TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Back to the Real World! Long...

I'ts so hard to get back to the real world after a vacation like the vacation I just had. St. Martin was absolutely fabulous....... Let's start with the beginning of our trip:<br><br>Day 1: Thanksgiving Day... Cheated and went to a nice restaruant in Sebastopol for dinner instead of cooking. Went home and finished packing. Limo picked us and our neighbors (Doug and Paige) and off we were to San Francisco for a red-eye flight. This was perfect as we were more than a little relaxed by the time we got there. Basically slept all the way to Philly. <br><br>Day 2: Our next flight got us into San Juan at around 11:00 am, checked into the Embassy Suites and got a cab to Old San Juan. Walked around forever, got lost looking for a restaruant that must be gone and found a new one to eat at that I have already forgotten the name of..... A few Pina Coladas will do that to you. Back to the hotel for some good old sleep to prepare us for Saint Martin!<br><br>Day 3: Landed in SXM, Leslie from Kenny's Car Rental was there waiting with our car as he said he would be (GREAT GUY WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMMEND HIS CAR RENTAL AGENCY). Off to find the Pelican but, wait a minute, had to wait about 20 minutes to get away from the airport. With all the traffic in front of us, we finally figured out it was the delay with the Bridge!! Anyway, got to the Pelican, found out there was a bit of confusion with our room and ended up bunking with our neigbors on their "Die-A-Bed" (thats really "hide-a-bed" but, you feel like you've died after sleeping on them...... Prior to sleeping like the dead...... we drove right-a-way to the Peg Leg Pub and met Shawn. What a great guy! It was then that we were introduced to our new "drug"... the famous......BBC'S (Banana,Bailey's,Coconut) Frozen drink[img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img]. Then had to indulge in all sorts of appetizers that made you really thirsty so you "just had to have another" BBC. Bought the obligatory Peg Leg T-shirts and tanks (so we could look like we'd been there awhile already) and then drove to Phillipsburg. Whoops, got sucked into a little store Called "Shopper's Haven" ALL HUSBANDS BEWARE, BEWARE, DANGER WILL ROGERS, BEWARE.At least that's what my husband would say, we just went in to "look", three hours later we decided to see what the rest of the town offered! (Ken in Shoppers Haven is very informative and knowledgable about loose stones...... [img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img].) They really liked our friends, she walked out of there with a fabulous ceylon sapphire.... I was still going to "look about". Later went to Le Grand Marche, great new grocery store, stocked up on CHAMPAGNE, breakfast foods, etc.... That night, went to Lee's for Lobster. Oh my Good Lord, it's the best.....<br><br>Day 4: ORIENT BEACH: This is a great beach in all aspects, great places to eat, swim, tan, etc.... Hung out at Bikini Beach Bar. More BBC's had lunch at Kon Tiki (Mmmmmm). That night went back to the Peg Leg Pub for Filet Mignon... Very tender and tasty (yes more BBC's too).<br><br>Day 5: BAIE ROUGE... This was probably my favorite beach. Chez Raymond is a little dive which serves great fish, and good drinks right out to you in your beach chair. Warning: There are NO POTTIES anywhere.. ask for one and they point you to the ocean... There is a major undertow here and it feels like it's going to suck you back home! After screaming a few times, I gave up, ........Couldn't do it. So, go before you get to Baie Rouge. Afterward drove to Marigot to Match bought more Champagne, cheese, bread, salami etc...... That night went to Boathouse for Lobster again ( a bit tougher then Lee's) but they do have the Best Coconut Shrimp in the area. Crab cakes aren't bad either.<br><br>Day 6: AMERICA'S CUP REGATTA CHALLENGE: This was soooo much fun. I was a "winch wench" which they said is Medium active activity.... NOT it's work but, fun at the same time. They guys were Main Grinders and Paige was a Primary Grinder... We also won which ended the race on a nice note for us. Went to Chesterfields next door for lunch... Very tasty food, great service. At this point, I decided maybe we should "look around" Philipsburg one more time, as it was my birthday and all.......Whoops just happened to walk by Shopper's Haven again.. what do you know... They STILL had the beautiful loose diamond that I liked<br>[img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img]. Needless to say, a couple hours later I heard a most welcome "Happy Birthday Honey" from my Honey and that sparkler was getting set into my favorite setting (which I happened to already own!)