The Trip

April 22, 2005 – May 6, 2005

Who – Myself, husband and 2 children ages 12 and 5
My Parents (Pat of TTOL) already on island one week ahead of us
My In-laws arrived on April 23 for one week
My Brother in law arrived on April 27 thru May 2

Rented our car through Lesley Bruce of Kenny’s car Rental, always easy and great to work with!

Cell Phone – back during our October trip I purchased a UTS sim card from Sharon Harris, put it in an unlocked telephone I bought on e-bay with the help of Bruce here on TTOL, it is still working great, able to by “chippies” almost everywhere. Spent about $80.00 on “chippies” for two weeks of phone usage, that included calling a lot back to work and my brother in law checking in on his business, definitely a great way to go if you frequent the island.

As usual stayed in our timeshare at The Towers at Mullet Bay, we are all owners so everyone had their own unit, except my brother in law, he was in our third bedroom.

Arrived on Friday to a dry, brown island, I was shocked to see how BROWN and CRISPY the island was, I was warned ahead of time, but couldn’t believe it! But then the rains came, it rained Saturday and Sunday, pretty much all day, we sat in our room Saturday morning, and was shocked to see the golf course turn green before our eyes, amazing!!!

On Monday we did a private charter on the Random Wind, after some confusion because of the weather, we headed out at Noon and ended up with an all day sunset sail. It was incredible, nothing like having the ship to yourselves!!!

Spent one day on Orient at Bikini Beach, one day at Friars, and 2 days at Mullet during the trip. At the end we were surprised that that was all the beaching we did!

My husband and brother in law were in the St. Maarten Open, a charity golf tournament that is run every year, they raise a lot of money for the children on the island, its a 3 day event and a lot of fun. My husband won his flight and came home with a new Titlest golf bag, he has been playing this course for over 20 years, and after all the rain, says it’s the best its been in at least 15 years!!!

One day I took the kids into town to go to the Z00, always a fun day. I really wish I had taken them at night, they offer night tours on Friday nights, looks fun!

Met up with Jamie and Danny and Sandy and Bill at BBB. It was great meeting you guys, my husband didn’t show up for almost an hour after you guys left, man those Caribs were going down smooth!!! Needed them to make it through dinner at Cheri’s!!! Yes I went, but after a few more there, the food was good, still didn’t fall for the entertainment though!!!!

My parents and in-laws left on April 30 and brother in law left on May 2. So those last few days were spent mostly at the pool at the Towers, and Mullet.

Dinners –
Antoine’s – always wonderful!!
Peg Leg - twice, first night awesome, but the second night, not sure what happened, it was Sunday, Shawn, Jack, Linda, the primary cook, were all off, it took an hour to get our salads, appetizers came after and then diner finally came, my son was asleep, we received the wrong steak, just not happy!!! The girls tried hard, I think the problem was the kitchen, I don’t know, but what a difference from our first meal there!!!

Boathouse – very good

Cheri’s – no comment, actually I had the lobster pasta, it was very good, but could also be the Carib’s talking!!!!

Laguna and La Gondola awesome, we also went to LaRosa, the food is great, but man, are we non-smokers spoiled in the USA!!! This was no ones fault, but 2 couples from Long Island, (yes they were loud also so we could hear every word they said) were enjoying smoking in a restaurant, this ruined our meal, we didn’t end up even having desert I couldn’t taste a thing, I probably should have said something, but they have every right to smoke, so I didn’t want to make a scene. But I did read in the Herald somewhere that there is a push to ban smoking in restaurants!!! That surprised me!!

Our Last night we went to Le Charolias – just not my cup of tea!

Also ate at Turtle Pier, Philly Joes twice, great having Pizza delivered, Lido (now if they delivered, that would be great!!), Bikini Beach, Friars Bay Beach, and Rosie’s twice, can’t beat her ribs! Drinks at Buccaneer Beach Bar and at Cliffhanger, was shocked how much beach was there compared to October!

There were several holidays during our stay, I couldn’t keep track of things!! Didn’t make it to any Carnival events like I wanted. What was funny was on Thursday May 5, it was a holiday, Accession Day. I have never seen Mullet Bay Beach so packed, it looked like Jones Beach on the Fourth of July! It was packed from end to end, even way down by the old “Building 90”, wall to wall people!!! People were picnicking on the golf course, just everywhere!!!

Sorry I wasn’t able to meet up with Barbara and Irina – NEXT TIME!!!

Towers Updates – not much going on, the pool was redone, but still only 8 umbrellas!! They are “on order”. We did finally receive new couches on the 8th floor and I think also the 4th? So supposedly all units have received new couches. Supposedly the rumor is things have been resolved with Mullet, but couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone? Also heard another 18 months? We all know how that goes!

Another great trip, can’t wait till the next one!