This was our ninth trip to SXM. For the first time, we took Continental from Newark. We live outside of Philly. It was, however, much better. This was our first non stop flight, Continental was great and it only took us two hours to travel to Newark.

5/22/09: Left on Continental flight 861. The flight was delayed 90 minutes; however, they made it up to us. Free headphones, a free cocktail, and a coupon worth 10% off a future flight! Plus, they are one airline that still gives you a decent “snack” and free pillows and blankets. It will definitely be the way we go from now on. Arrived in SXM at 1:40, met Lesley from Kenny’s and were on our way. We checked into Les Balcons, Unit 5. This was our second time at Les Balcons. If you have any concerns in light of recent burglaries, do not let it stop you. David and Carine are wonderful and very concerned about their guests coming back. All the bungalows are now alarmed; they have security cameras, are now gated and after 6:30 you need a remote to open the front gate. We felt perfectly safe and secure and had no indication of any possible crime. The owners of our unit kindly left a bottle of wine for us! After spending some time at the pool, we had dinner. We had a “Healthy Choice” dinner…this was our attempt at being “good” before the onslaught of butter and cream!! Early to bed.

5/23/09: Orient Beach. Set up on front of the Perch. We walked down to Watersports and purchased a 7 day pass for chairs/umbrella. This is very convenient and you have 9 days in which to use them. Worked out great, even gave us coupons for free drinks at Papagayo. Started out slow on our first day; and avoided sunburn. Dinner this night was a delicious pizza from Mama Pizza in Oyster Pond. They know how to make a pizza! We also had a salad with four kinds of cheese!! Yummy…Our cheese consumption was probably the size of Wisconsin & Paris together!! $28.00 for dinner.

5/24/09: Orient Beach. Partly sunny, but very nice. I made sandwiches for the beach; perch for Happy Hour. Water was very nice. Dinner this night was Mark’s Place, a perennial favorite. I had chicken parmagiana with the mashed potatoes with spinach and veggies/salad. You cannot beat Mark’s! It is definitely “island comfort food.” My husband had the creole chicken with scalloped potatoes (how DO they make them so delicious; they are the best I’ve had anywhere). We each had a drink. The total was a very affordable $41. We were seated next to a young local couple. We noticed them because they just looked so cute together. Well, the next thing you know, he is down on one knee proposing!! Everyone in the restaurant applauded! It was really something. The young man was going around shaking everyones hand! They seemed so happy! Mark sent them over some champagne!

5/25/09: We took a day off from the beach today; went in Marigot and had breakfast at Le Croissanterie on the marina. This place rocked! Great continental breakfast for $9.50. They accepted 1=1. The croissants were the best I’ve had on SXM. My husband had the two croissants, fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee. I had the ham and cheese croissant (2 per serving) and coffee. Our bill was about $21.00. Very nice early morning breakfast on the marina! We really enjoyed it. We did some shopping then at the marina. It was sentimental as we spent out honeymoon in 1985 at Marina Royale, which was a hotel there. They are now apartments. Went into Animale and looked around. Went back to Les Balcons and spent some time at the pool. After that we went shopping at Le Grand Marche. We bought some staples for the room, plus a couple of steaks and a bottle of wine. Dinner this night was steak grilled on our deck, fresh bread, veggies and a bottle of wine. It was so relaxing sitting there and eating and looking over the marina. So peaceful!




5/26/09: Back to Orient for the day. We had lunch at the Perch (hot dog and hamburger)…It’s a very good lunch and very reasonable. Took a walk down to Sexy Fruits and bought myself a very pretty silver bracelet. Spent a very relaxing day on Orient. My husband and I always agree our favorite time on the beach is around 4 p.m.; the sun is lower and it just always seems so peaceful then. Dinner this night was Quay Quest, which is between Les Balcons and Dingy Dock. We had a surprisingly good meal here. We shared an endive salad with walnuts and topped with fried filled wontons with camembert cheese…omg..too good. I had scallops and shrimp in garlic cream sauce and my husband had duck breast cooked with honey. Each came with a delicious little spinach soufflé, fresh cooked cabbage and rice. We each had a drink, and I had a crème caramel. After dinner we received a complimentary glass of lemon Cointreau. It was a very good meal for a total of $90. We would definitely go back our next trip!

