Our sixth trip began at the Philly airport where we used the electronic check-in for our first time. Flight was non-eventful except for being 20 minutes late. Since our arrival in SXM was on a Thursday, there wasn't much of a line through immigrations. Our two suitcases were among the first to arrive on the carousel, but our duffel bag containing our snorkeling equipment did not arrive. We placed a claim for the eventual arrival of the bag.

Marius from St. Louis Car Rental was there to meet us with a new 2004 dark blue Kia Sephia II. The car ran like a champ and was easy to find among a parking lot full of white Corollas <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />.

Our timeshare at the Ocean Club didn't start until Saturday so we had reserved a room at the Royal Turtle, utilizing their special internet rate. The room was nice with a small refrigerator and a coffee maker (much to Tracy's delight). The price also included breakfast each of our two mornings at the Turtle Pier.

Most days were spent at the beaches, enjoying relaxing, reading and sand gravity.

Beaches visited during this trip:
1. Mullet Bay (always one of our favorites
2. Le Gallion
3. Orient
4. Pinel - Much of the sand had returned since our last visit. Explored a little more of the island on the "quiet" side.

Restaurants/eateries we visited during this trip <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />:

1. Bananas - Great Shrimp blimps!
2. Oasis @ the Ocean Club - Huge hamburgers and terrific hosts, Bert & Jill.
3. Turtle Pier - Delicious Champagne lobster and a very tender filet.
4. Boathouse - Coconut shrimp and fantastic conch chowder ( they wouldn't give us the recipe!)
5. Crouissantiere - Fabulous French toast.
6. Kissing Fish @ the Summit - Breakfast and another opportunity to meet with Chloe & Thierry again.
7. Rosie's on Mullet Bay - One of the best hamburgers on the island.
8. Paris Bistrot - Our first visit there and meal was not one of our best. Mahi-Mahi was OK at best and Creme Brule was not all that impressive.
9. Market @ Cupecoy - for croissants.
10. Los Gauchos - TTOL party.

Casinos visited:

1. Atlantis - won <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />.
2. Dolphin - won <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />
3. Casino Roiyale - lost <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

After our move on Saturday to the Ocean Club, we ventured into Phillipsburg for our obligatory shopping day. We visited Deepti & Jeff at DK Gems where they helped to relieve some of our funds for a ring for Tracy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />. Visits to the Gyuavaberry shop and Last Mango in Paradise also obliged us in our quest to relinquish some additional funds.

By Saturday night, our duffel bag returned from its vacation in Mexico <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />.

We attended the TTOL party at Los Gauchos, hosted by Kathy & Harold (BELAIR), and met a few people that we recognized by their postings on TTOL. After indulging in their complimentary tapas, we were barely able to eat a full meal. We sat at a table with Rich & Madeline (R & M) and Rory & Shelley. Most of us had just soup but the conversations were the highlight of the meal. We also had the pleasure of meeting Pat (Sungoddess), Barbara & Deepti. There were over 40 people in attendance and we were sorry we didn't get to meet more of them.

Friday was our departure day <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />. As usual, we arrive early to check our bags (including our duffel bag) and to pay our departure tax. We were third in line and the inspectors performed a cursory look in our luggage (not the duffel bag). Immigrations and security was quick and painless.

We had opted to take a connecting flight through Charlotte and had 1 hour and 40 minutes to make the connection, but when the departure time was delayed in SXM by 50 minutes, it would only leave us 50 minutes to make the connection. Upon our arrival in Charlotte, we breezed through immigrations and retrieved our luggage (duffel bag was foirst piece on the carousel). We unfortunately were randomly chosen to have bags inspected through customs. The official (maybe noticing our apprehensions about missing our connection) just asked a few questions and waved us through. We re-checked our bags and ran to the terminal and still made the connection with 10 minutes to spare. Our flight landed in Philly on time and we found our two suitcases were among the first to arrive on the carousel, bnut no duffel bag. We decided we would place a claim in the morning, but we did get a call from US Air saying our bag had arrived with the rest of our luggage. When we retrieved it later we found that it had been inspected by the TSA.

Notes:

We did notice that SXM was much greener due to the fall rains (We were there in November and can attest to the rains!). Traffic appeared tolerable in comparison to our other visits. People are still some of the most friendliest people you could meet (both visitors and residents). DIF has definitely taken its toll on Tracy & I as we are planning a return trip in October. In spite of the luggage hassle, this trip was one of our more relaxing trips to SXM.