Thanks to all of you who post regularly on this forum for answering my questions and keeping me going with your trip reports. Here are my experiences from our 3rd land based trip to SXM. This is terribly long , but I guess it’s my way of keeping my trip alive for a little while longer.

Trip Report 4/11-18/2010

DH and I had taken a 3 year break from land based vacations on SXM to take another cruise (stopped for 1 day on SXM and got a fix) and then a trip to Water Island. However, SXM called us home this year and we were so glad to be back.

Saturday…
Pre-trip stay at the Knoxville Hilton Airport using their Park n Fly program. Although we live only about 40 minutes from the Knoxville airport, the 5:30 am departure time persuaded me that staying next door to the airport was in order. It was a good plan! The hotel was very comfortable with a nice happy hour offering free hot appetizers which made for a great snack before our early bedtime. One of the best beds I have ever encountered in a hotel…too bad the mounting excitement kept me from sleeping very much.

Sunday…
Up at 3:30 am to get ready for the short stroll to the US Air check in counter. Flights were uneventful with a 3 hour layover in Charlotte. Had time for a leisurely breakfast at the airport. Flight from Charlotte was about 10 min late departing but we arrived in SXM at 12:50 pm about 20 min. early. Arrived to a torrential downpour which was a little disappointing…but hey…WE MADE IT <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

We had arranged with Sandy Malloy for a rental car from Travel Rent A Car. This was our first time renting a car and despite the reassurances from those of you on this forum I was very apprehensive (to say the least) about driving . I had therefore arranged in advance to have the rental agency pick us up at the airport and transport us to the Alamanda and leave the car with us there. Was met at the airport by the driver who was prepared to give us the keys and send us on our way. My horrified expression <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />and explanation that this was not what we had arranged prompted him to call the office and arrange to be picked up at the Alamanda. In hindsight my driving fears were for the most part unfounded, but I am still glad we didn’t have to try and navigate the island on our first day in the driving rain.

Arrived at Alamanda and I was promptly checked in by a smiling Tiffany while DH completed the car rental paperwork. We had reserved a ground floor room (again through Sandy Malloy). This was our third stay at Alamanda and we were again pleased with our accommodations. The staff there is really terrific and it was great to see Geraldine and Nicholas again. I felt like we had made it home.

After stowing our things we made it down to Orient around 3:30 pm. The rain had finally stopped but the wind and clouds had pretty much shut down the beach. Had intended to have a welcome drink with GP at KO but he had already closed. Wound up at Kakao for a couple beers and to start to get on island time. Made our first venture out to find the US Supermarket to try to pick up a few things. Found it was already closed so headed back to Tap 5 for our traditional first night pizza and to get a few things to get us through the night. Tap 5 was verrrry busy and I wasn’t even able to get a pizza order in. Wandered over to Le’ Pimente and ordered one from there. Was very good but I was a little surprised to find the black olives were whole and included pits. Enjoyed the sax player in the square. Back to the room for an early evening.

Monday…
Awoke to more clouds and a lot of wind. Had the standard fruit and bread breakfast offering from Alamanda which was sufficient for us most mornings. Decided to try the US Supermarket again and were successful in purchasing some beer and cheese but couldn’t find my morning drug Mountain Dew. Made our way down to the beach and had a Bloody Mary or two with GP. Weather wasn’t really improving so we spent most of the day dodging showers. Split a really good cheeseburger at Kakao (love their fries) and then back to the room for a little nap. Made it to Bikini for Happy Hour with Corina <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />. Met some really nice folks and also met Elisa for the first time. She was a lot of fun and we had a great time chatting with her. Tried unsuccessfully to use the WIFI at Bikini on my Iphone. Even with help from other patrons never did get it right. Moved over to Paris, Texas and ordered some Nachos but by the time they arrived the day (and happy hour) had taken it’s toll and we got them boxed to go. Must have been good because most were gone when I got up the next day.

