This is our trip report from our September 7 to 17, 2007 trip to St. Maarten/St. Martin. Eric’s brother Gerald came long for part of the time and stayed in the other bedroom at Sunset Breezes, where we stayed this time. We often travel to SXM in September or October and we love it then! It was great, as always. No traffic, the weather is hot, the water is warm. What’s not to like?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> This is really a rush job, so I apologize in advance for the mistakes. As per usual these days, I will try to divide this up into sections, so you can ignore those portions that don’t interest you.
NIGHT BEFORE TRIP IN ORLANDO Since we have an hour and a half trip to Orlando these days, we decided to book a pre- trip night in a hotel and leave our car there at the hotel on a Park N Fly package. Previously, I had done a Park N Fly package at LaQuinta Airport Hotel West, which was a lot cheaper than this one, but you get what you pay for. The hotel was cheap, the walls were paper thin (OK, you know the walls are thin when you can hear the guy in the next room go to the bathroom… <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" /> , the area of town was baaaad, , etc., etc. It was something like $80 a night, including 10 nights of parking, but it was bad, and I wouldn’t go back there.
This trip, we booked the Best Western Airport. It was $120 a night, including 7 nights of free parking. Additional nights were $3 per night after that. The hotel is about 5 stories, and our unit had an apartment sized fridge, a microwave, love seat, safe, iron and ironing board, hair dryer, and wireless internet. I could have wished for a second TV in the love seat area, but didn’t really miss it for one night. Normally we wouldn’t even had been watching TV probably, but Indianapolis and New Orleans were playing that night. We didn’t hear a peep from any neighbors and I know there were several other people on our floor. There was a hot breakfast buffet, including sausage links, egg rounds, and waffles, but no fruit except apples, from something like 6:30 to 9:30 AM. There was also a complementary manager’s cocktail reception party from 6 to 8 pm M-F. The free airport shuttle operated on the hour from 5 am to noon, then on demand until 1 am. The only bad thing I could say about the place is that I didn’t see anyplace decent to eat that was real close. We ate at home before we arrived. There was an IHOP and a Burger King, etc, very close, but I didn’t see much else, although I confess I did not look too hard, since we had already eaten. Upon our return home, we happened to call at a really good time, I guess, as the shuttle was actually in the parking lot when we walked up and right onboard. I would stay there again.
AIR TRANSPORTATION We had originally booked frequent flyer tickets on American for 25,000 miles each. Then as a result of airfare sales by Spirit, and then AA, we found we could get roundtrip tickets from Orlando to SXM for $300, including taxes. So, we switched our AA FF tickets to March and purchased tickets for September. Weirdly, since the original FF tickets were 25,000 miles and the new ones for March were 30,000 miles, they treated it as a ‘cancellation’ and re-book, instead of just switching the dates. So, we had to pay a cancellation fee. We felt it was worth the money, since we re-booked for Heineken next year, and the price was sooooo cheap for this one.
We arrived at the airport at 7:10 AM. For AA anyway, at Orlando, you can check in at the kiosk, including checking bags. You can print out an itinerary confirmation at home which can scan in to their computer, and you can put your passports into the scanner also and check in that way. There weren’t many people in line at all and when the scanner didn’t seem to work exactly correctly, a lady came over and put all our stuff in the scanner. Two minutes later, another lady called us up to the counter to check our bags. No muss, no fuss!! We arrived at the airport at 7:10 AM (this was on a Friday in September, though…) and were checked in, bags checked, through security, and at our gate by 7:30 AM.
There were no problems on our flight from Orlando to SJU. They had a breakfast sandwich for purchase on the flight, which we got one and split, since we weren’t sure about our lunch plans. At SJU, we got a drink and some chips and salsa at that awful little restaurant by the AA gates. Upon arrival in SXM, our flight was on time, there was almost no line for immigration, our bags came out in about five minutes, and we were about 25 minutes total from landing to being in the car! I love going to SXM in September!!
