Just back from a great week.

Went to the old standbys of cell phone rental from Craig of Pack-Light and car rental from Unity. Both showed the great service (as expected) that brings me back again and again.

Rented Sunrise Estate in Oyster Pond. Nicest rental house I've had the pleasure of staying in...

Beaches:
Dawn Beach clearly isn't what it was. Water is still beautiful, but jackhammers and cranes aren't.

Spent most beach time at Orient. Beach chairs at Kakao from Philippe. Lots of milk and cookies from GP at the KO Bar. Great massage from Anna as well. Best Orient weather I've seen in a long time. Most days without a cloud in the sky, and enough breeze to keep it from getting too hot without throwing sand around.

Spent Tuesday at Pinel. Always a perfect beach day there, too. Great meal at Karibuni, as Toto (the bartender) had caught a 4 foot shark the day before- shark/pineapple/papaya brochettes for lunch were fantastic.

Resturants:
Always need to diet when I get back.
Le Cottage: My gold standard and didn't disappoint. Starters included pumpkin flan with Emmantaler cheese and ham and three versions of gazpacho. Main courses were a Napoleon of veal with cheese/scallops and a great dover sole. Their caramel souffle is one of the best desserts I've experienced anywhere. All of this was perfectly complemented by various wine glass choices courtesy of Stephane. (Not too many restaurants are willing to pour a Pomerol by the glass.) Thanks to Bruno and Stephane for the champagne. Can't wait to return in June.

Tabba Khady- Excellent as always. Great hosts serving excellent food. Everything from Thai Spring Rolls to shrimp with raspberry sauce, to Provencale Tuna with eggplant, to Senegalese Pork Medallions in a tomato/peanut sauce.

Pineapple Pete's: Always come here as well. Very good service, with some of the best conch fritters around. And the Thermidor...

La Gondola: Haven't made it here in a while. Glad I made it back. The gnocchi a la Gorgonzola are excellent. The sea bass dish was one of the best preparations I've tasted on the island. Still seems to be a good value for the price, as the meal cost $40 pp including wine and coffee.

Au Coin Des Amis: Standard Lolo fare during Harmony Nights. Very good fish. Excellent Johnny Cakes. So-so macaroni and cheese. Watch out for the Ti Punch...it did punch me right in the Ti.

Le Taitu: Outstanding Creole fare in a nice outdoor setting in Cul de Sac. Small menu, but I've never had a so-so meal here. Ordered mostly off the specials menu. Plaintain soup was a nice change from typical tastes. Sweet and very creamy, but with a little spice to it. Accras are among the best on the island here. Tuna seared in peppercorns was really tasty. Shrimp with vanilla sauce was fantastic. The banana flambeed in orange-ginger Ma DouDou was the perfect end to a $30 pp feast.

Baywatch: One word- mussels. They finally had them in when I was there. I hope they have them again when I go back!

Nightlife:

Spent most Happy Hours at the Dinghy Dock making my own poison. Simon, Matt, and Stefan are all a riot. Great band Tuesday night (One White Chick).

Blue Martini- Excellent, fun atmosphere in Grand Case. They have an excellent band every Tueday night (I think the name was Jukebox Heroes).

Sopranos- Two different players during the week. One very good, the other not so much. Fun atmosphere both nights, though.

Bananas- Fun bar for a drink or two. Much more of the old Sunset feel to it...locals and tourists without the pretenses or price gouging.

Bliss- Still a fun atmosphere in a beautiful setting. Seemed pretty quiet most nights, though.

Kontiki- Great for Sunday night. Started really going around 1 a.m., when the foam party started spilling on to the beach. Very lively and diverse crowd. They kept bringing the male strippers from Platinum out to perform, though. I guess turnabout is fair play for the ladies.

Main bar disappointment was Sunset. Without getting into the pricing, which has been continuously debated here...on several occasions (including Sunday), it was DEAD. We kept stopping by, thinking we'd hit "their night," only to come to the conclusion that there isn't one. They were even closed by midnight on Wednesday, when they usually get the Ladies' Night spillover from Bernie's. Part of the problem may be that they no longer even carry Carib...funny story told to me about why. I kept forgetting and ordered it. I think the bartenders get tired of explaining they don't have it, though.

In all, another week to justify why I keep returning to the island. After hearing how bad the weather was in January, it was near perfect last week. Only a half of a day was overcast and rainy. Wind wasn't an issue, making the mosquitoes more of a nuisance than usual...bring bug spray! Coming home was more somber than usual, as I've never seen the airport such a Saturday mess! The security line (not the check in lines) extended past the departure tax windows, out the door, and down the entire length of the terminal building to WinnAir. My usual practice of grabbing lunch nearby went out the window, even though I checked my bag nearly 4 hours early. Even carry-on won't spare you from that line folks.

Nice vibe on the island during Regatta Week. Lots of sailors at the bars. Vistas are always beautiful around St. Maarten, but are breathtaking when accented by a couple of hundred sailboats on the horizon.

115 days and counting...