This was our sixth trip to the island but our first--and first real vacation--since 2005. We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and wanted to do something special; a trip to our favorite island was just the ticket.

Pictures are available on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74632&id=1218177762&l=ac7f2a3949

Flights
We flew on United using frequent flyer miles. United has nonstop flights out of Washington Dulles to and from the island once a week on Saturdays. We connected to Dulles from Raleigh-Durham. Our Dulles-SXM flight was delayed by about 2 hours as we had to wait for our plane to arrive from Chicago, where there had been some bad weather. Our return flight from the island was slightly delayed, mainly due to the fact that we had to take a shuttle from the airport to the plane, which always slows down the loading process. Otherwise, there were minimal problems, other than the screaming 4-year-old in the row behind us on the flight back.

Rental Car
We rented from Kenny’s for the 5th time and were not disappointed. Lesley had been monitoring our flight and knew we were delayed. We had to wait a few minutes as he was busy with other customers, but we got into our 4-door Corolla fairly quickly and were on our way to Grand Case in short order.

Accommodations
We have always insisted on staying in Grand Case as we prefer to walk to dinner. As this was a special trip, we wanted to stay someplace nice but not ridiculously expensive. We ended up at a new property, Bleu Emeraude, which is right on Grand Case beach, about 2 doors down (closer to the town) from Le Petit Hotel.

I cannot say enough good things about this property. We were greeted upon our arrival by Xavier (who had also been monitoring our flight arrival), who had a half-bottle of Champagne chilling for us in the fridge. A great way to start! We stayed in a studio on the second floor (first floor in Euro-speak). All of their rooms have ocean-facing balconies, so we could walk out every morning and look out on the beach. The room was generously sized, with a full kitchen that included full-size fridge, smooth-top cooktop, oven, microwave, coffee maker, Nespresso machine, and even a clothes washer. It had really good quality cookware, nice wine glasses, coffee mugs, tableware, etc.

We had a flat-screen TV and a compact stereo that could accommodate our iPhones. They do have U.S. TV available, but Xavier couldn’t get the U.S. satellite box to work for us when we arrived. We told him not to worry about it, so our TV watching ended up being minimal except for the occasional CNN and a little French TV. This was no great loss for us. The rooms are very modern but comfortable, with cool marble tile floors and a nicely appointed bathroom with a big shower. The only things that were missing were a ceiling fan and a blender.

They also provide daily maid service, and there’s a wonderful outdoor shower at the top of the steps from the beach. They provide umbrellas, side tables and cushioned chairs on the beach, which for Grand Case is pretty generously sized. Swimming directly in front was great. There is some coral and grass, which made for fun fish-watching.

They also had free wifi, which worked most of the time, but (thanks to one of their employees) we learned how to reboot the router on our floor when it started giving us trouble.

There is parking right in front of the hotel as well as an underground garage that we never ended up using. It’s a little dicey backing out onto the road, so we backed into a spot most of the time.

It’s about a 15-minute walk to the center of Grand Case, which was fine for us. We usually walked back at night on the beach.

Dining
We did most of our eating in Grand Case, as usual. We ate at La Villa, L’Escapade, and L’Auberge Gourmande, all of which were wonderful. La Villa is in the old L’Alabama spot, run by two people who used to be at L’Auberge. The tuna tartare appetizer was killer!!

We also tried out a more casual spot called “Caribbean Creole Food,” which is on the beach, very close to where Blvd. du Grand Case meets back up with the main road. I had grilled snapper and David had conch fricassee, both of which were delicious and very reasonably priced. There were lots of locals eating there, which is a good sign. Highly recommended.

One night we did lo-lo takeout that we ate back in our room with some wonderful wine we had bought (see “shopping” below).

For breakfast and lunch, we usually made our own.

Shopping
The new U.S. Market near the roundabout between Grand Case and Orient was fantastic. It makes Match look a little pathetic, though Match seemed to have a better selection of certain products.

We also discovered, to our great joy, Bacchus, which is a beautiful wine shop located in one of the buildings behind the U.S. Market. It is run by Stephane, our favorite server / sommelier from Le Cottage, and we all recognized each other almost immediately. He proudly showed us around the place, including the cellar and the warehouse. We couldn’t believe the selection, and purchased a few bottles for the week. If you’re into wine at all, you should check this place out. Prices on French wines are especially good.

On Tuesday, a day when we knew the cruise ship population would be relatively low, we drove to Phillipsburg to buy ourselves some 20th anniversary bling. We made a beeline to DK Gems, where Deepti and Kamal took great care of us and helped me pick out an “upgraded” engagement ring, which is absolutely beautiful. We also found a great new watch for David at Goldfinger. The Swiss watch selection (and pricing) there is more than impressive.

Beaches
We only spent time on Grand Case beach and Orient (Club O end). Both beaches were in good shape and at that time of year, there were plenty of available chairs and umbrellas at Club O. ($18 for a set per day) We really like the tagging of chairs that they do there now; it makes it much easier for everyone.

Weather
We had perfect weather the entire time we were there, with only a few drops of rain one day. This was our first time on the island in July, and it’s definitely more humid than in the March/April timeframe, but it’s not unbearable, especially with the constant tradewinds.

General Observations
Most of the street lights were off in Grand Case at night, which we found rather odd. We didn’t feel unsafe because of it, but just found it strange.

We never felt unsafe or threatened while on the island. We followed Lesley’s directions and never left anything in the car, and left it unlocked while parked at the beach.