3/7...This was to have been a trip with friends and my mom this year, but it just didn’t happen for mom. She’s been dealing with cancer and all those lovely treatments that go along with it, and wasn’t feeling quite “up to snuff”, and so wasn’t able to travel. AA was great and refunded full ticket price. Have promised her a quick trip to somewhere as soon as she’s able... The new traveling trio was my friends Allison, Deb and me. We departed JFK 8am. Nice, on time trip this year with AA....Got thru lines at airport very quickly, ours some of the first luggage to come thru and we were on our way to meet AAA, Alain Arnell, for our Toyota Corolla rental. Was a little nervous at first because the car was so new–and not white! Fourth time renting from this company and have not had any complaints to date. Friendly, on time service. (Though they had a complaint with a little fender scrape we brought back with the car–oops!–but credit card is covering for the damage claim.)..Off to the Royal Palm to pick up our phone from Sharon Harris–great service, worked everywhere on the island–even great on Orient Beach this year–thanks Sharon. Was nice to see you again.
Hotel arrangements were made thru Sandy Molloy, a sponsor on this board. Sandy is wonderful–just the best to work with. There was quite a “snafu” with my credit card and the Summit after booking–long story short, the Summit apologized and rewarded much aggravation with two complimentary deluxe rooms! Thank you Susie Tuggle from the Summit, the Summit Resort and Sandy Molloy for wonderful, friendly, fabulous customer service!! Before our arrival we were notified that we were being switched to a 2 bedroom, 2 bath–no complaints here. Our check in was immediate and we opened the door to what they called Apartment 1–we called our beautiful condo–Nice kitchen with all necessary supplies (only cooking we did was to make coffee and reheat leftovers–the girls are on vacation!)–full frig, stove, oven, microwave, toaster oven, coffeemaker, blender–the works! Spacious living room, with pullout sleep sofa, all glass sliding doors with a gorgeous panoramic, total water view-- with balcony, mini stereo, DVD player, dining room and full bathroom downstairs....Upstairs, large master bedroom, bed and full bathroom with another bedroom next door with two double beds. Another balcony on the second floor–what stunning views!! The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was that the room safes just sit on the closet floor–you can just pick it up and walk out with it! There was a security guard at the gate in the evenings, but he lifted the gate for anyone who came through. Even so, we never unsafe or uncomfortable at any time. We loved the Summit–and I so miss getting up every morning and having that beautiful water view, sipping coffee and bullsh**ting with the girls...
We planted our bags in rooms and set out for supplies at the Food Express in Maho–at the roundabout near airport. Stocked up with beer, booze and other “necessities” and headed back to Summit for a swim and cocktails by the pool at the Kissing Fish–we met Chloe and Thierry on our first visit–great, friendly people! Thierry had great stories and Nick the bartender/med student was funny and entertaining. Fabulous frozen mudslides with chocolate syrup....Back to the room for showers and since it had been a long day, we stayed at the Kissing Fish for pizza for dinner–and were glad we did–enjoyed the pizza....More cocktails before we were off early to bed...
3/8...Breakfast at the Kissing Fish–so convenient and good, reasonable price breakfasts...Looking over at the table next to us thinking that the people look awfully familiar–turns out to be Bob and Bette (BobD), both looking wonderful....We live about 40 minutes apart here at home, met them at a TTOL party for the first time four years ago, and it takes traveling to SXM to meet up with them again!....Chatted up a bit and agreeing to meet up later in the week at the TTOL party at the LadyC (more on that later), the girls were off to Orient Beach...Had been trying to convince either Allison or Deb to go parasailing with me, and finally got Allison to agree (Deb’s husband was glad she didn’t go, and mine hoped I wouldn’t do it again). It was fabulous–and Allison loved it too–even thru the bumps and blips in the air. Great laughter and fun. Lunch was at Baywatch–Cheryl is a lovely lady–missed Andy every time this year. We feasted on mussels a la Andy–to die for!! Cheryl always brought more bread for that sauce without even having to ask...and shrimp margarita (ok, I’m drooling again) .....I ordered a bathing suit from Luiz, more sunning and sand gravity and back to Summit for cleanup and off to Cheri’s for the show and dinner. I know, I know the hokey show, but Deb was a newbie this year, Allison was last year, and it’s fun the first time. Light dinner of apps, lots of champagne kisses (champagne with strawberry liquer) and frozen drinks and we traveled across the street to the Sopranos piano bar. Fabulous entertainer–he was great. Crowd, including us, dancing, singing and having a blast....More champagne kisses and back home to our condo...A wonderful first day of vacation....
3/9...Awoke to pouring rain, howling winds and cool, chilly weather...Bummer! Settled in with RENT, a DVD that Deb brought with her. “Thanks Deb” was what Allison had to say almost at the end of the movie, as we all sat there sobbing thru it. Great movie and cryfest with the girls...Headed on down to the Kissing Fish for a liquid lunch of more mudslides with Nick and Thierry...Showered and dressed we were off to Skipjacks for dinner. Nice place, decent prices, little slow on service. Dinner included wonderful cod fritters, shrimp cocktail, crab and corn chowder (mmmm!!), entrees of main lobster and mahi mahi creole. Flan for dessert topped off a wonderful dinner..
