Hi all,<br> Went to SXM April 29 to May 9<br> Stayed at L'Hoste for 3 nights than moved to a villa on Orient for 7 nights.<br> I'll break everything down by Great,OK and Bad<br> <br> Great<br> 1. The weather was Beautiful,only one day of rain (in the morning to early afternoon ) but only rained for a couple minutes each time.And then it turned out to be a good beach day.<br><br> 2. The villa that we rented " Villa Coccinelle" this villa was beyond great. All 3 couples were extreamly impressed with this place. And the one couple that canceled out will be very T'ed off they didn't go when they see the pictures. We had a 4 bedroom villa with 4 1/2 bathrooms.Each villa had it's own bathroom ( done in marble ) with lots of privacy,all king size beds.The rooms sat around the infinity pool. A very large tiled patio around the pool plus a large covered area around the pool. The view looking down on Orient bay was fabulous. A large living area, central to all the rooms that was very tastefully furnished. And a nicely equipped kitchen. This villa was well worth to money.<br><br> 3. Renting our villa from Rich Westman at Hotcarib.com.<br> He took care of everything,kept me informed with all that was going on.If you're in the market to rent a villa it is well worth you'r time talking to Rich. " HE'S THE MAN "<br><br> 4. Eating at Le Galion on the marina at Marigot. Never ate there before we really wanted to eat at Tropicana but they were much to busy so we walked to LeGalion.<br><br> 5. Eating at Bananas, we ate there twice while on the island.Great food at a good price<br><br> " OK "<br> 1. The beach at Orient. I thought the beach had gotten smaller when we went last year at this time,well it's even smaller then last year. Hardly any beach at Kon Tiki moving up to Padros. Then it gets wider again at Club O but shrinks down to one row of chairs at Papagioes(spell ? ) Bikini and L'Hoste beach was good all the way down to Mt.Vernon. Speaking of Mt.Vernon,it looked deserted almost like a ghoste town,I'm not sure if they closed up or not ?<br><br> 2. The food at Hot Tomatos,wasen't to impressed,I got the ribs and they were really tought. Everyone else thought it was just alright. The place does look nice inside. But I just wouldn't go back.Maybe it was a bad night.<br><br> 3. Tiko Tiko cruise, The food for lunch was very good,but they seem to advertize some things on the board that they don't have. Like Pina Coladas. And when they say mud bath we all were thinking of a pit with mud,not a bucket of water with dirt in it. It was OK but I wouldn't spend the $95.00 per person to do it again.<br><br> " BAD "<br> <br> 1. Lee's and Turtle Pier running out of Lobster.<br><br> 2. The beach employees at L'Hoste.<br> We stayed at the hotel the first 3 days , one day while out on the beach the guy that takes your orders for drinks and food came over and told us that they did not allow coolers on the beach.Guess it was a slow day. Then the next day when it was a little busier he said nothing about our cooler. My wife went to order a burger from him but couldn't find him so she went up to the rest. They told her she had to order it at the beach bar. She went down to the beach bar and the employees were talking to each other,after about 5 minutes she left with no one taking her order. So I walked over to Bikini beach bar and ordered over there.( If you don't want my business I will gladly go else where ). But the worse was at the end of the day on the beach ,my wife and I took a walk our two friends stayed behind to soak in the last rays.My friend went to go to the bathroom and then order a drink leaving his wife there alone reading her book. The man that sets out the chairs in the morning and collects them at night comes over to her. He asks her what she is reading and she tells him it's a book on being a better parent. He points down at the book and tells her he knows what those words say. He tells her it said " That she wants to *uck. When her husband comes back he moves on,she tells her husband what happend and he goes after the guy.He starts yelling at the guy to stay away from him and his wife.The guy half ignores him till he tells him he's going up to management. Then the guy starts to follow my friend around asking him not to do it.So my friend tells the guy to stay away from them for the rest of the week. Since it was our last day at L'Hoste anyway and we were going to the Villa we went up to Club O instead.<br><br> 3. All the crap people put on their chairs to save them for the next day at Club O.<br><br> 4. Paridise car rental<br> My friend ordered a convertible from them,well when he got there the convertible was broken and would be fixed the next day.They said they would deliver it to the villa,which they never did. And on top of that when he took the car they gave him back they made him go put an eighth of a tank of gas in it. Thats the end of them for me...........<br><br> So you take the good with the OK with the bad and we all had a great and relaxing time at St.Martin,ready to go back next year. <br> Jeff_C<br> <br>


If your motto is ; If at first you don't succeed......
Maybe it would be best not to try sky diving !