I tried to make this a brief trip report, but it still ended up being longer than I had hoped. I just wanted to take more time for the two wonderful dinners we had in Grand Case.

Our trip started late due to engine problems on our plane in Miami. After being boarded on the plane, the pilot discovered that one of the engines was leaking some oil. After about 1 ½ hours, they had all of us taken off of the plane because they found a problem with the oil pump on the engine. But, we finally left after only being delayed for a total of 3 hours. We appreciate the airline ensuring the safety of the passengers, but that was 3 hours that we lost arriving early in SXM. Once we arrived, the folks from Triple A was waiting for us and whisked us away. They really wanted to get out of there since they were working late. We had our small Kia car with French license plates. Since we were late, we headed straight to Grand Case Beach Club. Traffic sucked. Rush hour. It was recommended not going through Marigot due to all of the construction. We saw why later in the trip. Now, this is off season and traffic at the wrong times of day is crazy. We've been there during peak season, but always have avoided the rush times. But, to us, it appears traffic has gotten worse since 2005. Grand Case Beach Club (GCBC) is doing some renovations to one of its buildings (Frangipani) while the building we were in was renovated already. The resort is in great shape. The renovations did not impact our time at the resort. Sunset Café was open for breakfast and lunch, but not for dinner, due to being told of some renovations. Not sure about this, but what the heck. We were upgraded from the room we had originally planned for which ended up being great. We were in room 120 which is at the end of the third floor next to the Frangipani building. Great room with great views of Anguilla and Grand Case. Now we know why we returned again to GCBC. The room was very clean and kept very clean through our whole stay. The front lobby folks were helpful, when needed. Since we were late on arriving, we did our grocery shopping on Thursday for our staples for the week (grocery store located by Mark's Place). On the way to Philipsburg, we stopped at the Westin on Dawn Beach. Pretty impressive. What a change from the old days. Do miss Scavengers. But, it is a little more than what we usually like on our vacations. We like the atmosphere of GCBC which appears more down to earth than the Westin. But, it appears to be a very nice resort. Dawn Beach itself was the calmest we have ever seen it. You could actually snorkel off of the beach. Every other time that we have been in SXM, Dawn Beach was very rough and it just literally beat the heck out of you. We met Craig of Packlight back close at the airport to pick up our rental chairs and umbrella, but the big thing for me was the cooler. I wanted the cooler so that I could have my cold brews while laying on the beach. Craig was on right on time, but due to some misunderstanding at the end of our vacation, he never did show up at SSBB. With the help of Triple A, they took care of the rental stuff for us. Triple A again, was very good. When we arrived back at GCBC, it did what we were not looking forward to. It started to rain and it rained the rest of the afternoon. It stopped long enough for us to eat that night in Grand Case. But than, on Friday, it rained all fricking day. It went to a drizzle at times, so we decided to go into Philipsburg for lunch. Of course, we ended up at Deepti's and did some damage there. Deepti again was very helpful and remembered what my wife likes. That is a plus for when you are looking at all of those baubles that she has. When we left, it started to rain hard and by the time we got to our car, I was sopping wet like a dog. My wife had an umbrella so she was not so wet. This was at around 5:00. Now, the traffic back to GCBC was very slow, but we found out why. The road to Oyster Pond had turned into a river due to the heavy rains. The water at places was up to the bottom of the car. You could feel the car being rocked a little from side to side because of the water. The road finally was okay once you got a little past the Rainbow Grocery store (I think this is the small grocery store that is located on the corner of the street that takes you to the Zoo. After that, the trip to GCBC was quick (but you still had to watch for standing water everywhere). The rest of our trip was spent on the beach, since it did not rain any more during the day (except for a short shower on Friday, but we stayed on the beach during the rainshower since we knew it was going to be a short one). We only left the GCBC beach for one day to go to Orient. We stayed at the Coco Beach area and for the first time, we never saw any CO walkers on the beach, at any time. We saw less than 5 CO folks, at any time at that part of the beach. We left on Tuesday and did our usual of eating at Sunset Beach before leaving. The Angus burger was great. The island looked very green and colorful with a lot of things in full bloom. Never have seen the island so green. Looked great. Another comment is about the Euro. Even though the Euro is so strong, some of the restaurants were not charging the full conversion. Not sure how this would work with a credit card since we always paid with dollars (cash). Sunset Café at GCBC charges by the Euro, but do take dollars and they were going for 1 to 1.20. Since we had some Euros from our Greece trip last year, we just used them. A lot of restaurants in Grand Case were closed and we were disappointed on the ones that were closed (Spiga, La California, L'Alabama (sp?). But we found one that was a diamond in the rough. The first night when we arrived late, we just wanted a quick dinner, so we went to La Spicy. Fantastic. Sophie, who is part owner with her husband, the chef, was a great hostess. Loved talking to her about her past and why they decided to relocate to SXM. The food was fantastic. And they charge everything by the dollar. But, I would have been willing to pay by the Euro. The food was that good. In our eyes and tummies, this was better than Temptations. For what you received and for the service, La Spicy was great. On Thursday, we wanted to eat at Taby Khady's, but they were closed. We decided on Daniel's by the Sea because of the reviews. The food was good, but in our eyes, overpriced. It was going to be hard for them to compare to La Spicy, and they did not. But, Daniel's by the sea was okay. Would we return. Probably not because of all of the other choices on the island. We had lunch at Taboula Mango's on Friday. The food was okay, but the service was awful. I really can't understand that since this place is located in a touristy location. But, hey, you can get away with it since a tourist in Philipsburg will probably not return again, anyway (We had quite a number of cruise passengers sitting at the various tables). Friday night we just ate at Talk of the Town because I was wet and we were tired from our day in Philipsburg. The food was good and it hit the spot. We actually took the food to go and ate in the room. On Saturday night, we ate at Temptations. My wife had Deepti's chicken, which we requested since it is not on the menu. Dinner was excellent and the service was excellent also. Would return. On Sunday, La Spicy's was closed, but Il Nettuno's was open after taking off for awhile. Now, this was disappointing. The owner made a comment that the restaurants that charge 1 to 1 are really just cutting back on what they serve to the patrons, at this point, we should have walked away. The food was fair, service was fair and the bill was the most expensive for us. More than Temptations and they couldn't even get close to La Spicy. I would not recommend Il Nettuno's to anyone. Better restaurants on SXM and way better in Grand Case. Our last night, Monday night, was spent at La Spicy (how could you have guessed?). Sophie was great again. She knew who we were (especially since we were back on Friday night asking if they had made their homemade cheesecake, which they had sold out of on Thursday night). The food this time was unbelievable. My wife had cheese and spinach ravioli which was great. I had seafood linguine which was unbelievable. It put Il Nettuno's to shame. Not even close. I could eat the seafood linguine a couple of times a week, but than I would have to waddle everywhere. And the price was great. Again, La Spicy was fantastic. Wish it was here in St. Louis. Would return quite often. One other thing, the Atlantico French Bakery, down the street from the airport is still in our opinion, one of the best on SXM for French baguettes. So buttery. And their chocolate croissants are fantastic. We always buy a ham and gouda sandwich on their French baguette so that we can enjoy it while on the plane back home.

And that was it. A very simple vacation. Relaxing at the beach and just taking it easy. Never did make it to Anguilla which we wanted to do for maybe two days, but it appeared that Anguilla was getting a lot of rain, more than in SXM. We could see the rain showers from either the beach at GCBC or from our room. I guess next time we will try to make it to Anguilla. Well, this ended up being longer than I thought it would be. Hope we didn't bore you all.