It had been 23 long months since my wife and I last travelled to St. Maarten (April, 2017). In some ways it felt like 23 years, and a return trip that had been scheduled for November of 2017 was abruptly cancelled because of someone named Irma. But, we vowed to return and earlier this month we made that return trip to our favorite island. No amount of reading forum posts or watching online videos can replace an actual visit. So, even though we had an idea of what to expect it was not until our plane touched down that we began to experience St. Maarten all over again. And, fell in love with St. Maarten all over again. Because my wife is still working, we had to restrict this visit to seven full days on SXM. But, we did more in those seven days than some people do for an entire month there. On the return flight to the states we decided to give this trip a theme for others to follow, and that theme is just two words .... "Just Go."

Day One -- Philipsburg. We like to make Philipsburg our central point for a variety of reasons, so we spent our first full day here. The staff at Holland House all remembered us and we split our time shopping, walking the boardwalk, and lounging on Great Bay Beach. Almost all of the high end stores and jewelers have re-opened and appeared to be doing okay. Many told us that it will take time, but slowly cruise ship traffic is making it's way through the streets of the Dutch capital and things are looking up. The Yoda Guy is back, but we just didn't have time to make a visit. When we returned to our room, the staff of the hotel had a bottle of wine on ice waiting for us with two glasses thanking us for our return. In turn we thanked them for being 'SXM Strong' and assured them that we we always be back in the future. That evening we walked to Chesterfield's adjacent to the cruise port and this place was just a lovely as we remembered it from several years ago. My wife had some kind of chicken dish, but I had the Grilled Lobster. If there is such a thing as a 'lobster overdose' this is just about as close as someone can come. Yes, it was $40 but it as worth every cent! Not sure just how much lobster I put away, but it had to be at least one and one-half pounds or more. And, the lobster tasted better than ever! After dinner we tried to grab dessert from the Italian Gelato place on the boardwalk, but he closed at 6:30 so no luck. We tabled that for later.

Day Two -- Orient Bay. Got here early at about 9:00 and it was already up-and-running with people arriving. Talked to the staff at Bikini Beach (Flavio, etc.) and they were so pumped to be back and entertaining guests you could feel the excitement from them. For $30 we got two chairs and an umbrella in the front row, but no drinks. As we settled in, the staff was working hard to clean up the sea grasses that had washed ashore and did a great job with this. Prices for beer and soda were very reasonable, but we did not eat here. As the morning progressed more and more people came and the cruise ship crowd also joined in. I would estimate that 90% of the beach chairs were rented and I was pleased to see that. Of course, they now have a prime location right in the center of Orient Beach so for the present time this is the logical place that most visitors will spend their beach day. Kakao is also back but far to the north where Coco Beach used to be. It was strange seeing their blue colored chairs up there. And, Kontiki is back strong towards the southern end with their signature dark red chairs and umbrellas. Large gaps of beach exist between the three beach bars, but those spaces are used by people bringing their own towels to the beach and by the watersports folks who are also back in full force. It made for a healthy walk in the sand to visit the three places (and thanking them for their return). It was a good way to walk off the extra calories!

That afternoon it was time to face the music and take a walk to the Club Orient area. Wanted to see the damage first hand and come to my own conclusions about this area. The first thing that jumps out at you is no more Pedro's. Just an empty shack and the green stairs from the rocks is all that remains. It just didn't seem real standing there and seeing this, but it must come back someday. It is a part of Orient Beach that must return. For this visit I chose to keep my swimsuit on, and paid a quick visit to Perch Lite. It was going strong serving up burgers and hot dogs so that was wonderful to see. I then walked along the edge where the Club Orient cabins lay in ruins and had to bite my lower lip seeing the damage first hand. Some of the cabins look structurally sound, but I highly doubt they are. Finally, I reached Papagayo and that was tough to see. They should have it completely roped off to the public, because there were individuals going under the old patio and peeking inside and that looked dangerous to me. Made my way down to the beach and it was a nice as ever. Talked to a few different individuals about the Club Orient situation, and they pretty much reiterated what has been posted on this forum. But, we all agreed that the efforts to bulldoze and clean out this area must start soon and the construction of a new Club Orient is a must. I then walked back towards the rocks and my spirits began to rise as I saw many, many people on the beach in groups talking and laughing just as they did before when Club O was present. In fact, it seemed like more people and even younger people (most of them in full undress) were here with smiles on their faces. I had to get back to my wife on Bikini Beach, but vowed to return in a few days when we came back.