Tuesday…
Awoke to rain and lots of wind (what’s up with this?). Waited out the shower and made our way down to Andy and Cheryl’s for breakfast. Had a great cheese omelet and DH had his favorite fried eggs. Was able to connect to the WIFI here with no problem. Enjoyed Mimosas and Bloody Marys and Andy’s fun company.

Weather was still not getting much better so DH said come on let’s just get in the car and go. I’ll have to say the driving (or should I say riding) thing was still making me a bit nervous but off we went. Made it though Grand Case and almost to Marigot in one direction (with a stop at the Radisson and Pinel Ferry) and almost to Phillipsburg in the other direction. Tried to find Oyster Bay but wound up at Baie Lucas instead. Still not sure where we went wrong. Found Sunny Foods and were able to score some Mountain Dew <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />.

Got in a little beach time in the afternoon and had a few drinks at KO. Off to Bikini again for Happy Hour (this was a continuing pattern throughout the week). Laura was behind the bar tonight and we had a good time catching up with her. Met some more fun folks that we would have a few laughs with throughout the week.

Made it over to dinner at Safari Grill. DH had prime rib and I tried the french onion soup. Both were good. I particularly enjoyed the soup.

Wednesday…
No rain this morning but still a little windy. Breakfast at Alamanda. Since this was cruise ship day I wanted to go try out Palm Beach and maybe avoid some of the crowds. We decided to drive since the weather was still a little iffy. Got there around 10:30 am.

WOW…is all I can say about this place <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />!! We were greeted by Lloyd who explained the whole “if you eat here chairs are free” thing. Made reservations for a 1:00 pm lunch. Really enjoyed relaxing in the great chairs and listening to their music choices. Started raining again about 12:00 so had a couple of beers at the bar (should have cashed out our tab before lunch as they did add them to our lunch bill which was not 1:1) while we waited on lunch time.

Lunch here was my favorite meal on the island. I had a sea scallop with curry sauce pasta dish and DH had the mixed seafood grill with, tuna, mahi-mahi, shrimp and sea scallops. Both dishes were presented beautifully and were very, very good. Total for meal, 6 beers and 2 glasses of wine was $86. Pricey for lunch but this was our big meal of the day.

I highly recommend this place for a most relaxing day. It is first class all the way!

Weather still not great so made it back to the room to rest up for Happy Hour. Tonight became a blur after I started drinking Margaritas prepared by Nico the new bartender at Bikini. He is great fun but makes a really mean drink. (I think there were a couple of rum shots involved as well) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />. DH managed to get me back to the room in one piece where I slept the sleep of the dead.



Thursday…
Weather is looking up a bit, not as much wind. Awoke a little queasy after the previous night so wandered down to Andy & Cheryl’s to get some real food in our stomachs. Feeling a little better after eating and walking the beach a bit. Settle in our chairs at Kakao and napped and walked alternately most of the rest of the day. Saw quite a bit of sun today and although the waves had calmed a little, the water was FULL of seaweed which made swimming not so enjoyable. After a couple beers with GP we lazed by the pool with some cheese and bread.

Found the water pressure to be practically non-existent when we tried to shower this evening. Later found that we were lucky to have any at all as the water was off on the whole French side. The problem was resolved by the time we got up the next am.

Decided to go into Grand Case to try to catch dinner and a sunset. We did get dinner <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> but the sunset was obscured by the persistent clouds. After snagging a parking place on the street (never could figure out how to get into the parking lot) we strolled a bit scoping out the restaurants. Walked down to the beach and decided that LaCalifornia looked like it had a good open air view. I ordered the french onion soup and margarita pizza. DH had a ribeye. I was not crazy about the soup (the cheese was very hard and brittle) the pizza was very good as was the ribeye.

Back to Bikini where Nico found it amusing that I stuck to beer that night and refused his offers of Maragaritas or rum. Pretty tired after last night’s fun so off to bed early.

