Started our morning with friends for breakfast at St Maarten Yacht club. We left BSV at 8:30 am and had no issues with traffic or Bridge opening. Sat at a nice large table overlooking the marina "canal." The Bloody Mary's with Shrimp were as good as we remembered and the Shrimp made the "deluxe" version even better. My eggs benedict served with potatoes was very good. After breakfast we stopped to take some photos of one of the sunken boats because it reminded me of a pirate ship.

We spent the day relaxing in front of our villa on the beach and later down to the pool to meet up with the group. The weather has been sunny and warm with no humidity. There's been some light rain here and there in the day but nothing that impacts beach-time. Late at night we've had a few heavier and longer rain periods but it's been in the overnight hours.

What the heck last night was going on with the traffic? We tried unsuccessfully to get to Dinghy Dock. Traffic backed up to the beginning of the airport and it wasn't moving northeast at all. We got as far as the Hertz rental when we "bailed" and did a u turn at Hertz. It had taken 40 minutes to get to that point. One of our friends had gotten out of the car and started walking to see what was going on but we had no solid answers. We could see that no traffic was going beyond the Causeway to continue down past the end of the runway so we wouldn't have been able to continue to Dinghy Dock.

It was decided to head to Porto Cupecoy and dine at one of the restaurants there. There were two restaurants opened last night. We decided on Rendez-vous. They were not prepared for the crowd of people and service suffered. The servers were doing their best but food took a long time and was brought out a few dinners at a time. We were a group of 11 and there were many other filled tables. It started to rain heavily so the waiters quickly took our tables and chairs to move us out of the rain which didn't help them trying to serve others. We were not the only table that had to get out of the rain. I spoke with what seemed like the owner and she said that they are typically busy on the weekends but not on a Monday. There were two servers in addition to herself who was also working the pastry shop. I had the grilled snapper served with rice and a variety of sauteed vegetables. David had the mahi-mahi burger which looked like a patty and not a piece of mahi. Both were only ok.

Woke up to another beautiful day at Beachside Villas. Does anyone know why there was such a traffic back up yesterday night on Airport Road?

Fabila,

Next time you go to Porto Cupecoy try Altro next to Mario's. It's run by Briget & Christopher from Sol e Luna. Last March we had a fixed prix 3 course dinner for $36 USD. Delicious!! 3 or 4 choices from apt, entree, dessert.

They offered a 3-course prix fixe last night for $26 but our group decided on the other place.

Louise--sounds like the group made the wrong decision. Three courses for $26?? Glad the rest of the day was great anyway! Enjoy!

We were at the yacht club for breakfast too!

This explains the traffic. Started about 11:30 and still backed up at 6:30. https://www.sxm-talks.com/721news/g...JaVttQqr-vf2hxkUBdS6cHqwBmIPMpr1l4wWTFQY

Kind of a catch22. Needs to be done but there will be traffic wows either was.

I'm sorry, but they close the ENTIRE road down? No signs for a detour, or signs that explain closures?

One lane at a time, flag person allowing you around?

Saw one person that went around via marigot and took 20 minutes from maho to phillipsburg bypassing the road work. Knowing the island helps.

Doesn't help unless you want to get to Philipsburg. Simpson Bay/Cole Bay are SHUT DOWN.

Even on a good day it takes more than 20 minutes to get Maho to Marigot, let alone around the island to Philipsburg.

The roadwork continued so again our plans to head to Dinghy Dock were diverted. We decided to get pizza and wings from Driftwood. The wings were good but I was very disappointed in the pizza. It was not the same tasty pizza we had become accustomed to. David asked for the hot oil to drizzle on pizza and was told they didn't have any. He thought the pizza was ok but I wouldn't get it again. Just our opinion.

Can you sneak around Maho through Mullet to Marigot, then go into Cole Bay and come back towards Cole Bay and Simpson Bay? Or is that direction also closed?

That's the route the person I talked to took.

Cole Bay was jammed up too. Anything headed towards the Cole Bay roundabout.

We had the pizza there a couple years ago and it did not live up to what I heard about it, as average or below average as Domino's. Possibly a bad night but no interest it trying again.

just loving all your detailed posts! Carry on carrying on!