We've lost count, this is either the 13th or 14th trip to SXM. (This is the 6th time with the kids, now ages 9 & 15.) Being as how we took care of the site-seeing the first couple of trips the majority of our time now is spent on the beach. The customs form was particularly funny this trip as we realized that we bought absolutely ~nothing~ to bring home with us!

US Airways out of Dulles through Charlotte to SXM, no problems, flights were both full but without incident. Bags arrived as well (always a plus) and flights were on time. SXM had just had a morning of rain but by the time our flight arrived the skies had cleared.

Rented a SUV from Unity Car Rental, got a 2008 Toyota RAV4, excellent condition, they met us at the airport, and got a very good price. Have rented with them before, never had any problems and they've always given me the best $$ when I compared rates with other rental places.

Stayed at Club O - again - as usual - was shocked and amazed when we hit a PAVED ROAD to the resort - whaaaa? Who did this? Checked in no problem and even got some time on the beach before the sun went down.

At the beginning of our stay the beach was ~very~ empty, but each day there were a few more chairs filled. Cruise Ships days brought a steady stream of textiles gawking down the Club O side but generally they were well behaved, and security seemed on top of those wandering by with cameras out. One afternoon there was a huge crowd of very loud boys/young men that were causing quite a disturbance on the usually quiet and serene beach. Here I discovered that those wearing clothes are very frightened by those that are not and merely by approaching this group of gentlemen and offering them all each a drink at the Perch Bar should they partake in the "clothing optional" aspect of the beach was enough to get them out of the water and scurrying back down to the clothing side of the beach. (and, for the record, not a single one of them took me up on the offer, they said they were "scared". I teased them but it was all good natured.)

We had only one significant rain storm that was very heavy and lasted about two hours one morning (Monday the 9th I believe) and we took this opportunity to hit the grocery store and stock up. The US Market between Grand Case and Orient Village is very convenient but the prices seemed really high for some items.

For the majority of our stay the days were sunny, hot and with a good breeze keeping us cool in the shade. The water was clear, the beach was clean, the drinks were cold (if you drank them fast!) and most days we didn't even budge from our chairs for lunch, preferring just to stay on the beach and read or stare at the waves.

At first glance the Club O side seemed very wide but up at Papagayos the water was lapping at the foundation, and large rocks were placed out front of it to act as a sort of bulkhead.

On days when there wasn't any breeze the gnats/midges/little biting flies were awful. And mosquitoes? Worst I've ever seen them - we bought bottles and bottles of the Mosquito Milk - which worked - but you had to cover yourself with the stuff. All the rain from the previous weeks left the island lush and green but it also made the mosquito population triple in size, and those buggers are hungry! With Dengue Fever making an appearance on the island mosquito bites are more than just an itchy annoyance.

We didn't venture far for dinners - La Pimente in Orient Village is a favorite and we ate there a couple of time. The waitress is super friendly, and if you don't get a table before 8pm you're out of luck because at approximately 8:05 it seemed like all the local French families came at once and completely filled the place. I always take it as a good sign when the restaurant is filled with locals and not just tourists. Food was always good, sometimes we took home leftover pizza but most of the time the plates were clean. The kids like it too, my son especially because not only will they make him a special pizza but the plaza is always filled with kids for him to run around and play with - even if he doesn't speak French.

Our best meal on this trip = and what we think is our best meal EVER on St Martin - was at La Cottage in Grand Case. Friends recommended it to us, warning us that the menu had changed from last year - but since we had never eaten there before we didn't have a problem with this. The new menu is a tapas style of dining where you select your appetizers (5 of them from a selection of about 20 on the "cold" menu), then you select your dinner (again, 5 choices out of 20 from the "hot" menu). We've eaten in tapas places many times, Jaleo in DC is José Andrés tapas restaurant and it's one of our regular eating places.

But La Cottage has taken tapas and makes it French, and then makes the entire experience like you were eating something from the Iron Chef - each a work of art both in appearance and in flavor. Initially we thought that this didn't sound like a lot of food but we ate every bite & barely had room for three of us to share the caramel soufflé for dessert. Even my 9 year old found enough on the menu that he liked, his favorite was the beef spring rolls and the Chinese Shrimp. The staff offered to fix him something special if there wasn't anything on the menu that appealed to him but it wasn't necessary. I'm not one to bring my camera to restaurants but this was one time I wish I had because the presentation was really amazing, and the food was delicious. The staff was very helpful and pleasant, we had good wine, and left happy. Very pleased, highly recommended.

We ate more dinners at Papagayo than we had planned but it always seems to work out that way - after spending all day on the beach just fighting sand gravity you are really tired and don't want to venture far for food. Plus there is that whole pesky thing about putting on ~clothes~ oy! I love the staff there a lot more than the food - Carlos is the best and he's really good with all the kids. (Did I mention it was "family month" at Club O? By the middle of our stay there was a whole herd of kids on the beach from babies to teens) and mostly dinner there is about spending time with friends in a very relaxed setting with only a short walk back "home" at the end of the night.

This was a trip of firsts - our best dinner out, a real snorkeling adventure, and riding horses bareback while they swam in the ocean. We always bring snorkel gear but have never seen much in the way of colorful fish until this trip were we learned that we've been swimming in the wrong direction! We always headed away from the clothing side and out towards the ocean when it turns out that there is a reef at the rock wall that separates the clothing beach from the optional (the rocks by Pedro's) that is just full of fish or every size, shape and color. I didn't see a skate but others did, someone said they saw a lion fish - schools of black and yellow fish swam around you while larger fish stayed closer to the rocks - was really amazing and made me wish I had brought some underwater video gear.

And this year my daughter wanted to ride horses from the Bayside Stables - conveniently located only a short distance from Club O - so she & I went for a beach ride (9:00am, for 90 minutes) and had the luck of being the only two people that signed up that day so we had a guide all to ourselves. It was harder work that I expected (been a long time since I rode a horse) but lots of fun, and riding them while they were swimming was a real experience. I'm waiting for our guide Guillaume to send me photos that he took of us while we were on the horses which will hopefully show how much fun we had.

Our last three days on the beach were uncomfortable for there was no breeze at all for most of the day - the water was still, the air was still, the bugs were out (this is the worst) and it was really, really hot. We spent a lot of time in the water to keep cool which resulted in a nice layer of salt forming on my skin by the afternoon. Then one afternoon it went from being unbearabley hot & sunny with no breeze to large black clouds rolling in - and then a breeze did come in but it was the wrong way. I'd never experienced the breeze coming from the North/Mt Vernon end and behind us, it's always coming south & east - many people remarked that this was the first time they'd ever seen that side of the Tiko Tiko as all the boats docked in the water were turned in the other direction from the wind. We watched the storm clouds gather for a couple of hours, and by about 3pm most of the beach had cleared out for fear of the storm but it never came to our end of the beach, and after a few hours the clouds broke up and the wind died back down. Weird, but the few hours relief from the heat was very nice.

We left on Saturday, got a direct from United to Dulles which was worth staying an extra day. All in all it was a very good time. We heard of some security incidents but didn't experience anything ourselves, but we didn't venture out as much in the evenings as we have on past trips.

And now I try to figure out how on earth we generated this much laundry after staying at a nude beach for 12 days <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />