Left Friday the 28th from Seattle to Newark, Newark to SXM. Long flight but so worth it!

Arrived in SXM at 1:00pm Saturday and checked into the Royal Islander La Plage for 7 nights. Nice place, good location. Décor a little outdated but who cares, were are not in our room much anyway. The last two nights we stayed at Mary’s Boon. Very quaint place. The staff was SO NICE! Had a room right on the beach, beautiful.

Rented a car from Michael at Unity for a very good price. Rented a phone again from Sharon Harris, worked great!

We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary so we went to DK Gems to see Deepti. She was off island so Amit took care of us. Hubby purchased a three stone diamond anniversary ring for me. (What a sweetie!) It’s a beautiful ring and Amit gave us a very good price.

Hubby was happy to purchase some very good cigars. Two boxes in Marigot and one box in
Phillipsburg. He also decided to buy and consume (against my suggestion not to) Absinthe. A very strong liquor that is not legal in most countries. They also call it the green fairy. It’s supposed to be some kind of a hallucinogenic. He got pretty toasted on it and said he thought his hearing was extremely intensified when drinking it. Hey, he's only 40, his hearing is still great so it must have been super human hearing! He purchased two more bottles!

Weather: Really no complaints. We had some rain due to tropical storm Chris but only missed one and a half days on the beach.

Beaches: Orient of course! We bought the pass for the week that includes chairs, umbrella and parking at Club O. Great deal and a very easy system. We never had problems finding chairs. Met lots of nice people, happy hour at the Perch was great. Drinks very strong, woohoo!

Restaurants: We are not real big gourmet eaters so here it goes:

La Croissanterie (sp): Our favorite place to eat on the island. Crepes with nutella, ham and cheese croissant sandwiches, chocolate croissants, etc. yummy, yummy!

Pineapple Pete’s: Great food, great waiter, loved it!

Peg Leg: Great waiter, food was fine, but a little overpriced in our opinion.

BBB: Great pizza, ICE cold beer, very nice bartender, great location.

Tortuga at La Plage: Good food, very convenient when staying at La Plage.

Pizza out of the van on the beach next to La Plage and the Boat bar place. Can’t remember what its called but enjoyed great pizza watching the planes land.

Baywatch: Great food

Bikini Beach Bar: Great food too!

Talula Mango's: Great food, Great Location.

Lee's Roadside Stand: Good ribs but not the best.

Tried to hit Ms. B's but got there too late. Our loss.

Other meals were at the room on the patio. Baguettes, cheese, meats, etc from the grocery store in Sandy Ground.

Driving: Hubby decided this trip that the center line is just a suggestion on the island. Dodged many cars who decided to use both lanes of the road. The rain brought huge, I mean HUGE mud puddles going through Mullet Bay. Saw a stalled car from driving too fast through the water.


Safety: Never had an uncomfortable moment. Everyone as usual were very friendly.

All in all, this was our best trip yet! Love the island, love the people, love the culture.