It was our first trip to St. Martin, much anticipated and needed as we both are far too busy with work, kids, business travel.<br><br>We dropped the kids for a grandma camp week and headed for a long day of travel to SXM. I have many many miles on Delta and connected through San Juan, PR to American Eagle. <br><br>The San Juan airport is a disaster!
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If you can get a direct flight, DO.. we will buy tickets next time to avoid San Juan. At one point they threw so much luggage down the chute that the carosel actually ripped a suitcase open and spread some poor ladies clothes and underwear around for display.<br><br>We were able to get an earlier flight (standby) and got to SXM erlier than anticipated. It was a good thing too, since we were both exausted. From this point on, I won't say much more about travel or logistics, since all went almost perfectly.<br>
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<br>We found Club O in our Hertz rental car (a Kia Rio - perfectly adequate) late at night. I was relieved that I could negotiate the island without problem in the dark. Some motorcycles were a bit nerve racking but through the week, the travel reports were worse than reality. There was one bad slowdown just outside of Philipsburg, but other than that, we had no problem with traffic or crazy drivers.<br><br>For the record, I have driven in most big cities in the US and some overseas (London, was a particular challenge) and I found driving in St. Martin certainly less dangerous and stressful than DC for sure! No one should worry about driving, it will simply make you apprehensive about exploring, which is not good.<br><br>The weather was perfect the entire week. Cobalt blue skies, moderate temperatures and little wind greeted us each morning. There was a sprinkle or two but they passed quicly or were at night.<br><br>We were next to Papagayos at Cl. O and could almost fall onto the beach. We have never stayed in a nicer beach location anywhere; it was absolutely perfect! This is also why we didn't wander too much. We have hectic lives stateside and decided not to have any schedule on SXM.<br><br>We grocery shopped at Match, Rams and Cost-U Less. In short, our recommendation. Go to Cost-U-Less for bottled water and wine (everything else is in too large a quantity for 2-4 people). Rams was best for us overall. Match was nice for french cheeses, pate's and such, but not as "user friendly" as Rams. Le'Bounty is also nice for home-made ice cream and other stuff, but they are expensive.<br><br>The phone cards purchased at Club O worked perfectly. We made a 10-15 minute call to the States at the public phone each day and it cost us only $20 for the week.<br><br>Nude use of Orient beach was limited to Club O and the rest of the beach ONLY in the morning. I was surprised at the number of people on the beach generally (for low season), and saw very few even topless women past Pedros. I'm not sure what this means, but no one seemed too concerned about anything but enjoying the beach.<br><br>The portion in front of Club O was fairly quiet until around lunch time, when the boat people started coming in. This was extremely amusing. Some tried to be discrete about their gawking, other simply let their chins hit their beltline and stared with big goofy smiles on thier faces.<br><br>I can't say enough good about the people at Club O. Particularly ones that didn't even stay there, but came for the day. No where on vacation have we made such nice acquaintences faster than there. They included us in conversation, shopping trips, and meals out. They also gave us lots of useful information.<br><br>Dining: What can I say?? When you have a meal with someone as beautiful and exciting as my wife, right next to the turquoise carribean water, with the lights of Anguilla on the horizon.. well, they could feed me stale hot-dogs and I'd tell you they were terrific. We would mention however L'Amandier in Grand Case (excellent), Portofinos (for Pizza - good), Talk of the Town (also excellent and cheap! - have the ribs, even if you don't eat meat, have the ribs). Those were our favs.<br><br>Crime: Keep your eyes open, know where you are and where you park. Stay off the streets late at night and you'll have no problem. This Island seems much safer to us than many places in the world including Jamaica and may US cities. We saw NO PROBLEMS the entire week and never felt uncomforatable. Crime is NOT a reason to avoid St. Martin.<br><br>Come to think of it, I can't think of a single reason to avoid St. Martin. We had a wonderful vacation and achieved all of our goals... relaxation, reconnection and restoration of some balance to our too-busy lifestyle.<br><br>I will most definitely return soon and often!<br><br>Bill (and Cathy)
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