June 26, 2004-July 2, 2004
Trip Report – 1st Anniversary

FLIGHT DOWN- Our flight down was supposed to be US Airways from Montgomery to Charolette to SXM. However, they cancelled our flight from MGM to CLT. After holding with US Air for 45 minutes at 3:30 am they got us on a flight to ATL with Delta then on to SXM. Arrived about 30 minutes early and breezed through customs and got our baggage. We decided to use the transportation that was included with our package and rent our car at the hotel. MISTAKE!! It took us over 1 ½ to get from the airport to Grand Case Beach Club b/c we dropped people off, went back to the airport got more people, A/C on bus went out then we broke down right past Little Divi and had to wait on another bus to come get us. Finally we arrived at our destination for the week: Grand Case Beach Club.

HOTEL: Grand Case Beach Club- I can’t say enough about all the wonderful staff that work at this property. Always so nice and so friendly anytime we needed anything!! We will be back!

Sunset Café - This was our first night on the island so we just hung out around the hotel. We had dinner at Sunset Café and as usual the food and service was wonderful. I had Tuna and my husband had Mahi Mahi. Excellent choices!!! *****

Sunday - We got up and had the complimentary breakfast from the hotel. Decided we would just hang out on the beach at Grand Case and rest up from our traveling. We did Talk of the Town for lunch. We had ribs and fries. Great food and very cheap. I would recommend to anyone!! Attempted to go to the grocery store but everything closes at 2 pm on Sunday. Snorkeled around the hotel in the afternoon and just was really lazy. Dinner at L’Alabama. I had shrimp and Jason had a red snapper in Dijon sauce. We actually sat at the exact table we had last year. The service is always so nice here. Food was good. Dessert was good – Crème Brule. *****.

Monday, Our Anniversary - Since we still hadn’t made it to get some cereal and milk we eat the complimentary breakfast again which is fine with us. After breakfast we head to out to explore the island a little and get some groceries and beer. We got to Ram’s in Cay Hill. No problems get our items and head back to the hotel. We do lunch at Sunset Café. I have a chicken sandwich and Jason has stuff ravioli. I don’t think Sunset Café has a bad meal!! We just hang out around the hotel and went to the manager’s cocktail party where we met some really nice people. Met a nice couple from Texas Stuart and Amanda who we ended up going to dinner and gambling with later on in the week. We decided to go to Le Tastevin for dinner since it was one of our favorites on our honeymoon. I had a pork tenderloin dish in ginger and cinnamon. Out of this world. The tenderloin was so tender. Jason had Mahi Mahi, which I had last year and he said it was great. Had Portiforeills (not sure on my spelling) for dessert. Table overlooking the water. Couldn’t have asked for a better anniversary!! ****

Tuesday - Awoke to another beautiful day on the island. Decided we would go hang out on Orient for the morning and have lunch at Bay watch. Andy and Cheryl are just delightful people and we really enjoyed our lunch there. Orient was really fun and a cool place to hang out. For dinner we decided to try Bistro Cariabes. I had shrimp and scallops and my husband had Salmon. Both were good. I will be honest though I am not crazy about the location just for the fact that it is so noisy being right there on the corner. Just didn’t get that cozy romantic feeling. However the food was good. ***1/2

Wednesday – Another beautiful day in paradise. Had breakfast on our balcony and got ready for our snorkel trip to Creole Rock with Sebastion (great guide). We saw lots of fish and the reef out there is really pretty. We didn’t see any major animals but tons of beautiful fish. Lunch again at Talk of the Town. I had shrimp and Jason had ribs. All finger lickin’ good! We went to Friar’s Bay for a while and checked it out. Tonight we ate at Hot Tomatoes with Mandy and Stuart and went to the casino. Jason and I without asking ordered two pizzas b/c it said enough for one person. Little did we know that it was going to be enough for the rest of the week! It was good though. We sat outside by the water. *** Broke even at the Casino!

Thursday - Our last full day on the island. You know you try to pack it all in on that day. Well the weather was a little gloomy this morning so decided we would go to Marigot to the open market and get some souvienr stuff. After finishing there we headed to Sunset Beach Bar and had drinks and watched the planes come in. That was really cool. After leaving there we headed to Ram’s to pick up some liquor for the trip home tomorrow. Lunch we ate leftover pizza from Hot Tomatoes. Met some cool people from SC and hung out with them on the Grand Case Beach and watched the sunset for one final time upon leaving. Headed to Captian Oliver’s for dinner. Food was good but the service was terrible. They stuck us off in a corner away from everyone else and we had to flag down different wait staff to get different things. Last year we had so much fun here and really enjoyed it. My husband had tuna and his was good and I had shrimp and it was ok not the best I had had all week. We really hated the big let down too on our last night on the island.

Friday – Travel day. Very uneventful. Arrived at SXM airport in plenty of time to have lunch upstairs checked in and we were on our way back to the states. Had a 3 hour layover in CLT before getting back to Alabama around 11 p.m.

Our second trip was as much fun as our first trip because we opted to do some different things this time. I asked my husband would we be back and he said of course.

Thanks to everyone for all the tips and hints before we left. We greatly appreciated it!! Will try and get the pics on the groups website!!

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