Saturday: Breakfast on deck, watching the roiling bay and sheets of rain. Roommate (RM) and I were getting cabin fever so decided to drive around to see what we could see. Stopped in Marigot. Only 2-3 stalls in the open-air market; they were there only because they had overhead and side plastic covering. Walked around on some side streets and RM bought some shoes at Sexy Fruits in West Indies Mall. Thought we might have lunch in Grand Case and headed north; saw the turnoff to Pic Paradis. Since Loterie Farm was on “the list,” we decided to have a look-see; are we ever glad we did! The rain had taken a temporary break so we went to Hidden Forest Café. I had a wonderful roast duck salad; it was a difficult choice because there were so many things on the menu that sounded delicious. We took our time over lunch and talked with the folks at the only other occupied table. We were liking the place so much that, after lunch, we lounged over a mojito in the tapas bar. The rain started up as we were heading back to the car; we felt that what had the potential to be a fairly lousy day turned out being another lovely SXM experience. Loterie Farm will become a must-do for me on future trips, and I hope to make it back there again before leaving this trip. Continued driving and checked out the Radisson and beach at Anse Marcel, which was nearly deserted due to the weather. RM had dinner at Belair. I ate at the Divi beach bar. This is touted as having the grill open until 8 PM except on Mondays and Thursdays, when Divi has its parties. However, I have yet to be there when the grill was open. It was prime rib night so I had that. Overcooked and overpriced. Toucans has a new menu which is less extensive and more expensive than the old one. Doubt I’ll eat there again.

Sunday: The weather was trying to clear up but it wasn’t 100% successful. Went to the Divi welcome party; I could probably recite all the excursion pitches by heart by now. Still a loser at the raffle. Started raining just as the raffle was ending so we all huddled under the roof at Toucans bar. Since it didn’t look like a beach day at Divi, we headed to Karakter, which we’d wanted to visit on Friday. It was beautiful. Who should arrive shortly after us but Luci Frye of SXMCooks, her husband Peter, and their dog Boss. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with Luci and frolicking in the water. There was one downpour which got us all soaked, but it passed fairly quickly. I had an appetizer of bitterballen and samosas followed by French Karakter, a goat cheese salad. RM had a shrimp and scallop kabob. All excellent; very good service. A lovely afternoon. For dinner we decided to go to Stone to take advantage of half off one dinner with the Caribbean Card. There were perhaps two other tables of folks, a bit surprising for Fathers’ Day. I had a pork chop and RM had a seafood medley (I had it last year). She thought the shrimp at Karakter were better than the shrimp at Stone. We shared a fruit dessert with dark chocolate fondue. A good meal, but not great.

Monday: Breakfast on deck. We had registered for a half-day sail on Passat and were really looking forward to it as the weather appeared to be about back to normal. Unfortunately, Passat had mechanical problems and was going to be out of commission for two days. So we decided to explore yet another beach and ended out at Friar’s Bay and settled in front of Kali. Water was wonderfully warm and calm. There was one strong rain shower that cleared off quickly. Service was definitely on island time, and server kept forgetting what I ordered (an omelette that was okay). Can’t remember what RM had. When the second shower started, it was about time to leave anyway so we gathered our things and returned to Divi in time for the Monday party. My losing streak held. After the party we went to Izi for dinner. I think if you go to a pasta restaurant, it’s best to order pasta, which we didn’t do. I had a caprese salad, which was quite good. I had a chicken fingers appetizer for my entrée; the tomato sauce that accompanied it wasn’t to my liking. RM had a minestrone soup, which she thought was good, and ordered a mussels appetizer for her entrée. The menu said it would come with a garlic/wine sauce, but it came in a heavy tomato sauce, which she didn't care fot. Scuba1Deb was also there with a party of 8, and they thought the food was great so I think we just didn’t order the right items. Liked the way the restaurant was decorated: very modern. We sat outside at Izi and could hear their music as well as the guitarist at Pineapple Pete’s. We wanted to go to Carousel for ice cream dessert, but it’s closed on Mondays. So we went to Pineapple Pete’s for dessert and to listen to guitarist Amir, who was quite good. So was the dessert. I had chocolate mousse cake, which just melts in your mouth.

Tuesday: Needed a day at home. Spent most of it by Divi’s Infinity pool reading and working on the tan. Went to dinner at Granduca with Divi TS owners Tony & Linda from AZ. I love this place! Sophisticated, upscale ambience, gorgeously decorated with photos of landmarks in Italy that magically are backlit after the sun goes down. I had a garden salad with wonderful creamy Italian dressing and “lamb rack” that was cut into four chops. $42 for salad and lamb. RM had seafood linguine and said after the first bite that the mussels were already better than the previous night at Izi. Tony & Linda shared a snapper entrée that they liked a lot. Linda (the other one) enjoyed her tiramisu dessert, and Tony had cappuccino, followed by a complimentary lemoncello. A splendid restaurant with outstanding food.

