Sunday started overcast with a miserable 82 degrees. Do not know if we can handle this! Headed over to Zee Best at 8:15am and it looked like it was closed, but upon closer examination it was open, with not one patron there. Found that unreal, as all the other times even on a Sunday this venue would be packed. We got seated right away (this is supposed to be funny), and wiped out a prize coupon that I received from winning a contest on the Zee Best FB page and received our 2 free almond croissants. The princess then ordered yellow tea along with a vegetarian crepe and I ordered the Italian crepe along with apple juice. Right after we ordered our breakfast, the rains started again. Of course, any bad day here on the island is a lot better than any good day back home (Massachusetts). Food came quickly, as did more patrons that started to fill up the restaurant. We finished up out meal and headed out for a ride.

Headed out toward Maho and the crowd was already started to see the planes come in, even though the first of the big ones wasn’t due in for at least 2 and a half hours. Drove past the golf course and was amazed, as this was the first time in the 5 years that I have been coming to the island that I saw 2 foursome’s playing golf. Drove past Rainbow Beach Club and tried to access the beach at Mullet, but the boulders are still there, so you cannot drive to those beaches. There is parking on the left side of that entryway up against the wall to the RBC, and then you have to walk to the beach area.

We continued our drive past Blue Mall, which look like a deserted and empty building with no activity what so ever. Continuing on our way to Dreams Beach/Bar/Restaurant, where we found the entry way well marked, but you need to make sure your vehicle has good shocks as the road has large gullies. The time was now about 9:30 am, and they did have a small crowd for breakfast, but no beach goers.

Continued past the deserted Marigot and up the hill toward cul de sac to see if there were any vendors where everyone catches the ferry to go to Pinel Island. 10am and no cars in the parking lot and not one vendor setup with the exception of the large van selling drinks and maybe some food. Found this very strange, but then again, it was still overcast.

Continued on our way to Orient Beach for the first time and parked near, well a paddleball court that had no one parked near or anyone at that section of the beach. The princess and I walked south toward Pedro’s along the beach, but found the passage way was rather rough. I have seen from previous pictures, the beach has eroded so much to the point, that the vendors can only set up 2 rows of chairs as you approach Pedro’s as there is a 2 foot drop from those chairs to the steep beach where the surf pounds away. We walked up the steep incline to Pedro’s and the princess decided she did not want to walk any further south, which was ok with me.

Got back to our car, and continued driving toward Philipsburg and pulled in to Paradise View, which along with Bernadette Ali was open, but the little shops where not. We took a couple of pictures, as it was still overcast which made for some great pictures without washout or shadows.

Continued to Philipsburg and went to the cruise pier as I will be picking up inbound relatives for the day on Tuesday and cannot get access to the roundabout inside that facility. The security people were very helpful with how we can pick up our relatives and continued on our way.
Drove past Front Street and no stores were open and then proceeded up back street and saw I few stores open. The time was not about 11:30. Continued back to the Atrium and parked the vehicle. We started to go down to the beach and the on again off again rain prevented us from enjoying the water this afternoon, so we decided to stay in and write the name tags for the meet and greet later today.

We set up at the Greenhouse at about 3:45 and talked to both owners about what we want to do and how they wanted to handle our larger than normal group. We had 48 out of 70 show up as this was a combination of people from both TTOL and SXM or Bust! FB page, so this was an outstanding turnout. At 5:30, I asked Cassandra Gibbs, an invited guest from ICAN Foundation, to give up a little info about the type of work that her organization does and what are here groups wants and needs are. She talked for about 15 minutes and answered questions from the group along with a few others that also gave some input. We passed the hat around and collected $285 for our short notice efforts.
The princess and I left this party after 8pm and called it a night. I hope that the weather on Monday will be better than what we had on Sunday!