Saturday, November 2nd

Due to a generous gift from a coworker who had timeshare points available he wasn’t using, we were able to stay a week for free at the Atrium this year. We were up early this morning, with a flight that left Charlotte at 7:50 AM. It was an uneventful direct flight, and soon we were back on our favorite island for the third time in less than two years! We arrived to cloudy and rainy skies. I think I am cursed, because of my three trips, my three arrival days have all been cloudy! A quick trip through immigration, and Elvis with Banana Location met us with our Kia Picanto. We headed straight to the Atrium, arriving about 3 hours before check in time. They were kind enough to store our luggage in their office, so we walked next door to the Greenhouse for a nice lunch consisting of conch fritters, calamari, Bang Bang shrimp wrap, and a swordfish sandwich.



After a satisfying lunch, we walked back to the Atrium where our room was ready two hours early. We were delighted to find our groceries already delivered by Caroline, who works for Jeannie with Shop and Drop Grocery. This was the first time we have used her service and we will definitely use it again! After unpacking and a relaxing afternoon we walked over to The Palms for dinner, where we had excellent service and a great meal. Ian had the Drunken ribs, which were very good. We then headed back to the Atrium where we turned in after being up so early that day for the early morning flight.

Sunday, November 3rd

I prepared breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, coffee, and almond croissants from Sarafina’s thanks to the delivery from Jeannie the day before, and then we were off to Club Orient for the day. It started off slightly sunny, and it was looking promising, but it turned out to be another cloudy day. On prior visits we had always parked near Pedro’s. This was the first time we parked in the Club Orient lot for $5, but it was worth it and we will continue to use it. We also had a nice lunch at the Perch Grill – BBQ chicken and a hamburger. Happy hour arrived, and we were back at the Perch for some guavaberry coladas! In spite of the cloudy day, it was still better than a sunny day back here in Tennessee! We intended to stop and see Bernadine near Paradise View, but she was closed up for the day.

We made the long trek back to Simpson Bay around 3:30 PM where we got ready for Bruce’s (SXMSAMMY) get-together at the Greenhouse. We made our way down to the party where we met some familiar faces from TTOL. Cassandra Gibbs of the I Can Foundation gave a presentation. www.i-canfoundation.org This is a great organization providing much needed care to the children of this island. A big thanks to Bruce for organizing the event! We also met Jeannie and Caroline who wanted to make sure everything was correct with our delivery. It was funny, because I had just sent an email to Jeannie before we went down to the Greenhouse telling her everything was great and thanking her, and she read it while we were talking to her at the Greenhouse <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />



After this we headed over to Calmos Café in Grand Case where we had dinner reservations. Calmos Café is always a favorite for us, and it was great this time as well. Ian had a ceviche salad with three different types of fish and I had a goat cheese salad. We finished off the meal with some Nutella crème brûlée for dessert! We started to walk down Grand Case boulevard, but everything seemed deserted and I got an unesasy feeling, so we headed back to the car. I found out later about the robbery and stabbing the night before. We will continue to go to Grand Case, but we won’t be walking around there at night if there isn’t a crowd.

Monday, November 4th

Today we tried our luck at Orient again after I made breakfast. It was much better today – bright sunshine finally! We laid around at Club O until lunch time, where we reluctantly put on our clothes and made our way to Chez Leandra for lunch. Chez Leandra was our favorite spot for lunch on Orient our last trip in May, and it was great again this time as well. We shared a shrimp wrap and some conch fritters. After another happy hour at the Perch consisting of more frozen beverages, we stopped at the Paradise View shops to see Bernadine. We started walking up the hill beside the shops. She was reading her copy of the Daily Herald, and she looked up and saw us coming and said “Oh my goodness!! You’re back!” We were delighted she remembered us. After some hugs she insisted on making us some guavaberry coladas (how could we say no?) Visiting Bernadine is one of the highlights of our visit to the island and it just wouldn’t be the same without her. After a lovely visit with Bernadine, we drove back to Simpson Bay and showered and got ready for dinner.

For dinner tonight we walked literally across the street to Shiv Shakti Indian cuisine. We are Indian food fanatics, and thought it was delicious. We had naan, vegetable samosas, lamb saag, shahi paneer, and jeera basmati rice. Another night turning in early, but this would be the last of that this week!


Tuesday, November 5th

Tuesday morning we were again up early, but this time we walked over to Zee Best for breakfast instead of cooking. I had a delicious Nutella coconut crepe! We ran into SXMSAMMY there and he asked us if we were following him <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> After a great breakfast, we decided to try something different today. We went back to the room and got ready and then made the short drive over to Cupecoy where we met Dany for the first time. We had visited Cupecoy on our first trip in 2012, but didn’t stay long. Today we made a day of it. There was plenty of beach by Shore Point, and that’s where Dany’s chairs were set up. Dany was great and makes a mean rum punch! We also enjoyed his salad and rib plate for $8 which was absolutely delicious and delivered to our chairs! We met two guys from Germany, Armin and Doug, off of the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas repositioning cruise from Spain. We spent the day with them at Cupecoy. We decided to be nice at the end of the day and drive them back to the cruise terminal. We left at 4:30 thinking that would be plenty of time to get back by 6 PM. Traffic was absolutely terrible from the bridge in Simpson Bay all the way to Philipsburg, the worst I have seen it! We made it to the terminal at 6:30, and they ran off to catch their ship which was leaving 30 minutes later.



