We just returned from 14 wonderful days of sun and fun on the island. This past year was not a good year for most people in the world. For us it was one of opposites. My wife is a business owner and a top-flight account and she had the busiest and most harrowing year of her business. Her customer’s needed her more than ever and as usual she rose to the occasion but at the cost of spending much more time at work. I am retired and due to covid basically didn’t leave the house for a whole year. My point, we both needed this time away, together.

SXM and the Belair was the perfect solution for our covid blues. We knew it was a bit of a risk traveling anywhere but our reasoning was that we were vaccinated and even being around home was a risk so we decided to take that risk and we are really glad we did.

Highlights

Eighty-plus degrees every day, eighty-degree water temps were a balm for our soul. We swam (floated) every day, multiple times a day and loved every second.

The Belair – What can I say, we love this place. It’s small, safe, intimate, clean and has everything we need. Comfortable rooms with comfortable furniture and beds, a small but usable kitchen and a large set of sliding doors that face the ocean. This trip we were super spoiled with a ground floor unit and we had about fifteen steps from our porch to the sand and our assigned beach chairs. A small, clean pool directly connected to the Gingerbread Café that serves breakfast, lunch, happy hour (with Bradley, a great bartender who’s laugh is contagious) and dinner. There is a small but surprisingly well stocked mini-store on-site. A big plus for us is direct sidewalk connection with Divi Little Bay giving us access to all they offer including Gizmo’s Beach Bar and another mini-store, café and lots more. Every morning we would walk into Divi over to the Great Bay side of the peninsula.

The Island - We did several drives around the island and compared to our September 2018 trip everything looked better. Less ship wrecks, less visible damage, more businesses open and more new cars. (In the twenty plus years visiting the island I do not remember seeing so many new cars). Traffic wasn’t bad but anyone that knows driving on the island, one broken down car or truck can cause a major traffic jam. A plus for us, I know the island well enough now that I can drive anywhere on the island without a map. It’s almost like traveling back to the home town you no longer live in. It all looks familiar but your excited to drive around to see what has changed and what hasn’t.

The people – SXM really is ‘the friendly island’ and it’s not a contrived tourist slogan – it's the truth. The locals are all friendly and usually with a little prodding most are willing to share their story. For us it is one of the major reasons we come here.

Kenny’s Car Rental – A trip to the island without seeing Lesley...well it just wouldn’t be the same. Thanks Lesley. Wow and what a beautiful new car this year. Fabulous.

Observations

Philipsburg looks a little sad. We are not frequent shoppers here but we do enjoy walking the waterfront and have always enjoyed hanging at The Blue Bitch. I know the cruise ships being dormant have had a major effect on the island economy and I hope that will start to turn things around. Grand Case was a disaster on our last trip. Glad to see it back to business. Marigot was also looking more normal too.

Ship watching has always been a pastime for my wife and I whether its near home watching 1000’ Lake Freighters or the cruise ships in Saint Martin. Using the MarineTracker app we find the name and where it has been or is going is fascinating to us. There is always ship traffic at The Belair being so close to the main port. This year – the cruise ships were really acting crazy. I know, skeleton crews, keeping the ships clean and running. But what are those crews doing when the ship hangs out at anchor for days somewhere off island?

Food – I know that the plethora of restaurants is one of the major attractions of the island. Due to covid concerns we decided to eat at only outdoor type settings but also to do more cooking at ‘home’. We were very excited to see how well the Carrefour in Cole Bay has been rebuilt. This store is great, I know maybe not cheap but still cheaper than eating out. We loved the food available here, the fruits and veggies, the salmon even the beef seems better than back at home. Maybe it’s like camping, everything tastes better. I detailed the meals out on our daily report but to reiterate the places we went and like: Gingerbread Café, great menu and great food and drink, SMYC still our go-to breakfast, Chesterfields and Avantika our two new favorites, Mark’s Place always good and lots of food, Buccaneer Beach Bar – still a favorite, great coconut shrimp and fabulous fries.

Well that’s all for now. Cannot wait to return but then my wife always points out, the worlds is a big place.