Hope you all enjoy this trip report, I will try to get everything, but not be so detailed that I bore you to death. There were 12 of us traveling together.<br><br>Saturday was a long day of flying from St. Louis to Chicago to San Juan to St. Martin. The only problem we had was in San Juan where they put us on the plane took us off for mechanical reasons, put us back on the same plane, took us off again for mechanical reasons, bused us to another plane and then sat on the runway for 30-45 minutes because of rain in St. Martin. Finally got to the island and all went smooth at the airport and no problems with luggage.<br><br>When we arrived at Royal Islander it was well worth the day of travel to see the beautiful penthouse. If anyone ever has the chance to stay in the penthouse at RI grab it! It has three bedrooms and 4 baths a beautiful kitchen, dining room, living room and wrap-around deck that overlooks Maho Beach and the airport. Great view for watching Air France land at the airport. We were all starving by the time we got there and had dinner at Cheri's and enjoyed the entertainment. Good food, service and fun as usual.<br><br>Sunday was an entire day at the pool and beach for R & R and lots of beer. Had dinner at the Boat House, good food would reccommend eating there.<br><br>Monday rented a van from Michael at Unity Rental, he was very nice and good to work with. He came and picked us up at RI. We highly reccommend him as he was great to work with and very fair. Now we were off on a trip to Marigot to see our friend Love at Jewels by Love. As always he had lots of cold beer and wine to serve us while we looked at the beautiful jewelry. This is the first place we had trouble with our credit card. I had called before we left to inform them that we would be traveling. When we made our purchase our card would not go through and had to get on the phone with card security and give all the important information, then it went through and thought no more about it. Went on to Grand Case and had those wonderful ribs at Talk of the Town, could have eaten there the entire trip! A must for everyone visiting the island. We then went on to Orient Beach, had drinks at BooBoo Jam's and enjoyed the breeze to cool off. As we traveled down the beach we stopped and had more drinks next to Pedros. Was surprised that so much of the beach in that area was gone! They said it would return later in the summer. We then went to Phillipsburg and more drinks at Everyting Cool. Was dissapointed in Phillipsburg seems as though it is all jewelry and t-shirts now, none of the variety is there anymore. Had no desire to go back. We ate dinner at Seafood Galley which was okay, not a must to eat at. Stopped at the grocery store on our way back and enjoyed the experience, actually nicer than some back here at home.<br><br>Tuesday was another day to enjoy the pool and beach at RI. We went to Bananas to the TTOL party and enjoyed meeting everyone. There was quite a crowed and it was fun to put faces with the postings!! Had a great time and thank you Carol and Eric for putting it all together. Dinner at Bananas was great![img]/images/icons/thumbsup.gif[/img] Although it was extremely hot[img]/images/icons/sick.gif[/img]. Opened a window on the back side and started getting a great breeze just before we got in trouble for doing so. It seems that the business behind them doesn't like for them to open the windows and gets mad[img]/images/icons/thumbsdown.gif[/img]. I think it would be best if they would try to come to some agreement between them. We then went on to Casino Royale and they cleaned our clocks at the blackjack table, had to hit a 20 to try to beat the dealer[img]/images/icons/sad.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/sad.gif[/img].<br><br>Wednesday a couple of us made a trip to the market at Marigot in the morning and had a great time. Sat by the pool at RI and over to the swimup bar at Maho. Had walked through the gardens at Maho and they are beautiful! I wish I could have brought those flowers home with me.<br><br>Thursday we split up a little, 4 of the guys went to Lee's for deep sea fishing. Guess they had a great time and caught a 100lb. White Marlin, had to throw it back though, but got pictures for proof. Everyone was pleased with their experience with Lee and his staff. Had lunch at Ric's Place and it was terrific! They have a great new location and service and food were fantastic![img]/images/icons/thumbsup.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/thumbsup.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/thumbsup.gif[/img] You have to go there when visiting the island. Went shopping at the shops next to Maho and RI to buy caps and t-shirts for friends and family, more trouble with the credit card, wouldn't go through on small purchases and was very upset!!!!! Had dinner that night at The Dali Surf & Turf next door to RI and Maho. Had a great meal although it was hot there too, not much air flowing through. Went back to Casino Royale for more punishment[img]/images/icons/frown.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/frown.gif[/img].<br><br>Friday morning we got a call from Michael at Unity and he said our card would not go through and he'd stop by RI to get cash. I then got on the phone with the credit card company and was not real pleasant[img]/images/icons/mad.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]. Seems as though they had been trying to call us at home because there were unusual purchases being made on our card[img]/images/icons/doh.gif[/img]. Said that they could see the memo where we had called of our plans but unfortunately the computer cannot read the memos[img]/images/icons/mad.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] She apologized and said to give her three minutes and all would be okay. We called Michael at Unity back and told him to try it again and he did and everything was fine. What a hassle though[img]/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] I'm not sure it does any good to call the card company before you leave. We spent the afternoon soaking up as much sun as we could and the evening packing[img]/images/icons/frown.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/frown.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/frown.gif[/img].<br><br>The trip back was good and we were actually a little ahead of schedule. Was sad to leave the island, but was glad to be back home[img]/images/icons/sad.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/sad.gif[/img][img]/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]<br><br>Hope you enjoyed our report. Look forward to seeing reports from everyone else that was there while we were and look forward to our next trip to the island.[img]/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]<br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 7/6/01 01:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>