This is our 4th trip but first trip report.
We were on island from April 23 thru May 2nd.


Our flights from Kansas City to SXM included an extra night in Dallas. All flights down were good.

This allowed us to be on island with car keys in hand by2:30. Rented from Alain at AAA rental for the third time and will continue to use his services. Our car was a new corolla with about 6K miles. Seems as if they have gone away from white and the new in color for the corolla is gold!

We stayed at the Flamingo. This was an anniversary trip so I worked ahead of time to get flowers in the room and they came thru with a nice arrangement and decorated the room as well for our anniversary. Room was great stayed in building 4 on the top floor so we had rooftop access with a grill, Jacuzzi and lounge chairs that had a great view of both Simpson bay and Saba.

Dining out;

With kids in college and our previous visit being in November, we felt we needed to spend a bit less so the dining budget was where we chose to save.


We did however make early reservations to have dinner served to us on the beach at Mary’s Boon. (check their website if you are interested) The food was very good and the atmosphere even better. We were the only people on the beach!

Visited Peg Leg and Sean was there and remembered us, food was as good as always and the wait staff seemed a bit quicker than in November.

Did lunch at Baywatch, I love the grouper sandwich. Andy was there but Cheryl was on the mainland visiting family.

Had Ribs on Cupecoy, pretty good and for $7 the best money we spent on a meal on island.


TTOL Party April 25th;
Large turn out at BBB. Met Contessa and moderator Bob as well as Neil. Was a nice party and interesting to drink shots (mudslides) from the toilet on the bar. Lots of photo ops taken there!!!

Hit it off with a couple from the Denver area and day-tripped to Anguilla with them later in the week.

Traffic;
Not too bad at all we avoided the draw bridge during it’s scheduled raising and we were surprised that the traffic was much lighter than in November.

Beaches:

We visited Orient, Plum and Cupecoy.
Had never been to either Plum or Cupecoy before.

Orient is Orient, a few morning walkers were naked but not very many. There were a few folks at Coco beach by the rocks that were au natural but we spent our days in the middle of the beach and didn’t participate in the bottomless activities. One of the days we were there was a Sunday and it was not any different than the middle of the week.

Plum was very nice and generally quiet but this beach has been discovered as each day the end by the parking lot would become full. Nice beach for pictures!

Cupecoy
We went early one day to take some pictures of the beach before folks got there. Danny was there and gave us the $0.10tour. He walked with us to all 3 beaches and showed us where the caves were. (from the topside as you were unable to walk to them from the beach area he grills from) After the tour and a few pix of the cliffs we decided to stay.
When in Rome! We had never participated in the clothing optional but as of that day it changed. We loved Cupecoy the beach was awesome and the people were very friendly.

Touristy Stuff;
We try to do something new each time, this year it was the fort in Marigot. It isn’t real easy to find but we did find it. Made the hike to the top to get some pix of the marina.
We made the trip mid day and I figured it would be a safe trip. We entered the fort and were walking over to one of the cannons to take a picture of the marina area when two young locals appeared and one headed to the only entrance and was acting as a lookout while the other young man was headed for us. As he got closer my wife noticed another tourist that had been out of their line of vision and pointed to him. The young man looked up at the other tourist and seemed to decide to move on to plan b and went to chat with his friend the lookout. As they were chatting several more tourists decided to visit the fort and it got busy so the two gents went down to the hospital area below and hung out. Needless to say we didn’t stay long. No, nothing happened but I am not a rube that has just fallen from the turnip truck either. We were lucky.

We also went to the market in Marigot while there we noticed that all the wraps had a Rima’s label sewn on them and were marked up significantly from the prices at Rima’s so a trip to Philipsburg was in the works.

We also day-tripped to Anguilla. This was a lot of fun. We toured the Pyrat rum distributorship and I made a significant rum purchase. If you get the chance it is worth the 30 minutes or so to walk thru and then taste test the product. It is all blended there in the building and everything is bottled pretty much by hand. Love their rum and can get most of it in the states but their high end stuff is much less expensive on island.

Spent the day at upper Shoal Bay hanging out at Gwen’s. I truly love St Maarten but this is the most beautiful beach and water I have ever seen.

Flights home;
We left the island on American Eagle for San Juan. Cleared immigration and customs in believe it or not less than 15 minutes. It took us longer to walk to immigrations than to clear the area and get back in the line for security. This is one of the nice things about doing carry on only. All flights home were smooth and am sad to say we are back at work saving up for our return to the island.