....Oh and my neighbor didn't fare to bad either.... a beauty of a matching sapphire bracelet now sits upon her wrist![img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img] At this point, I have now been banned from Philipsburg by my husband... birthday or not.. So we go to Le Perroquet for dinner. Their french onion soup has got to be the best on the island.... I'd kill for that recipie right now....<br><br>Day 7: Guys decide to go diving at Tintemarre and also decide to go on a night dive. They saw a Monster size EEL.....Yuck...[img]/images/icons2/spook.gif[/img] Actually they were very excited, Would really recommend Jim and Scuba Fun behind Hot Tomatoes. He was more than helpful, took care of everything, they had a blast. Paige and I decided to drive to ...WHOOPS ... Philipsburg.... We actually hung out at the beach in front of Holland House and watched the cruise ship passengers go by......Fogot to eat.. Had a couple Malibu Rum Punches. That night us girls went to Banana's for onion rings and then to the Boathouse for more Coconut Shrimp and Crabcakes.. That was dinner! Home and to Bed early.<br><br>Day 8: SUNSET BEACH BAR..... Great place, checked out the planes. Didn't realize that you get Majorly Sand Sprayed by the jets TAKING OFF... Don't know where my head was as soon as I felt the sand, ran screaming into the ocean..... all of a sudden remembered the admonitions to be careful by fellow TTOL'ers...... Had to have a drink to get the scare off.....[img]/images/icons2/blush.gif[/img] Went to Uncle Harry's for an early Lobster Dinner. Very good. Watched the team from the 12 meter racing sink a sailboat during their Christmas party, great entertainment! Went to Maho Casino. Had a snack at Cheri's... so so food, pretty "young" as in small children entertainment. Went to Bamboo Bernie's to listen to the reggae band, forgot their name, but they were very good. Love the neon tree at Bamboo Bernies!<br><br>Day 9: Went to SABA..... Took the Edge II, it should be renamed the "New Vomit Comet".... for example.. there was a whole little league baseball team going to Saba to play a championship game.. they were excited, smiling, rough-housing, even whooping as we took off... Within 1/2 an hour the groans began.... At least 2/3 of the team was using every trash receptacle..... Poor little sickies.... Lucky for us we had no problem with sea-sickness but, MANY others did. Saba is a fabulous unspoiled little island. Not much do do, Took and hour tour and saw most of it, bought some Saba lace, and then went to Scouts Place for lunch and relaxing by the pool. Once again, the guys were diving.. they said it was the best they've ever seen.....absolutely pristine and one of the top 5 diving spots in the world. After a very rough trip back on the Edge II, we went to Lee's again for lobster. Tasty! Bought our Rum Jumbie to take home from Le Grand Marche, (the painted bottles are $18.00 each).<br><br>Day 10: ORIENT BEACH again.. hung out at KaKao. Great service. Decent food. Went to the Greenhouse that night for the TTOL party... met a lot of you, i.e. Carl Stone etc..... A fun bunch of people..... The party wound up early so we went to Maho to Club Q that night for some late night dancing. The guys got to dance with the "twins"[img]/images/icons2/blush.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/groovin.gif[/img] HELLO! and had a great time. Just a note, "Island Casual" is really not acceptable here. Rob had dress sandals with his Tommy Bahama Shirt and Shorts and they wouldn't let us in at first. Susie and her group showed up, (they had on sandals too) and she got all of us in..... (need I say the Twins got us in?) Regardless, all of us girls were told we could go in from the get-go it was the sandals on the men that they didn't like.... Danced for a few hours, then Got up a few hours later to board our plane and head home....<br><br>Day 11: Home..... Please note: the restaurant at the Juliana Airport does not open till 11:00 am on Sundays..... Ham and Cheese Panini in the morning hours after a late night out are really not the tastiest, but, you do what you have to do,,,,, paninis for breakfast it was!<br><br>San Juan was a MESSS...we were rerouted from our connection in Charlotte to Philly instead... (they did give us First Class Seats which were very nice) then, delayed in Philly to San Francisco... Finally......Got home about 2:30 am and here we are..... Real Life sets in again.....<br><br>By the way... first thing I did was go buy the ingredients for BBC's... yes Shawn at Peg Leg did give me a few pointers on how the make the Best! New Year's Eve Party is once again at my house this year!!Whooo-Hoooo![img]/images/icons2/groovin.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/groovin.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img] Had a great time in SXM! Teresa <br><br> Oh one more thing.... a lot of gas stations, restaurants, the Pelican, will not take $100 bills, I'd suggest a lot of $50 and $20 instead..