This was our first trip to St. Martin. We found this site to be extremely helpful. (plus that of Jeff Berger) Let me say that we found everyone friendly – and I mean residents and island visitors alike. <br><br>Being first timers there for eight days, we decided to spend 4 days on each side. After a very bumpy ride there on March 1, we picked up our rented car from Mr. Bruce at Kennys. It wasn’t exactly new (white of course), but that’s what I asked for. Good and quick service. <br><br>Our first 4 days were at the Summit Resort. A nice place, but I would recommend a deluxe room. The standard room we had was in need of updating, but the people and views here were great. We spent the next three days on Cupecoy beach. The first day there was plenty of sand. The next day, Danny told us to put our cooler and towels on the rocks. About 5 minutes later we knew why: water covered the beach all the way to the rocks. We stayed anyway and went back again the next day. What a beautiful place. And we met lots of great people. (thanks to Jeff Berger for giving us parking directions) And those ribs from Danny were worth the wait!<br><br>Before our Tuesday trip to the beach we drove to Philipsburg for shopping. A good opportunity for me to replace my cheap watch which may someday float ashore at Cupecoy with some dubloons. Ann found a great ring at DK Gems. Deepti wasn’t around when we went in so we worked with one of her associates, Amit, who we really liked. <br><br>Later that day we met Deepti at the TTOL party hosted by Dicky at Hot Tomatoes. Love those coconut drinks! Thanks for the great time, Dicky. We met some more great people including Bob and Eileen who we met up with Thursday at Orient Beach. As island veterans, they gave us a lot of great ideas and they were lots of fun to be with.<br><br>Wednesday we went to Orient Bay and stayed at St. Tropez and L’Hoste. Both were great, but L’Hoste was a little more elegent. We began each day with an early morning beach walk and nights at dinner in various places in Grand Case and Marigot. Friday was a big treat as we watched the Heineken regatta from the back side of Pinel island with Bob and Eileen. We also got to know Bob (different Bob) and Marge from Oregon, who are also TTOL addicts (I hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip). Saturday night we went to the big Regatta party in Marigot. Sunday we stayed until the last minute on the beach until we finally had to head for the airport and the trip back to Illinois. <br><br>We have traveled quite a bit to some really great places, this pretty much sums it up: As I sat on Cupecoy beach I was talking to a long time visitor who asked me where I had been to like this. Nowhere else was the only honest answer. <br><br>Next time we will stay longer and see a few more sites I hope. Now I need to stop writing, since it’s time to start planning the next trip to SXM!<br>