This was our second trip this year to St Martin, but the first time we have taken our family (at least most of it) with us. We traveled with our three daughters, ages 19 – 23, our 14-year-old son, and our daughter’s fiancée. Two of our daughters have traveled abroad on their own, but this is the first time we have all been out of the country together and it was such fun to experience the island as a family.

Six of us flew US Air out of CMH into CLT where we met up with our daughter who flew in from Pittsburgh. The flights were on time and uneventful, just the way we like it. When we arrived in St Martin, we were met by UNITY to pick up our Explorer for the week. With 7 of us, plus our entire luggage, it was necessary for a second van to come to the airport and transport our luggage to the house. We waited less than five minutes for the additional driver and he was extremely courteous and friendly. We rented Seaside Retreat for the second time and were not disappointed. Even with all of us, we had plenty of room and because of the layout, Greg and I even managed to have some privacy. The drive to our villa is only a mile away, so we were in the house admiring the view and the pool in no time.

The girls and I took a quick trip to Food Express to get the essentials while the boys did some discovering around the house. Craig from Packlight met us at the house and delivered the six chairs, three umbrellas and six pair of snorkel gear. The last time we rented from Craig, we had older chairs, which he offered to replace if we didn’t like them. When I made the initial request to Craig for this visit, I did request his newer equipment if available. I was pleasantly surprised when he pulled out chairs and umbrellas that were brand new (plastic still on them). Craig gave us an unbelievable deal and is so easy to work with. After the initial “we’re here” celebration, we headed to Sunset Beach Bar to catch the sunset. We were unfortunate in that we only saw two of them the week we were on the island, but had to head back to SSBB each night so the girls could take a quick look at their email.

Our first dinner was at The Warf, which is a new restaurant for Greg and I. Being a Midwesterner and thinking that seafood is what you eat at Red Lobster or comes frozen or in a can, is a great tragedy. It was a hoot to watch my kids really enjoy what seafood is supposed to be. We all ordered something different; lobster, grouper, shrimp, mahi mahi, scallops, and snapper and began a tradition of “taste testing”. (I know, probably not the greatest manners, but it was fun) After dinner was the banana-vanilla rum and then dancing. Our waitress was a gem…funny and engaging and even found a coupon for us to use that night. We truly enjoyed this restaurant. We headed back to the house and took a dip in the pool. The kids tried out the snorkel gear to be sure they knew the process and perfected their dives. After a friendly family game of poker we headed to bed.

I’m always awake early and our days started with coffee on the patio watching the sunrise over the mountain. We had a lot of fun watching the large and numerous iguanas, which sunned themselves on the rocks and were also amazed at the amount of hermit crabs that were on the property.

Our days consisted of beaches (Orient, Friars, Plum, Cupecoy and back to Orient). The only beach we were disappointed in was Friars…it was just too hot the day we were there with absolutely no breeze.

Shopped in Marigot and Phillipsburg for souvenirs (kids loved Rams). We also stopped in DK and looked at wedding rings. While they didn’t make the purchase on that day, rings were purchased for the other two daughters! (“Please, Daddy” seems to work very well)

DAY SAIL EXCURSION: On Friday, we took the Random Wind day sail and were pleasantly surprised that we were the only ones onboard, thus giving us our own private charter. Maarten captained the boat and Helen was his first mate. She is very accommodating and friendly and I enjoyed hearing her story of coming to the island from England. We were planning on sailing to Tintamarre but Maarten said the waters were too rough on that side of the island, so we sailed to Bay Rouge, Plum Bay, and Great Bay. We stopped several times for snorkel stops and I was amazed at the amount of fish we were able to see. The past snorkel trips for us have been a bit disappointing, but Plum Bay was absolutely wonderful. The day was so relaxing that the kids ended up taking naps during part of the trip. We enjoyed the lunch of Caribbean chicken pie and would highly recommend this day trip.

DINING: With seven people and a picky 14 year old, we had to watch our budget and cuisine selection. We tried to choose restaurants that we have not been to in the past and with the exception of Baywatch (we ate there twice…my daughter couldn’t get enough of Andy’s margherita barbeque wings), we made the following choices:
Pizza Galley
Friars Beach Café
Kontiki
Baywatch
Kakoa
Turtle Pier
Sunset Beach Bar
Halseys
We grilled out two evenings and absolutely love the ribs at Food Express. (Learned that the last trip)

NEW DISCOVERIES:
Being born and raised in Minnesota, Greg is an avid fisherman. He decided to bring along his poles this trip and tried his hand at fishing on St. Martin. He generally fished in the mornings and learned quickly that offshore Caribbean fishing was definitely different than catching smallmouth! He fished off the point next door to our villa and ran into a couple of local men who fished there regularly. Their bait of choice is hermit crab and while they were successful in catching fish, a problem arose when a barracuda came around and took a bite out of about 1/3 of the fish they caught before they could bring it in. After many unsuccessful tries at catching the barracuda, Greg finally decided that next time he would have to bring smaller hooks and steel leaders. He also learned that July wasn’t a good month for fishing as the waters are about 87 and the fish prefer the cooler waters of the winter and spring months.

Ebenezer Methodist Church – Marigot…..well, this was an almost new discovery. We checked out the service times on Saturday while we were shopping and got up, ate breakfast and were ready for our first French service at 8:30. We arrived at 8:20 and found the windows and doors locked. We did take into consideration “island time” so we sat around until 8:45 and then decided that the service time must have changed. Made the best of it and took a scenic tour of Marigot and then headed out to Friar’s for the day.

Sand sculpting: This is actually a tradition for us as one of our daughters is an artist. She and our son decided to make a hermit crab in honor of the one that Devin used as bait when he and Greg were fishing. Plenty of people stopped by and admired the design.

While I thought St Martin was all about romance, I discovered it’s so much more. Being with the family on this small bit of paradise was such a joy. We played football in the waves with strangers, practiced my French, laughed a lot, sang a bit, danced, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As a matter of fact, it was such a wonderful vacation that my daughter and her fiancé have decided to marry in St Martin next May. Looks like one more awesome memory is waiting for us in St. Martin.