Alice and I just got back from 2 weeks in St Martin. The weather was great with some clouds and minor rain (fast moving) and a lot of great days. We stay at le Cottages de Lonvilliers in Anse Marcel. We had the unique experience of arriving at the old airport and leaving from the new one. I will miss the atmosphere of the old one but it is great to be in the air-conditioning at the new one for the long lines at check-in. They do not search your bags upon leaving but the lines were just as slow, I believe because they were training new clerks.
Our rental car was from Unity and Michael and his people are great. We will always use them. We stayed pretty much at our beach because with both big hotels Le Domain and the new Radisson closed we had the beach to ourselves. Le Domain will reopen @ Nov. 15 for a 6 month season but the Radisson has been way behind in opening and it is now thought it will be another year before they are ready. We did go to Happy Bay one day and because of the wet off season the vegetation along the path from Frier’s Bay was 6 feet high. Speaking of vegetation the side roads seem narrower than normal because the thick vegetation has grown right up to the side of the road surface. You had to be extra careful driving at night with people walking along the side of the roads.
We had great meals at our favorite restaurants:
2X at Ti Bouchon in Cul de Sac - The food rivals the best in Gran Case
2X at Au Grain de Sel in Cul de Sac - Annabel is wonderful
Le Frigate in Oyster Pond – Terrific food great presentation
La Case de Ruhm in Gran Case – Nice and inexpensive and right on the water
The Gut Side near Friers Bay – Richard and companion are wonderful hosts and he is a great cook
Villa Pizza in Cul de Sac - Casual outdoor dining that reminds you of a small village restaurant in France. Locals come and go for a drink or pizza or both
Lolos Gran Case – Ribs and chicken

Our resort also had a dinner each week with food from Le Taitu and live music.

We had left my St Martin cell phone (older version that works on their system) at home by mistake so we borrowed (rented with full refund) a phone from East Caribbean Cellular and used phone cards programmed into the phone. We were paying about $0.30 per minute to call the States. A $20.00 card lasted the whole trip. We only use it to touch base with the kids and parent 2X per week. I thought that was a good deal.

Well we are looking forward to our next trip in February.
Jim