So as noted above, after the trials of our journey, we arrived at our rental in Orient Village, which was lovely. This was our first visit since early 2017 and we were pleased to find most things seemed to be restored since the hurricanes. We were a bit fried so our first stop on now Sunday evening was YellowSub. After some fruity drinks and multiple appetizers, we headed home to rest our weary heads.

Monday morning, I headed out to purchase a swimsuit. Couldn't find anything quite appropriate in Orient or Grand Case (if only I were 30 years younger and lighter). However, a quick google search found Kaptiva near Simpson Bay, where I was able to find something nice that didn't cost a fortune (though I don't know why I was worried about cost since American is ultimately paying for this). While I was out hunting swimsuits, the rest of our travel party headed to Hope Estate and stocked up on groceries at Super U, which they were pleased was well stocked
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Back to Orient and we had lunch at Wai Beach club, which is on the site where Kakao was located on our last visit. Lunch was very good, beach was lovely and didn't notice much sargassum. Dinner Monday was at Le Telegraphe. Food was very good but service was a bit slow, perhaps because they were extremely busy. Highlight of the evening was the 9:30 call from the airport saying my bag had arrived and they would deliver soon. By 11:30 I was finally unpacked and totally in vacation mode.

The rest of our stay had a lather/rinse/repeat feel that was most satisfying. Breakfast at the house, supplemented with pain chocolate from Good Morning Cafe. During the day we visited several beach clubs for lunch on Orient and Grand Case, including Coco Beach, La Playa (2x), and Les Temps des Cerises. All were wonderful. We'd then relax back at the house for a bit before heading to dinner. In Orient we dined at Le Piment (2x) and Maison Mere. Both were excellent and the "a moment of freshness" salad at Maison Mere was sublime. In Grand Case, Bistrot Caraibes was just as good as we remembered. On Thursday, we had reservations for dinner at Ocean 82. However, after a superb and filling lunch at Les Temps des Cerises, we stopped at Bacchus in Hope Estate on the way back to Orient. That shop is amazing! We picked up some nice wines and some wonderful gourmet delicacies. We decided to just stay in and work our way through these gourmet nibbles rather than go back out to dinner. I do not regret this decision, as much as I love Ocean 82.

Given lost a few days early on, we scrapped some of our day trip plans (Pinel, Rainforest Adventures) in order to just have a relaxing few beach days.
After nearly five years, it was so nice to return and find the island still so amazing.

Despite our travel ordeal getting there this trip, we are now booked to return in May for a shorter visit. Maybe we'll get to do some of those day trips.....or maybe I visit Bacchus early during our visit and stock up so there is no need to leave the house/pool.

I have some photos and will try to figure out how to add them here