Sorry ahead of time for the length. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />
Day 1: Up at 2:00 am to head to O’hare airport. 3:15 am shuttle for our 5:55 am flight. Flew to SXM connecting at Ft. Lauderdale with Spirit Airlines. Very tight legroom on their planes, otherwise pretty uneventful flights with no delays. 30 minute wait in the immigrations line, baggage was ready when we got through. Leslie from Kenny’s was waiting for us with our car & phone from Sharon. A couple of minutes of paperwork & we were on our way. Made our way to Anse Marcel with just one missed turn at the roundabout at Cul de Sac. Realized the mistake when we got to the turn for Orient Beach. Arrived at Cottages de Lonvilliers at 3:30 pm. No one to check us in, sign on door had afternoon hours from 4-6 pm. Waited with 2 others until 4:30 pm when one gal went looking for someone to let us in. Didier was apparently on an emergency trip to France & the gal that helped us said she left the keys in the mailbox for us. Didn’t help us much as we didn’t know what unit we were to be in. Minor inconvenience & all was good. Went shopping at US Market in Cul de Sac, good selection, not sure on price comparison. Back to the room & unpacked, then to Villa Pizza in Cul de Sac. Pizza was good & only cost $12 + tip. Back to the room & went to bed as we were exhausted.
Day 2: Woke up & had breakfast. While eating, CNN showed levee failure on the Wisconsin River about 20 minutes from our house. Crazy that we are 1200 miles from home & getting local news! Spent day exploring island as it is our 1st trip here. Stopped at Orient Beach, walked around a bit & then drove by Lucas Beach & Dawn Beach en route to Phillipsburg. Drove up Back St & then down Front St. Stopped at the Buccaneer Beach Bar for a drink. Stopped at Le Grande Marche & did a little shopping there. Walked across the street & had a great lunch at Café Atlantico. Stopped at Sunset Bar & Grill for a few drinks & pix of planes landing. Drove back through Lowlands, toured Marigot a little, & then back to the beach in Anse Marcel for the rest of the afternoon. Beach was great, calm & uncrowded. Ate at Germain’s lolo on Grand Case for supper which was inexpensive & very good. Planned to do Talk of the Town, but they and Sky’s the Limit were both closed. Walked down to the far end & back to see what was all there & then back to the condo.
Day 3: Woke up & received a text on our rental cell phone from my mom. My grandfather passed away overnight at age 86 from cancer. We knew it was coming, but had hoped it wouldn’t be when we were on vacation. Funeral was Thursday, so I was unable to attend. Thankfully I had spent time with him quite recently. Bummed around in the AM, then to Octopus diving for our snorkel trip in the afternoon. They made a scheduling error, so we decided to come back on Wednesday. Headed to Friars for some drinks & snorkeling. Snorkeling around the rocks on the north end was good. Rain showers around, but none hit us. Picked up a pizza at Au Grain de Sel in Cul de Sac on the way back. Pizza was good there too. Disappointed by the Packers losing to the Bears on Monday Night Football & went to bed.
Day 4: Off to Pinel with our 2 neighbors, who we waited with to check in. Got the 1st boat over to the island. Got chairs & drinks at Up on the Key. Snorkeled the Snorkel trail which was good, lots of fish. Lunch at Up on the Key was good, service was friendly. Tomas at Paradise Boutique was cool, bought a few things for the kids there. Great relaxing day trip which was too short when the last ferry came at 4:00 PM. Dinner at Piazza Pascal in Grand Case. Donna & Piazza were excellent host & we enjoyed our conversations with them. Food was very good. Noticed tire was low, gas station at Cul de Sac air pump not working. Figured I would deal with it in the am.
Day 5: Ate breakfast & went out to change the tire as it was almost flat. 8 minutes to change it, not bad considering the equipment supplied with cars nowadays. Checked e-mail & weather, then off to the market in Marigot. Souvenirs for the kids & family. Had a sandwich & chocolate mousse at La Sucriere for lunch. The mousse was amazing! Went back to Octopus for our scheduled snorkel trip. Stewart tried to talk us into diving, but Janel didn’t want to so we stuck with the snorkeling. The other couple that was supposed to join us didn’t show up, so we had a private snorkel trip for 2! Excellent time & Stewart was an awesome divemaster. Went to Creole Rock & Turtle Reef. Creole rock had lots of fish and Turtle Reef lived up to its name as we saw 4 turtles. Back to Villa Pizza for supper. Rained while we were there, but we stayed dry.
Day 6: Missing grandpa’s funeral today. Went to Phillipsburg & shopped in the morning. Ate lunch at Greenhouse which was excellent – both food & service. Went to Galion Beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Nice beach & not many people there, was very calm even though it was pretty windy. Looked like the school was doing swimming lessons at the end of the beach. Went to Rib Shack lolo for supper, food was good, but we give Germain’s the edge for flavor. Saw that Le Cottage opened tonight. Excited to eat there tomorrow night.
Day 7: Heavy rain in the morning around 6:15 for a while. Went to Orient Beach. Got chairs & lunch at Kakao Beach. Cloudy & looked like rain most of the day, but it stayed dry. Got a CD on the beach from Remo who seemed like quite the character. Had happy on our patio with the neighbors. Went to Le Cottage for an early 10 yr anniversary dinner. Unbelievable experience, would highly recommend to anyone. Back to condo to pack 
Day 8: Lazily got up, packed & then toured with the car a bit. Ate at Café Atlantico in Simpson Bay again since it was so good the last time. Stopped at Sunset for a couple of drinks & then met Leslie. Told him about the low tire & he didn’t even bat an eye. I am guessing some of the other companies may have tried to charge me for the tire or excess sand in the car. Cannot say enough good things about Leslie, he was great. Caught our 2:50 PM flight & got back to Chicago around 10:30 PM. Caught the shuttle & drove home, arriving at 2:00 AM. Long day.
General thoughts: Island was pretty easy to get around, even for a 1st timer. Used common sense & didn’t notice any crime. Never felt unsafe the entire week, although may have if the parking lot in Grand Case was not so well lit. We will be back!