By the way, we normally stay at a hotel, so we of course put LaVista Beach, or Club O, whatever on our immigration forms. We put Sunset Breezes on our form this time and the immigration dragon lady had no idea what we were talking about and made us dig out our paperwork for the actual street address. Gerald’s brother came in a couple of days later and he put something to the effect of “condo above the cruise ship pier” on his form. The dragon lady kept his passport and made him come out and find Eric to get the actual address, before he could get the passport back! So, just be advised if you’re staying someplace that’s not a hotel, be prepared to give an address, or just say “Pelican” or something.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
Flight home—
The AA counter opens waaay early, earlier than we could ever get there. On the last day we puttered around the house and got to the airport around 10:15 AM. There were about 4 lines for check-in and we basically walked right up to the counter, checked bags and were out in 5 minutes. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> Our flight from SXM left on time into San Juan. In San Juan, you clear immigration, customs and have to re-check bags. That part of SJU airport was fine and we were probably done with all of that in about 20 minutes tops. Unfortunately, you have to go through security again there. The lines were long, and we ended up in the line for a security screener who was apparently on her first day on the job. She took about a full minute to screen each bag, and she was calling for a hand inspection on just about every other bag. It was very irritating. Security took about another 40 minutes, in addition to the rest of the ‘festivities’ in SJU.
They are doing quite a bit of construction in SJU, and some parts of the airport are actually quite nice now, and there is actually some decent food available for take-out down by some of the OTHER airlines’ counters–not AA of course. We picked up a good salad to take on the plane with us for dinner in the newer section of the terminal. The flight leaving SJU was 45 minutes late leaving, so what else is new? We arrived home finally at 12 midnight, about a half hour later than we had thought. All in all, with basically no other delays on any flight, a very good outcome..
ACCOMMODATION – SUNSET BREEZES We checked out several places online, but since it was September, we decided to change our usual policy and stay on the Dutch side. We basically go to Orient Beach every day and during high season, we generally stay on the French side, so we don’t have to worry about traveling so far to get to the beach. This time we settled on Sunset Breezes, a TTOL sponsor. It was really quite a comfortable stay and I can very much recommend it.
Sunset Breezes is located on the hill above the cruise ship pier, at Point Blanche. Basically, you go to the cruise ship pier entrance, go to the next left and travel up the hill a bit and you are there. It is a gated community of what seemed to be mostly full time residents, although there are some other rental properties there. Generally, it took us about 20 to 25 minutes to get to Club Orient, along mostly back roads, so I doubt the commute time in high season would be much different. Because Eric’s brother took a flight trip to Saba while we were there, and we had to pick him up and drop him off at the airport as he arrived and departed, both from the States and Saba, we made several trips to the airport. One trip we made in 20 minutes, but in general, it took about 30 minutes to the airport. Simpson Bay generally took about 20 to 25 minutes, as we often took the ‘other road’, (Link 2????--not sure what the name is) and avoided the Grand Marche/Cost U Less/ Mark’s roundabout area.
As the name indicates, the unit faces directly into the setting sun, so you can get some really nice sunset views, as you watch the cruise ships sail away. As you look up the hill, the road looks quite scary, but the road is wide and straight, and provides very little to worry about. There is 24 hour security, which was always awake and right by the gate whenever we came in, which was a good thing. There is a pool for the complex, with a view of Saba and St. Barts, which we actually thought we would use, but we never did. Parking is a bit of premium, but we never had a problem finding a place to park.
The unit consists of two bedrooms, each with it’s own in-suite bathroom. The second bedroom has it’s own TV with separate cable box (so they could watch a different channel than the main living room) and an outside entrance. The bedrooms both provide king beds, and separate a/c units from the one in the living/dining room area. Thus it really is quite comfortable for two couples to share. Eric’s brother came along with us for part of the trip, and it was quite nice for him to have his own ‘space’ for himself only. There is a TV, CD player and DVD player in the main living room, which looks out on the view of the cruise ship pier, and out over toward the Divi and Great Bay Beach Hotel. We appreciated having the charcoal grill out on the patio, and we used it for lunch a couple of times and dinner one night. There is a/c throughout the whole unit, and a full kitchen, including stove, fridge with ice and water through the door, microwave and dishwasher. There is also a washer and dryer, a really nice thing.
