FRIDAY (Feb 20th) - Our flight was thankfully on time and we were quickly away from PHL’s cold winter weather. We had a flawless transfer for our economy car with Ace/Panoramic Car Rental. Decided to take a left out of the airport and go around to Maho and Sandy Ground – this avoided all the traffic and gave a nice view of the Lowlands. Stopped by two major grocery stores in Marigot but couldn’t find any eggs for breakfast fixin’s – can’t believe no eggs. By 4pm we were at Mt Vernon Apartments.

Mt. Vernon Apartments – we stayed at Nick & Gloria’s apartment #9310 in St. Kitts Building (http://yodaguyapartments.com). A nice large studio apartment with king size bed (actually two twins put together), kitchen, roomy sitting area, A/C and balcony. Not an ocean view but excellent value for $105/night (including taxes). Lots of little extra touches. Area has security and we always felt safe. One down side is that you are parking on the street therefore you are walking to the apartment. No big deal for us though. Most of the apartments are local residents and the area is mostly residential - so you will hear kids playing, dogs barking, roosters crowing, and even some practicing their musical instruments in the afternoon. This wasn’t a distraction for us – we actually liked the “homeness” feel to it.

For dinner we walked along the beach for about 200 yards to Boo Boo Jam’s. A nice place to eat. We had grilled mahi mahi and shrimp k’bobs (both a little overcooked to our liking). We were almost the only ones there for dinner. It was nice to not have to drive anywhere to dinner. The walk back was dark but again no issues with safety.

SATURDAY (Feb 21st) – This morning we walked along the beach down to Orient Bay Village for breakfast. Can’t believe how windy it is – must have been around 25 mph (which never let up all week) – some walkers were getting “whole body exfoliations” but we didn’t join in. Despite the wind, the beach was beautiful. It is wild to see cacti next to the ocean like that.

After a long leisurely walk back, decided to try Paradise View (hill above Orient Village) for lunch but it was not open – it looked permanently closed. So we drove to Grand Case and had lunch at Sunset Café – fun place with fabulous, but pricey, food. We had a fresh mozzarella/tomato salad and curry chicken (some of the best tasting curry the whole trip!). Tried two smaller grocery stores for eggs but none – officially given up, we will look for other ways to save some money (hah!).

Went back and relaxed by our pool. For dinner we went back to Grand Case. Parked on the street (great to have a small car). Ate at the Lolo “Talk of the Town” – great food and very reasonable prices (1E=$1). Had grilled mahi mahi and shrimp again – better here and better curried rice than Boo Boo Jam’s. Walked around taking in the active atmosphere – picked up some Etna ice-cream (1 scoop of coconut and 1 of coffee - Supper Yummy!)

SUNDAY (Feb 22nd) – Had breakfast at L’Ile Flottante in Grand Case – fabulous strong café au lait, chocolate croissants to die for, and huge omelets. Now time for some real exploring. Drove to Anse Marcel and hiked to Wilderness/Petite Cayes Beach. The board has some excellent directions – so I will only add my other observations – 1) the road that goes behind the marina to the treatment plant actually starts above the public parking area (at the parking lot entrance, turn left and go up the hill 50 yds), 2) when you arrive at the treatment plant you will see an arrow pointing right on a large metal wall indicating to the beach – you then duck under some brush and you are now on the trail, which is more of a rocky drainage path. 3) no real views until you get to the top and start heading down to the beach, 4) bring water it gets hot and 5) absolutely worth it!!! We saw two couples the entire time and had the beach to ourselves. The winds were still strong, but it felt nice on the hike.

Came back and decided to hang out at the beach (much more protected from the wind). Paid 20E for 2 chairs and 1 umbrella at La Veranda. Ordered lunch on the beach – one of the best hamburgers and side salad we had in a while, even if it was about 11E (of course a good hike and surreal view probably helped with the taste).

For dinner we were back at Grand Case and tried Spiga restaurant. We had squash soup, lobster bisque, homemade ravioli, shrimp 3 ways and tiramisu. While the food was good, it wasn’t excellent. (1E=$1)

MONDAY (Feb 23rd) – Back again to L’Ile Flottante for breakfast; then on to Marigot to walk around and explore the shops. Did a quick hike to the top of Ft Louis – nice views. Joined the cruise ship crowds as they shopped. Had to laugh at one guy who was lamenting that he sat down for a cold beer outside a jewelry store, and that beer is now costing him $3000 as his wife found something she loved inside the store. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> Loved the galleries in Marigot though we didn’t buy anything (never seem to fall in love with the less expensive pieces).

Today’s lunch was a smattering of the leftovers from the last couple of days. Spent the afternoon walking along Orient Beach and hanging out at the pool – still super windy. I guess there won’t be any snorkeling for us this vacation. Bummer!! For dinner we walked to Le Taitu (easy 10min walk on the Mt Vernon road, which has sidewalks for most of the way) – beautiful atmosphere – great scallop creole and grilled red snapper. Glad we had a flashlight for the walk back.

