Tuesday

My wife laughed at me. "Why does your suitcase weigh 45 pounds if you're going to a nude beach???

Caught the Westjet red-eye from Calgary to Toronto at 12:20am, then a 4-hour connection for the Westjet flight to SXM. Only had to pay an extra $20 for my big guitar case. Was in the taxi 20 minutes after landing, and arrived at Mont Vernon 50 minutes and $35 later ($40 with tip).

It turned out that the phone number I had given to Jeannie to get early access to the unit to stock the fridge was not right, so she was waiting for me when I arrived. The studio owner's contact arrived about 15 minutes later to let us in. Jeannie gave her a ride home. Jeannie - can't say enough nice words about her. Turns out she grew up only 3 hours from where I live. We had a bit of a tussle about our home-town football and hockey teams. To be honest, I haven't had to hate the Oilers since Gretzky went to LA (and Messier to NY) but I didn't tell Jeannie that, just for sport.

It wasn't dark yet so I went for a walk on the beach. Met a worker from the original Bikini Beach on his way along the beach towards his home near Cul de Sac. We talked for quite awhile and walked back to Mt Vernon together. "LD" seems like a great guy. I would spend my days there if I could tear myself away from the C/O beach.

Wednesday

My first day! Did the beach walk to Club-O at about 7:45am. Followed a like-minded naturalista just in case, but no problems. $7 for a chair just south of The Perch. Had my little cooler full of Carib and lime slices. $17 plus tip for ribs and 2 Coronas for happy hour at The Perch. Long line for drinks at happy hour but since I bought the meal, Willy was very responsive to me sitting at the side of the bar. Gave me the Coronas one at a time so they'd be cold.

Coming up: Thu - Tiko Tiko to Tintamarre, Fri - P&P around the island.