There is a window wall which opens all the way open during cooler times. For us, coming in September, a very nice thing was the motorized retractable awning out over the patio. We also have one at our house in Florida and know what a huge difference it can make in the temps when the afternoon sun hits the patio.
About 95% of the time, we were able to connect to a wireless signal, although I’m not really sure where it was coming from. Our biggest problems with connecting to the net occurred when there were two cruise ships in, and their wireless networks seemed to overwhelm the local ones! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> The unit has some nice beach toys available, like beach chairs, a small cooler and jug, beach umbrella, etc. The only thing that I really noticed was missing was a safe, which they really should put in, and I am going to tell Suzanne and Pat that.
SHARON HARRIS CELL PHONE As always these days, we rented a phone from Sharon Harris. The original physical phone developed an 'issue', so we were able to switch it with Sharon, retaining our original phone number. Thanks, Sharon, great service, as always!
CAR RENTAL This time we rented through Leslie at Kenny’s Car Rental. Leslie met us at the airport, and chastised us for checking bags!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Rofl.gif" alt="" /> He knows that we never used to check bags, in the good old days when you could take liquids onboard, and he expected us out with the carry-on people! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> In any event, we were in the car, and out of the parking lot soon, with a wonderful car with a few scrapes and scratches, but great a/c, power windows and locks and a cd player and lots of space inside. Thanks, Leslie, as always, great service! Just as we were driving up to the airport to leave, the tire went flat on the car!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> We apologized profusely to Leslie. We’re not sure what happened, as I guess we picked up a nail at Sunset or something. We had to drive the last 1/4 mile or so on a flat tire, and we hope we didn’t ruin the tire. We told Leslie to let us know if the tire was not salvageable and we would pay for it.
WEATHER The weather was absolutely spectacular. We had one day that we ate a late lunch and it came up a rain shower, so we just left the beach after lunch. Otherwise, we had no rain at all during the day that interrupted any trips to the beach. Other than the day we left to come home, we had only two days we did not go to the beach (our choice), but otherwise we were basically on the beach most all day of the other days of the 10. It was warm, of course, but we live in Florida now, thus it was cooler in SXM than home, and the water was bath water warm. There was a wonderful breeze every day on Orient, some days a little stronger than others, but nothing ‘sand blast’ at all...
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! Ah, why does SXM hold such sway in our hearts??? Surely, part of the attraction has to do with food, glorious food! And this time did not disappoint, as always.
Breakfast—Eric and his brother basically doesn’t eat breakfast, and so I cooked an egg or some toast for breakfast at the unit.
Lunch—in no particular order..
One of my favorite lunches on island is a rotisserie chicken on the beach, with cheese, grapes and wine. We got the chicken for $6 at
Sang’s Grocery Store , which is just down from Sunset Breezes, very close to Chesterfield’s. It’s very clean and nice, although their selection isn’t as big as some other stores. Another day, we picked up some huge foot-long ham and cheese sandwiches from Sang’s, for $4.50 each. We didn’t know that they would be that big, or we would have only bought one! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> We got several quick things from Sang’s, as it was very convenient. We also picked up a HUGE wheel of gouda cheese there for $21 and brought it home in our carry-on. Security in San Juan wanted to hand inspect my bag to check it and they laughed when they saw what it was. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Otherwise, we got our major groceries at Grand Marche, including some burgers and some very nice pre-seasoned ribs to cook on the grill.
The Perch —A couple of times we got the sandwiches offered at the Perch for lunch. We had a burger, chicken sandwich and ribs, and all were good. They were priced around $12 or so. Right now, it’s offered every day except Sunday. They are large enough that unless you’re really hungry, you can split them, and the dress code is good! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> I like that they have French fries with their meals now instead of the baked potatoes, which always seemed cold. Unfortunately, there are no longer paninis at the Perch, or hotdogs. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" />
Pedro’s —At least one day I send Eric down for an order of chicken and ribs and fries from Pedro’s and we split it. It was good, as always, but the price is now 14 Euro. Pretty steep for what you get now, I think.
