We will be in the island a total of 3 weeks. We are so blessed to be able to do that. This is the first time we have used Kenny's car rental. WOW what great service. I was so happy to not have to wait in a rental car van etc. We did the paperwork and were done within 10 min. He helped me with the bags as my husband has a bad back at the moment and more than likely will have surgery when we return but we didn't want to cancel the trip.
We are a bit strange when we travel. My husband likes certain things and one is good food that we can enjoy on the balcony overlooking the ocean, listening to the waves and enjoying our wine. We usually bring some wine with us from our own cellar as they are usually special things that we buy specifically for vacation or to celebrate things. So I always find it funny that we bring a suitcase full of wine and other comforts, half a suitcase with our scuba stuff and only half a suitcase of clothes : ). Belair has laundry although it is $2.50 for a wash and $2.50 for a dryer and that doesn't include laundry detergent.
Knowing Belair and having stayed here before we decided to buy an electric grill to use. We bought one at Amazon and put it in one of our suitcases. Despite all of the wrapping a few plastic pieces came apart but it still works. We will leave it for the maid when we leave. It was well worth the $40 and will do it again.
The first week was with my sister and brother-in-law. Husband and I are celebrating 20 years of marriage and they were celebrating their 10th anniversary. I arranged for a photo shoot on Cupecoy beach. The photo shoot was done by Lili Peterson Photography. If any one is interested in her info just google her or you can PM me. She did a great job and Cupecoy was the perfect spot for it.
My sister was very surprised and we all loved it.
We then went to Ocean's 82 in Grand Case for dinner and had a great experience.
We went to Dreams later one afternoon. It was really nice and the food and service were great. The only sad thing was at 4 pm we were told we had to leave because a wedding was coming and they had reserved the entire restaurant. We were disappointed in that. The beach was nice there. A little bit of seaweed had come on shore but it was not horrible.
My sister and husband stayed at Divi in a one bedroom unit overlooking great Bay. We are staying at Belair for all 3 weeks.
Here are some pros and cons of both places in case you are interested.
Divi has a community grill up the hill close to the infinity pool. You have to reserve a spot and the utensils are shared so you are supposed to go to the front desk to get the utensils. We grilled several times over there since it is a propane grill and much easier to deal with but we ended up investing $5 on a spatula and tongs of our own so we didn't have to worry about getting the utensils etc each time and it was well worth it. We are here 2 more weeks and can use it with our electric grill which we tried last night and worked beautifully.
The room at Divi was not well appointed for 4 people. There were only 3 of most things. The Belair has 6 of everything which made things much easier. The water pressure was not the greatest at Divi compared to Belair. The furnishings are more modern at Divi and of course they have a nicer little store, and more amenities. The Pizza at the bar at Divi is very good. We did eat at Gingerbread cafe once. We had coconut shrimp and a burger and both were great.
Everyone was very friendly at both Divi and Belair. Divi is a bit high pressure about the timeshares. There is a lady called Darlene at Divi who we have seen each time we are here and she is very pushy but very sweet at the same time. We just told her we had already done the presentation a few years ago and were not interested and eventually she gave up.
We spent time at Divi and they spent time at Belair. We all agreed that the view at Belair is the best. There is more fresh air and you can't beat the sound of the crashing waves.
There were a couple of days last week that we saw some seaweed near Belair and Divi. Yesterday there were huge patches out at sea that you could see from our top level unit at Belair but nothing came on shore.
Both Divi and Belair keep their beaches raked so it did not bother us at all.
We walked up to the Fort and the gate was open so it was fine.
Many cruise ships off and on so I printed off a schedule and we avoid Phillipsburg on cruise ship days.
We saw patches of the seaweed out at sea when we were flying in.
I think we will return to Dreams as we really enjoyed the food. I had sushi and it was delicious. My sister had a shrimp wrap and it was wonderful. Husband had coconut shrimp which was great and brother in law had a burger which he said was great also.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have while we are here or later.