Wednesday: A quick breakfast and then off to Tijon for Perfumer’s Class 101. This may turn out to be my favorite experience this trip; just LOVED it! John is a really nice fellow and good teacher. It was fascinating learning about the perfume classifications and base, middle, and top notes. There was a fun pre-test where we were asked to identify ten oils. John said most people correctly identify 2-3 oils; I’m happy to say I identified 8 of 10! John said I have a “good nose.” The value of the gift bag you receive at the end of the class is likely in excess of the cost of the class. I’m sorry I didn’t do this earlier in my trip so I could go back and create more scents. I highly recommend this experience.

I heard John recommend Sunset Café at GCBC to a customer in his shop so I went there for lunch after class. I had not seen Petite Plage before, and it’s a beautiful beach. Considered staying at the beach for awhile, but hadn’t been to Marigot market yet this trip and wanted to see if anyone from Tissus du Soleil was there as their storefront is closed until June 29 and I’ll be gone by then. No luck so started heading toward Mullet. It appeared that we were heading into the storm instead of away from it as it was pouring by the time we got to Mullet so back to Divi.

Regrouped and then headed to Dinghy Dock for a cocktail to celebrate SXMNorm’s arrival on the island. Then had dinner at Saratoga. I’ve read reports here regarding bad service, but ours was outstanding. 15% is added to the bill. I had beet and goat salad followed by the risotto appetizer; it came with shrimp, peas and parmesan cheese. All were very tasty, and this was a very pleasant dining experience.

Thursday: Started packing today as we are leaving Saturday and hoping to take a sail on the Passat tomorrow (rescheduled from Monday). Sweated the threatening weather all day. As I was leaving Divi for Karakter for the TTOL gathering, it started raining. I was really down in the dumps, envisioning no one showing up after Karakter had “staffed up” for our group. By the time I arrived at Karakter, the rain had stopped but the clouds were still ominous. Weather just continued to get better throughout the evening. While the sun never came out, it was perfect: not too hot, just warm and pleasant. About 35 folks showed up. A few who said they would be there were no-shows, but several showed up who had been invited by various members. Hopefully they will turn in to members themselves. This was only my second TTOL gathering so it was great to put more names with faces; I especially enjoyed visiting with others from the Pacific Northwest. A most pleasant evening. I think Karakter has very good food and enjoyed crab cake and coconut shrimp appetizers; service charge not added. And the beach is gorgeous. More packing after returning to Divi.

Friday: This was a near-perfect last day. We finally made it on the Passat half-day sail. This is truly a sailing experience. The motor was on very little and we just lazed on the boat as it headed to La Samana. Captain Pieter and his SO/crew Miriam were very gracious hosts. Miriam served us a very good mahi mahi lunch as we anchored in La Samana. What I really liked about this excursion was the lack of music on the boat; it really left us free to enjoy lazy sailing.

We had dinner at 3 Palms, and it was one of the best dining experiences during our three weeks. Service was excellent! Appetizers were French onion soup for me, and RM had escargot. I had a beautifully presented roast duck entrée, and RM had a prawn salad. This was truly a delightful dining experience.

Saturday: An extremely long travel day. Up at 4 AM to make the AA flight at 7:50 AM to MIA. It was on time. The MIA horror stories didn’t apply to my experience. After the ridiculously long walk, customs went smoothly. Baggage carts were plentiful, and it was a piece of cake retrieving my luggage. Another ridiculously long walk to drop off the luggage, and I had to go outside to check in at Terminal D. The connection to DFW was delayed about half an hour and I was starting to get nervous about making my connection. When we finally landed in DFW I had just enough time to make it to the gate, and then boarding started. Arrived in PDX around 6:30 PM. Showered and hit the sack, only to wake up the following day with what seems like whooping cough.

Observations: Observed no crime and wasn’t a victim of any. Traffic was busy but not burdensome. Favorite restaurants, in no particular order, were: Loterie Farm, Karakter, Granduca, Fusion, 3 Palms. I wish I would have stayed four weeks, not three, as I really wasn’t ready to come home. I have some bonus weeks that need to get used up so I’m toying with going back this fall for a couple of weeks if I can make arrangements at work. This was probably the "worst" weather I've experience with 3-4 days out of 21 being pretty much wash-outs. Favorite experiences were Luci's cooking class and the Perfume class. And for those who expressed concern about my sick cat, all’s well. The meds stopped the vomiting and her eating is back to normal. This was a great trip, and I’m glad I was able to see so much of the island.