It was with a heavy heart that we took off for SXM on Thursday April 21. My mother was in the hospital and it was only at her insistence that we went. After overnighting in Newark, we were scheduled to depart at 7:00am on the commuter to Philly, then down to SXM. Our names were called at the gate and we were asked if we would mind taking a 1 hour bump and connect thru Charlotte, arriving in SXM at 3:00 instead of 2:00. In return they would put us in first class all the way down and give us 2 free tickets good for a year. Ummmmm, ok! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> Let me tell you, I could get used to first class. After landing, my first thought when I stepped outside was “man it is hot!”. Immigration was slow and did I mention hot? We retrieved our bag and met up with our ride to Unity to get our car. Then it was off to the Royal Palm to get our phone from Sharon Harris, as I needed to be reachable with regards to my mom. With that taken care of we headed for Club O. The road to Club O is in a word, horrendous. We are not talking just potholes, we are talking holes that could swallow a car whole. Check in at Club O was eventless and soon we were getting settled in our studio. Now we made the decision to stay at Club O because last time we were in SXM we stayed at St. Tropez and ending up walking down the beach and setting up in front of Club O and paying for the 2 chairs and umbrella each time. We wanted to experience staying there and now that we have we have concluded that it is not worth the money that they charge. Not that we had a bad experience there, we just don’t think it is worth the premium they charge. Enough on that subject. After getting settled, our tummies were rumbling so we headed over to Tap Five at Orient Village for some pizza and a couple Caribs. Man it was good, we had the 4 cheese pizza with gorgonzola on it. To die for! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/hungry.gif" alt="" />

We woke up Saturday morning to rain, a lot of rain. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" /> So what better to do when it’s raining? Shopping! We made the trek over the Phillipsburg to meet the famous Deepti at DK Gems. Todd dropped me off and went to find parking. By the time he made it back he was soaked to the bone! Deepti is just a joy to work with. We wanted to upgrade the diamond in my wedding ring. She found just what I wanted and also had my old diamond set into a necklace. I ended up spending way less then I had planned, so Todd got a new ring and I got some diamond earrings to. We walked away very happy with our new baubles. It was at DK that we met our first TTOLers, Butch and Kelly & Joe and Jen. That evening we dined at Temptations. It is everything they say it is. I had the best french onion soup I’d had ever had, the Osso Bucco, which just melted in my mouth, and for dessert a chocolate dish that was divine. Todd had the tuna steak on wasabi mashed potatoes and the crème brulee sampler for dessert. Everything was wonderful.

Sunday morning we awoke to more rain. We decided that it looked like it was breaking up so we headed for the beach. We staked out some chairs and headed to Baywatch for breakfast. As we were dining, it started to rain very hard. So we just hung out hoping the rain would subside. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> 3 or 4 mimosas later we decided that we’d better truck on back and retrieve our now soaked towels while we were still able to walk straight. We got cleaned up and headed over the Grand Case. We had lunch at Talk of the Town, grilled lobster for me and ribs for Todd. We huddled under the cover, ate good food and watched the rain. After napping that afternoon we went to Bikini Beach Bar for a light dinner. We snacked on some delicious tapanade and raw veggies. Yum!

Monday morning awoke to clear sunny skies, finally! We packed up and headed for the beach. There was very little wind, so it was steamy. But we managed to cool off in that wonderful Caribbean water. We went to Pedros for lunch and got there just in time. Not more that 10 min. later it started to rain! Being close to noon, everyone decided it was a good time for lunch and the place was packed. I had a burger and Todd had their spicy ribs. We also had a really good drink there called the “Lime Lambada”. They were very refreshing. The rain came and went so we headed back to our chairs for a little more beach time. Later that afternoon we got cleaned up and headed to BBB for the TTOL party. Thank you Sandy and Bill for organizing a lovely party and for buying the first round! After the party we were hungry so we met up the Don and Lorrie and Ken and Stacy at the Peg Leg Pub. The food was great, but the service was very slow…… We were outside on the water and soon had to move under cover as another rain swell came passing through.

Tuesday we met the gang, Butch & Kelly, Joe & Jen, Don & Lorrie, and Ken & Stacy on the beach for a day of sand gravity. We went to Baywatch for lunch with Butch & Kelly. I had the buffalo chicken strip hero with blue cheese dressing, and Todd had the philly steak hero. Man that hit the spot. It was just after we got settled back at the beach and the cell phone rang. My heart dropped, there was only 1 reason the cell phone would be ringing. Sure enough it was my uncle, mom’s condition was grave and I needed to get home ASAP. I was unable to call any 800 #s to the states from the cell phone, in order to get our flights changed, and the USAir counter had closed for the day. So, all we could do was pack up and be at the airport at 9:30 the next morning when they opened up. Since we knew we were on island for one more night, we went to Harmony Nights in Grand Case. We had reservations for dinner at Le Cottage. We sat out on the street side so that we could watch the festivities. Unfortunately this meant no A/C. I was incredibly still and muggy. The food was very good. Todd had the lobster dinner, which was a fixed price full meal including lobster bisque, ravioli, lobster thermador, and dessert. I had the surf and turf and fresh passon fruit sorbet. Harmony Nights was nice. If I had been in better spirits we would have stayed later, but with the situation at hand plus the thought of the long travel the next day, we decided to call it a night.

Wednesday morning we packed the car and checked out. Club O did not charge us for the remainder of our stay, only for the nights we were there. We made our way to the airport and they were able to get us on the 3:00 pm flight to Newark. We used the internet café next to the Royal Palm and I was able to get a non 800 # to call for Alaska Airlines to get our tickets from Newark to Seattle changed. We went in search of breakfast since we had some time to kill, and ended up having a nice breakfast at Ric’s Cafe. We dropped off the cell phone at the Royal Palm, and took the car back to Unity’s lot. They too only charged us for the days we had the car. Hitched a ride back to the airport and waited in the air conditioned lounge on the 2nd floor until it was time to go.

As we took off from the island I started to cry due to the unfortunate timing of life. At the same time I vowed to come back to this island that we love so much. Only next time it will be for 2 weeks to make up for our vacation we were cheated out of through no fault of our own. We had to overnight it in Newark on our way home. We ended up landing in Seattle at 11:30am on Thursday, April 28th .

I was able to spend 4 days with my mother before she passed away on Monday, May 2nd.

In closing, I want to thank the nice folks we were able to meet and I am sorry we weren’t able to make it on the day trip to St. Barts we had talked about. Next time………

Melinda