This was our 6th trip to St. Maarten and I have to say also the smoothest. We were joined by our friends Mike and Judy. It was their 1st trip to the Caribbean and I think they brought us good luck! Alarm went off at 3:15am and our son came to pick us all up by 4. Fly out of Bradley on US Air- No check in line for the 1st time ever! Security went pretty quickly too. Connection through Philly was also painless. We arrived in St. Maarten 15 min. early and went through immigration very quickly as well by using the In Transit line. We were met by GB Express and had time for an airport BBC before going to the police dock to do paperwork. We also had extra time to grab beer and wine for the boat ride to Anguilla!

On Anguilla, we quickly found our rental car that Ronnie Bryan had left for us and off we went! Mike drove and I was elected to navigate to Shoal Bay East. My instructions consisted mainly of repeating “Stay left!” and “Slow down!”. We found Fay at Elodia's and after giving us a big hug and our keys we were checked in. (We were to pay our bill upon checkout) After getting island drinks from the bartender, Carol, we deposited our luggage in our rooms and made a beeline for Gwen’s so as to catch some of the Reggae music we had heard so much about. We enjoyed the music and did some dancing. The food and drinks were enjoyable until we got our bill! 4 meals and a couple drinks each=$175 plus tip!! We were shocked! Once at Gwen’s was enough!!

Shoal Bay East was beautiful! The water was blue and so clear!! (This wasn’t our 1st visit to the island but it was our 1st overnight.) We spent the greater part of our days sunning, reading, snorkeling, floating and just plain relaxing. ( In one of my bags I had packed inflatable floats for Judy and me, my life jacket and snorkel equipment) Judy and I had a great time floating with drinks in hand!

On our 1st morning we walked to Serenity where we had a lovely breakfast and we were the only guests! Later we ventured out with the car and found a grocery store where we stocked up on beer, wine, water, breakfast supplies and something for dinner. We toured the island and found ourselves at Cap Jaluca for a drink. Nice location, drinks were reasonable but it wasn’t Shoal Bay East!

We had dinner on our deck a couple nights. So incredible! We had a lovely view of the sun setting. We went to Hank and Mac’s for breakfast a couple mornings. It was very reasonable and both food and service were great. We were very sad to learn that this little place burned down just a day after we left the island. I guess the owners have plans to rebuild. We also enjoyed many lunches and drinks at Elodia's and Uncle Ernie’s. Service and food was always good. Hubby especially enjoyed the ribs at Uncle Ernie’s. One night we went to Mandeariman’s for dinner as the guys wanted to try crawfish. The waitress laughed when we asked for a bucket of them. Apparently on Anguilla they are lobster size and not like the little creatures we have around here. They were good, very sweet. Again, the meal was a little pricey but other than that no complaints. We had a great view of the sunset and took a lot of pictures.

After spending 4 nights here, we once again boarded the GB Express and headed back to St. Maarten. We loved our time on Anguilla. The only drawback to our trip was the rooster who woke us up each morning at 2am! Thank you Pat for recommending GB...they were great!!

Once back on SXM, Lesley Bruce surprised us by meeting us at the police dock and not at the airport as planned! Great service!! We were able to check into our condo early so we could drop off our luggage and head to Sunset Beach Bar to watch the planes come in. For this trip we had rented a 2 bedroom condo at La Siesta. Although we weren’t crazy about the neighborhood, the condo itself was very nice. We were provided with a computer, a cell phone for local calls and a house phone for free calls to the US. This came in handy, as my Verizon phone from home didn’t work although they had told me it would. (I had great service on Anguilla) My biggest complaint with this condo was the lockdown procedure we had to perform each night. I hated closing the hurricane shutters at night. The best part of staying on the island for me has always been gazing at the ocean when I wake up. I hated the closed in feeling here!! With that said, I do have to say that the property manager was wonderful and came to our rescue more than once!

As soon as we dropped our luggage we headed over to watch the planes land. We also found our way over to the Dream Bar for drinks, snacks and to meet Marty. Everything was wonderful there and now I know why everyone raves about the place! And yes! I bought the shirt too! We got to talking to one of the customers and found out that he lives only 5 miles away from us, in the next town over! Small world!

We spent the next day (Friday) on the Celine for the all day sail. We just can’t say enough about the experience. Everything was great, especially the awesome lunch Neil prepared! My highlight was getting to snorkel with sea turtles, not once but twice! I’m not a strong swimmer or very good at snorkeling but each time I go out, I get a little better. (My version of snorkeling is to only use the mask and then to come up for air! I’ve come a long ways since my near drowning at Baby Beach in Aruba!) We also went out on the Celine for the Pub Crawl. Neil had an interesting crew member that night and she certainly kept things hopping! Our stops this time were Skip Jack’s for the appetizer, 3 Palms for the entrée and Barnacles for the dessert. Everything was great!

We had a great time showing our friends the island. We spent some time in Phillipsburg where of course we did some jewelry shopping at Dks. Our friends got a kick out of being served beer at the jewelry store! Later we enjoyed burgers at Honky Tonk Bar. Excellent! I also made my 1st visit to Grand Case! We enjoyed drinks and snacks at Calmos Café. I loved being on the beach! After walking around a bit we purchased ribs and chicken and Talk of the Town to bring back to our condo for dinner. Judy and I decided that we also wanted to enjoy grouper with our dinner so we took a walk up to Skip Jack’s. On the way back we ran into Elaine and Bill at Topper’s (?). I think Judy was amazed when I gazed into the bar and actually knew someone there! I love St.Maarten, just feels like home!! We greatly enjoyed our meal while sitting on our patio and watching the sunset. To top it off we had also purchased cakes at Taste Factory. Who would guess that a bakery would have a Happy Hour?! We had also bought pastries for our breakfast the next morning. They were beyond yummy!! Thanks Terry for the suggestion!!

We also had lunch at Tortuga where I had the best coconut shrimp ever! Food, drinks, service were great, prices were reasonable. We were able to watch planes land while we ate. We ended up at Tortuga because we had trouble getting table service at Sunset Beach Bar. A little later we ran into some friends and ended up at their villa at BSV for our annual pina coladas! Lou and Lucy make the best ever!! We greatly missed staying at Beachside this year.

A highlight of this trip was the day that Mike saved a girl in the water. We had been walking over towards Azure to check out Ray’s tree when we noticed a girl sitting in the water. She seemed to be really out of it. Wave after wave came in and tossed her around but she didn’t couldn’t seem to move. I give Mike a lot of credit for helping her out as each wave took more of her clothing off until there wasn’t much left to the imagination! Her boyfriend eventually got up and came down to escort her home but it was the weirdest thing. In any case, the tree for Ray was very nice. Great job to all involved with that!! So sorry I missed the get together!

On day of departure, we sadly packed up. Hubby was dismayed to find that he couldn’t open the safe! All our money, passports, valuables, etc were locked inside! I had visions of having to stay on the island longer, darn!! But the villa manager came over and got things going for us and in truth it was a relief. We checked our bags at the airport, went to watch a few planes land while we finished some last minute cocktails, got lunch for the plane and headed back to the airport. I was amazed when it only took 15min to get through everything and get to our gate! We enjoyed a last minute cocktail at the Rum Jumbie bar. Flights were on time, darn again!! Customs in Charlotte left a lot to be desired. Got back to Bradley at midnight. Our boy picked us up in the big red van and delivered us all back home again. What a wonderful trip!!! I envy those of you who get to do this more than once a year!!