Sunset Beach Bar --For lunch the day we were coming home, we stopped by Sunset and got their steak sandwiches. They are $11 each now, and I was disappointed, as the meat was tough, not nearly as good as it used to be.
Koko Marina –We had another lovely lunch this time at Koko Marina, on Orient. Gerald met us there for lunch, and we enjoyed a meal with chicken and shrimp kebobs and snapper with scalloped potatoes for Eric and I and a huge burger for Gerald.
Sunset Breezes, aka Chez Hill <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> I was coming down with some type of a bug the first Sunday we were there, so we cooked burgers on the grill at Sunset Breezes for lunch and spareribs on the grill for dinner and just hung out and watched some football games. It was quite nice. We also cooked burgers on the grill the day that Gerald went home, so he’d have a decent meal before traveling.
DINNER, in no particular order...
Halsey’s –Our first night on island, we opted for Halsey’s, which was very nice. I had this pineapple soup, which the waitress warned me was spicy. I ordered it anyway! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> It was fabulous, but I couldn’t finish it all, as my mouth was burning! REALLY recommended, if you love spicy stuff!! I also had a really nice steak with a sauce, that I can’t remember what it was now, as I forgot to take notes from that night! Eric had the pork special.
The Greenhouse –The Greenhouse was about a two minute drive from Sunset Breezes, so I would have thought that we would have made it there more often, but just didn’t make the time, I guess. Eric and Gerald went there a couple of times for beers. One night we weren’t particularly hungry, so we had an order of potato skins and an order of chicken fingers, with two for one wine by the glass and called that dinner.
Tabba Khady --I understand now why people have made such a fuss over this place! We had a wonderful meal there with Norm and Betty and friends of theirs who were also staying at Oyster Bay Beach Resort. We enjoyed a wonderful crispy pork egg roll appetizer and I had the beef tenderloin with curry and coconut milk, Eric had the grouper and we shared a chocolate dessert. All was excellent.
Bistrot Cariabes –Bistrot was one of the places that Gerald particularly wanted to dine, as we always go there with him, and he enjoys meeting and talking to Thibault and Amoury each time. This time, we met Marilyn and Howard for dinner, SXM residents that we met our last time on island. I had the french onion soup and scallops over mashed potatoes, Eric the garlic soup with escargot and the veal. Since I couldn’t get Eric to share the onion soup with me this time, I had to pass on my favorite creme brulee in the world, but Gerald had one for me! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> We had just a lovely time, and as usual, closed down the restaurant around 10:30, after sharing a couple of rounds of their famous rum drink with Thibault at the end.
Peg Leg –A must of course, for beef eaters like me, is Peg Leg. Sean was there, which was great, as always. Gerald had the bourbon steak, I had the kebabs and Eric had the rib eye. As always, some of the best beef on the island!!
La Rosa Too --We went to dinner one night with Sharon Harris at La Rosa Too. She conned me into sharing her soup with her, which was excellent, although not being Italian, I can’t spell it.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> I think I made the wrong choice for an entre though, as I had the tortellini and I thought it was very tough. As I said, I guess I’m not a real Italian. Eric very much enjoyed his spinach crepe and chicken with a red sauce with spaghetti and we split a chocolate dessert with some type of liquor in it, and we waddled off home to bed.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
Lady C –I had a hankering for pizza one night, so we stopped by Lady C, intending to go to Pizza Galley, which was closed until October. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" /> We decided to stay at Lady C, as we just wanted something light anyway, so had some huge burgers and chicken shish kebobs.
Toppers –Eric had the pasta with clam sauce and I the filet mignon. The filet wasn’t as good as when Bananas served it, but they have put in a bunch of fans in the back, and even though it was September, it was comfortable in there, unlike days past when it was hot as hades back there.
