Trip Report – Our 1st Trip to St. Martin….

Dates: Sat. 11/5 – Sat 11/12

I want to start by thanking the many members of this board. The wealth of information both on the board and supplied to me via PM was outstanding and allowed my wife and I to have the ‘best vacation ever.’ So a big THANK YOU to everyone.

We were fortunate to be able to use my FF miles for our Continental direct flights from Newark. Many people told us a Sat to Sat schedule with FF is rare. Our flights were on time on both ends.

We stayed at the L’Esplanade, due to all the input from the board. The staff is outstanding and we had a beautiful loft bedroom. They are doing renovations, but we never heard a sound. A great service the L’Esplanade provides is called “Meet and Greet” by Caribbean Exotica. We filled out our immigration forms on line about 2 weeks before our departure, and I received an email telling me they would meet us. As we came into the terminal, there was the representative from Caribbean Exotica waiting for us. He took us to a separate line and he already had our forms with him and we were through immigration. He then picked up our bags and took us out the door.

We used Michael at Unity to rent a small SUV as our friends were arriving on Wednesday and we needed a little extra room. I emailed him from home about 45 days before our arrival and he sent me a confirmation number. Michael’s guys were waiting for us and took our bags from the Caribbean Exotica rep and off we went. We met Joseph at Unity’s lot and we filled out the paperwork and were on our way. I asked him about locking the car or not locking the car and he said to lock the doors, but just don’t leave anything in the car. He also said our Visa provided coverage, so that was another question out of the way.

From walking off the plane to driving away from Unity was a total of 30 minutes. We were on our way!

We really enjoyed the variety of foods at the restaurants and shops on the island. We did several stops at the Bounty for cheese, meats, bread and drinks. Casual dinners were at ‘Talk of the Town’ and we did sample the great ribs. I noticed many people stopping for take out at Talk of the Town. We ate and watched the sunsets. We made several visits to the Sunset Beach Bar for their great burgers, cold drinks and ‘entertainment’. After our friends arrived, we ate at La California, L’Escapade and Tropicana. We all agreed California was the best of the group.

And of course we visited Baywatch for breakfast and several great lunches. After reading so much about Andy and Cheryl, it was great to meet them and just talk. Being from NJ, it felt like a piece of home to us, and Cheryl greeted us with a big hug. We really looked forward to our time in Baywatch and we took many pictures inside and outside. They are really special people.

The week was for total relaxation, and we just camped out on the beach everyday. We decided to camp out at Club O and each day we parked in the visitors lot and picked out chairs by the Perch. We always arrived early, usually around 8-8:30 and left at 5:00pm. The weather was perfect and there was a strong breeze most of the week. We had no trouble renting chairs and an umbrella for the usual $18/day. Most of the people around us were all visitors, and we met some great people and have many new friends. They all were ‘veterans’ with many visits to Club O and they really welcomed us ‘newbies.’ Security was very active and we watched many times as they swooped to head off the cruisers that had cameras in hand. Since this was our first time at Club O, I was very interested to find out what happened when a cruise visitor had a camera. On most days a guard was at the Perch early and by mid morning there were 3 nearby.

We also signed up for the Tiko Tiko, I had read so much about it and since we had friends from home arriving mid week, we signed them up as well. This was also our friend’s first trip to Club O and on their first day and our fifth; we boarded the Tiko Tiko with Melanie, Philippe and two other couples. The trip was the highlight of our vacation and we had the time of our lives. The other couples were the best and all eight of us laughed and partied the entire trip; we had more fun than we have had in a long time. We have great memories of the cruise and all the funny events of the day. The four of us met one of the couples from the cruise on the beach the next morning, and we all sat together on the beach. The six of us started our own happy hour at 10:30am and just picked up right were we left off the day before. It was like we were still on the Tiko Tiko, and it was dark when we left the beach. Everyone then met for dinner and just kept going. What a fun filled two days we had with our friends from home and our new friends from Club O. The next day was Saturday and we only had a short time to stay on the beach. We walked to Pedro’s to take a few pictures to bring home of everyone, and then we said our goodbyes. The couple we met had a few more days, but we had to head for the airport. We exchanged contact information and with a little luck we will see them again next November for a reunion.

Our short vacation was the time of our lives because of the people we ‘met’ on the board who shared information with us, and the people we met at Club O who shared good times with us. So many times during the week on the beach, people would tell us, ‘this is a special place’ and St. Martin/Club O was ‘their secret place.’ After the experience we definitely agree! It is a special place and I’m happy for the chance to experience what all of you have written about. Thanks….

And, YES we will be back!