I have just now begun to exit the fog of post-vacation depression long enough to even think about writing a trip report. This was our second trip to the island, one year after the first. This is my first attempt at a trip report, and I think I need an editor. Call me Carol Hill, but this sucker is long!<br><br>We flew AA on frequent flyer tickets from Des Moines on Sunday March 16, through St. Louis to San Juan. We decided to stay over in San Juan Sunday night so we could experience seeing SXM as we landed instead of getting there in the dark of night as we did the first time. We stayed at the Ramada in the Condado area of San Juan. It was nothing special for $125/night – it really just made us more anxious to get the “real” vacation started in SXM! We were so tired from getting up at 5:00 a.m. we were in bed by 9:00, and then up and ready to go before 6:00 on Monday.<br><br>The flight from SJU to SXM was short and uneventful. We sailed through immigration, grabbed our bags and met Marius out front with our car. We had a bit of a mix up and spent a little extra time getting into the right car, but Marius was extremely apologetic about it and it was really no big deal at all. We ended up with a Toyota Yaris, which was a very small 4-door sort of like a Tercel. It was a stick-shift, which was good because it probably never would have made it up some of the hills if not for first gear!<br><br>We went straight to La Plantation to check in. Our room wasn’t quite ready yet, so we went down to Coco Beach for some lunch. We had a great goat cheese and cream pizza (our arteries were on vacation, too) and our first beers and just sat there feeling so happy to finally be there after all the planning. After we drained the Ma Dou Dou they offered, we headed back up to La Plantation and our room was ready. We had Suite 806, which was about as high up on the hill as La Plantation goes. It was almost too big for 2 people, but very nice and was actually better looking than the pictures on their website. Our only complaint was that it was kind of dark inside the room. They also have a very nice continental breakfast included in the price of the room, and we ate there every day and never came away hungry. <br><br>That first day we grabbed a few beers and snacks at Tap Five and headed down to the beach for a couple of hours. We sat ourselves down at Kakao (you get free chairs and umbrellas at all of the “5 Stars” beach bars on Orient with your room at La Plantation) only to be told by the beach boys that there is a “special area” for people from La Plantation way down at the other end. But since it was about 2:30, he was nice enough to let us stay where we were. We never went back to find out where the “special area” was – it just didn’t sound too nice.<br><br>That night we decided to try Peg Leg Pub for dinner since we’d heard so many good comments about it. I’ll probably never hear the end of this, but I have to say it was one of the worst overall dining experiences we have ever had. It was St. Patrick’s Day and PLP had been advertising on specials on the radio. Too bad they only had 2 servers for the whole place. It was a fiasco. We probably waited 10 minutes to give our drink orders, another 15 minutes to get the drinks, another 15 minutes to give our dinner orders, and then a good 30-45 minutes to get the dinner. They never brought our salads, even after we reminded them 3 times. I got the wrong potatoes, but I wasn’t about to send them back, I was afraid I would never see my plate again! All around us people were leaving before getting their drinks, appetizers or dinner because everything was taking so long. I’m familiar with the concept of island time, and we are pretty patient people, but 1 ½ hours to get part of your dinner and then part of that part wrong is too much for me to put up with on vacation. It didn’t ruin our night or anything, but we certainly won’t be back there again. FYI…I had the filet and it WAS just as good as everyone says it is. Curt’s tuna steak was great too. Too bad about the service…<br><br>Tuesday morning we had fun grocery shopping at Match, and then headed down to Coco to bake in the sun all day. Tuesday night was the TTOL party at Hot Tomatoes. We had a nice evening talking to Tricia (pdeha050) & John, Sugarae & Johnrae, Dave (DaveinMD) & Nicole, Ken, Cole & Michealla (briefly), Dicky, and Cindy, and meeting our hometown neighbor Kirby (Gwleo) who we had not met before. We’re both from a town of 25,000 in central Iowa, so it’s pretty strange to meet up with someone from home in SXM! Food was great at Hot Tomatoes – I had the grilled snapper special and I have no idea what Curt had – but he liked it. <br><br>Wednesday we took the ferry over to Pinel for the day. We had not done that before and we really enjoyed the quiet atmosphere over there. The water is so shallow and clear you can practically walk back to Cul De Sac in water up to your knees. Dinner that night was appetizers and drinks at the Greenhouse. We headed over to Casino Royal in Maho after dinner, ran into Sugarae and John, and smoked up the Blackjack and Roulette tables for a while. Ok, we only won $165, but it was better than losing! After an ice cream at Haagen Daas to celebrate we were done for the night.