5/27/09: Orient Beach. Nice beach day; I packed ham and cheese on baguette for lunch. Nice drinks at happy hour…BBC’s….they went down very easily. We picked up a rotisserie chicken at Tap 5 for dinner. That was a first for us also and it really hit the spot.

5/28/09: Orient Beach. Spent another great day at the beach. We had lunch at the Perch again. Dinner tonight was Mama Pizza again! Pepperoni pizza and a salad $25, and a bottle of wine. Do we see a pattern here…..

5/29/09: Went into Phillipsburg to do some shopping. As it turned out, mostly everything was closed! It seems that the shopkeepers were closed in protest of the rising crime rate. I completely agree with them…except I was ready to do some serious shopping! I also was looked for an ankle bracelet. We decided to come back early Saturday morning before we left for the beach. We came back and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool reading and sunning. We decided on Mr. Busby’s for dinner, since it was so close to our room. We’ve never been here either. It was a very nice meal. I had chicken parm with spaghetti, my husband had the ribs. We started off with a nice salad and bread. It was very good and I would definitely go back. Cost was about $90.

5/30/09: Got up early, drove to Phillipsburg and had breakfast at Parasgghan (sp) It was a wonderful breakfast. My husband had pancakes and I had an omelette, both very good and good service. A lot of shops were still closed, however, we did stop in Boolchards and I got my ankle bracelet. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, so they made me one! It’s a lovely gold chain with a sand dollar attached. It only took about 20 minutes to completed. After that, we were on out way to Orient Beach…packed lunches for the beach today. Another gorgeous day; we’ve really been lucky with the weather! Spent the day and decided we would go to Le Cottage tonight! Le Cottage: We’ve never been here before, but I know it comes highly recommended. It should…the service is beyond compare and Bruno is a trip! We really enjoyed it here. For appetizers, I had the French onion soup and my husband had lobster fritters with three sauces. The onion soup was phenomenal. It was the best I’ve eaten. The top is sort of a puff pastry baked on top of the soup, along with the delicious cheese. It is served in a good sized bowl. My husband loved the fritters, which were served with fried onion rings and wonderful zesty dipping sauces. After that, they brought us an amuse bouche of a small fried wonton type item filled with Camembert cheese…yummy..Entrees were tenderloin and scallops. The tenderloin came with truffle potatoes and beef marrow on toast..very good. Scallops were on a skewer with different dipping sauces. The wonderful and friendly sommelier there choose glasses of wine for each course. We shared a dessert of three different types of lemon desserts…each one was better than the one before it. We rolled out of there!







5/31/09: Back to Orient for our LAST full day…very melancholy about this. So, we got there early to make the most of it. We had lunch at Papagayo that day. I had a BLT and my husband had a club sandwich on a baguette (who could argue with that) and a couple of beers. I think it was around $25.00 total. During happy hour we had some guavaberry coladas, which we fell in love with! Believe it or not, we’ve never tasted guavaberry. (We made up for lost time). After saying goodbye to Orient for another year, we decided on Mark’s Place for dinner. I had the creole chicken tonight and my husband had the veal parmagiana. Both were excellent, as usual. Went back to Les Balcons and began the sad task of packing.

6/1/09: Checked out, said our goodbyes to Carine and headed to Royal Palm to return our cell phone to Sharon. By the way, first time I used her, and it worked out great. She provided good service and it was very reasonable. Then we headed to the airport and turned in the car to Lesley, who was there right on scheduled..how does that man do it… We had a bite to eat at the airport, bought some Ma Dou Dou there since we didn’t get to pick it up at the Ma Dou Dou shack this time. Flight was on time, no issues getting back to Newark. All in all, another memorable trip.