There has been a lot of rain and the island is greener than I have seen it since Hurricane Luis. There are flowers everywhere.

The cruise business is booming. Some days there were up to 9 ships in over the course of the day. I can only guess that rough seas may have been responsible for some unscheduled stops.

Mullet Beach had everything from a smooth gradual slope to the water to a huge cliff in the sand; and water like a lake to huge waves; and very windy days to extremely calm days. Something for everyone.

There were more mosquitoes than usual due to the rain.

The golf course, altho still a mess, is in better shape than any time since the hurricane. There are more fire ants, however. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Prices for fine dining have gone up quite a bit. A typical meal we had at Tropicana: a bottle of water, a bottle of wine, one appetizer, two dinners, one dessert and two coffees cost around $125. Everything was wonderful and we ate there several times, but wow! the cost. You can not eat there without reservations for dinner and I heard people being told at 12 noon they would have to wait about 45 minutes. It seems to be the new hot spot.

The size of the yachts in Simpsom Bay leads me to believe that not everyone has fallen on hard times <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> The biggest yacht in the world was in one day and had to dock with the cruise ships.

The time share sales people and hair braiders and beach vendors have been scared straight by all the recent arrests. They are very polite.

The Towers is still lovely. We have to move every Saturday to a new unit, and each unit showed signs of maintenence such as new appliances, new upholstery and new sink fixtures. Clarence still says he can't make any money on the maintenence fees, but I suspect otherwise.

The new grocery store across from the Royal Islander in the Maho area is wonderful. They have everything you could need to get your vacation started and the prices are not bad.

We had a wonderful 4 weeks, and now it is 17 degrees outside my door. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />