It was a lovely day.......but this is high season and I learned two things that usually aren't a problem for us during our December and April visits. 1- Traffic is nonstop everywhere and 2 - Saturday night dinner reservations in the more popular Simpson Bay spots are a necessity. But I'm getting ahead of myself.....

We arose early to a beautiful daybreak and sunrise and soon followed by coffee and pastries on our balcony. Such a great way to start the day. Anywhere this would be good but in SXM? - it just doesn't get any better!!

We spent some time yesterday morning at our pool and then we were off to the only point where we knew for sure we'd find our friends before they were lost to the island. We waited in the sun for about 45 minutes and we're starting to get nervous, fearing perhaps we'd already missed them when finally, we saw them arrive. The look on his face was priceless and made the trip worth while. He was as surprised to see US as we were the night before when our kids showed up at our doorstep. So we made quick arrangements for meeting today and we were off in our separate directions.

By now it's the height of the afternoon - too late to head out to the beach and too early to join the kids at their condo, so a little respite on our balcony was in order followed by cocktails and before we knew it it was time to head out again to visit our kids at the Cupecoy Beach Club. Their unit was ocean view and we wanted to catch the sunset from their patio. The property itself is one of the older places - no modern high rise here - but the units are lovely and totally modern, the grounds are beautifully kept and the cliffside oceanfront views are spectacular. I can't believe in all our island years and visits we'd never been there before - incredible spot for watching the sun set with the waves crashing below us and tontop it all off, the beach was "in" and deserted. A few glasses of wine later and we all headed out to Buccaneer Beach Bar where I think we got the second to last table to be had. The music was good and the place was hopping. BBCs and hors d'oerves and then we were off to Skipjacks without reservations. What were we thinking? There was a half hour wait but it was worth it. I think this is one of the most consistently good restaurants on the island in every way - pleasant staff, good service and great seafood.

By the time we filled our little bellies and headed home it was almost 11:00 and way past our bedtime. Another beautiful St. Maarten day draws to a close........ <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

And I almost left out the best thing ......... while Kim and Ken were showing us around the Cupecoy Beach Club, we were looking out at a sailboat in the distance and suddenly saw a sight we've never, in all our 43 years and Lord knows but maybe 60 to 70 visits, seen before. A school, or is it a pod?, of whales. At first we couldn't believe what we were seeing but as they began blowing off their own individual water spouts, we were mesmerized. And before long, they were done and submerged again. Unbelievably beautiful and of course, at that moment, the camera was in Kim's condo and our binoculars were back in ours....... it was pretty awesome!