Hotel’s price and location suited us perfectly for this year. Noelle, the manager now, was a most gracious and accommodating hostess—quite a charming lady. We had one of the larger apartments—large bathroom, one queen size bed, and steps down from this area a little “sitting” room with table, chairs, and a pull-out futon. Entering onto the balcony was our kitchenette, which we found to be interesting, it being outside, including frig, microwave, stove, coffeemaker. We mostly just used the frig! And we had our own “mascots”—Fifi and Moose, Noelle’s “adopted” dog friends. We offered them a spare rib one evening thrown off the balcony to them—and later in the evening they found their way to our room, scratching on the door to get in. Fifi would settle right in on the cool tile floor after her snack, and go right to sleep at night. We renamed Moose to Mooch—he was always at the door begging. The hotel has a small pool, which also didn’t deter us, as we used it mainly to wash off after our beach days. The hotel was close enough to everything—Orient and other beaches and Grand Case Blvd with all the wonderful restaurants. .Our first night there was a quiet one, as we’d been traveling and drinking -all making for a long day—quiet dinner at the Rib Shack—good food with great prices. Back to the hotel to settle in.<br><br>Our first day on the island, we left for Pinel. Ferry ride tickets are provided at no charge at the Sunrise. “Ferry” driver was hysterical—someone mentioned previously he reminded them of the Seinfeld soup nazi—good description. He tried to be serious, but kept laughing—very entertaining. Pinel was gorgeous!! Beautiful beach, , great lunch -wonderful first day on the beach. Stacy’s birthday was that day, and Amanda and I treated her to dinner that night at Rainbow in Grand Case. Fabulous dinner and service. I had my first crème brulee!! Dee-licious!! The whole waitstaff came out carrying sparklers and singing happy birthday to Stacy—great time…Then out dancing for the evening..<br><br> BEACHES WE VISITED: Dawn Beach:gorgeous! Wonderful, easy rolling waves, great lunch at Ms. B’s—we thought they had the best ribs we had tasted on the island! Superb! We met an older gentleman there at the bar at Mr.B’s who lives quite near to where we are here on Long Island—he treated us to many drinks that afternoon, and lots of laughs! Fun day…..Also tried Friar’s Beach—great food at the Friar’s Bay Beach Café—gorgeous beach—we couldn’t decide which beach was the nicest or prettiest! Another day did Grand Case Beach at the club—a lot less sand and beach there since we stayed there the previous March! Everyone there remembered us from last year, and the manager at the restaurant, Pascal, didn’t just buy us an after-lunch rum—he left 2 shot glasses on the table with the whole bottle of lemon-flavored rum and said he wasn’t responsible for what happened—now that’s MY kind of guy!! Meal was quite enjoyable. Day on the beach was quite HOT—not a breeze to be had that day there, and it was almost unbearable. We rented floats and spent most of the day in the calm waters. Had a massage from the French girl who works out of a hut on the beach—the best massage I’ve ever had!! Quite relaxing…..And last, but certainly not least, we spent a few days on Orient. Last year we had found this beach to be a little overwhelming and crowded and generally just too busy. But we were out for some serious partying and playing this year, and Orient was just the place to find all of these. Plus we were checking out the parasailing adventures going on—wanted to see the sights and ins and outs of the whole thing before we put our “bet” into action. For anyone who remembers, Amanda and I had a bet going—if I parasailed, she had to eat Frog’s legs! More on that later…..<br><br>On Orient, we spent most of our days either in front of Kon Tiki or Baywatch. Met Andy and Cheryl—what great people! Andy is quite the character and had lots of stories to tell us each day. Cheryl is truly a sweetheart—what a lovely lady. And as soon as they saw us coming each day, they’d start whipping together our bloody mary’s for breakfast—now that’s service!! Breakfast of champions—what a way to start the day. We had breakfast whenever there—superb and good prices. Lunches were wonderful too—great burgers, swordfish burgers, mussels a la Andy, great calamari, and the list goes on and on. <br><br>Some other restaurants we tried:<br>Calmos Café: great ribs!! (not as good as Ms. B’s though!) Wonderful place—beach chairs and small tables set right in the sand, just feet away from the water. Quiet, relaxing and very pretty. Prices quite reasonable.<br>Talk of the Town: basic shack fare, and we tried most of it—great prices.<br>LePetite Cul de Sac Pizza: name correct? Wonderful pizza—great thin crust. Also had calzones, and heroes—all very good and reasonable prices—and they delivered to the hotel..<br>Le Pub: Grand Case Blvd: had a steak and red snapper here—good food! And again very reasonable with prices. They also have a small disco in the rear of the restaurant which goes til 4 am—others staying at our hotel said it was great fun. Lots of locals hanging out here—fun place<br>Zee Best---we were soooo glad to find this place! Ooooh-la-la- the croissants, and pastries warm and fresh in the morning are just to die for! We went there twice and brought bags of pastries to the beach with us. Wonderful!<br>Cheri’s: We just had to try this place—missed it last year. Sorry to all the Cheri’s haters, but we had a blast here!! Had a nice pasta dinner, great (strong) drinks, and thoroughly enjoyed the show—lots of laughs! And of course we were dragged up onto the stage and involved in the show—we seemed to create a scene or some kind of disturbance wherever we went…all good fun…<br>Le Ste. Germaine: Marigot marina; Great crepes—we tried lobster and shrimp, and another with chicken, shrooms and crème—delicious! And the service there was entertainment in itself! Amanda ordered a glass of champagne—the waiter arrived to serve it—with a flourish of his wrist and swinging it upside down and into the air, and placed in on the table without spilling a drop—quite dramatic! Then we were sitting quietly enjoying the view of boats, etc on the water, when I turned my head and the waiter was about an inch away from my face—scared me half to death—let out a scream which attracted all the restaurant’s attention—then couldn’t stop laughing. He did this continuously throughout the evening with everyone’s tables—we had a great time there.<br>Sunset Beach Bar: couple of lunches and lots of drinks here. (lots of drinks HERE? We had lots of drinks EVERYWHERE! My liver is dead—gone—caput—I think more MaDouDou is the only cure!?) Burgers, steak sandwiches, fish sandwiches—all good. And a friend of ours from home here is the manager there now—Jay. Tell him the girls from the “ harbor” say hello!!<br>Repaire du Pirate: We didn’t have reservations here, but showed up for dinner one night. Knocked on the door for entrance—and were told they didn’t have room for us. Very disappointed as it was Stacy’s last night with us and we wanted her to check the place out after we’d heard about it here. W e finally talked them into letting us sit at the little “bar table” in the center of the room. What a fun place!! The owner/pirate was very entertaining—he gave us pirate hats, guns, etc, and we had our photos taken with him at the ship’s wheel. He spoke very little English, but we were all able to communicate well enough. Dinner was fresh grilled chicken, a shrimp in sauce, and I can’t remember the other—but for 3 of us with cocktails—only $57!! And endless shots of rum after dinner. Quite enjoyable. And the bathroom is a must-see! Won’t ruin it for others, but we were told we had to check it out, and were a little afraid of what we’d find at first, but quite funny. A must-do place!<br>Bar dela Mer: Marigot; very disappointing. We had lunch here one day—food was awful:everything from shrimp to burgers was way over-cooked, and service was deplorable. Only place we went to that we had a complaint with. Never again!!<br>Bikini Beach Bar: breakfast one day—quite good! Try the wrap with eggs, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, etc with salsa and sour cream—enough for 2 people easily, and delicious! <br>TTOL party at La Vista: the Hideaway: great time!! Beautiful restaurant, nice views, good food and the best of company! We met some great, fun people this night! Hello to all—hoping to keep in touch with lots of people. Amanda has a great group shot from the evening, and hoping she will figure out how to post it here for everyone! Won’t forget…..Thanks again Augie!!<br>Pizza Pasta??--behind Cheri’s; very good Italian food—we met with another couple from upstate NY that we had met in Cheri’s earlier in the week—and had dinner with them. All four had pasta dishes, couple of drinks and wine—bill only $78! Lovely owner who greeted the entire dining room at one point. Only bad thing that night—the air conditioner didn’t seem to be working. It got so hot at one point I had to step outside to catch a breath of air.(Of course, too much sun and alcohol couldn’t have been part to blame!?!?!)<br><br>Did a half day sail on the Scoobidoo to Tintamarre one day. We had lunch at the LeMeridian beach front restaurant before leaving, and it was wonderful! Beef kabobs, sushi (another first for me!!)and mushroom crepe. Beautiful hotel grounds, pools, landscaping, etc. The hill going in and out is quite treacherous—and I, being afraid of heights, was terrified. Of course, after cocktails on the boat coming home, not a care in the world!! I’m not a sailing girl, and the waters seemed quite rough for the day, but off we went at Amanda’s urging. I was so glad she talked me into it! We arrived at the island, set off on our own for the afternoon—she snorkeling (not many fish I was told) and me exploring and taking pictures. We found the white clay pit, took some to the waterside and slathered ourselves in the white clay—everyone else on the island laughed at us—‘til they all tried it too! Beautiful spot, red clay caves, nice swimming and sunning. On the way home the crew put up full sail for the ride—it was so beautiful, quiet, and just plain awesome! Open bar on the boat for the afternoon, and heavy-handed pouring of drinks all the way home—gotta luv it! Great day!<br>Sorry for the long read and hoping I’m not boring you to death. Lots of this, actually most of it, is firsts on the island for us, so we’re still very in awe of this trip. Too much fun!! Is there such a thing? We have truly fallen in love with SXM! And this from moi, who once said I would never visit the same island more than once! I’m already looking to book for next year! Part II soon come..<br>