TUESDAY (Feb 24th) - Today we say goodbye to St Martin with a chocolate croissant to go from L’Ile Flottante as we head to the airport. Tried to drop off the car but no one was at the office. Yikes! We said we would drop off when they open at 9am and at 9:30am still no one shows up. Tried calling a couple of their numbers but no one answers. Slight panic – drive to the airport and drop off the luggage as I check-in with WinAir. Hubby drives back still no one was there so leave a note and he walks back to the airport (luckily it is only a mile away). We make the WinAir flight no problem but this leaves us unsettled to say the least. (quick side note – we finally make contact with Ace/Panoramic via phone and they say they have the car and no problems – can only hope nothing shows up on the credit card later).

Flight to Saba was actually pretty uneventful. Even with the shortest runway in the world for commercial flights, the plane stops with 1/3 of the length left. A perfectly clear day – you can see the top of Mt Scenary with no clouds and now the strong wind feels great (Saba has virtually no sand).

We stayed at Ecolodge Rendezvous (www.ecolodge-saba.com), which you actually need to hike about 3mins from the road drop off (pack light!). A great place, we had our own cottage with a mini hot tub, private solar shower, double bed, kitchen, and large porch (About $115/night with taxes). It is located halfway up the island at El. 1400.

Had a quick lunch at the lodge (fabulous jerk chicken sandwich and a roasted veggie sandwich) and then we were off to the top of Mt Scenary while it was still clear. This is a hard hike! Granted there are steps, but each step is around 12-18 inches high. Think stairmaster for almost 1500 elevation gain (felt like the Grand Canyon hiking we’ve done in the past). As we soon discovered there is no flat land in Saba, you are either walking steeply up or steeply down – with no let up. Close to the top you have a choice to go right and keep with the main trail to the communication tower or go left and get on a muddy unmaintained trail to the actual top with some rock scrambling (we went left! Because otherwise you can’t say you went to the top according to hubby. Ugg!). Nice views!

That night the lodge hosts an Indonesian feast. This is so worth it – even if you are not staying at the lodge, but you need to make reservations before you get there because they only take 10 tables. The food is fabulous. Each table gets their own set of 12+ bowls full of a variety of goodies (think tapas) – chicken satay, curried pork, spiced beef, pickled shrimp, rice, green papaya salad, corn cakes, and tons of fixins that accompany the mains ($25pp). Glad we had a kitchen for our leftovers!

The stars are absolutely amazing here – so dark you can see the Milky Way! Spent about 30min at the pool counting the shooting stars.

WEDNESDAY (Feb 25th) – Breakfast at the lodge (French toast and omelet). Walk down to Windward to explore (20min hike with about 500-ft elevation drop/gain) – neat little town with nice galleries and small shops. Decided that I wasn’t going to be interested in hiking down for dinner and sweating with the climb back in the dark.

Lunch was last night’s leftovers. And then we walked the Crispeen Trail to St John (about the same effort as to get to Windward). Tonight the hot tub felt great! The lodge had a slide show before dinner, which was nice and informative. Dinner was ok with snapper and jerk chicken, but I would have preferred to have some of those Indonesian dishes again (they only serve them on Tuesdays). Dessert was homemade ice-cream (1 scoop banana and 2 scoops mango). Another starry night.

THURSDAY (Feb 26th) – After another breakfast at the lodge, we decided to do something completely different. Before we arrived, we made arrangements with the chef at the Gate House – owner Michel Job – to partake in a private cooking class (www.sabagatehouse.com). So from 9:30-12noon we learned how to cook 1 soup, 2 appetizer dips, 4 fish dishes with 4 sauces. This was fun to learn some of the creole and french cooking and then feast!

Since we were at a different part of the island, we did a long loop hike (Sulfur Mines – All Too Far – Sandy Cruz loop) in the afternoon. We stopped many times along the way to take pictures, enjoy the scenery and rest – it took us almost 4 hrs. We stopped back at the Gate House to pick up our food and took a taxi back to the lodge.

The hot tub was a God-send today – some really sore muscles now! A relaxing night in with leftovers. Walked down to the lodge for dessert – a yummy apple pie/crisp with homemade ice-cream (1 scoop banana and 1 scoop soursop). Clouds with drizzle so no stars tonight.

FRIDAY (Feb 27th) - Today we had to say goodbye. We got to the airport at 10:30am (for our 11:30am departure) only to discover that WinAir changed the schedule that morning so we are now leaving 1 hour later – thank goodness we didn’t have a tight connection in SXM. This gave us plenty of time to explore the tidepools near the airport and quite frankly I would rather spend an extra hour here than in SXM’s airport. It is amazing that on an island that is about 5 miles in diameter and close to 3000 ft high, there are 7 different ecological zones. An enchanted little island.

The surprise came when we were taking off – for some reason I thought that since they stopped within 2/3 of the runway that they would use 2/3 to take off – NO WAY – they used every inch of the runway (you could feel the plane’s wheels were still on the tarmac when the nose was off the end and this is a 12 passenger little prop plane!). <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

At SXM, we had to check through immigration only to have to go back through the whole process to get our USAir flight. Again, we had plenty of time. As it turns out, our USAir flight was delayed getting in by 45min. Then an uneventful flight back only to have it snow 6-inches that Monday – so not ready for that! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />


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