I'm thrilled to report that we are on island!

We spend the night at The Logan Hilton. It was a ghost town as compared to when we stayed there in October 2018. Woke up at 4 am and left the hotel at 5:00 to walk to the airport.
The American Airlines flight to Miami was FULL, but left on time. No upgrades to first class, but our flight attendant, Jerry, was one of the nicest people Marc has encountered in his many years of flying. He kept bringing drinks back to us and checking to see that all was well. Excellent service from American Airlines.

We had about an hour layover in Miami and everything worked perfectly. All our paperwork was in order and the check-in line moved quickly. The flight to St. Maarten was only about half full. Marc got upgraded to first class and I sat in the bulkhead - Row 8. There were only two of us in the row of six seats. We landed in SXM at approximately 1:33 pm, the only jet at the terminal. We took the stairs down to the tarmac and walked to the airport building. A table was setup (before immigration) to review paperwork. Immigration was a breeze. She really wasn't interested in reviewing the immigration card - only our passports and covid-19 paperwork. We met our representative from Empress Car Rental and were taken on a short drive to their office. The car rental is a cute blue "Honda City". After a short application process, we were on our way to our villa by 2:09 pm.

Arrived at Baywatch in Beacon Hill and were warmly greeted by Bob. We unpacked and headed out to buy groceries. There is little to NO traffic on the island. We drove to Super U in Marigot, but it was closed. I believe it's closed for repairs. Major bummer for me. We picked up a few essential groceries in Cole Bay and headed back to the house. I was starving, so we stopped at Beirut for a plate of chicken shawarma. It was delicious and the plate was plenty big to share.

We usually drop by The Palms in Simpson Bay on our first day to say hello to Greg and Jo, but a sign said they're closed on Sunday and Monday. We'll be there on Tuesday, for sure.

Back at the villa, Bob joined us on our back patio, overlooking the pool and the ocean. It was nice catching up. He has done a lot of work to the house and the pool. We love staying here. Once Bob left we enjoyed a nice relaxing swim in the pool.

A couple of hours later we left to get pizza at The Driftwood. It was pretty busy, so the pizza was takeout and eaten on the back patio.

This morning we're enjoying coffee on patio and it's lightly raining. We received the emails from SXM Govt. to take our temperature each morning. That's done and now we're chilling and settling in to vacation mode. Hoping to go to the beach later this morning,

I want to thank all of the members who provided information on the Covid-19 requirements. I was a little stressed out about the whole process, but the extra hassle was SOOO
worth it. We've been visitors to SXM since 1993, and are still so very happy when we're here.

Thank you for the report and all the information it included. I hope you have yourself an amazing and relaxing stay.

Thanks, keep us posted and have fun!

Great to hear! Enjoy!
carib cheers,
doctorj

Thanks for the update. Hope the trip goes well and please keep us informed.

Jo, where did you have to first show your paperwork to be permitted to fly? Were you able to check in online and get your boarding passes electronically, or did you have to show your paperwork first? Just curious as to the process, as I'm a little stressed out about it too. Thanks for the report!!

Thanks so much for the report!! It's been a while since we toured Baywatch, but there wasn't a pool there when we saw it, I don't think?? Anyway, enjoy your stay!!!

EDIT--I looked at the website for Baywatch, and Craig aka Bob, has sure done a lot of work there!! Looks very nice! The only problem I see is only queen sized bed!!

Hi, Jo and TY for sharing the start of your trip with all of us. There have been so few visitors of late doing them that each and every one is a treasure to those of us still waiting for ‘our turn’ to be on islon time.

Hope the rest of your trip goes as well and that you have an awesome good time.

It was so nice of you to share your experience with us.

We will be looking forward to hearing more---no pressure

Enjoy !!!!

"We received the emails from SXM Govt. to take our temperature each morning." -quote

Who brings a thermometer with them on vacation? Is that a new requirement? Kind of laughing, kind of.

Good to hear Greg and Jo are taking days off, about 49 days for us to be there at The Palms!

Boarding passes we’re obtained the day before. No change from pre-covid. We did not have to show testing paperwork in Boston. We did have to show the testing paperwork in Miami - at the gate. I got a little nervous as the woman took a while looking at the covid-19 results. She explained that the paperwork varies. Our results were quite intricate, clearly stating negative but the RT-PCR wording was not easy to find. Don’t stress too much. If the hundreds of travelers visiting can do it, so can you!

I think the airlines just want to see a negative test of any kind....after that... on arrival ...it gets specific

Hi Carol.
We love it here in Beacon Hill. The lack of a king sized bed is probably my only complaint. We sleep in a queen sized bed at home, so no big deal for us.
Bob is a great host!

Thank you Pat!

I just hope the TTOL crowd isn’t bored with my reports. We’re not very adventurous these trips. Lol!

Jo

Any news from those on the Island is great....and thanks

Thanks! I feel better about it already!!

You are correct about Bob. He is a good friend and will take excellent care of you. And he has turned the bottom floor into a really nice 3 bedroom suite. Enjoy and keep us posted on how your trip goes.

We always being a thermometer with us on vacation. Keep it in a little medical bag with some meds and first aid stuff. Glad we do too because last summer in SXM I ran a fever for 7 straight days.

Hi Todd,

Packing a thermometer was something we've never done. Thank goodness I read about it on this forum. SXM guidelines state that you have to check your temperature before breakfast each morning for up to 14 days. Overkill? Maybe....Put it on your packing list!

I guess it is item number 14 I am told, this will be a first for us! My job is the transportation and lodging, MJ has now been assigned the rules and directions! Rules have never been a strong point for me and I don't need directions! 45 days and counting!

jomarc--Can you tell, is there room for a king sized bed??? If so, you might mention to Bob that he should switch out the bed. I know a LOT of people that VERY much prefer a king sized bed, versus queen..

Hi Carol. There would be room if the night stands were removed. The bedrooms aren’t very large. I’ll mention it to Bob though.

Carol--I wasn't going to answer your question since Marc and Jo are there.....and I'm not there to take measurements......but I can tell you that all three bedrooms are small. You might be able to squeeze a king size bed into one of them but doubt you would have room for anything else. As a result, I'm pretty sure the queen size works best for those bedrooms.

Jomarc beat me to it......barely.

Jomarc--could it fit if there were ONE nightstand?? I know a lot of people are like me and REALLY prefer a king bed..

Regardless of that, hope your trip is still going well!!!