Ok so I have been back for 2 days and am now just getting to this report. O well.<br><br>Here is my story/trip report for the above dates:<br><br>Depart Columbus, Ohio @ 800am on Tuesday and then departed Charlotte, NC @ 1100am and finally got to the ¡§Friendly Island of St. Maarten. @ 400pm. My 1st site to see on the island was SSBB Wow everything I thought it would be on landing. After bargaining with the various auto rental places I settled on Sunshine auto rental, I rented the Hyundai Atos I think wow what a small car with little power to get up and down the hills of sxm. One word of advice to everyone visiting sxm and renting a car GET AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION!!!!!!!!!! Stick shift sucks on the island. <br>After checking into my hotel the ¡§Sea Breeze Hotel¡¨ Which is not much more then an old Hojo¡¦s from the 70¡¦s. If you are looking for luxury go down the road a bit further to Divi Little Bay or the Belair Beach hotel. Because the Sea Breeze is not to of the line but for 65 bucks a night not bad. Ok back to the report. Since I was @ the island alone, I decided to go to Ric¡¦s bar near the airport as my 1st dinner on the island. Not bad, just had a simple hamburger fries and a crib beer and a Heineken, and a few more Heineken¡¦s and called it a evening sort of early because I wanted an early start @ the Beach on Friday morning. <br>Friday morning wake up and go across the island to Orient Beach. I have been there before (on my cruise 3 years ago) and overall it has not changed much, except for little sand @ Pedros. I laid there and read in my book for a while and went into the water and came out and drank and read then went into the water and came out and drank and then read some more and then went back into the water and then read some more and then went to the TTOL party @ the Greenhouse on Phillipsburg. <br>I met so many people @ the party it was real cool. (Cole in KC was the best host, by the way I still have the log of the people there, Cole) Just to name a few: Leslie from Cincy. GSK, She314 (happy birthday again), Sue, Kirby (Gwleo) Augie and Sue, Suzanne & Pat Madden (SXM_Snowbirds) Terry and family (TJ), Mr. and Mrs. Sugarae, just to name a few. What a great time party party party. <br>Saturday I went and took a drive around the island. I went to Grand Case walked around, what a great quiet town. Good beach. After that I drove back down to Marigot. I walked around down there for a while. Nice place good people and lots of blue harbor. <br>That evening I went down to the Maho Plaza area I ate at the Italian restaurant next to the casino Royale. Great pizza. Shortly after I strolled next door and did some gambling at the casino and had some fun there. <br>Sunday I drove over to Dawn beach. Now that is a beach. Quiet, seems like only a few people and nice rolling waves. Spent most of the day there and then went to see the 5:30 raising of the Simpson bridge took some great pic;¡¦s of the yachts going to and from. That¡¦s where I found out the MEGA-YACHT Limitless is moored there in the harbor. WOW NOW THAT IS A YACHT!!!!!!!! I went over to Hot Tomatoes and had a nice evening dinner on the patio. Monday (St. Pat¡¦s day) I drove back over to Marigot and did some shopping. I also went over to Phillipsburg and did some over there also. I made a commitment to Ric¡¦s That I would be there for St. Patties day and sure enough I was there. I also met up with Kirby (GWleo) and Gretchen (GSK) and had dinner with them @ Ric¡¦s also. After dinner we went down to the Casino again and gambled some more. Even won 12 bucks on the horses. LOL We stopped off at the Soprano¡¦s Piano bar. Nice place for a quiet drink and a song. I¡¦m still waiting for the Bert Bacharach (Spelling??) song Girl from Ipineva(Spelling again??) Right Kirby. At that GSK could take no more and had to go home. Read her trip report its great. Shortly after that I even had to leave (ƒ¼) O well. <br>Tuesday I had to leave. (ƒ¼) I went to SSBB one last time and had a drink and took some pictures and then went up and dropped off my rental car and checked in at the US Airways gate then went to the bar again drank some more and got on the flight home. <br><br>That¡¦s pretty much it. <br><br>Highs: Parties, TTOL and various other small parties, Beaches, people, and weather<br><br>Lows: Stick shift car, crazy drivers, and leaving the island. <br><br>Pictures will be posted this weekend on the MSN site and will be noted on this BB. <br><br>Also this was my sort of 1st trip to sxm. I have been here before but on a cruise 3 years ago, but this will not be the last one. <br><br>thanks everyone who made a great trip even better...<br><br><br>