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Here is the balance of my trip report (Aug 6-12):

I found out late on Sunday night (Aug 6th) that there was a big shootout three houses down from where we were staying around 6 pm that day. Thank God we decided to hang out at BBB and listen to the band for awhile instead of leaving the beach around 5 pm like normal. I would have been freaked out by all the gunfire and would have refused to come out for the rest of the week!

Monday – slept in until around 10 am. Ate breakfast and drove to Le Galion. It was pretty windy that day so sand was blowing around everywhere. The water was kind of choppy as well. However the windsurfers and kite boarders were having a great day. Had a hot dog at the beach for lunch around 3 pm and left soon after.
There was a local guy on a bicycle who was just hanging around the beach area doing nothing. However, he was watching everyone. I am not sure if he was scoping out the tourists to see if anyone had anything of value or if he was watching the windsurfers. I had purposely not brought my camera to the beach that day and only had minimal money on hand since there had been reports of robberies here. He left once or twice and then came back. I kept a close eye on my bag and made sure that both of us were not in the water at the same time. Better safe than sorry. I hate to be such a worry wart but I can’t ignore all the reports of robberies on the island and must take some precautions.

Drove into Phillipsburg around 4 pm and parked at Bobby’s Marina. The parking lot was almost full. I got one of the last spots. There were no cruise ships in port today so a lot of the little kiosks and smaller stores were closed. The boardwalk was empty. I picked up a few things and then left to go to Rima. This is my favourite store on the island. I always buy something here. This time they had some new items such as great beaded purses for $8.00 and magnetic hematite bracelets for $5.00 and hand painted switch plate covers for $8.00. I saw these same switch plate covers in the Shipwreck Shop for twice that price. I am glad I did not buy any there.

Did not go out for dinner on Monday night as we had tons of leftovers from Lido’s and pizza from BBB. Went to bed around 3 am.

Tuesday - woke up around 11 am. We got a very late start today. Finally left around noon and headed to Grand Case for lunch. We parked in the free lot across from Calmo’s Café and walked over to the lolos. We had lunch at Talk of the Town. We both had ribs with various sides such as mac and cheese, rice and beans, corn on the cob and coleslaw. The ribs were pretty dried out but the sides were good. I could not finish my ribs. It was $8.00 for each plate and $1.50 each for the Ting.
We then used Bob’s excellent driving directions and headed over to Anse Marcel for the afternoon. Had no trouble finding the beach. There were only two other groups of people when we got there around 2 pm. Grabbed a free chair under a palapa and hung out on the beach for a few hours. I floated in the water on my noodle for most of the time. The water is very calm and relaxing. A few more groups of people showed up over the next hour and we passed about three groups coming in at 4:30 pm when we were leaving.

Got two for one pizza at Domino’s for dinner. They have this special every Tuesday - two large pizzas for the price of one. A one topping pizza is $14.00. Extra toppings are about $1.00 for each pizza. We spent the rest of the week trying to eat all of the pizza. Had to throw out the last three slices when we left on Saturday. Not bad for $22.00! We were planning on going to the Greenhouse for the Tuesday night bacchanal but stayed in instead.

Wednesday – got up relatively early, had breakfast and packed a cooler to take to the beach. We headed out around 11 am for Baie aux Prunes, also known as Plum Bay. Missed the turn off the first time by and ended up on the outskirts of Marigot. Turned around and went back. Found the road this time and I realized why I missed it. I don’t think there is a sign for the turn off if you are coming from Cupecoy towards Marigot. If there was one I did not see it. There however was a sign coming from Marigot.
There was quite a few people on the beach by the time we got there, sans cooler, which was left on the kitchen counter .
This was a nice beach with almost no shade though. The entrance to the water is very rocky so you have to be careful. The water was very calm that day and crystal clear. Once again I spent the afternoon floating in the water on my noodle.
Talked to a group of Americans who were disappointed in the beach and wanted to leave. They did not like the rocks. I told them about Mullet Bay and Dawn Beach.

Hung around until about 2 pm and drove to SSBB for lunch. We were just in time to see Air France coming in. The BF took advantage of the free wi-fi to check his email. The place was very crowded and there was only one waitress working the picnic tables. We got out food pretty fast though but later could not get a refill on the drinks. I headed to the bar and had fresh drinks in two seconds.

Left SSBB and drove over to Simpson Bay Beach. We parked on one of the little streets that goes to the ocean and wandered onto the beach for a while. Very nice, almost no people whatsoever.

Headed home and had leftover pizza for dinner. We planned to go to the Full Moon party that night at Kali’s. Left around 10:30 pm (later than I wanted to) and got to Kali’s about 11 pm. There was absolutely no parking left. We cruised the lot a few times but could not find anything. So we gave up and drove to Maho. Ended up at Bamboo Bernie’s and then Bliss. Got home around 1 am.

