This was our 4th trip to SXM (But it is my first trip report) and we enjoyed it very much as usual. The weather was cloudier and rainier then usual, but we still caught good amount of sun.
GETTING THERE AND BACK:
Flew AA from PHL via SJU to SXM and via MIA back. Got 3 free FF tickets and one on AA.com for about $450. Can’t get better then this.
Got to PHL airport just before the snow started but by the time we boarded the jet was covered with snow and we had to wait 1hr. and 40 min. for de-icing but they made up most of the time so we got to SXM only 20 min late. Breezed through the immigrations in 10 min., as we were the fist jet in. By the time we cleared immigration bags were already out and Michael’s driver from Unity Car Rental was waiting for us.
Flight back was uneventful and on time, Miami airport was a ZOO with a lot of people pushing and shoving their way through immigrations and customs. We had 2.5 hrs. between our flights and we needed every minute of it to get through. By the way, our SXM departure tax was included in all 4 tickets.
PLACE TO STAY:
We usually rent 2 bdm unit at Beachside Villas on Simpson Bay behind the airport. It is very comfortable and very well taken care of cluster of seven 2 and 3 bedroom units right on the secluded beach with the pool. The only draw back might be for some people is that it is right behind the runway and you can hear jets landing and taking off, but it is usually dies down in the evening. It does not bother us, we love to watch them.
ACTIVITIES:
We visited the Zoo. It is very nice little Zoo, it looks like the keepers are putting a lot of effort to make it clean and comfortable place for the animals. They have monkeys that throw stones at the visitors.
Drove all the way up to Pic Paradise. Scenery is sure great, but after hearing all the reports on robberies up there I was really paranoid and couldn’t wait to get back down.
Went to Pinel Island one day. Both restaurants are opened and very expensive. One near the dock used to have burgers, ribs and chicken type food at reasonable prices. No more, they wanted 14 euros for a 6 oz hamburger and the rest of a menu consisted of various French lunch salads. We skipped it and stopped at one of the Lo-Lo’s in Grand Case.
Did shopping in Philipsburg one day. Stopped at DK Gems and saw Diptee. Very nice person. Bought some jewelry from her at a good price.
DINING:
One breakfast at Turtle Pier – was good.
Rest – croissants and bagetes from Atlantic bakery across the street from Hot Tomato’s – delicious!
Lunches:
Greenhouse Restaurant in Phillipsburg after hard day of shopping – very good, got to talk to Conan for a little bit too.
Rick’s in Simpson Bay – good burgers and tex-mex.
Buccaneer’s Beach Bar – good burgers.
Lo-Lo on the waterside, on opposite side to Talk of the Town, we like the view there better and the food is the same, we tried both of them. Great ribs, chicken and shrimp.
Baywatch – first time there, got to meet Cheryl and Andy. What are characters! Had a tasty chicken parm sandwich and Jim had fish and chips that he said was pretty good.
Turtle Pier – on the last day, just before we turned the car in, was OK.
Dinners:
Rancho Argentinean Steak House in Simpson Bay – Surprisingly they had a good ribs, steaks were good too (not excellent). It was very good value though, $100 for 4 of us including service charge.
Mezanotte-new Italian place. Very good service, good food but bit expensive. They charged us $ 35 for 3 cokes 4 bottles of water and one Bloody Mary.
Peg Leg Pub – our favorite meal of the trip. Their filet was excellent and my shrimp in butter garlic sauce melted in my mouth. Place was packed, all tables were occupied but service didn’t suffer. Ran into Bob_Dot there, whom we previously met at BBB. They were enjoying their dinner too.
Turtle Pier – it was better for dinner then for lunch, food vas pretty good.
Did not make it to Grand Case or Marigot for dinner this trip.
Over all we found service to be very good everywhere and we didn’t have any disappointments.
WATERING HOLES:
Did our usual route- SSBB watching planes, BBB - finally made it there this year, but unfortunately did not wear TTOL shirt to get two for one drinks, I had one from our year 2000 4th of July get together but did not know about it until Bob of Bob_Dot who we met there told us about it. Barmaid told us that Neal is going into partnership with somebody to open up new bar at Port de Plaisance hotel. Stopped at Cherie’s couple of time and watched parts of the show. Went to Sopranos in Maho for the first time one night, they do not open till 9pm. Cute little piano bar, good for older crowd. Bamboo Bernie’s was cute place for a drink, but it was packed on Wednesday night-ladies drink for free.
Stopped at Scavengers but it was completely empty so we continued on to Mr. Busby’s for a .75 cents Caribs, which is our usual stop every year. From there we continued on to Orient Beach for a drink at Baywatch. Also stopped at Cliffhanger at Cupicoy one day but they charge $ 3 a beer so we didn’t stay long.
BEACHES:
Since “sand gravity” does not affect us did not visit any. We are more of a “ pool” people.

Over all island looked very green and pretty clean. Roads were terrible, full of potholes but they were working on it.
We had two 18 year olds with us and they really enjoyed our location near all Maho attractions and even donated some money to Dolphin casino. They went out at night by themselves, while us old folks watched TV at “home”.

Sorry the report turned out to be so long but we wanted to share our experiences with fellow TTOLers as we benefited from all the info from everybody else on this board.

Well, back to cold and snow for now…

Jim and Luda.