Hello All,

Just back from 10 super days on the island. We left our home north of Detroit on Wednesday the 29th, and it was in the 60’s (but with a cold snap coming quickly). USAirways from DTW to CLT, and then on to SXM was uneventful. I upgraded us to First both ways with miles as I couldn’t get full FF tickets. The flights were about just over half full, so the tight FF ticket climate is still in full effect. I’ve noticed they only have 2 rows of First Class on the 757’s they use for Caribbean flights now. Actually got into SXM almost 30 minutes early, an despite the tarmac being loaded with planes, we got a spot at a new jet way. The new airport is beautiful and well thought out IMHO.

Immigration was another story. It was backed up for miles, and no one was manning the booths. The Air France had unloaded right before we landed, so it was really packed. We waited almost 1 ½ hours to get through, standing on the hard marble floor made my back bark a bit, but we finally got through. We read in the Daily Herald that the Immigration agents had called a “Lightning Strike” because they were unhappy with how they were being treated at the new airport, and by airport security in particular. No matter…we were glad to be there at last.

Leslie Bruce was right where he said he would be, waiting with a nice Corolla that had just the right amount of battle scars to make the inspection for anything other than the spare and jack pointless. It had power locks and windows, which was nice.

We loaded up the car and headed off for our first lodging, which was the Grand Case Beach Club. I booked a 1 bedroom with loft, but the unit we were to get still had its owner in it, so we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom junior suite just steps from the water. The master bedroom was on the 2nd floor, and had a great view of the bay. There were nice, padded lounge chairs along the seawall in front of the unit, which placed either the fridge and a cold beer, or the steps down to a cool dip in the water just a few steps away. The room was quite nice, and had the best TV channel selection of any place I have stayed on the island. I love my sports, and they had ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN News. The room had 3 TV’s so we both could watch what we wanted before we hit the rack.

The first night, we had dinner at the on site restaurant, Sunset Cafe. I had a goat cheese salad and the Duck confit, and Tasha had the swordfish special. Both were quite good, but the remarkable thing was the portion size. Huge! I actually prefer smaller portions so I can have a few courses if there are soups and salads I like, or dessert.

We basically spent our days sunning, lunched at the Sunset Cafe, and went into Grand Case for superb dinners. We hit Le Tastevin and Il Nettuno. I had things like grilled local lobster and veal, and Tasha had mahi-mahi and a nice piece of grouper. We both used the 3 days in Grand Case to unwind, and it really set a nice tone for the next 7 days at the Sapphire Flop House.
We made the move on Saturday the 2nd, and of course, even though our room was ready, we couldn’t have it till 4pm. Whatever. We put our luggage in the lock up, and headed down to see John and Danny on the far end of Cupecoy. We couldn’t believe how much sand there was as we found a pair of loungers and set up for the afternoon. One troubling development at Cupecoy is it seems that John, Danny and Destiny have had some sort of spat, and Destiny and a new guy have split off and started their own concession. They poured some cement and set up a large bar, with tables and chairs under a big blue tarp. Danny sells drinks and his famous rum punch out of the back of his truck. John still mans the grill in highly capable fashion, and he now adds excellent red beans and rice, potato salad and a small green salad with your order of ribs, chicken, and with a days notice, huge pork chops or a burger. They will still do a lobster on request with notice.

We saw all the usual folks we look forward to seeing each year, and one doofus that I hoped to never see again. He likes to take pictures of beaching folks on the sly and then post them on the internet. I’ve seen a camera or two get tossed in the drink for this type of thing through the years at Cupecoy and Orient, and that’s what this guy needs. We went over to Orient on Thursday to show some great folks we met from Canada how to get there, and spent the day down at Club Orient. The parade of cruise ship gawkers was almost non-stop despite the fact that the weather was pretty bad, worst day of the trip weather wise. Blowing like crazy, and hard rain storms one after another about a half hour apart. We would all grab our towels and head for the Perch till it blew over. When we went back to Cupecoy the next day, the folks who stayed there reported that it hadn’t rained a drop all day. Figures. It’s noticeably hotter at Cupecoy, with the cliffs to block the wind, and I like it. The weather was great the week we were at the Sapphire and Cupecoy, and I have the best tan I’ve had for some years.

Meal wise, we had John’s BBQ for lunch each day, and did our usual haunts for Dinner. La Rosa Too in Maho was excellent, as was La vie en Rose in Marigot. The old Bar de la Mer is open again by the way, and was quite busy. We hit the Blue Sapphire, which is no longer affiliated with L’Alabama, and had the excellent lobster bisque and warm goat cheese salad. We had dinner at the Wharf in Simpson Bay, and it wasn’t as good as in the past. The waitress also copped an attitude when I asked if they accepted AMEX. She basically started ignoring us. We wanted to have another drink, and we were the only people in the place, so I knew it wasn’t because she was busy. I went up to her and told her I would be happy to tip in cash and charge only dinner to the card. She was a bit embarrassed I think (not my intention), and she brought over a free round. This set things more than right, and we hung around for a few more and listened to the live entertainment. If I understand correctly, if you tip on the check, it’s divided among all the help. If you want to give your server something more, you have to give them cash directly.

The Sapphire is a sore subject. A bit of painting has been done, and they have new furniture in the lobby that sets a new standard for uncomfortable. The old stuff was much better IMHO. They fixed up a bit as the Queen stayed there when she was on the island a few weeks ago to dedicate the new airport. The power went out for several hours Saturday night, and it took nearly 3 days to get the ATMs working again for some reason. We had to go to Marigot for cash (Euros) and the exchange rate hurts! Especially when almost every establishment we went to is giving dollar per euro exchange. My financial fortunes improved I’m happy to report, after I visited the Atlantis Casino and made a withdrawal to the tune of 1700$. My dollar crunch was pretty much over for the rest of the week. I gave a bit back the next night, and gave Casino Royale in Maho a visit the night after that, and really had a nice night by my standards, taking $2400 of theirs out the door with me. I rarely play roulette, and I hit my number 36 straight with $50 on it. What a hoot! I hit 33 straight on the very next spin with $25 on it. I wanted to show Tasha how to play 3 card poker so she might be tempted to play something other than the slots, and we ended up winning $400 there. What a fun night. Tasha ended up getting a tennis bracelet out of it, so she was pleased with my little run of luck.

Go-home Saturday came much too quickly. We packed the night before, and took our luggage down to the airport and checked in. We had the 5:15 to CLT, so we took a change of clothes and headed back to Cupecoy to spend one last day on the best little piece of real estate on the planet with our friends. We said our goodbyes around 3, and met Leslie right where he said he would be in the parking lot, and still had time to shop and have a few rum punches at the Rum Jumbie bar, its right between gates A2 and A3, and as we were leaving out of A3, it was perfect. We shopped at the new shops, which were all open and well stocked. The ladies at the fragrance shop were very helpful in pointing out the need to get your purchase over 3 ounces into your checked luggage. We had already checked ours, but we didn’t get stopped by the random carry-on search, so we toted ours right on, and stuck it in our checked bags between customs and the re-check counter. Clearing customs in CLT was a breeze as always, and we made our tight connection with no problem. We made it home to DTW at 11:15 and home to Lake Orion by 1:15am. I really hated to leave this year, even more so than usual, and I looked back at the island from my window until it disappeared from view. But…on the happy side of things, I’m going to start planning an April trip tomorrow!


Richard