Our trip covered 3 different timeshares on St. Maarten. Since we flew out on a Thursday (Nov 2nd), we needed two nights somewhere. I contacted RCI travel and was able to get a 1 bedroom at the Sapphire for $44 a night. There were 3 of us, my husband and our friend Larry. We weren’t sure if he’d have to sleep on the couch, but when we checked in, the place was like a two bedroom - a separate bedroom; and, where the living room would be - 2 twin beds. It worked out great. I’ve read about a lot of problems with the Sapphire, but I can’t complain at all about the one we had.

We then moved over to the Royal Palm, which Larry owns. Sunterra started remodeling the apartments and his was completely redone. It was nice before, but now it is gorgeous. The only complaint we had was that the remodeling is going on now and it can be noisy. One night the paint or terpentine smell was overwhelming. Since I brought my laptop, I had a faint signal now and then, but couldn’t depend on it. We went to Shrimpy’s and Ric’s to use the WIFI.

The last week we were at our place at the Royal Islander. Nothing new there, still beautiful. Was able to connect to the MAHO2 signal from our room, which is on the airport side.

We rented a car from Triple A, as we always do, and had no problems.

Some observations:

The new road is complete in the lowlands, but not opened. Pavement markings are done, it looks like it’s ready. Don’t know why it’s not.

Finally got the nerve this year to drive over the mountain on the new road, and it isn’t scary at all. It’s blacktopped, and has speed bumps, and does save time.

The new unique “roundabout” in Cole/Cay Bay does help.

The new airport is beautiful. A warning though. Do not park out in front and leave your car to check in. They have a tow truck parked there all the time and they will tow the car immediately. Every time we drove past there was a car getting hitched!! Parking is just across the road and so convenient. ( And, at the moment free!)

My biggest disappointment was that the bakery at the supermarket in Sandy Ground is boarded up. (Just north of Mario’s). Bummer, their pasties were so good......

Tried a new restaurant - Uncle Harry’s. Enjoyed the atmosphere and the Mahi mahi was great.

This trip was the first time that the weather was just about perfect. No rainy days, maybe a little shower one day, but you didn’t have to leave the beach. At Cupecoy Danny now has tables and chairs under a canopy up near where they cook. You can get out of the sun to have lunch.

We visited the Ma Doudou factory and bought 11 bottles to bring home. Yummmmm..... Will they last a year? Doubt it!!
Construction trucks are everywhere and scary. Moving a lot of dirt around that island....

We brought our luggage over to the airport at 10:30 am on Saturday and got that out of the way, and later flew the 5:50 pm direct flight into JFK. It took an hour to get our luggage and they used the excuse that we landed in between shifts. It’s just getting too difficult to deal with JFK anymore. Since we live 90 miles north of it, I’m going to check alternatives next year. A direct flight is great, but not worth the trouble of getting there and back.

So that about covers it for 2006.

Pauline