Trip Report April 23 to May 7
This report is a bit late; we are trying to adjust back from ‘island time’. This was our fourth trip to the island. We were there for two great weeks this time. Both weeks at the Flamingo Beach resort. The first week was on a TTOL special from CheapCarribean.com; a basic studio unit, but hey, the price was right. The second week was a timeshare trade to a one bedroom on the fourth floor. The deck overlooked the beach and Simpson Bay where we spent a lot of time enjoying a morning cup of coffee and evening drinks taking in the sunsets. Very nice.
We flew Boston to San Juan on AA with no problem; however we were delayed almost two hours from San Juan to SXM when one of the turbo-prop engines on our American Eagle would not start, so we didn’t get in until 7:00 p.m.
Despite the delay, Lesley Bruce from Kenny’s was waiting for us with our rental car at the airport when we arrived. Great car, great service. After a few minutes filling out the paperwork, we were off to pick up our cell phone from Sharon Harris. The phone worked well all over the island and we were able to keep in touch with home for the two weeks without having to buy additional time.
The weather this trip was nearly perfect. It had just finished raining when we arrived on Saturday night and it rained again on Sunday so we just used it to spend the day picking up groceries and browsing the shops in Phillipsburg. The rest of the time it was mostly sunny and hot, with a beautiful breeze that helped moderate the temperature.
Because of its convenience, we spent most of our beach time on the beach at the Flamingo. We also visited Mullett, Orient, Pinel, & Dawn beaches. We did a fair amount of snorkeling and found the conditions to be better than in previous years. The visibility was decent in most places and there seemed to be more fish. Pinel was especially good this year, I even saw a good sized moray eel swimming around looking for a place to hide.
We ended up dining at the more moderately priced restaurants, mainly in the Simpson Bay area; Hot Tomatoes, Uncle Harry’s, Pineapple Pete’s, Banana’s and Ric’s. We also had a burger or two at the Sunset Beach Bar. (Monday’s at SSBB $1 Heinekens and ½ price burgers.) Breakfasts were usually at Ric’s, La Veranda, or our two new favorite spots-Spinnakers and Zee Best. So far, we have never had a bad meal on SXM.
We attended two TTOL parties. The first was hosted by SandyandBill at the Buccaneer Beach Bar. There were lots of TTOLers there. Sandy and Bill did a great job, the first round was on them and they also arranged a raffle to benefit the St. Martin Animal Hospital in memory of Moose, Neil Rooney’s dog. Thanks to Sandy, Bill and Neil as well as many others who worked behind the scenes for a great evening.
The second party was hosted by Dawnskers and was held at Los Gauchos restaurant in Phillipsburg. This was another nice turnout and a job well done by Dawnskers and her ‘crew’. Leisa from Los Gauchos knocked herself out at keeping everyone happy with lots of delicious snacks and hor’derves as well as offering a generous 15% discount for anyone eating there that evening. We were too full from the snacks to take advantage of the offer but look forward to dining there in the future.
We did the Pub Crawl and had a great time stopping at Peg Leg Pub; Lal’s then back to Turtle Pier where they had more food a live band for dancing. Capt. Neil and first mate Mike do a fine job of taking care of everyone. We also went out on a snorkel trip aboard the Lambada to Anguilla. It was cloudy on the way out and we were getting a bit worried, but the sun appeared soon after we arrived at our snorkeling site. The snorkeling there was very good. We had lunch at Crocus Bay with some time on the beach afterwards and then it was back on the Lambada for more rum punch and the sail back. We have been on the Lambada before, it’s always an enjoyable trip; this time there didn’t seem to be as many participants as in the past.
Overall we had one of our best trips ever. The island was nice and green due to the recent rain. Traffic conditions didn’t seem too bad while we were there, although we did get into a few brief back-ups, mainly in Marigot. The construction at the airport wasn’t a problem either outside of sharing the roads with a lot more trucks than usual. There did seem to be more peddlers at the beaches than in the past; especially on cruise ship days. They were always very polite and would quickly move on if you weren’t interested.
It was the perfect mix of fun and relaxing and we owe a great deal of thanks to the folks as well as sponsors on this board for all their help.
HappyDude & Brightside <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
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