We had originally planned to stay 7 nights, then before we left home, we up’ed our stay to nine nights and once we were in St. Martin, we decided to stay an additional two nights! We used frequent flier miles so were able to change our flights with no trouble or fees. We live in Charlotte, and one bonus to living here – we have a direct flight to SXM! Flight was super smooth – we even had what we call “poor man’s first class” – and entire row to ourselves! Since our seats were at the front of the plane, we were off and through immigration in no time. We rented a car from Thrifty and would definitely do so again – eleven days (with liability insurance) for only $250! It was a teeny little car, but practically brand-new and had GREAT air conditioning!

We stayed at Residence De La Plage #26 in the center of Orient Village, directly on top of the Tap Five Grocery. We absolutely loved this place! We are already making plans to stay there again next year. I found the RDLP via google and ended up renting through gobeach.com, basically a broker for Foncia/Cap Caraibes real estate, which is located right in Orient Village. Magali with Cap Caraibes was wonderful and helpful – they even let us use their phone to call USAirways to change our flight. RDLP #26 is part of a “condo” complex of sorts, some people live in the units full time, while there are a few available for vacation rentals. It was spacious, clean, well decorated & had a great little kitchen with a really nice side-by-side fridge with an ice maker J! The air conditioning worked very well (too well for my liking, but my husband loved it!).
The location was really just superb for us! We love the French side and loved being just steps from the beach and just across the way from so many restaurant choices. We definitely took advantage of its proximity to the Tap Five!

Basically, the remainder of our vacation consisted of doing nothing but lounging on the beach! Our first day, we ventured down to Club O… not certain if this is where we would spend the day or not (we have visited before, but only for the day on a cruise). I really am not opposed to the whole clothing optional thing at all, but at first we were apprehensive as to whether or not we’d park ourselves there for the day – well, we did and continued to do so for the 10 days following! There really is something special about the people who spend their days there – we met the NICEST, FRIENDLIEST, MOST WONDERFUL people!!!

We were up early and on the beach (with a packed cooler!) everyday, so our nightlife was pretty boring, albeit wonderful!! I now know first hand the how effects of sand gravity can just suck the hours out of the day – that, and a few BBC’s during the Perch Happy Hour! We had meals at Papagayos & the Perch Grill, Le Piment, Baywatch, La Chapelle (twice – it was wonderful!) Tai Chi, Sunset Beach Bar, Zen It and of course, Tap Five! I loved their pizza and pasta/chicken salad!!!

Overall… it was a truly relaxing, wonderful & fantastic vacation. We will definitely go back and maybe next time, we’ll leave our beach chairs for the day and do the Tiko Tiko cruise and maybe visit Pinel Island! Any questions – just ask!