1/27/01 thru 2/3/01.<br>Flew AA out of Detroit, no problems. Liked the earlier post from someone that also flew AA without a hitch..."heads are going to roll over that". Rented from Alain Arnell as usual, and besides no one being at the airport to greet us, everything went fine. I think I was able to talk him into having cold beers for sale for customers while they do the paperwork for next time, but he said they'll be free-he will just have to keep the employees out of them.<br><br>Stayed at the Pelican for a week, rented it from an owner that could not use their week. This was the first time that we stayed there, it was an older resort but we thought that it was fine. Had a nice waterfront view of the Marina/bay and woke up to two or three rainbows during the week. Probably will try a different resort next time though. <br><br>Ate at LaRossa II (excellent), Cheri's (average), Le Testevin for our anniversary (excellent!), Turtle Pier (very good Ceasars!), take out pizza from the Italian rest. in Maho plaza (very good and cheap), SSBB for burgers, Chez Raymond for burgers twice (excellent, and good fun), Friars beach bar for lunch (ok, but overpriced, cost as much as LaRossa II!). French toast at the Pelican for breakfast-very good. Found Pizza Top in the Oyster bay area after much effort. We got there at 5:30 and we told they don't serve until 6:00pm. At 5:58 we were back after a drive and we told they don't serve until 6:30...oh well, our stomachs couldn't wait any longer and we moved on. Maybe next year.<br><br>Went to Club O four times but left twice because of the wind. Seemed windier and had a little more rain than usual I thought for the week. Also hit Baie Longue (briefly), Baie Prunes, Baie Rouge, and Happy Bay twice. <br><br>At Baie Longue we walked the beach all the way down to La Samana and naturally being thirsty upon arrival stopped at the beach bar. We were promptly told that we could not have drink unless we were staying there. I said, not even for cash/tip/$$$ for the bartender? NO...How could I find the only bartender in the caribbean with principles! <br><br>First time to Happy Bay we tried to drive in from the Grand Case side, and were met just after the gate by some kind of caretaker who told us the beach was "closed". We nicely asked him if we could continue to drive up, get a look, and turn around, and he reluctantly agreed. We took a couple of pictures (beautiful!) and drove around to Friars, and walked over. Found two other CO couples and had a great day. We did have about a 45 minute blowing rain that day and had to seek shelter under the eaves at the little structure there. We went back later in the week to find several people on the beach and even a couple of gawkers (camera, binoculars, black socks) ouch. Let's hope this doesn't mean paradise lost (or found). Construction seemed to be moving slowly (read no progress while we were there) on the 10 condos/villas? and clubhouse type building in the center. Karen and I couldn't decide if they are just taking forever to construct or if they were partially wiped out during a hurricane at some point. We actually went in one before we left to look around and they are separate units top and bottom and appear to be one or two bedroom efficiencies.<br><br>Tried to catch up to Doug and his group at Baie Rouge but managed to miss them two times. Walked all the way to the end of Baie Rouge this time in front of a veritable mansion on the beach. We were taking a couple of pictures of the beach and cliffs (beautiful!) and the owner came out and offered to take a picture of the two of us. Karen said thanks for the picture and asked if he was the owner and he simply said yes, and walked away. Cannot imagine what he spent-he was an american by the way. Beautiful beach and view at that end...don't tell anyone! Also found the wading pool that someone had mentioned earlier on the board that you can get to by turning right on the road just before Baie Rouge. We walked up the hill to the left after getting out of the car and found what I would describe as a large hole carved out by wave action. You look down into the hole which is about 40? feet deep to see the waves crashing into it. Beautiful!! Had one cliff boy experience here hiding up in the bushes later in the day getting busy. How do they get up there without you seeing them??? Never seems to bother the wife though...hummm.<br><br>Spent a couple of great days at Club O. The beach there seemed more popular/crowded than last year with only a few blacksocks looking for something they lost. Did the Orient pub crawl on Sunday, our first full day there, alot of fun making our way down the beach from Club O and better identifying all of the bars etc down there. It was a long walk back to where we parked at Club O in the dark afterwards though, but the beach is almost as beautiful at night as it is in the day.<br><br>Also met Doug and friends, Joe (washonecar), and Neil (great guys) at SSBB and were given TTOL tattoos, SSBB tattoos, and a SSBB bumper sticker-all cool stuff-thanks!!! <br><br>P.S. I guess I have to say this: 51 weeks and counting-ouch<br><br>Summary: Great food, great beaches, great people, great trip-sucks to be home!<br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 2/14/01 02:23 PM.</EM></FONT></P>