It was much faster driving back the other direction, and after showering back at the Atrium we walked next door to Bucaneer for dinner. We tried Bucaneer’s food last trip and came away unimpressed. We tried it again tonight and it was much better. It was here we met Mike and Jim who would become great friends with us for the rest of the trip. After Bucaneer we went with Mike and Jim to the Red Piano. It was our first time going to the Red Piano and I have to say it was amazing. But what made it amazing was Susan Erwin! http://www.susanerwin.com/ She is an AMAZINGLY talented artist and her ability to sing nearly anything on request is mind blowing. It was a great night, we were all sitting around the piano and we were there till about 2 AM.


Wednesday, November 6th

No getting up early this morning after the late night at the Red Piano! I cooked another nice breakfast, and today we went back to Cupecoy. Dany’s rum punch and ribs were just too good to turn down, and we had them again for the second day in a row! Mike and Jim joined us at Cupecoy for the afternoon and we had a good time drinking some rum punch and beer.



After a lovely day there, we headed back to the Atrium around 3. We walked down to the Greenhouse where I couldn’t miss the Bang Bang shrimp for half price! Love that sauce! We also had some drinks, a mojito and a pina colada. We hung out there for awhile then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We went to Thai Savanh around 8 at the Atlantis Casino and had dinner with Mike and Jim. I had some tom yum soup and pad see ew and it was delicious. After dinner the four of us headed to the Red Piano (yes, again) where by now Susan was referring to Ian and I as her “Tennessee boys” as soon as we walked in and we all sat around the piano. We stayed till Susan’s show ended at 1 and played some pool and called it a night.


Thursday, November 7th

Thursday was another late morning. Ian wanted to go to Tijon in Grand Case, so after I made some breakfast that’s where we headed, driving through the construction mess in Marigot. We had a nice lunch at Scooby’s which was great. Johnnycakes, coconut shrimp, garlic shrimp, plantains, rice and beans! I’m craving another johnnycake right now typing this! We walked down the boulevard but many of the shops were closed. It was really the first time we had been to Grand Case in the day so we thought maybe the shops only open for dinner? We had a tour of Tijon and Ian bought some Sandalwood Vanilla cologne. We continued our clockwise trek around the island and stopped to see Bernadine again. More rum shots, and we bought such a large volume of rum it nearly made my suitcase overweight! Bernadine suggested dinner on Friday night and we were delighted. We took her to dinner at Le Tastevin back in May and were happy at the chance to do so again. I think I saw David and Elizabeth (islandgem), but they were leaving the shops as we were getting to Bernadine’s. We continued back around the island through French Quarter and back to Le Grand Marche where we restocked on some beverages.

Caroline and Jeannie had invited us to dinner with them at Jimbo’s tonight, so we got ready and walked over to Jimbo’s to meet them. We had a great time chatting with them and a great meal! Looking forward to hanging out with you all next time! Caroline dropped us off at the Atrium, and Ian and I drove up to the Red Piano for the third night in the row! Can you tell we like it? Listening to Susan never got old and I’m sad I won’t be back on the island in March 2014 when she is back for a month! We stayed till her show was over and then headed back to the Atrium for the night.



Friday, November 8th

Friday morning was another slightly late start. But as soon as we were up and moving and had breakfast, we headed over towards Orient where we stopped to see Bernadine and make dinner plans for that evening. Two guavaberry coladas and three rum shots later we all decided on Yvette’s! We probably stayed with Bernadine at her rum stand there about an hour, then headed down to Club Orient to spend our last day on the beach.



After some napping, reading, and swimming, we walked down to Orange Fever for lunch where we shared the four cheese pizza – mozzarella, parmesean, blue cheese and goat cheese! Delicious! We also made our way to the Club O Boutique were Ian bought some St. Barth’s Patchouli Arawak cologne, some of his favorite. We said goodbye to Orient Beach until next year and headed back to the Atrium.

We got ready and then made the drive back to French Quarter to Yvette’s at 6 to meet Bernadine for dinner! We had some great food! Conch salad, saltfish cakes, conch chowder, conch and dumplings, oxtail creole, and the best johnnycakes ever!

Conch and dumplings:


Oxtail creole:


After dinner we said goodbye to Bernadine and hugged her until our next trip in June!

We made plans for our last night with Mike and Jim. We saw a movie at Caribbean Cinemas, “Thor: The Dark World”, then we headed over to the Sky Bar in Maho. It was a really cool place, but it was still too early and not much of a party scene. We headed across the street to Tantra to finish out the night where there was a nice crowd and we danced and partied till around 3 am.



Saturday, November 9th

Our last day on the island. Fortunately our flight didn’t leave until 5:30 PM. The problem was checkout at the Atrium was 10 and I didn’t want to leave my luggage there all day. It’s nice to make friends on the island, as Mike and Jim were kind enough to offer to leave our luggage with them until it was time for our flight to leave. We all had a nice lunch at Lee’s where I had the pan fried wahoo which was excellent.



We said goodbye to our new friends and dropped our car off at the airport around 3:30. Our flight left right on time and there were no issues. We got back to Charlotte around 8:30 and breezed through US customs and immigration.

This was our third trip to the island. It just keeps getting better every time I go and I’m afraid I’m now hooked for life. It’s so nice to have good friends on the island that make you feel like you are a part of it. I can’t wait till the next trip! June can’t come fast enough!

Dustin