Our only other experience with St. Martin or nudity had been on a brief visit from a cruise ship over Thanksgiving 2001. I think I can safely say we’re newbies [Linked Image].<br><br>We were met at the airport by AAA Car Rentals, drove to Club Orient and settled into a mini-suite. First order of business is always a swim after a long flight. This time it was a nude swim, which was terrific, even though it was and cloudy day. <br><br>Then we dressed and went to happy hour at Papagayo. Here’s were things went down hill for a while but don’t fret, we’ll recover before the story is over. The place was packed with large groups of people having a wonderful time. Most were nude or with pareos. We sat a down and waited for the waitress to take our drink order. We felt a little out of place dressed in our tees and shorts. A kind lady noticed us and spoke to the waitress, who can to explain that you have to get your own drinks during happy hour. Thanks to the kind lady who saved us. We stayed and had an unrewarding dinner. <br><br>Back at the dark room the neighbors were partying and loud. During the night I walked through a puddle of water at the foot of the bed. In the morning it was more like a little pool and clothes in the closet were wet and the neighbors are still loud. Not having fun yet.<br><br>Saturday morning and it’s still cloudy. We went to breakfast at Baywatch and discussed how uncomfortable we both were. Breakfast was OK but probably would have been better if our moods were better. The maintenance people found a broken pipe under the kitchen sink and set about fixing it. We were too bummed to stay. We decided to move to Esmeralda after some looking around. We settled into the new room and went to Marigot for lunch and groceries at US Imports. We didn’t find much at US Imports that we recognized but got some good fresh fruit. When we got back at the hotel we went down to the beach in front of Coco Beach Bar, which is associated with Esmeralda, is nothing like the beach in front of Club O. The pool with our block of rooms was at the other end of the unit but very nice. We started comparing the price of the room and the beach to Club Orient. Oops, we’d made a mistake.<br><br>Sunday morning, still cloudy, we drove over to Club O to see if they had a Beach Chalet available. We were in luck, they had one and it would be ready about 11:30. We went back to Esmeralda and packed up again. We arrived back at Club O at 11:15 and the room was ready. WOW what a difference. This beach chalet was beautiful. We could see the water from the living room and it was just a hop, skip and a jump to the beach. We unpacked again. Lunch at Pedro’s then we went to Adam & Eve to buy pareos for both of us. Sat on the beach with a book for the rest of the day and relaxed. We went to L’Orientique and bought groceries. There were lots of things we recognized, even Prego spaghetti sauce! We had planned dinner at Portofino but they were closed so we went to Bikini Beach. Pete had ribs and I had steamed shrimp wontons. Both were very good.<br><br>Monday and the skies are still gray. We made breakfast in the room, vacation food, pancakes and lots of bacon. We decided to go shopping for my opal in Philipsburg today. I had seen one on our fall cruise and wanted to find it again or something like it. Nothing looked right walking down the streets of Philipsburg. We finally found Butani’s, which had been recommended but they didn’t have the simple necklace I was looking for. We went into several more shops before we realized the necklace had actually been in St. Thomas. Oh well. We talked to the clerk at Columbian Emeralds and decided that an opal might not be a good choice anyway, too fragile. There was nothing wrong with the chocolates at The Belgian Chocolate Shop, so I bought a box to ease the disappointment of the opal. The clouds start to break up and we head back to the beach. Pete and I wore our pareos to happy hour at Papagayo tonight and felt much more comfortable. We met new friends from Colorado. We had dinner Bistro Caraibes [Linked Image][Linked Image] [Linked Image]in Grand Case and it was fantastic. Escargot, red snapper and crème brulee for me and grilled scallops & bacon and an apple tart for Pete. The service was terrific and made you feel special. <br><br>Tuesday and the sun is finally out. Yippee! We had breakfast in the room, took a little walk down the beach. We both burnt a little yesterday so we slathered up and stayed under the umbrella. It was a great day of nothing, no clothes, no thoughts and no work. We read and swam and relaxed. The only unpleasant note was the group on the beach with the SCUMS flag and unkind signs for the cruise ship people. [Linked Image] Really tacky. <br><br>Wednesday was sunny, a lazy day of sun, surf and a book. We tried to dress to go down the beach for lunch and found that we couldn’t stand to put anything on. Shorts and a t-shirt were just too confining so we put on our pareos and called it good. We went to Ti Pizz [Linked Image] down the beach, very good pizza and friendly people. Cheese and wine party at Papagayo was only fair. I don’t really like wine and it was too much work to get to the cheese. We had dinner at La Belle Epoche in Marigot with our friends. The escargot wasn’t as good as Bistro Caraibes but dinner was a lot of fun with them. <br><br>Thursday we had to move to chalet #88, which is way down the beach. Didn’t do anything else but sit on the beach and swim.<br><br>Friday was our anniversary. Breakfast at Papagayo was only fair and the service is bad. On to the beach and a simple-minded book. Lunch was topless at Pedro’s, chicken and ribs. <br>Dinner a Sol e Luna was a disappointment. I had an Avocado & Crab salad to start, Shrimp and Scallops entrée and warn chocolate cake for desert. Pete had chicken and something that we don’t remember for desert. We had the basically the same courses we had at Bistro Caraibes and it cost about the same. Bistro Caraibes was the best by far.<br><br>Saturday we had a final swim, packed and went to the hot crowded airport.<br>We had an uneventful trip home except for the run through the airport in Philly. <br>Three planes came through customs at the same time and it got a little hectic. <br><br>We fell in love [Linked Image] with St. Martin and we’ll be back for our anniversary next year.<br><br>Here are the pictures from our trip http://content.communities.msn.com/sxmphotos/peteandpatapril2002.msnw<br>Pat and Pete