This was my retirement trip <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/busted.gif" alt="" /> that I started planning two years ago. It was an incredible two weeks vacation one with the kids and one with friends.

Saturday June 30. A van picked up the family. There are eight of us and the older two brought along there significant other. We all piled into a van and off to Dulles Airport at 4:45 AM. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/usflag.gif" alt="" /> We made it to the airport by 5:30 for an 8:10 flight. We flew from Dulles to San Juan to St. Maarten. No problem even though the youngest’s passport did not arrive and still has not. We applied for the passport on her 16th birthday March 18. Which should have been more then enough time. Landed in St. Maarten went through immigrations with no problem. Got the luggage and met Unity Car Rental out side the door. Also waiting for us were the Representatives for the Villas. The Older children were staying in Filao at Orient Bay and the rest were staying in Casa Azul on top of the hill.

We had four cars for the week trying to arrange four drivers following two vans was almost impossible. One car was very slow and ended up following the wrong people.

We got to Filao first, It is a beautiful three bedroom villa that has been up graded. It does not have a view but makes up for with proximity to the beach. The villa was open and ready to be used. A lovely staff member came by and introduced herself and went over the villa.

My daughter was the only on to make it with the Representative to Casa Azul. Once I got there the Representative had left. The villa was not open and we had to place the covers on the chairs and open the windows. The villa has a wonderful view of Orient Bay. The odd quirk with this villa is that it has two bath rooms that are independent of the showers and sinks. You had to leave the bathroom to wash you hands.

After unloading the cars, the kids were off to the beach and my wife and I picked up 4 phones from Sharon Harris, and snack food for the villas. Once we got back to the villa we were met by 8 starving kids we drove to Grand Case for dinner. We eight at Sky’s the Limit, the bill which consisted of 10 dinners a couple rounds of drinks and a few Johnny cakes, came to a total of $120.00 with tip.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />As we were eating dinner we noticed a couple that were from our home town that had just gotten married. They were on their Honeymoon

Sunday July 1, Every morning my wife and I went to Tap-5 for croissants
We started off at Bikini Beach. Not much of a rate cut from the chair boy he wanted 18 dollars for two chairs and an umbrella. Several of the kids decided to use there towels instead. The wife and I walked up to BayWatch and met Cheryl, Andy was off some where. We had a great visit and lunch. I had Shrimp ALA Andy and my wife had the chicken steak along with a couple of Caribs <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />.

On the walk back we discovered a new beach bar Le String, where for $8 you get a umbrella, chair and a drink. I smelled a plan. When we got back to Bikini one of our sons offered to cook dinner that night. My wife and two of the girls went looking for a grocery store they are hard to find on the French side late Sunday Afternoon. The mission was accomplished in Grand Case. Dinner was excellent.

Monday July 2, Got up and enjoyed the view for a while and then went to Le String. Great Service I would recommend this place highly. It is partly owned by a retired navy officer Ray. Jean (John), the beach guy, gives great service. Aleksandra, who also goes by Alex is a great bartender. By the end of the week they knew my whole family and we got some nice pictures from behind the bar. Ray and John give the women foot rubs at 4:00PM each day. It was a short day at the beach today as I took the family to DK’s in the afternoon I had called ahead of time and knew that Deepti was out of town, Her brother took excellent care of us as I brought a little Bling for every girl including my wife. We did a little shopping and had dinner at the Greenhouse. The food was good and the drinks were cold. After dinner we all drove to the Westin. Since I treated the girls I needed to treat the guys. I bought their buy in at the blackjack table. We had two winners for the night and I was not one of them.

Tuesday July 3, Time to go horse back riding at Bayside. Everyone had a great time. Our own little private party. After riding, we went back to Le Strings for cold drinks and the beach. This time Dad showed the kids how to bar-b-que A very enjoyable night with a beautiful view.

Wednesday July 4, The day did not start out very well. My wife and I did our morning shopping and went and saw Andy at BayWatch he was not serving breakfast because he was decorating for the party. When we got back to our Villa the Gendarmes were next door with more coming. There was a home invasion next door. A gunman had forced the male neighbor into his house and robbed him of money. The gunman ranaway down the street. So much for a gated community. I am a retired police officer, I used to be in charged of the robbery homicide unit for a city of 125,000. I love St. Martin, but violent crime is on the up swing. It is no longer the friendly island. I can handle theft/larceny but not a small island with a lot of violent crime. If they do a study for crime rate per residence it has to be huge. This was not reported in the Daily Herald but there was an armed robbery of a businessman the same day (I’ll talk more about this at the end of part two).
Back to Le String just in time to see the fourth of July parade,what a sight. I was amused by one lady, as she was walking she had a hat covering her face saying please do not take my picture as I am a school teacher. She was painted lovely in red/white and blue. I guess she did not realize that some people take pictures at parades. We had dinner again at Sky’s the Limit. The food is outstanding.

Thursday July 5, A couple that was suppose to stay with us the second week showed up a couple days early and they found us with sand gravity at Le String. We went to Sunset Beach Bar for dinner and the sunset. The food is not as good as it use to be but not bad. We then drove to the Princess Casino where I won $300.00.

Friday July 6, Sand Gravity at Le String, several rounds were bought by the bartender, since we are now on first name basis and I told them there would be 18 next week. Dinner at Le Pub in Granc Case. Good Pizza.

Saturday July 7, Moving day and getting rid of the kids ( So we thought) and greeting Friends at the airport. Checking out was not bad. The house keeper was at Filao who usually was there 3 hours a day. At Casa Azul a team came in to clean everyday. By 10:00 AM we were on our way to the airport.

To be continued