We made our first visit 4-1 thru 4-8 to the TS we bought at Pelican last year and were joined by our good friends and SXM soulmates Rose and Keith. AND, we lived to tell about it!

There were two bummers; a nasty rash acquired early on by Joanne, and NOISY construction outside our bedroom for the new building at Pelican. Negated any sleep after 7 am.
Welcome to the friendly and noisy island! The new building is scheduled for completion in 2008 and they are selling one month units for $85m, in case you're interested.

On to the positives.

DINING

Enjoyed all of our meals in the Simpson Bay (SB) and Maho areas.

Bajatzu - Open since December in the former location of Mama Mia in Maho. Very good and reasonably priced. My red snapper special was $17. Cool bar area also.

Pineapple Pete's - As good as advertised by the YYOL'ers. SB

Peg Leg Pub - I really liked my bourbon steak and the service was fine on a Sun. evening. SB

Lee's - Good, reasonably priced ribs. SB

Jimbo's - Excellent burgers - the place to go if you need a fix. There was about a 45 min. wait attributed to absent kitchen staff. Regardless, we will try it again. SB

Los Gauchos - At the Pelican. We had the steak special for two $46 (two ribeyes, two strips, and two flanks). Good quality and cooked to order. Steak and eggs the next morning for breakfast.

Zee Best - Went to a late breakfast and the two of us ate all of the pastries in the basket - pigs! Also as good as indicated by the TTOL'ers. SB

TTOL PARTY

Attended our first TTOL party at the Wharf on 4-3. Plentiful and tasty appetizers, half price Carib's, and friendly folks. Thanks to Harold and Kathy for their efforts. Looking forward to Party #2 next year!

NIGHTLIFE

Red Piano at the Pelican - Went there several evenings and enjoyed the performances by Johnny C. on, or course, the red piano. Karaoke on Thursday was hoppin. Kim and her crew kept us from getting thirsty. Too much Petron Tequila on one night - OUCH!

Bamboo Bernies - Went on Wed. night for free margies for the ladies. Got there around 10:00 before the cover and established a senior citizen section. This is a fun and relatively inexpensive evening. Great people watching.

Bliss - We went there on Fri. $10 cover for Wynn and $5 for Joanne. A new owner bought Bliss about two years ago and has made some nice improvements. Mostly a young crowd with a Caribbean-techno music mix. We enjoy it on SXM but wouldn't go near it back home. Joined the young folks on the dance floor and held our own. There were two paid dancers (fully clothed, barely) performing as what we would call "Go Go" dancers. They alone were worth the cover charge. That comment from Wynn.

Atlantis Casino - Rose and Keith went there most evenings. The Atlantis has expanded and now has a larger poker room and a sports book as well. Usually a couple of Hold'em games going.

SHOPPING

From TTOL'ers we learned of Luiz at Orient. Joanne checked it out and wound up buying a cool looking four piece number for $160. Unfortunately, she didn't get to wear it because of the rash.

Visited our friends Vince, Rakhee, Harry, and Victor at Royal Jewelers in P-Burg and once againt they delivered. Joanne returned to MI. sparkling with a diamond/rose gold ring and necklace.

Bought several bottles of scotch at Gulmohar's in P-Burg. This store has a very large single malt selection including a 25 year old Macallan priced at $280 per bottle - Wynn passed on that. Also purchased a bottle of Ma Doudou's banana/vanilla rum which Vince introduced us to. Plenty tasty and plenty strong!

MISCELLANEOUS

Believe it or not, the traffic was not that bad in my opinion. The biggest backup we encountered was getting out of P-Burg on Mon. at 5:30 pm - nothing unusual there. We took the road over the mountain to get back to SB which avoids traffic. CAUTION - don't take this road if the pavement is wet. We saw several cars lose traction and slide backwards. There were the usual backups when the SB bridge opened, but, that only costs you around 15 minutes, so, no big deal. And, you can plan to not be around when it opens. Bottom line - we were not inconvenienced by the traffic. Now, if you are only content going 85 in the left lane, you'll definitely be miserable.

We heard differing dates for the completion of the new airport terminal. The lastest was December and I'll put my money on that date.

Went to Pic Paradise where they are building a small park and stopped at Loterie Farm on the way back. Definitely will be doing the zipline/bridge obstacle course and hike there next year. Cool place and I found the old structures there to be interesting as well.

Found a good running/walking route in the neighborhood up the hill and behind the Pelican. Not a lot of traffic and no dogs were encountered. Did encounter the steepest hill I have ever tried to run up - in fact, it was tough to even walk up! This route beats the heck out of the road to the airport and back.

That's enough for now. In spite of the rash and the noise we enjoyed it immensely and can't wait for trip #2 to our TS next year.