<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/typing.gif" alt="" /> I will try and be organized, thorough and brief. touching the highlights, of course the whole trip for 5 weeks was nothing short of phenomenal. Charlie and I retired on the 19th of March and this was our transition into retirement. What a way to start!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Air Travel : Used frequent flyer miles and flew from Htfd Ct. to Miami to SXM. Other than an extra hour of flying time our flights were flawless, customs in SXM fast as we were the only plane in.
Coming home we flew to Puerto Rico with a direct flight to HTFD. US Immigration was quick and flight was uneventful.
Traveling this year easy.

CAR RENTAL - Rented from Alain (AAA) at a great rate. Met at airport and had car within minutes. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Condonium - Rented a condo on Simpson Bay from Linda Freeman at 4 Season Villas , she was great to work with. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> Had a two bedroom condo overlooking a pool and the bay, each night the cruise ships would come into view as we saw the setting sun on our balcony while we sipped G & T's.
Would definitely recommend working with Linda. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> -
Dining <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> Normally our favorite pastime. This year we took a different approach and did not hit all of the island "favorites". 5 weeks is a significant amount of time so we found we ate home for most breakfasts, packed lunch for the beach ate out at night, with a few grilled dinners at the condo.
Breakfast- Great Bakery across the street from Hot Tomatoes on airport road. All of their pastries are made on premises;good coffee. Atlantic Cafe is the name.
Went to ZBest as well. Atlantic is certainly a player and it was at the end of our morning walk so a natural stop.
Lunch- did do the Lolos once TOT great as usual
Marina in Marigot for mussels in white wine sauce, bottle of wine, a great lunch.
Pedros for Ribs
Loterie Farm- one of the freshest most flavorful meals I have eaten. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
Turtle Pier- Always our last lunch before we leave.
DINNER-
Lees- fish sandwich, hard to beat the freshness
DaLivios- Philipsburg- Great Osso Bucco/Lobster Ravioli pricey but our tradition for our second night
Bananas- ok (Simspon Bay)
Jimbos for tex mex, would recommend for this type of food, interesting setting (Simpson Bay)
Rics- went there to watch the NCAA finals and went home very happy as UCONN won. Only go there for sporting events as we find the food average.
Le Bec Fin- this use to be a favorit of ours when it was in Philipsburg, we may have hit in on a bad night, but our grouper was not as good as usual.
Little Well- local place in Cole bay, run by Nelly. Great setting, local food and Nelly is a gem.
Mary's Boon- Thursday night for their Duck we love Duck and the presentation and quality of food here is good.
Bamboo Bernies- went there for ribs and sushi, sushi good but ribs overpriced and portion size disappointing.
Arawak in Marigot- Great fresh water prawns
Il Nettuno- Harmony Night, Grand Case, food good, Italian Singer and nice view
Mini Club- Marigot- Buffet still one of the best buys even with the Euro exchange, she was exchanging a 1.15 vs the 1.20 most other places were using. $97.00 for two meals, bottle of wine and all of the food you can ingest including lobster. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/hungry.gif" alt="" />
Bikini Beach- Ate at the Bar with lara, fun night
Spiga- will try again. The presentation was nice and Lara was very nice but for the price we thought that the food was just ok. I know that everyone is high on this one so we'll try again next year.
Le Poulet- fun discovery this year in Orleans. Food served in a house by Tony who is the server, cook and owner of this restaurant. This is in the house that his Grandmother owned.
Fun evening, reasonable prices and unique experience.
Philly Joes- New Pizza restaurant in Simpson Bay, across from Hot Tomatoes. Owned by two brothers from Philly. It was good pizza, good antipast . Would recommend. They deliver.
Johnny Under the Tree- finally experienced and was worth it.
Sol e Luna- new place for us. Nice setting,food ok, pricey
The Bridge- Marigot- beautiful view, great food at reasonable prices. New for us this year and would recommend.

Activities Sunset Beach Bar several times for whatever
Concert at Loterie Farm with Banky Banks
Trip to Saba
4 mile walks every morning (just so we could eat and not go home any heavier)
Hike up to Pic Paradis at Loterie Farm
Museum in Marigot
Shopping in Philipsburg didn't really buy much
Boardwalk and Jazz on Friday nights
TTOL Party at BIKINI BEACH BAR our first one and we met the CONTESSA!! Had a great time meeting a number of people <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />
Also, thanks to Sandra and Bill for the TTOL at Buccaneer. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thanks.gif" alt="" />
:Saw UCONN win both games, tell me that that's not great.
Carnival- saw both parades. The Grand Parade was better than last year, the costumes were gorgeous. If you are on the island during the parade would suggest you see it.
Believe it or not since we were on the island for 5 weeks, we actually took a bird walk with the local environment group. It was at Le Galion and we had a fun time.
Beaches-
All of them I think. Spent more time at Mullett this year as the beach was clean, the water calm and lot of beach.
Friars, Happy, Dawn(very windy the two times we were there)
Orient once, Pinel , Long.
Enjoyed them all.
Biggest Disappointment- too many freckles and not enough tan.
Overall- A great trip.........a great place.......with great people.
Patty Rose <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />