Here's our latest trip report from our "20 something" trip to the lovely island of SXM.

US Airways Flights
PVD – CLT – SXM: Boarding in PVD was very slow due to several passengers requiring extra assistance (during the middle of boarding). Arrived in CLT late and arrived at the gate just in time for boarding to SXM.

SXM – CLT – PVD: Flight delayed in SXM and we missed our connecting flight in CLT. US Airways re-booked us on a later flight, so not a huge problem at all.

Car Rental
Second time using Travel Rent A Car, a TTOL sponsor. I’m always looking for a deal and Steve was offering a summer special which consisted of a free tank of gas and a free cell phone rental. The Hyundai I10 was in great shape. However, the car did not have a full tank of gas in it, but Steve’s assistant said he would note it. Tank of gas only lasted 3 days with not much travel on our part.
When we returned the car, Steve, the owner, met us at the airport. As he was inspecting the car, I mentioned that we didn’t receive a full tank of gas. He then stated that he didn’t believe me. What? Steve then said that he would waive the $50 excess sand fee in exchange. What? We always clean out the car, including most of the sand when we return them. I wasn’t very happy at this point and told him this was not acceptable! He refused to do anything about the situation. I then proceeded to tell him that we are frequent visitors to the island, that he was not a man of his word and that this was the last time we were renting from him. He then said that he didn’t care, that he’s a man of God and that God would take care of him. Oh for Pete’s sake…. We waited for his assistant to show up to “cash us out”. Assistant shows up and first thing out of his mouth was “Oh you’re the customers who didn’t get a full tank of gas!” We were vindicated! Steve then told the assistant to waive the Liability insurance charge. This was way more than we expected, but I was still steamed and it was not a great way to end the vacation.
So, needless to say, this will be our last time renting from Travel Rent-A-Car. Lesson learned; there are too many other good rental agencies out there.


House Rental
“House 4”. We rented this house in May 2010 and loved it so much we rented it again this trip. This stand alone house is located in a residential, gated community in Pointe Blanche called Monte Vista. It sits high on the hill, overlooking Philipsburg and the cruise ship terminal. It’s an easy 15 minute drive to Orient Beach and the drive into Simpson Bay at night wasn’t too bad either. The owners, Alan and Royce Samit, are a pleasure to do business with and their home is clean, comfortable, nicely decorated and beautifully landscaped. We love the private pool!

Restaurants / Bars

Instead of trying lots of new places, we ended going to several of our favorite places, listed here in no particular order:

Curry in a Hurry: Chicken and lamb vindaloo. White rice and garlic naan. The restaurant was very busy, but Lal took the time to sit and chat with us for a bit. Great food, reasonably priced.

Yvette’s: St. Martin chicken and Red Snapper. Both fantastic!

Mark’s Place: Meat lasagna and Grilled Tilapia. Prices are reasonable and the food/service was great. Bumped into Bill and Elaine that night, too!

The Stone: We split the Cheese Fondue and split the Beef Tenderloin entrée and had several drinks. Service and food were very good. Walner is still there and we enjoyed talking with him.

Karakter – Simpson Bay Beach: Jazz night! Great time. Service was excellent. Tapas, drinks, beautiful sunset and beach. Need I say more???

Granduca - Chicken Marsala and Shrimp Ravioli. Fine dining and the service was great! Ate there the day curfew was lifted after the hurricane. It took us an hour and a half to get there. Not good.

Dinghy Dock – Oyster Pond: Ribs, Mahi Mahi fingers and . Delicious!

Orange Fever – Orient Beach: they were one of the only restaurants open on Orient after the Hurricane. Nicoise Salad and Hamburger and a bottle of $12 Rose and a view to die for.

Cappuccino – Simpson Bay: Pizza, salad and beer. The location isn’t great, but we really like the pizza and the prices are reasonable.

Mr. Busby’s – Dawn Beach: I think the only reason I like to go there is for the view and location. The food and service are just OK. Ribs and club sandwich.

Iguana’s Beach Bar – Guana Bay: great location, nice owners and cold beers.

The View @ The Summit – Cupecoy: fabulous view and a fun place for happy hour. It was nice to see Jill again!

Talk of the Town – Grand Case: dropped by after the Hurricane and had a few beers. Bumped into Michael Hodges, whom we met several years ago. Bought him a beer and talked for a while…

House 4 – we cooked quite a few meals in. Bill and Elaine accepted our invitation for dinner one night and we had a lovely meal, poolside. As a special treat for them, I brought food from home (filet mignon, lobster, steamers, shrimp, scallops and corn on the cob). I think they enjoyed it. They treated us with a refreshing Key Lime pie for dessert. Good friends, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. Priceless….

Shopping
We stopped by to say hello to our friends at DK Gems. Chatted with Deepti and started to plan a redesign for my engagement diamond. At the Marigot market, I bought a lovely print which captures the view of Orient Beach view from Mount Vernon, and a very beautiful, handmade necklace by the artist Tessa Urbanowicz.

Hurricane Earl
We knew about Earl even before arriving on the island. Once on island we watched the weather channel, listened to the radio, and talked to islanders about the storm (“it’s going to be a Category 1, just a baby”). The caretaker closed all the hurricane shutters and moved the deck furniture into the house. The owners of the home graciously offered to move us to one of their condos down the road, but we decided to stay put. The winds started picking up late Sunday afternoon, power went out at 8:30 PM, but it came back on a couple of hours later. Went to bed thinking the brunt of the storm would happen overnight. Hurricane shutters banged all night.

Got up at 7:30 on Monday and ventured downstairs. It wasn’t too bad! What we didn’t know was that the storm wasn’t over yet. The courtyard was a muddy leave-filled mess, but otherwise everything was OK. Ate breakfast, and lost power soon after. Played cards and drank lots of beer! The winds picked up (I don’t think we’ll ever forget the sound of the wind), the heavy rain and damage started, and a couple of the hurricane shutters refused to stay shut. We were safe, though, and it was quite the adventure!

Unfortunately, the property took a small beating. Several trees on the property were uprooted, the ceiling fan on the patio crashed to the floor, the once lovely pool was full of leaves and dirt, several roof tiles flew off the roof and a small service door blew off its hinges. Power was restored later in the day.

The curfew was still on for Tuesday morning, so we spent hours cleaning up the property as best we could, but the pool was still a mess. Lost power early Tuesday afternoon. We slept with the windows and doors wide open that night, but the heat was stifling and the mosquitoes were abundant. No water either, but we had a large bucket and a large, dirty pool. Fortunately we were leaving the next day. Hurricane Earl will be an experience we’ll never forget!

Despite the hurricane, this was another great trip. We had lots of laughs, met up with so many wonderful people and still love our vacations on the island. Fortunately for us, the countdown is on for our next trip in early December. Twelve more weeks and hopefully no more Hurricanes…..