Friday…
Still partly cloudy but not as windy. After breakfast at Alamanda we again went exploring. Found Friar’s Bay. Didn’t settle on the beach just took some pictures. Went in search of cigarettes and accidentally found Le’Grande Marche. Very nice store and I am glad we found it for future trips. Stopped back at Alamanda to unload purchases and went back out in search of the way to Mount Vernon to scope it out for future trips. Managed to find it on the first try but was not impressed with the road going in or the parking situation. It does have a wonderful view however.

Also wanted to check out accommodations at L’Hoste after talking to several people we met who were staying there. We love Alamanda but it is a little pricey. We were shown a very, very nice room at L’Hoste and after considering the price difference we will probably try it out on our next trip.

Drove on down to Andy & Cheryl’s but we were a bit early for lunch. Did some shopping at the flea market and went back to drop off stuff and walked back to Andy & Cheryl’s for lunch. It was the first time we had seen Cheryl this trip as we had been going in the am. We were greeted like old friends. DH had his favorite beer battered sea scallops and I tried the margarita buffalo shrimp. Both were delicious.

Back down the beach for afternoon nap in our chairs.

DH was the partier during Happy Hour this evening <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />. Had a good time chatting with Corina and some of the others we had met during the week. Back to the room to finish off leftover pizza.




Saturday…
Weather OK today…still not too sunny. Wanted to make the last day on the beach last as long as possible so headed out early. Walked the beach, had Bloody Mary’s with GP, split a cheeseburger and onion rings at Andy & Cheryl’s, napped and walked some more. A really great beach day!

Got a jump start on packing up for tomorrow so we could sneak in some more beach time in the am. Headed out for our last Happy Hour. Nico was tending bar again but I managed to hold my own tonight. Finally got our Tap 5 pizza tonight. It was as amazing as I remember.

Sunday…
Sunny and much calmer! Figures right <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />. Threw some more things in the suitcase and off to Andy & Cheryl’s to split a bacon and egg sandwich. One last walk down the beach and back to the room to get ready for the sad <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> trip home. We had told the rental car agent we would meet him at the departure area at 12:00 for a 2:00 pm flight. Made it back to the airport (without missing one turn I might add) with about 45 min to spare. Drove on through Maho and up towards Mullet Bay. I would get the hang of this driving thing on the last day <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />! Back to the airport to turn in car and start the waiting game for our flight.

No line at check-in. We had about 2 hours to kill so went upstairs to the bar outside the restaurant for a beer. Wow! $5 each <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" />. Went on through security and grabbed a sandwich for the plane. Our flight was still listed as on time at 2:15 ?? Began listing it as delayed about 2:30 with no explanation. Finally we boarded about 3:00 and continued to sit at the gate until almost 4:00. Some paperwork issues were given as explanation. We were each given a bag of pretzels by way of apology <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />.

Our connecting flight to Knoxville was to leave Charlotte at 8:30 so I was preparing myself to miss that connection. Made it into Charlotte about 7:45 but were not allowed to deplane until about 7:55 due to another plane unloading. I had given up making the 8:30 flight. Lo and behold we made it through customs, baggage recheck and from Concourse D to E with 6 minutes to spare. We were the last to board and off we went. Actually made it back to Knoxville 15 min ahead of schedule. Luggage even made it <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />!

General comments…
Never experienced the type of weather before that we did this trip. Lots of clouds and wind. The waves were bigger than I have ever seen on Orient. Didn’t let it bother us too much. Still managed to walk the beach from end to end every day. DH even managed to get a little sunburned.

By the end of the week I was very glad I took everyone’s advice and rented the car. I just wish we had been able to stay a couple more days to explore more after I got used to the idea.

Used the Skype App on my Iphone at Andy & Cheryl’s. Was mostly successful in being able to make the calls I needed to. Andy was offering free calls on his Magic Jack most mornings we were there.


Things I didn’t do that I meant to…..
Day trip to Anguilla
Find Calmos Café
Have lunch at Hidden Forrest Café

It was a wonderful trip and I will never let 3 years go by again without coming back. Time to starting counting down for the next one!

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Becky