It was the best of times…it was the wettest of times…

The worst part of our trip this year was the trip from St. Louis to St. Martin. In past years we have flown from STL to MIA to SXM with the trip taking about 5 hours. This year, we used AA award tickets and were booked through Miami. AA changed the flight schedule about 3 months before our trip which meant that we had to fly from STL to DFW to SJU to SXM taking 11 hours <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> The only other negative was the weather…windy, rainy, cloudy for several days.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by a very nice Lesley Bruce from Kenny’s Car rental. He provided us with a brand new Toyota Corrolla. Lesley is an absolute professional and his service lives up to the rave reviews that he’s received on TTOL <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

We picked up a cell phone from Sharon, what a great lady! She made the process very simple and it was great having the cell phone all week. We were able to contact our friends on the island very easily with the phone and it was quite convenient. Jack’s cell phone through T-Mobile also worked on the Dutch side, so that was a pleasant surprise this year.

We stayed at Le Esperance hotel the first night. It’s located near Phillipsburg, very clean, good security and a great price. Since our flight arrived so late, we tried in vain to find a place to eat after 11pm. Finally, we went to the Cappucino Diner on Airport road in Simpson bay across from the Ironhorse saloon. The ribs were very tasty and so was the burger.

FOOD: I tried to do a comparison of ribs during this trip, here are the places where I had ribs in order of preference: 1) Ms. B’s, 2) Talk of the Town, 3) Boo Boo Jams 4) Sunset Beach Bar 5) Danny at Cupecoy 6) Baywatch, 7) Baie Rouge, 8) Royal Palm, 9) Marks Place.

Other restaurants included Temptation (twice), Les Charolais, Le Cottage—the best meal we had this trip, Rainbow (always a favorite), Le Plongeois---excellent food, and the former Warung Bali is opening as a Tapas restaurant, we had a great ceviche there. We had a really special meal with friends at Loterie Farms on our last night. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Andy and Cheryl at Baywatch for preparing the Seafood Pasta Special for us.

ACCOMODATIONS: We spent the first week with another couple at Maison de MiKi on Mont Rouge in the French Lowlands. It was our second year at MiKi, the house is very comfortable and the view is spectacular. Unfortunately, we had a problem with the pool this year, it was not usable. The rental agent on the island gave us access to another villa on Mont Rouge so that we could use the pool, but it was a big inconvenience. The rental agency did refund half of the cost of the villa, which we thought was a fair resolution to the problem. The second week, we were at Royal Palm. We had a lovely two bedroom unit this year, with great views of the lagoon and Simpson Bay. We really enjoy the chance to experience both St. Maarten and St. Martin during our vacation.

PEOPLE, PARTIES, ETC. We had the chance again this year to spend time with Bill & Linda, John & Toddy, Diane & Tim, Ron & Beth and others on Orient Beach. We also had our Thursday night Party at the Villa and had a excellent time sharing our “home” with everyone. While we were at Sunset Beach Bar on Saturday of the first week bidding farewell to everyone (and begging them to take the rains with them) we were joined by Lee and Kate from Indiana. During the next week, we enjoyed spending time with them trying to find the perfect Pina Colada. We also visited Deepti who is always gracious. We didn’t buy anything this year, but she knows we’ll be back.

ANGUILLA We took the ferry to Anguilla for the day. Spent time on Shoal Bay Beach, what a beautiful place. Everyone was very friendly on the island, we had a nice lunch at Le Bar and Ambrose was the perfect host/waiter/cook. We went to the Pyrat Rum “factory” for a rum tasting –wow! And we watched the sunset from Malihauna Resort. I read A Trip to The Beach and really wanted to have dinner at Blanchards. We did not have reservations and the hostess turned us away. When I went back into the restaurant to get information about another restaurant, a gentleman was there and when I explained that I read the book and really wanted to experience Blanchards, he found us a table and we had a very nice, but expensive meal. We took the 9pm ferry back, if you choose to do this, keep in mind that it costs $25.00 for the late ferry. We were very impressed with Anguilla and if we can afford it, we may spend a few days there in the future.

RANDOM THOUGHTS Despite the rainy, cloudy, windy weather the first week, we had a great time because we spent time with old friends and made new ones. We revisited our favorite places and made new discoveries. We let beach gravity take hold for a few days and just relaxed. We never feel compelled to do anything in particular because we know we’re returning…