Club O July 18 – August 5, 2003<br><br>This was our 9th stay at Club O and our third stay in Chalet 80. #80 is our favorite piece of real estate. It is located next to the path to the beach that runs from the public parking lot to the Perch. The only down side to this location is the ants. While there are still a lot of ants present at this location, they weren’t the fire ants that inhabit most of the island and that caused us much grief last year. The club provides a bug killer in case the ants get inside, and Terminix makes regular house calls. Last year we were plagued with fire ants, so we feel there has been a big improvement. Also this year, blinds had been added. <br><br>One other point that applies to the Beachfront Chalets in particular is the amount of plants that are placed around the chalets. It is very difficult to maneuver your rental car when the trees and shrubs are placed at the intervals that they are. The first night the people in the next chalet had us completely blocked. They parked in the front of their unit and with the trees in the yards, we had to park a good distance away and lug our bags and groceries to our chalet. In fairness to them, the owner of their chalet had filled the “parking area” for their chalet with trees making it unusable. After a couple of days, the folks next door parked a little straighter and we were able to get around their car. Chalet owners really need to plan their landscaping better. There are a lot of trees around #80, yet there are 10 palms being grown in containers by the owner. I have no clue as to where he will be able to plant them. He also has a travelers palm growing under the shade roof on the front porch. Travelers palms grow 20 or so feet high!<br><br>There have been a number of changes for the better at Club O. They have narrowed down the entrance road with landscaping to help control security, and have added more attractive signs to guide you to the rooms and common areas. There is a new laundry room for guests only. Unlike the previous laundry room that was always filled with employees and their friend’s laundry, these were readily accessible. I’m sure that some would find a laundry at a clothes optional resort to be at least a little amusing!<br><br>There are lots of new faces and many old faces are missing. We didn’t see Ed the manager who assumed Gina Brink’s role when she and her family moved back to Holland. So, I can’t say for sure if he is still the manager or not. We saw increased presence of Martin Brink around the resort. This is good, as the only way to effectively manage a resort or any other business is to walk around and observe. Martin seems to be aware of that. Having grown up around the business, Martin seems to be the ideal successor to Reint Brink.<br><br>Generally it seems that a high percentage of guests stay at the same time each year, but this time we only ran into a couple of people we had previously met. Occupancy seemed low the first week but picked up some the rest of the time.<br><br>There seemed to be more French and Dutch people staying at the club during this year’s trip. The Dutch were friendly, but we got the distinct feeling that the French did not like Americans. Most would ignore you even if you spoke in French.<br><br>Demographic wise, there were many more teenagers and preteens present this year. Most were participating in CO. There were a great number of college age young ladies on the beach but fewer young men. It appeared that the young males were more uneasy about nudity than the females.<br><br>We saw NO blacksocks among the cruise boat people, but we did see several white socks/sandal combinations. Other than the Spanish Speaking cruise people, there were a high percentage of cruisers who participated. What we did see were a lot of really bad sunburns even among those folks staying on the island! I always try to go with a good tan base, as even the best sunblocks have a limit as to how long they will protect.<br><br>On August 1, Club O changed to the Euro. The starting rate of exchange was 1- 1.15, which was the worst exchange rate we encountered on the French. I went to Orientique to buy a Daily Herald which is marked 50 cents. They wanted .5 euro or $.58 USD. I chose to not buy it as I couldn’t understand why it should be higher than the marked price. We never went back to Orientique. I will be interesting to see what will happen went the predicted decline of the Euro drops it down to .80 US. Basically everything in the Orientique went up 15% on August 1. The other French stores and restaurants had either an even or 1 – 1.1 rate.<br><br>Also I noted that on August 1, the chair and umbrella rentals went to $6. The signs posted had the $5 painted over to indicate $6. Chairs and umbrellas are free for guest of the resort. Many people are bringing the ExpresSit Chairs as well as conventional lounge chairs.<br><br>One addition to the club is a new and quite high concrete wall that runs from the entrance up to Pedros. We were told that it is a security measure to keep thieves out. We were told, by other guests, that one of the Chalets near Papagayos was burglarized. Apparently the occupants had left the doors unlocked. Note this is hearsay. We always lock up when we leave. It’s just common sense.<br><br>This resort is still one of our favorites and although there have been some changes, it is still well managed and the employees are very friendly and do everything they can to make the guest's stay a great one. We can highly recommend it.<br>