What I did on my Christmas Vacation

We usually try to get to the island in June but we got a bonus trip in from December 13th through the 19th. This was a result of driving the computer after a few martinis back in April and scoring a couple of FF tickets on USAIR. Everyone states that it’s difficult to get these tickets but I never have a problem, we haven’t paid for any flights for SXM in 3 or 4 years.

December 13th:
Left the house for BDL at 4:00am after getting to bed at midnight but what the heck we’re on vacation. The flights on USAIR went smoothly from BDL through CLT to SXM. After arriving they opened the door (no jet way available) to take that deep breath of tropical air. We were first off the plane and figured we would be right out the door to our rental car. Well we figured wrong, we never seem to get in the right line. Apparently everyone in front of us had issues with immigration. The lady from customs was making them pull out all their cash and making sure they had enough cash to buy a return ticket. Anyone who looked like a tourist traveling from the US or Europe flew through the line. Anyway we were first off the plane and almost last through Immigrations.

Picked the well used rental car up from Hertz with no issues. The biggest issue we had was the hour & 15 minutes it took us to get to Orient. Arrived at the Alamanda and we instantly knew we were home! The staff at this hotel is great and they keep us coming back!!!!! We had a few drinks with Curtis and decided to walk to Cote Plage for Tapas and a bottle of wine. Life is good!

December 14th:
We awoke to brilliant sunshine and what looked like a good beach day and we weren’t to be disappointed. Walked the beach and stopped at Baywatch for breakfast. This place is the best! Andy, Cheryl, Ross, & Adrian all greeted us with a “welcome home”. After breakfast we set ourselves under a yellow umbrella and sand gravity quickly set in. After happy hour at The Perch we were off to Baywatch for Margarita Shrimp. Andy made ricotta cheesecake that was to die for, if you’re there and he has the cheesecake you have to get it. Back to the yellow umbrella and a swim & a snooze. After a very relaxing afternoon we returned to the Alamanda and had a couple of drinks with Alan & Curtis. It was great to sit and talk about life on the island.

Dinner was at Spiga in Grand Case. This had to be one of the best meals that we have had in Grand Case. We shared an appetizer, decent bottle of wine, dinner and shared a desert for about $150 US.

December 15th:
We awoke to another great beach day! We spent a little time shopping at Paradise View and bought a little tropical outfit for our grandson then went off to Pinel Island for some time on the beach on the far side of the island. This little beach has no services but it has one of the best views that you can find. We wandered to the restaurant near the pier and had some Tapas and a couple of Caribs.

After a shower at the Alamanda we decided to head for Philipsburg to see the Christmas lights. We wandered along the boardwalk, had a drink at the Pasagran House then decided to see if we could find Tabba Kadi (sp) for dinner. Let me tell you, what a find! This was definitely the best meal of the week! 2 appetizers, nice bottle of wine, dinner, and we shared a desert sitting next to the pool for $100 US.

December 16th:
Another great beach day (see a trend here?). We decided to head to Mullet Bay to spend a few hours. This is one of my favorite beaches. We had lunch at Rosie’s 2 burgers, 2 Presidentes, $15 bucks. Good burgers for a good price. Saw someone walk by with the chicken which looked really good. Oh, well there’s always next time. Wandered to Maho to see the planes come in. The SSBB was really crowded so we sat on the beach and had a couple of Presidentes that we carried in the small cooler and watched the planes for a little while.

We wandered back to the Alamanda and had a few drinks with Curtis (see another trend here?). We decided to stay close so we had dinner at Safari Grill. Dinner was good, shared appetizer, nice bottle of wine, dinner, and shared desert for $100 US. Dinner was good, if we were anyplace other than SXM I would say that the dinner was very good but compared to the competition I rate it as good.

December 17th:
Guess what! Another great beach day. Sand gravity kicked in again and we decided to hang out at Club O. Had an excellent lunch at Baywatch. Great food!

We didn’t feel like driving so we went to La Chapele for a couple glasses of wine and appetizers and watched the Giants get beat.

December 18th:
Our last full day. We stopped at the Ma Dodo factory store to load up for the next 6 months. We then decided to take advantage of the free chairs at Kako that we get with the Alamanda. We had lunch at the Kokomarina Beach bar and had an excellent lunch.

After a couple of drinks with Curtis at the Alamanda we let him talk us into going to Sole a Luna and we weren’t disappointed. We both had the lobster Bisque for an appetizer, a couple glasses of wine, dinner and a fabulous desert (desert tapas platter for 2) $150 US.

December 19th:
Today there was a front moving through and it was mostly cloudy with the sun peeking out from time to time. We had to vacate our room but the Alamanda let us use a room that was being renovated to lock up our bags and use the shower (we had a late flight). The room wasn’t pretty but we had the shower and clean towels. We walked the beach and swam by Papaguio (sp) then had lunch at Baywatch and said our goodbyes.

Trip home was no problem SXM through CLT to BDL. Customs was a breeze in CLT and we had a chance to have a bite to eat before out flight to Hartford.

THE GOOD:
Alamanda Hotel (the staff here is the best)
Caribbean Islands Travel (great customer service, Jim & Mary are the best)
The food
The people

THE BAD:
The dollar vs the Euro

THE UGLY: <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" />
The overbuilding on the Dutch side is horrendous. The drive through Cupacoy will break your heart. We refused to go to Dawn Beach because of the changes. They can’t possibly keep up the development pace without improving the infrastructure. Not just the roads but the power, water, & sewer.

Overall it was a fantastic trip and we look forward to returning at the end of May.

Steve & Gail