Jimbo’s We had never eaten at Jimbo’s, but I think it will be one of our favorites from now on for a casual meal. We really enjoy Tex-Mex food and it’s a great place for a light meal of comfort food. I didn’t find the exact combination I wanted on the menu, so I ordered a taco on the side in addition to my meal of quesidillas, and it and the strawberry margarita was excellent! Eric had the enchiladas. The only bad thing I can say is that they charge for chips and salsa, although it does come with guacamole. This actually was the first guacamole I’ve ever enjoyed, as it was spicy and good, not that green slab of stuff that you normally get. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
OPENINGS, CLOSINGS AND PEOPLE STUFF We actually only went to Grand Case once for dinner, so we can’t really make a full report of what was open there, but not much was. Bistrot Cariabes was open though, so we had dinner there, of course, as it is a must dine place for us. Thibault and Amoury are busy with their units at Mt. Vernon, it seems doing a lot of the renovations themselves—see the other section about hotel inspections. LeCottage is closed until sometime in October, but we had a meeting with Bruno, who outlined his new plans for the restaurant for this year. He plans to offer the traditional menu, but also greatly expanded choices for hot and cold appetizers, thinking that the average customer would enjoy one cold appetizer, one hot one and a dessert. Similar to what Le Piccolo was doing. I think it should be successful in Grand Case. Bruno is also going to start doing day boat trips on a small boat. I can’t figure out where he gets all that energy!!
Buccaneer was closed, of course. We asked a couple of people on island who should have known, whether they had heard from Neil, and no one had.
We were having dinner at Topper’s on Sunday night and Linda from Peg Leg Pub came in, so we enjoyed a really nice dinner and chat with her, and with Jimmy from Topper’s. We missed seeing Jack this time. We met Jimbo for the first time, and had a nice long chat with him at the restaurant.
For those of you that have been here a while, you may remember Brian, a young fellow who just up and decided to move to St. Maarten to work, a few years ago. He started out at Bananas, and we saw him one night tending bar at Lady C. Actually I’m not sure he really remembered us, but he was nice to us.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
Most all the places in Simpson Bay were open, although we tried to go to Pizza Galley one night and it was closed till October. I guess I was fated not to get any pizza on island this time. We also tried to go to Skipjack’s on Sunday night, and it was closed for the night, so we didn’t get to try it out.
Sputters was open one night when we went by, so we stopped in. Ric and Kathy have sold it, and the lady who was there didn’t know whether they were still on island or not.
CASINOS Even though we stayed on the Dutch side this time, we didn’t get to the casino a lot. We went to Pelican twice, breaking even on blackjack and Caribbean stud. We went back the second time so I could play 25 cent roulette, which they have before 8 PM. It was a pretty awful experience, as I just couldn’t win anything. Very disappointing. We went one night to the “Evil Empire”, (aka, the Westin <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />). Wow, how disappointing!! The casino is very small, it’s dingy, it’s boring. I actually won a reasonable amount at roulette, but I was shocked at how bad a casino it is. Our last night, we went to the Tropicana and we shouldn’t have! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> We were basically exactly even for our stay until then and we lost our a$$es that night. We didn’t get to any other casinos this time.
ORIENT BEACH STUFF As most of you probably know, Club O is closed until the first of October, with full re-opening not until mid October. Papagayo, Orientique and the resort itself were closed, but the Perch and the chair rentals were still operating. They were offering food from the Perch though, setting up the grill where they offered burgers, chicken sandwiches, ribs, hot dogs, and fish with French fries and slaw. Since Papagayo was closed, that was nice. Willie hurt her back while we were there, and we were sorry not to be able to say goodbye to her. There was a new gal bartending at the Perch when Willie was off. She was a nice girl, but VERY slow. We didn’t see the fellow. JP?? Can’t ever remember his name. They had basically gutted Orientique and they are doing some extensions onto Papagayo, and making the bar longer. They are also building a retaining wall on one side of Papagayo, where the water often came up close to the restaurant.
