We went to Nevis for a week, but decided to stop in St. Maarten overnight on both ends of the trip. The was our first extended trip without the kids in about 10 years, so we were definitely looking forward to it!

We flew out of Pittsburgh and the snow on Friday, Jan. 14. Flew American Airlines to Miami. Flight on time...caught our connecting flight and arrived in St. Maarten on schedule. We landed at about 2:30, got a rental car from Paradise rental for $35 for the day, and drove the rental car to Mary's Boon.

We checked into Mary's Boon a little before 4:00. We got a great one night rate on a Lobby Studio. It is in the basement of the lobby (no view) but a nice size room with a kitchenette, large bed, and bathroom. Perfect for one night and just seconds from the beach. We dropped off our bags, changed into bathing suits, walked upstairs to the bar, ordered pina coladas, and stepped onto the beach. Aaaaahhhh...we feel right at home! The woman at the bar brought the drinks to our lounge chairs and we spent a wonderful hour and half enjoying the sand and surf.

We dragged ourselves off the beach and got ready for dinner. My husband dropped me off at Gold Creations in Maho so that I could pick up a present for the housekeeper at the villa that we were going to in Nevis, and also so I could do a little visitng with Roger. Paul picked up some simple groceries at the store in Maho, then joined me at Gold Creations. After a few rum punches and a nice visit with Roger we ended up with a beautiful gold bracelet for the Nevis housekeeper, and I got lovely blue and white diamond earrings. Keep feeding my hubby those rum punches, Roger! LOL!

We were schedule to meet Neil (of Celine) and Bob (of Packlight) for dinner at the Stone at 8:00. We glanced at my cell phone clock and it said 7:55 so we raced out of the store and headed to the Stone. We were concerned that we were late, but neither Bob or Neil were there at 8:10 so we sat at the table and waited...and waited...until about 8:40 we decided to order appetizers. At about 8:50 we asked Johan if his dad forgot. We were wondering if maybe we had mixed up the dates.....then in walks Neil about 10 minutes later. We said "where have you been?" and he answered..."I am not late...it is only just now 8:00!" Right then, Bob walks in. Oops....we had accidentally set our clock ahead twice! We had just thought time had flown at Gold Creations! LOL! We had a good laugh over our mixup and had a wonderful dinner with Bob and Neil. We had the fondue at the Stone. Paul had the duck entree and I had a delicious fish. Can't remember what the others had. Paul and I ended the evening at the casino in the Pelican. Left with a few more $$ in my pocket then when I got there...enough to pay for the gold bracelet...so a good night!

We woke up Saturday morning, had a delicious breakfast at Mary's Boon, then checked out (leaving our luggage at Mary's Boon's office for safe keeping until our flight left). Paul and I went to Cupecoy for the afternoon. We packed up bread and cheese and drinks. The far end of Cupecoy where we normally go to see Dany had no sand, so we went to the part of cupecoy with the steep steps. The water was coming up fairly high. I am a clutz, so walking up and down the steps was a bit of a challenge. We left Cupecoy at about 2:30, returned the rental car, and went to the Airport to check into our flight to Nevis on Winair.

We returned to St. Maarten on Saturday, January 21. We left Nevis at 9:00 a.m. on Winair and got to St. Maarten a little before 10:00. There was no one at the Paradise rental car counter so we got a car at Thrify. Cost us $50 for the day. We headed over to Sapphire to leave our luggage and then we drove up to Orient. We went to the Club O area of Orient and spent about 5 hours there. I fell asleep for about 2 of those hours! Heavenly!
We ate lunch at about 3:00 at Pedros. I had ribs and fries, with a pina coloda. Yum!
We left Orient at about 4:30 and drove back to Sapphire to check in and clean up. We had a nice sleep 6 unit with 2 king beds and one bathroom. Unit 237. It was clean with new tvs and new bedspreads. There were new chairs around the pool.

We drove back over to Maho to visit with Roger at Gold Creations and bought presents for our sitter (who watched our kids for part of the week we were gone) and also for my husband's secretary (who handled things at the office for him!). Had a few of Roger's great rum punches, then met up with Neil (from Celine) and one of his friends. The four of us went to Marigot to O Ploungoir (sp?). FABULOUS! The cammenbert cheese (sp?) appetizer was incredible! Then I had a great steak with a cheese sauce. Yum! Ended the meal with Bailey's coffee and a citrus dessert. Neil had the steak special, his friend had the garlic shrimp, and I forget with my husband had. Everyone loved their meal. This is one of our favorite restaurants! Took a bite of the profiteroles as well. MMMMMMM.

After dinner and great conversation we went to Atlantis Casino for a bit. Well, Neil and his friend stayed for a bit. I was there much too long...and was not as successful as I had been the week before. oh well...at least I had fun losing my money!

We woke up Sunday morning and packed up. We checked out of Sapphire, left our luggage in security, and headed over to Mullet. It was my husband's birthday, and Roger had given us a bottle of Champagne, so we toasted the end of our wonderful week. We ate delicious Ribs at Rosies, swam and relaxed on Mullet beach until 2:00, drove back to Sapphire to rinse off and change. We also stopped for a drink at Cheris (and the bartender also gave us a Woo Woo shot for Paul's birthday). We returned the rental car, got to the airport at about 3:30, were easily through security and to our gate by 4:00 for a 5:20 flight. Our USAirways flight left early, got into Charlotte early, and we breezed through immigration. We left Charlotte at 10:00 (just as the Steelers won against the Jet!!) and got into Pittsburgh at about 11:15.

We are so glad we got this little "SXM fix" because it was really wonderful to see our friends and our favorite island. We go back to St. Maarten for 2 weeks in July...with our kids and several other families. So it was nice to just have this small time to ourselves to enjoy the island.