Kate, Jen (20 yr old student at Tampa) and I had an outstanding trip! Kind of nice that she chose to spend spring break with us rather than friends. One day of rain, only had to put the top up once.

Saturday AA 667 from JFK. Met friends at airport who were doing a sail cruise and agreed to meet in Marigot for drinks and dinner. Flight on time and no luggage hassles. Unity rep met us and we were in our Wrangler on our way to Pelican in 15 minutes. In our room in 15 minutes and off to the store for munchies and beverages. Got an hour at the pool and beach at Pelican. Missed hooking up with friends in Marigot and ate at La France, which was mediocre.

Sunday morning met Craig/Bob picked up chairs and then a workout at MEGA Gym. They have added some new aerobic equipment and enlarged the whole place. Great view of the bridge opening while working out. Finished grocery shopping , got a couple of hours at Pelican beach and met flight from SJU to pick up Jen that was (omigod) 30 minutes early. Back to beach and a few Carib's. Dinner at Laguna, excellent swordfish.

Monday morning the three of us played tennis, lunch at the Hideaway then Baie Rouge. Gus is up and running after a problem with the local version of P&Z. According to Gus he was closed down because his coolers weren't keeping things at a proper temp and he had to get a generator and fridge.
Monday night TTOL party, great time! Spent a lot of time talking to Pat & Tim from MN, met SXMWendell and a lot of other nice people. Deepti bought rounds of drinks even after we told her we shopped elsewhere. Agreed to get together when she is in NY. Dinner at Peg Leg Pub, Sean was having a lot of fun with Jen, and she was loving the place. Great chicken dish!

Tuesday-Tennis with some people we usually meet with and then to Orient beach. Plenty of beach and great weather. Tried to set up chairs by Kon Tiki and was told to leave their “private beach.” Set up next door at Cool Bar . Cool Bar does a drink a chair and an umbrella for $7. Harmony night in Grand Case and dinner at Bistrot D'Caraibes-excellent as always.

Wednesday, tennis again and then back to Baie Rouge. Celine Pub Crawl, great time, Peg Leg Pub, Lal's (I think that was it) and Turtle Pier. Fun band at Turtle Pier, the Indian Food was great and Sean was great at Peg Leg. We had a good group and there was a another coed-so the two college girls showed the old folks how to really dance.

Thursday-another visit to MEGA Gym, Pelican beach and plenty of Caribs. Dinner at Marios Bisrtro. All we can say is it was the best meal we had.

Friday-Tennis with a friend and some locals at Point D'Plasaince (sic?). Orient beach and since it was Jen's last night she got to choose where to go for dinner. Back to Peg Leg and another very good meal T-shirts and a lot of cold ones.

Saturday, check out of Pelican, check into Le Petit Hotel and drop Jen at the airport. Afternoon just hung out at beach behind hotel. Dinner at California (1 for 1 for cash) great food and very friendly atmosphere as usual. If you go and like tuna the Creole tuna was excellent.

Sunday was the only rainy day, read a lot late lunch at Talk of the Town. Food was good but the flies got a little annoying. Amazing atmospheric occurrence caused the complimentary bottle of MaDoudow Rum in our room to evaporate, I think that's what happened.

Monday drove back to MEGA Gym because we couldn't find a decent workout place on the French side. Sand gravity the rest of the day. Canceled our dinner reservation at Rainbow and decided a couple of martinis would suffice.

Tuesday-spent the entire day at the beach at L'Amandiere doing, well, nothing. If you are into non-fiction you have to read the Churchill/Roosevelt book. Talked to Kristin and Mark from L' Esplanade/Petit Hotel.They are planning on adding two bedroom villas to the L' Esplande property. Dinner was with the Alwani family and some other of their customers. Jay is a great guy and Kate and his wife, Kanisha, got along great. Temptation was excellent,great food and a nice atmoshere.

Wednesday-AA 660 back to JFK, leaky toilet delayed departure, as did strong headwinds and landed an hour + late. Have to tell you the AA's international terminal is a disgrace, people coming here for the first time must think they landed in a third world country.

As we cruised the Island, very slowly as traffic did get tedious, we noticed that a lot of the roads now have white lines separating the lanes. I sure hope the government has some more ideas for helping the traffic situation then white lines. We were there there for the last two days of the regatta and it took us 45 minute to get form Laguna to Pelican after dinner. Although when traffic got bad, we stopped had a drink-we drank a lot!. The final day of the regatta finished on a downwind-very little wind-leg into Simpson bay. Quite a site with all the spinnakers up. Will post some pics when I get a chance.

All in all a really relaxing and terrific trip-that's my story and I'm sticking to it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />