Greetings.

Just back Sunday night from a quick 4 day trip to SXM!!

Flights:

USAir MSP to CLT - Late arrival in CLT due to Ivan, barely made connection. Luckily the gates were literally right next to each other and we got on our flight to SXM with just a little excitement.

Arrival to SXM was at about 2:10 p.m. and the weather was overcast, but warm. I would say the plane was about 25% full so getting trough immigration was a breeze.

Car Rental: We used Michael and Unity again - no problems (as usual) we were picked up at the airport and in our car by 2:45 p.m.

We stayed this time at the Grand Case Beach Club and had a nice studio room (#109 if you are familiar) very nice lots of ammenities, (mini-bar, small cd player stereo playing "island" music as we came into the room, in room safe, and satellite t.v. with all the channels).

We went and had lunch at the Sunset Cafe and hit the water for some floating around....and relaxing....

Most of Grand Case was closed so we went to Peg Leg Pub for dinner and were not disappointed. We love the Peg Leg Pub. I had the red snapper which was great and my wife had the shrimp kabobs. Wow what a treat.

Friday was beautiful just big fluffy clouds and lots of sun....we were eating our complimentary breakfast at the GCBC and saw the "ScoobiToo" come into the bay. So we inquired and learned they were doing a full day Prickly Pear Cruise, so we paid our money and jumped aboard. Wow what a day. The wind was nice for sailing and the rum punch was pretty tasty as well. This is a great boat and a great crew. We have done other trips to Prickly Pear in the past (Bluebeard and SwaligaII) and were very impressed by this boat and the crew. The boat itself is very large and roomy especially for us on this trip as there were only 12 people on the day trip. The lunch at Prickly Pear was very good and all around a fantastic day.

That night we ate at the "La Romance" restaurant at Domaine de l'Amandier. It was beautiful and the food was excellent. My wife had the shrimp and I had the grilled Mahi Mahi. Wonderful dining experience.

On Sat. we meet up with some friends that live on the island for breakfast and then it was off to Philipsburg for some shopping. The streets of Philipsburg were all torn up and lots of activity going on as they are continuing the construction of the new look Front Street. I will post some photos once the whole MSN thing gets figured out. It was extremely hot - so we decided to do the next best thing....go to Orient Beach.

Once at Orient we got some chairs and an umbrella at Kakao and had a perfect day. The water was outstanding with lots of sun. There is no beach in front of Pedro's and the water is lapping at the outer reaches of Waikiki. Hopefully more sand will return to that end of the beach.

That night we had our traditional stop at Lee's with a couple of bumps at the BBB following. Got to see Moose and I hope the best for him and Neil. (what a sweet dog).

Spent Sunday morning on Petite La Plage soaking up the last of the sun.

Over all the Island is GREEN and beautiful. We enjoyed the lack of traffic, but some of our usual haunts were not available due to it being off season. We usually are in SXM for two weeks at the end of January into the First part of February. We notice a lot less traffic and getting through the airport was a breeze.

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I would be happy to respond.

The trip was short and sweet, but we celebrated our anniversay in our favorite place.

dandbmn.....130 days and counting...... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

"St. Maarten is a place like no other....there is no other place I'd rather be...."