July 1992. We had just finished paying off the mortgage on our first house. Prior to that we had been booking vacations on a "last minute" site to get a cheap holiday anywhere we could. Now we had the opportunity to expand our horizons a bit. My husband had worked in the Caribbean for the first 20 years of his career and wanted to go to an island that he had not worked on. That made for a short list. We were in the habit of going to all-inclusives and looked for one in St. Martin. At that time, Le Flamboyant in Nettle Bay offered an all-inclusive that turned out to be first class. Ordering from a menu, table service, French cuisine, superb plating.
We rented a car for a couple of days to have a look at the rest of the island and fell in love with it. Came back 25 times over the years, staying at different places on both sides of the island. My husband said he liked the "adult vibe" of the island. We came with other family members on occasion, encouraged friends and family to come and see what this island had to offer. (Encouraged my husband's son to come. Big mistake. He can get into trouble anywhere.)
Always stayed on the French side until an unfortunate incident on the road late one night made us think twice about driving at night. We switched to the Dutch side and spent our final trips at Maho.
Love this island. Great memories.