Myra met us from Triple AAA car rental and had a Nissan waiting for us in the parking lot. My husband was walking behind me and dropped his pipe in the road. Went back to get it and watched a taxi run over it. Not a good sign of things to come.<br><br>We came down two days early to stay at Palm Court and then we would move to Royal Islander. The rate was $81 a night and we were very happy with the room. It had a little kitchen unit with frig, microwave and coffee pot. AC worked great. The construction in Orient Bay area is moving right along. There was a handy deli with baked goods and a news stand next to it in the little plaza and was within distance to the Palm Court. There’s 2 new restaurants across the street, Cote Plages and Fish Pot. We tried Cote Plages and it was very good.<br><br>On Saturday we made our big mistake, and we should know better after coming to SXM since 87. We put our 2 large suit cases in the trunk and went to spend the day with friends at Club Orient. Since there were no ships in, we parked over passed Pedros and backed the car in so we could keep an eye on it. There wasn’t a trunk latch inside the car, so we felt pretty safe. WRONG! We left the beach around 3, opened the trunk only to find my husband’s large suitcase GONE! Mine was still there. All his clothes and our of our bathroom stuff was history. We went over to report it to the Police in Orleans. They don’t speak English. I was hoping to find where they dump the stuff, but they didn’t understand. We filled out a report and found out 2 other cars were robbed that day. My poor husband couldn’t buy clothes til Tuesday, since Monday was ST. Maarten Day. We were able to get T shirts in the Maho area, but he went to dinner for 2 nights in beach thongs. We were told they have master keys, so be very careful.<br><br>We had great weather, and hung out mostly at Orient, but went to Cupecoy and Baie Rouge too. We had great dinners at Tutta Pasta, LaRosa’s II, Le Cottages, El Netunno, Main ala Pate, Mezzalette, Bliss and the little pizza place behind Cheri’s.<br><br>We brought our New York license plate (O2BNSXM) to Andy’s and Cheryl’s. We used one of Ray Mann’s free drink coupon there. Cheryl laughed and wanted to when you (Ray) are coming down? We also used another coupon for the 2 fer 1 drinks at Bikini Beach. <br><br>The rest of our stay went fine. Made some money at the tables. If anyone knows Teo (a pit boss at Casino Royale) she had her hip replaced and will be back to work in a few weeks. <br><br>Pauline & Gary Snyder