3/10...Sunshine! Bring on the beach!! Breakfast at Zee Best included croissants, St. Martin omelet and banana/almond french toast made with croissant–Fabulous! (I don’t remember prices for any meals–we’re on vacation and don’t worry all that much about price–as long as it’s good I’m not complaining!) Our intention was to go to Baie Rouge for a first visit...There were huge waves there–not my cup of tea at all–but another gorgeous beach–so we traveled on to Dawn Beach. Major construction–such a shame what’s happening there. So different even from just the four years ago that I first visited. But such a gorgeous beach! And Ms. B’s was open for lunch–hooray! Missed her last year and was so looking forward to her ribs–which all three of us got this time–and they were just as good as I remembered. Terrific lunch and sand gravity sucked us back in....That evening Deb decided to stay in as she was tired, so Allison and I started out for Jimbo’s for dinner. There was a half hour wait time, so we wandered along until we came along Saratoga’s–wow! Began with mozzarella and tomato salad, shrimp cocktail , Osso Buco (sp?) and seared tuna for dinner. Our waiter (or one of them–there were so many and so on top of the service!) recommended the grand Marnier chocolate mousse cake for dessert–and it was to DIE for! After dinner drinks topped off a perfect dinner...
3/11...French bakery on main strip–don’t remember the name? –Grabbed a bag of wonderful chocolate and chocolate/almond croissants (did this a few mornings and all you heard in the car was “mmmmmmmmm” until finished–so good!!) and headed off to Grand Case Beach. Thought we’d do a quiet day there-- raising the beach flags for cocktails being our most ambitious thought of exercise–but they weren’t putting up umbrellas that day because of winds. Allison had begun scratching again (almost a repeat of last year’s allergic reaction to lobster/fish and a subsequent doctor visit), so we decided to go somewhere with umbrella relief until we got her to a doctor again.... took some pictures and headed off to Friar’s Beach. Free chairs and umbrella with lunch at Friar’s Bay Beach Café–another great meal. Salad topped with melting goat cheese wrapped in bacon, club sandwich with fries, pork spring rolls. Little pricey for lunch, but very good. Dinner that night was at Ric’s–sloow service, good food. Great little band playing while we were there.
3/12...Another bakery stop on the way to Mullet Bay for another beautiful day of sand gravity. Lunch at –the name escapes me– included burgers and ribs and yummy frozen orange drinks. Lots of starfish all along the shore...That night we went on the Tango cruise from the Pelican Resort–sunset cruise for $10–all you can drink champagne, rum punch and beer! (Our friend who owns a timeshare there got us hooked up with this) Two hour or so cruise along the shore–we enjoyed and had great fun. Dinner after the cruise at Pineapple Pete’s–Allison and I tried it last year too–I love this place! Appetizers that I don’t remember, Lobster thermidor and stuffed shrimp followed by creme brulee –great, friendly service, great meal.
3/13...Another bag of pastries and croissants and we were off to Orient Beach for another day of serious sand gravity. TTOL party at the LadyC this night-- didn’t arrive until 5:45 when most had already left–sorry Sheila–sand gravity is a b**ch --and so was traffic! But met MaryBeth again (four years after our first TTOL meeting), Sheila, Gretchen, Colin and a few others that we had a lovely time sipping and chatting with (sorry, am terrible with names!) ..BobD, we just missed you and Bette–very sorry! Moved over to Pizza Galley for dinner–wonderful, fabulous pizza–good recommendation, thank Sheila! Intended to try to hit Bliss tonight, but never happened.
3/14...wow, these days of eating and sunning are getting tough...NOT!!..Finally got Allison to see the doctor–heat rash diagnosed, but warned to still stay away from lobster and fish–just in case...Meds in hand, breakfast at the French bakery–BLT’s on french baguettes and a crepe that Allison had that was to die for! Orient Beach again... Lunch at Baywatch-great grouper sandwich, margarita shrimp, and a roast beef dip sandwich–fabulous as always. Picked up my suit from Luiz and decided to order another one to be ready tomorrow. Of course with all the eating we did, I need to diet to fit back into the suits now!! Another tough day at the beach. Saw the beautiful full moon rising over the mountains from our balcony as the sun was setting that evening–thanks for waking me up for that one Al! Hope to figure out how to post some pics here–have a mental block with things like that. Allison and I had dinner that night at The Wharf. Great French onion soup, shrimp cocktail, rib-eye steaks that were a very poor cut of meat–fatty, tough, both underdone and sent back–not great. Delicious coconut creme brulee for dessert finished off the evening. Intended to try again for Bliss, but not to be this year.
3/15 ...Orient Beach. Breakfast at Baywatch–omelets, eggs & bacon and mimosas. Cheryl reminded us that the mussels were in today–guess where we had lunch? We had tried mid morning to give money to Cheryl to reserve mussels for us for lunch–the beach was PACKED with boat people and we were afraid they would run out–God forbid!!! She asked how many orders we wanted, reserved three without paying and we were back later. Love Baywatch.... Sand gravity takes over again....Celine Pub Crawl that night–great laughs, food tastings, drinks and fun.
3/16...Going home day
Packed up, checked out, dropped off the phone at desk at Royal Palm, returned car to Alain and were driven to airport. Lunch at the upstairs restaurant was good–nice to be able to smoke before takeoff. (No lectures please) Airport almost empty compared to our weekend departure last year–never again will I do that! Great smooth flight home.
No gambling, wild dancing or major shopping this year–just wonderful beaching, eating, drinking and being with good friends and relaxing...who could ask for more?? All in all, a great, fun wonderful, fabulous vacation with the girls....One of these days I’ll get my husband there!! Many thanks to this forum....Have fun and be safe....
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cool.gif" alt="" />