The office at Club O was open, so one could still buy the weekly chair pass for $100, which includes 7 days of chair/umbrella/car parking rental, which can be used within 9 days. We did that, and it was lovely to me, for Orient to be so uncrowded. Several times, we didn’t arrive until 11 or 12 o’clock and still had no problem finding a set of chairs right close to the Perch. We met Denis, who is the new manager at Club O and he seems quite a nice fellow and seems to have some nice plans for the resort. We talked about having some TTOL parties around sunset time at the Perch and I think we will probably get that done soon.
The beach was emptier than we’ve ever seen it, and we’ve often been there in September. I’m not really complaining though, as I enjoyed it. The sand was fairly wide all along, including being able to walk on dry sand past Pedros, except right up by Papagayo.
Baywatch was closed, but we knew that. Most all the rest of the places along Orient seemed to be open, although some were closed some days and not others. We tried to go to Le Piment in Orient Village for pizza one day and it was closed until October though. . Sorry, I don’t have any new info about nudity beyond Club O borders, as we really didn’t venture too far beyond Club O this time.
HOTEL and VILLA INSPECTIONS We made arrangements to meet with Thibault and Amoury from Bistrot Cariabes, to see one of their studios at
Mt. Vernon . I was really quite impressed with how nicely they are decorated and designed! They are basically just an open hotel room with a fridge, microwave and cooktop, but the tile work, decor and design is extremely tastefully done. The pictures on their website don’t really do it justice, to me. They currently have 3 units finished and available for rent, with two more coming online within the next month or so. The management is doing lots of upgrades at Mt. Vernon and there is a new parking lot at the bottom of the hill, sort of between the hotel and the water. There is now quite a bit of parking and it is lit at night. You only have to go up one flight of stairs to get to their units. They will also be re-paving the road within the next month or so. The pool there is absolutely huge and was sparkling clean.
Emile and Suzy at
Doves’ Nest are redoing two new units there, which were previously in long term rental. As with the other units there, the units are much more like apartments than hotel rooms, with full kitchens, living rooms and separate bedrooms. They are huge, comfortably furnished and most of the units have fabulous patios with views out over Petite Plage. When they finish the new units, there will be more pictures up on their website of the new units.
We were able to inspect
Villa Clarissa . For those of you familiar with Orient, it is on the hill immediately above Green Cay Villas, thus extremely convenient to Orient Beach and Grand Case. The villa boasts an extremely private swimming pool area, and an outstanding view out toward Pinel and Green Key. They are totally re-doing the gardens around the pool and doing some other maintenance right now and it should be stunning when they are finished. They offer discounts to TTOL members and offer a reduced rate if you do not need all three bedrooms.
We went by
Mary’s Boon the day we were leaving to check up on the changes there. They are making a lot of changes there that may not please long timers, but I think that overall, they will be big improvements. There is now a set of stairs going from the bar directly down onto the beach. You will be able to serve yourself drinks still, but there will be a bartender in the evenings now. The restaurant has been named The Tides and they will be offering a regular menu, not the specific entres for the day of the week. They will be offering formal dining on the beach on a permanent basis. They are upgrading the linens in the rooms and building a gift shop and activities desk, across from the pool. That’s all I remember now, as I didn’t take any notes, but I think overall, it will make the hotel better. Mark Cleveland was still there, not sure for how long, but he introduced us to Raul, who is in charge now.
We also had the opportunity to see Villa Eyola, which is about a two minute drive to Grand Case. The pictures on their website actually don’t really do it justice, as it is spectacular. We are trying to find some way to be able to afford to stay there. Http://p27521.typo3server.info/28.0.html
SABA AND DIVING Eric’s brother, Gerald, is a DiveMaster and long time diver in the Caribbean. He came down with us for part of the trip and did a dive in St. Maarten at Dock St. Maarten, and did a two day dive trip excursion to Saba via Winair, in which he did 6 total dives. He had a blast. If you have any questions about diving or Saba, send Gerald an email at
ghill@info-res.comOverall, it was lovely. Weather was great, we really enjoyed staying at Sunset Breezes, there was no traffic. Orient was fantastic, as always. Life is good. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
Guess that’s it. Let me know if you have any questions.
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