....and what a great trip it was!!
Recently returned from our December St. Maarten weeks and since I've already expressed my opinions of our JB experiences, I'll spare you that beyond saying our flights were on time and without any major issues, and our accommodations were exactly as expected, and then some - clean rooms, wonderful staff and gorgeous views. And no mid trip moves, thank you very much, Maggie. The Towers never lets us down. Our rental car through Kenny's Car Rental was on time and exactly what we asked for as was Sharon's cell phone though delivered by Lesley with our car, and Jeannie provided our arrival groceries, perfectly as always. What's not to like about all that?!
We spent much of our time this year trying to make decisions, most of which usually ended up as last minute ones, therefore spending a lot of our daytime at the pool instead of beaching, but that was good, too, as we got to spend more time this year with fellow Towers guests than we typically enjoy. We let the talk of seaweed and traffic deter us from traveling to our favorite French beaches this trip but we sure did enjoy Mullet and the beach at Mary's Boon along with our one day at Dreams.
We ate well, as evidenced by our snug outfits going home and tried some old favorites - Antoine's, Chesterfields, and the restaurant at Mary's Boon not to mention a couple of BBQ rib lunches at Rosie's, along with some newer finds which are fast becoming new old favorites - Fig, Le Bateau Ivre and Dreams, and some totally new ones, too, Basilica and Cugini's immediately coming to mind. We never had a bad meal and I think that's hard to do in St. Maarten.
Believe it or not, we even squeezed in some firsts for us - around the island day sail on Quality Time and what a wonderful day it was; a long, leisurely and totally enjoyable lunch at Layla's with some special friends; and some wonderful evenings with longtime friends and some newer ones, too.
Things we particularly noticed this trip were the mosquitoes - not so bad in our high-up aerie at the Towers, but closer to ground we needed and used the mosquito repellent liberally; the northern ocean swells were particularly noticeable towards the end of our trip with several days at the beach where we wouldn't even consider going into the water; the traffic seemed better this trip than we've noticed in years but perhaps we were just fortunate in timing our travels, but skeptic though I was early on, I do believe all the rotaries and the causeway have helped to ease the situations in some areas. Now if they could just complete the road construction in other areas.....and the good news with car travel is that gas has come down there much as it has here at home, and I'm thinking that's about the only thing that's come down. And we also noted the seaweed on so many beaches and in far greater quantity than we've ever seen before, but I'm thinking you've probably all heard about the Sargasso seaweed this year and really it didn't have too much impact on us since our beaches of choice are still Mullet and Simpson Bay beaches.
Had no issues anywhere using the few traveler checks we had with us and credit cards were accepted everywhere we went.
All in all, a perfect two weeks in St Maarten.....it just couldn't have been any better.
And to all who followed us on our daily exploits, such as they were (and somedays weren't?!) thank you for coming along and thank you all for your very generous comments and the way in which they were received. And until April, thank you all and Merry Christmas, everyone.
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