We arrived on June 8th and walked into the terminal rather than a bus this time. Quick process through customs but the luggage wait is nuts LOL. Took about 45 minutes for luggage to come through, connected with our car rental and off to our studio in Orient Village. Relaxed for a bit, went to the market for a few things. Hunger was setting in so we went down to Bikini Beach Bar and ordered fish and chips and two draft Heinekens. It was literally the best fish and chips we’ve ever had, ambience not withstanding. Crispy fresh fish and tasty fries. Back to the studio to relax and then off to SAO for dinner. We love this restaurant. Friendly staff, beautiful ambience and the food was so good. We ordered lobster sushi after a Korean chicken appetizer. Glass of rose for her and a Chardonnay for me. The restaurant is set under a beautiful tree and I asked how it survived the hurricane. The waiter indicated it is just a hearty tree which they’ve not been able to find the name of. I then wondered how any of the restaurants in La Place du Village survived Irma. Anyone know? We were up at 3:30 to catch an Uber for our flight, so fatigue was setting in and bedtime called.

June 9th I went down for some croissants at Good morning, apple and pecan, brewed pour over coffee for iced coffee and enjoyed breakfast on our balcony overlooking the village. We headed down to Le String and had a so so experience this time out. We love this location but service on the beach was sketchy this time around. They were very busy so we factored that in and still had a good time. We spent most of the time talking with a couple from the Boston area. Decided to walk down to see the demolition at Club O and took a photo of Papagayo. Wanting to be considerate, we tried to explained to a french couple down near the site that we were going to take a photo but would be discrete about it, but our French is terrible so they weren’t catching on. Finally I indicated with a “click” that I was going to take a photo and they laughed and indicated “no problem”. We then enjoyed a late lunch of sea bass and afterwards went into the water, which was very warm, before heading back to our studio.

Sundowners at Bikini Beach Bar, a Aperol Spritz for me and Chardonnay for her. It was hot on the beach today but now the cooler sea breezes were refreshing us as we enjoyed our cocktails. Dinner tonight would be pizza at La Trattoria. It was amazing! We’ve been watching One Bit Pizza and this is what he’s talking about. Thin, crispy crust, nice burn, beautiful undercarriage and perfect mix of sauce and cheese. We told our waitress we would share a pizza and wanted a glass of Chianti. She took us literally. Another waiter came out with one glass of Chianti LOL. He saw the look on our faces and knew something was amiss. The waitress came out and said it was her misread and arrived with another glass of Chianti. We all had a good laugh about it.

Plans for tomorrow are to go to Orange Fever as we have never stayed a day at the beach there. Any suggestions as to what to order?

Thanks for your report and the great pics. Sad to see Papagayo gone,but it was clearly necessary.

Thanks for the report and the pictures. We have enjoyed the pizza and a burger at Orange Fever, as well as their fries. Enjoy!

Great pictures and thanks for sharing your report so far! We always get pizza at Orange Fever and ask for their homemade hot sauce. The salad with goat cheese & prosciutto is also really good, as is any type of ceviche or seafood tartare special they may have.

Papagayo is almost totally removed and looks like the beach will be walkable to the end soon. Thanks for the pic. Enjoy!

At Orange fever order anything that strikes your fancy. Pizza, salad with goat cheese ( goat cheese is on very small baguette pieces) or fish choices aplenty. We often order from specials menu. The sauces on their meat & fish choices are lovely & not smothering the food! We've never had a bad food experience there. And if JC is there that's a special bonus. Luc is great too. Enjoy your experience there!

Wednesday is JC's day off.

Good to know thanks. Glad lancer is going when he's there.