<br><br>Thursday we were doing the America’s Cup 12-metre races, so we did some shopping in P-burg in the morning. There were several ships in, so it was a little crowded and unpleasant. We had a quick lunch at Barefoot Terrace (coconut shrimp for me, jerk chicken sandwich for Curt) before heading over to Bobby’s Marina for the race. For anyone who has not done this before – it was a great experience. Our crew was hilarious, our team was fun, and our group on Stars & Stripes kicked True North’s butt (even after a very questionable penalty on us). I would definitely recommend this activity to anyone. <br><br>Dinner Thursday night was at L’Amandier Plage. The food was very good, although I can’t remember what either one of us had. Could have something to do with the cosmos, bottle of wine and Ma Dou Dou we had… Our waiter was fantastic – really friendly and helpful French man who treated us so well. We strolled down Grand Case beach to walk off dinner and it was a very romantic night. One comment about L’Amandier – I was expecting more in the way of atmosphere from comments I have heard, and I didn’t think it was that great. We had a table right by the water, but the lighting was too bright and kind of spoiled it, in my opinion.<br><br>Friday we had to get up early and fight the traffic through Marigot to get to Kim Sha beach to catch the Bluebeard catamaran to Prickley Pear. This was also a great trip that I would highly recommend. A beautiful boat ride out there (about 2 hours), decent snorkeling on a reef off Prickley Pear, a good BBQ lunch, and of course the open bar. Some hardy souls were downing Heinekens through a snorkel (like a beer bong) on the way back, but we just napped all the way home on the big nets up front. A great day.<br><br>Friday night we decided to head over to Bamboo Bernie’s for sushi. We ordered the sushi “bridge” for two, which was a good price for the quantity of sushi you got. I’d say the sushi was ok, but I’ve definitely had better. However, you just don’t get much sushi of any kind living in Iowa, so I’m not complaining! We wandered over and made a donation to the Dolphin Casino in exchange for a free drink, but our luck from Casino Royale did not follow us there.<br><br>Saturday we decided to take a day off from the sun, so we did some driving around the island exploring and taking pictures, and some souvenir shopping in Phillipsburg. By this point in the vacation, we had decided that as much as we liked La Plantation, it was not the right location on the island for us since we spend a lot of time on the Dutch side. So, we thought we would stop in and see if we could get a tour of Mary’s Boon from Dicky. Well, we got our tour, in addition to countless rounds of Presidente’s, and ended up sloshing out about 2 hours later! Dicky’s no-pressure, beer-based sales tactics worked on us, and we are planning to make Mary’s Boon home next year. I can’t remember everything we discussed with Dicky that “lost” afternoon, but I’m sure it was all very philosophical and intelligent.<br><br>We had just enough time to drive back to La Plantation, shower and change and drive back to Mary’s Boon for dinner. See what I mean about staying in the wrong location? As if we weren’t sold on Mary’s Boon enough at that point, Dicky had helped me organize a surprise dinner for Curt’s 35th birthday that night. We ate under a tent right on the beach (think Barbara’s wedding lunch, but at night), lit by tiki torches and guarded by Frank. Everyone in the bar was pretty jealous when we left them to go down to the beach for dinner, and they kept coming down to visit us and see what it was like. Hopefully, that won’t be the last of the beachside dinners for Mary’s Boon, because the setting was unbelievable, and eating a delicious beef tenderloin dinner on a cloth-covered table with your feet in the sand is something everyone should try. Curt was very surprised with the arrangements and Dicky and I were heroes! After dinner, we joined Dicky and two other couples from Mary’s Boon over at Hot Tomatoes for a few drinks.<br><br>Sunday we were winding down as it was our last day on the island. We spent a quiet day at Dawn beach, had ribs for lunch at Ms. B’s, and floated sadly in the ocean for the last time. Dinner that night was at L’Auberge Gourmande. I had the scallops and shrimp, and Curt had frog legs and some kind of fish I can’t recall. The dinners were good, but I just didn’t leave feeling over-the-top impressed with the place. It could have been that we were so tired and a little depressed since it was our last night. Or, it could have been the 4 year old boy running all around the tiny room yelling, with his parents acting like they were both blind and deaf to it. Hey, I have 2 and 4-year old boys, and I like to take them out to eat, but not at a place like that where people are spending $100 on their dinner. I thought it was rude. Anyway, it was good enough that we would probably try it again when we’re feeling peppier.<br><br>Not much to say about Monday. We packed up, checked out, stopped at Mary’s Boon to say a last thank-you to Dickey for Saturday night (but alas...he was not at work yet at 9:15) and headed over to the airport. Checked our stuff, dropped the car with Marius and headed inside. Flights were a little delayed by the San Juan airport being closed briefly (never did hear why), but we made it home on time. Having our sons meet us at the airport in their jammies actually made coming home worth it!<br><br>But, Curt is already planning for next year – although we’re not willing to set that countdown clock just yet. It’s just too depressing to see 350+ days left.<br>
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