Later that afternoon we were going to dine at Le Piment, but they weren't going to open until 5:30 so we visited Yellow Submarine instead. That place was always good in the past, and it's still good today if you're looking for a reasonably priced dining spot off the beach. After dinner, we did walk around a bit through the village and saw the reconstruction efforts going full bore at Alamanda and Palm Court hotels. Both places had extensive damage, but both are on the road to recovery though it still appears they are months away from reopening.

Day Three -- Maho Beach. Had to make a return visit to Maho and the Sunset Beach Bar. First off, it was really, really windy. Could not get our portable beach umbrella to stay securely so that was a bummer. Been here and done that, but it's fun to watch the new visitors experience this scene with the airplanes -- especially the kids. After a while we headed over to the Sunset Beach Bar where a spin of their wheel provided a free drink for us! Any time you can get a free drink on vacation you take it so that was a nice surprise. As for the beach itself, it was really crowded, but that was encouraging to see. The high winds kicked-up a very strong surf, so venturing out in water was sort of limited. But, many people were swimming so maybe the rip tides weren't there on this day.

The reports from this area about heavy traffic are not misleading. I've never seen the traffic worse than I did on this day (unless an accident occurred). It was bumper-to-bumper on the bridge and the roads and you just creep along. For those folks visiting this area that have a cruise ship to catch you have to allow about two hours to pack up and get a taxi back to the cruise port. Not wise to cut this too close.

Stay tuned for Part Two of my trip report coming soon. I must now get back to my unpacking! And remember our theme ... 'Just Go."

thanks for the start of the report. Good theme!

Looking forward to the next installment. As you can see below, I have two trips planned this year - my third and fourth since Irma. So I am heeding your theme.

Thanks for this report, especially your assessment of the Club Orient beach. We were there in Dec. and at times it seemed as if there were more people on the beach than when Club O was there. I guess, in part, because there's so much more room now. I'm glad you enjoyed Yellow Sub - we didn't feel that it was as good as before, not bad, not good. I still haven't heard from anyone who has had their 45 Euro rotisserie chicken, though.

Is a rotisserie chicken literally 45 Euros? Surely not! But if it is, it had better have some tremendous sides and must be one huge chicken.

I'll stick to the $4.99 costco rotisserie chicken. LOL

Actually, Kakao is where Waikiki was. Coco is further north.

Thanks, Kaye. It was definitely a challenge getting acclimated where everything was situated in the past! I tried to use Mont Vernon as my guide, but knew my coordinates would be a little off hear and there. We always went to KKO in the past and loved it there, but they just seem so far to the north now. Bikini definitely has the key location and they're going to dominate here for a while until more places re-open. Kontiki was really attractive, but their footprint appears to be somewhat smaller than Bikini. Here's hoping more places will be up-and-running next fall when we plan our next visit. Just want people to know that Orient is alive and well, and now is the time to finalize plans and 'just go'.

We too were back a few months ago. At that time we were told that the Alamanda, where we had stayed a few times, was not going to rebuild. The people staying there are families of workers at the Alamanda who had lost their homes to Irma. Maybe that's what you saw, unless they totally changed their minds.

That would be a shame. What a beautiful hotel that was in the past. My wife and I walked around the entire perimeter of it last week and the workers were putting in overtime there. I was going to try to ask someone what the status was, but they were all too busy. If I get a chance there is someone I can call later this week who'll know the answer. I've always wanted to stay there in the past but never got things worked out. I'm truly hoping they do come back some day. Thanks for the insight.

That was the price listed on their menu. No mention of sides included.

I completely agree about it being hard to pinpoint locations now. We were confused when we were there as well. Bikini may have the best location for people coming in through the village, but having spent a day there in November, I'm hoping that Kon Tiki, Kakao, and eventually La Playa, will step up. Our group was not impressed with either the food or the service we received at Bikini.

Georgia I will admit the service was not great that day, but I was very satisfied with my food. It may depend on what was ordered and we did have to wait a long time for a table as it was a Sunday and they were extremely busy.

I think Sunday had a lot to do with it. I understood the wait for the table, it being very busy. However, we were never offered drink service while on the beach, and I think that's an important part of beach bar service.

I was offered beach service as soon as I arrived, but decided to wait until the others arrived. After you all arrived, I agree we were not offered again. However, some of our group were also not approached to pay for their beach chairs either due to them getting too busy and perhaps not enough staff that day. They lost money on several counts that day. I realize they were just newly opened so I am willing to give them a break. Hopefully they will have time to iron out a few problems before our next visit.

We bought a rotisserie chicken at petit casino for around $15.