Thursday – woke up late again. Headed to Grand Case for lunch. Got there around 1 pm and there was no parking in the free lot. So I drove down to the lot across from Il Nettuno and there was no one there to take my money so we parked for free there too. Went to TOTT again and I had chicken breast this time. It took a long time to cook and was pretty rubbery. Would not recommend it.
Headed out on the grand adventure to find Happy Bay. Took a few wrong turns before we got it right. We got there around 2:30 pm. There was about three groups of people there. I was disappointed in the beach so I did not really go swimming. We hung out under a seagrape for a few hours and then headed back.
The BF was craving Italian for dinner so we went to Pizza Pasta in Maho. Parked in the pay lot. The food was great. I had ravioli in a blush sauce and he had spaghetti and meatballs. The total bill was about $33.00. Neither one of us could finish our meal.
We then headed over to SSBB to listen to the band for awhile. We sat at a table and chilled out. The BF was checking his email again.

A note to people who complain about the cost of drinks at SSBB: yes, I hate paying $3.00 for a Coke, Ting or water there. (I don’t drink much alcohol as I am usually the DD). But the food is very well priced and you get a lot for the money. I find that makes up for the cost of the drinks in my mind.
However, drinks at Bliss are much more expensive. I paid $5.00 for a tiny bottle of water and $7.00 for a mixed drink at Bliss. A large bottle of water was only $3.00 at SSBB. So yes the drinks are expensive but other places are just as expensive or more so.

Friday – got up late again. (breakfast was a non-existent meal this week). Headed to Peg Leg for lunch. We were the only ones on the patio when we arrived. I ordered the French Dip sandwich with no cheese (as I am slightly lactose intolerant). The BF ordered the clubhouse and he specified that the bread was not to be toasted. My sandwich arrived with melted cheese stuck all over it and the club arrived with toasted bread. The menu stated that you had a choice of fries or potato salad with all sandwich platters. The BF tried to order the potato salad and was told it was not available Huh, that’s not what the menu says….. I ended up getting an upset stomach from the cheese. Probably will not go back here to eat as there are other, better restaurants to try.

We went to Mullet Bay after lunch and spent the afternoon chilling on the beach. I was very excited as I spotted a ray of some sort (sting, manta, I am not sure what kind) in the water. I stealthily floated over it for about 10 minutes on my noodle until I lost it in the sand. Damn……

Once again we ended up eating leftover pizza for dinner. I would have been more inclined to go out for dinner if there was any parking in Simpson Bay at night. I get so frustrated trying to find a parking spot that I just want to give up. I thought this was supposed to be low season……..Why is there no parking at all the good places to eat????? This is one reason I like Maho so much – there is always parking available.

Went to bed around midnight after watching a few movies that I had brought with us.

Saturday – got up at 8 am in order to make the mad dash to the airport. Left the Dutch Quarter at 9 am and got caught in traffic going down the Cole Bay hill. (By the way, the Rum Jumbie sign at the bottom of the hill is gone) Then we got stuck at the drawbridge for about 15 minutes. We made it to the airport only a few minutes in front of one of the hotel buses. We were told we had to check all our banned items. I had no time to repack anything. I just stuck a lock on my carry on bag, wrapped my alcohol in a towel and sent it on its merry way. We then left to go get some breakfast. This sounds like an easy task – it wasn’t. I had planned on going to Turtle Pier. There was no parking available. Okay – went to Simpson Bay and surprise, surprise, there was no parking at La Sucriere, or Cappuccino either. Ric’s Place is closed so I was out of ideas. I decided to head to SSBB. (Still no parking at Turtle Pier). Turns out they don’t serve breakfast at SSBB anymore. Back in the car……still no parking at Turtle Pier. Still no parking at Cappuccino or La Sucriere either. Finally parked by Top Carrot and walked over to Zee Best for breakfast. By this time it is after 10:30 am and we still need to drop off the rental car and be back at the airport by 11:30. Sucked down our breakfast (French toast for me and ham, eggs and toast for him) and made it to the car rental place by 11:15. Did the paperwork and was at the airport by 11:30. Big traffic jam…….

Then we watched everyone frantically drinking all their liquids before going through security. The duty free stores were practically empty.

Boarded our plane with almost nothing in our hands except documents, money and the camera. Had a very long, very dry flight home. I really missed my giant bottle of water that I always bring with me. I hassled the flight attendants for quite a few drinks though. Got home and drank about 2 bottles of water without stopping………..

And so ends another SXM odyssey. Didn’t so as many things as I wanted to but you never do. That just leaves more things to your to do list for the next visit!