Once again, last week proved to be my favorite time of year to visit the island. Plenty of room in the restaurants and on the beaches, low season prices, and great weather.

Stayed at O Paradis for the first time. I hesitate to let people know how great the place is at the risk of not having vacancies on my future trips. I think the word is out anyway, since Bruno told me he’s basically full starting next week through Easter. Even the small studios have nice kitchens, a king-sized bed, large terrace, and an ample bathroom. Very convenient to Orient Village. I even walked to the beach a couple of times (much closer if you cut through La Plantation). Bruno and Geraldine are such gracious hosts that they wouldn’t even let me replace a lamp that blew over when the sliding door was open at night. Bruno also has a wine cellar in his house that allows him to deliver bottles to the rooms. At less than $70/night, I’ll definitely be back.

Surprisingly, USAirways was great. The flight attendants really went out of their way to be nice on the flight down, even showing little kids the cockpit prior to leaving the gate. In addition, since my flight from DC arrived in Charlotte an hour late because of a mechanical delay, I was sure there was no way my bag would make it to SXM with only 20 minutes on the ground to transfer in CLT. Much to my amazement, it came out on the belt at Princess Juliana! Flights in both directions arrived early. I was actually in my rental car with my checked bag before the time I had been scheduled to land.

Traffic from Juliana to Orient Bay was the worst I’ve ever experienced . The early arrival was quickly devoured by the 105 minute marathon that followed.

Beaches: First trip ever that I entirely avoided Dawn Beach. May it rest in peace.

Orient was great at mid-beach but seemed a bit narrow down between Kontiki and CO. With the exception of 6-ship-Wednesday, it was not crowded. Kakao’s gravitational force worked on me as usual. Pizzas and salads there are still fantastic. GP still gets my vote as the best bartender on the island.

Pinel made for a nice, relaxing Saturday. It still has the best Rum Punch in SXM and the best trunk fish I’ve had anywhere. Yellow Beach is now split by some orange umbrellas. Apparently, someone is now exercising some long-standing property rights. They are also building a pizzeria in the trees next between the bathrooms and the gift shop.

Had lunch twice at Kokomarina. I really hope they do well. Great food (especially the bacon burger with goat cheese) and service in a nice and casual setting at 1:1 not previously-inflated prices.

Restaurants this time were mostly excellent, with a few new-to-me’s (thanks to board recs):

Le Cottage: So good again I went twice. I was glad to see the new menu since some of the best meals I’ve had there during recent trips were specials that had tasting portions of a meat or fish done different ways. Now, the entire menu is like that (“Taste of Duck, Taste of Monkfish, etc.”). Stephane made his usual perfect wine selections to go with each course. No longer doing 1:1 with the weaker dollar, although their Euro prices seemed cheaper than some of the other menus I read along the street.

La Marine: Was recommended to me by a few of the restaurant folks on the island. I can’t believe I passed it by all this time. Great setting on the beach side, innovative dishes with a lot of Vietnamese and Thai influences, great value, and 1:1. It’s now on my must-do list for the next trip.

Tabba Khady: The same usual excellence. They are now doing 1:1 with cash. Glad to see they are getting a lot more business than last year.

Au Grain de Sel: Another one I can’t believe I passed by so many times. Really good food (I had the pork filet with mushrooms and cream) and huge portions for $20 per person. The pizzas looked really good, too.

Pineapple Pete’s: Mobbed and for good reason. The Thermidor was outstanding as usual (almost 2 lbs. for $31.95). The Espresso Martini was enough dessert without the Dark Rum Crème Brulee…but the two together made it really feel like vacation.

La Chapelle: Nice tapas-sized portions for the night we weren’t too hungry. Mussels were excellent and the charcuterie platter had lots of meats for noshing. Great Belgian beer selection.

Bajatzu: The only disappointment of the week. Was just OK. First, I think they take themselves a little seriously. When I told them I didn’t have a reservation, they acted like they were calling in a favor to offer a seat. The place was not crowded and was barely half-full throughout the entire meal. Otherwise, I might have thought I had wandered into Gordon Ramsey’s. The fish Soup was good, but nothing I haven’t had at a dozen other restaurants in the Caribbean. Then, came the main course. The steak, fish, and other meat prices were reasonable for the island (mostly $16-28). One of the specials of the evening was a buffalo filet, which I ordered. My fault for not asking the price, theirs for not stating it. However, I figured it would be somewhere in line with the rest of the menu or they would say otherwise. However, the bill showed it at $42…pretty steep for a somewhat cold lonely piece of meat on a plate with no sauce or garnish. The fries were at least hot and tasty. Like I said, my fault for not asking the price, but theirs for not either warning me, or at least serving something worthy of the upcharge. I preferred Café Juliana. Needless to say, I won’t be back to Bajatzu anytime soon.

Rental Car: Probably my most unlucky trip in this regard. After some 20 trips without a hitch, in the same week, I experienced both a flat and a hit-and-run while parked in Cul de Sac. So far, Amex has been great to deal with in terms of filing the claim and pledging to cover the full cost. Unfortunately, I tried a different rental company based upon some reviews here and a price difference from my usual...Unity. The service wasn’t bad, but I don’t think it was as good as I’ve heard about Michael from others. When I initially couldn’t find the wheel-lock tool for the tire change, it was a bit of a hassle to get the rental guy to offer to come to the car. In addition, he was unreachable when I dropped the car off at the airport to discuss the Amex claim and the damage. Overall, I’ve had worse experiences with rentals on SXM, but next time, I’ll stick with Unity.

Odds and Ends: Mosquitoes were much more numerous and aggressive than I’ve experienced before…did not feel threatened at any time on the island, nor did I hear of any crime against tourists while there, although locals seemed annoyed when I wouldn’t pick them up hitch-hiking-but why take the chance?…Dinghy Dock still has one of the best Happy Hours on the Island…the Westin really does look like Dawn Beach State Penitentiary…new airport was a pleasure to travel through in both directions…Sunset Beach Bar VIP Card was a great investment for the half-price drinks and food, but also for the ride back to the airport when leaving the island (for the same price as the crappy snack box on USAirways, I had a swordfish sandwich and fries)…traffic seemed about as bad as usual, but not worse…another week on the island and I’m already counting the days until Feb. 9