Well now that its been a week since we returned from paradise I thought I would repay the kind people on this board with a report on our experiences before I start forgetting stuff. In a nutshell it was awesome!!! i thought the trip would be good to begin with, but it exceeded my every expectation. And a huge thank you to everyone who gave me advice, tips and shared experiences on this board, I felt like I knew the island even before I got there. Half the fun was experiencing in person all the neat things I read about on this board. Anyway lets get started.<br><br>DAY 1: We arrived on the island on a US Airways charter from Hartford, CT via Philadelphia. The flight was uneventful. Everything ran smoothly as we touched dow a little after 1pm. First impression was the heat. My wife and I left CT in jeans and long sleeves so we were sweting bullets until we got into our rental car. AAA car rental was great. Met us at the airport and shipped us off with a beige Nissan Sentra with A/C within 15 minutes. Since it was our first time in the Caribbean we were a little dissapointed with some of the dilapadated houses etc. in the Cole Bay area, but have heard most of the islands are poor once you get away from the beaches. Anyway we made it through Marigot and Grand Case and caught our first glimpse of Orient Bay where we were staying at the Cap Caraibes. After an initial wrong turn into Boo Boo Jam's driveway we found the right entrance and followed the signs to our hotel...checked in...put our suits on and got in some beaching from about 3-5[Linked Image]. Couldn't believe I was actually here looking at the water, the mountains and sipping a cold Corona. We were too tired to go out and I was still a little unfamiliar with the roads so we stayed close to home and ate at the Madras snack bar at L'Hoste.<br><br>DAY 2: Woke up and went to US Import Supermarche to get some fruit, wine etc for our room. Cap Caraibes is real nice. It has a nice sized efficiency and a nice balcony with furniture for light breakfasts. Got our first taste of the island croissants[Linked Image] oh baby!! Spent the rest of the day on Orient beach. Sunday was a great day on Orient, lots of people, bands playing at the beach bars...real nice. We ventured out for dinner in Grand Case that night and ate at Il Nettuno. Food was awesome. We were stuffed too having done bottle of wine, appetizer, entree and dessert. As the week progressed we ordered a little less to save room for post dinner drinks.<br><br>DAY 3: Monday was more of the same. Orient beach all day, although it was much less crowded than Sunday. Relaxation really started to set in at this point. Jean Luc and Victor (the beach boys at La Playa) kept the drinks coming all day. When you stay at Cap Caraibes you get free beach chairs in fron of La Playa as well as a little card that allows you to bill food and drinks from several beach bars back to your room. Dangerous!! My wife discovered Guavaberry Coladas I think this day which is now her new favorite drink. We've had two blenders full of them since we got home. Dinner that night was at Le' Escapade in Grand Case. The food was tremendous. I had a jerk marinated pork loin and my wife had a tuna steak with a soy and black pepper sauce. Delicious.<br><br>DAY 3: Took the gov't ferry to Anguilla in the morning. Good thing too because it looked like St. Martin was getting some rain that day while Anguilla was dry and sunny. We spent 1/2 day at Shoal Bay. What a beautiful beach. Probably what I envisioned as the quintessential Caribbean locale. We ate ribs at Uncle Ernie's for lunch (in my opinion the best I tasted on either island) they were great. Anguilla was real nice but I'm glad I stayed on SXM, there just doesn't seem like there is much to do there beside lay on the beach. There are goats everywhere too!! Unfortunately, like a dummay I forgot about the departure tax on the way back on the ferry. I just had enough for the taxi ride and the tax and the ferry tickets. I had to stiff the taxi driver for a tip. I apologized profusely to Lillian (the driver) and she was so nice. I insisted she give me her card so I could mail her a few bucks when I got back to my hotel. Anyway we got back to Marigot without incident and did some shopping. Got some great bottles of french wine -- it is so cheap there. We ate at Bikini Beach Bar that night on Orient Beach. Good food...fun place. Fried calamari appetizer was enough for a meal.<br><br>Day 4: We took a 1/2 day snorkeling trip out of Pelican Marina to Creole Rock off of Grand Case -- supposedly the best snorkeling on the island. It was our first time snorkeling...what a blast. We saw all kinds of fish and had a great time. For $35 you get to snorkle and drink all the Caribs you can.. not bad I think. After snorkeling we went to Dawn Beach. You guys were right, the road going down there is terrible, but the beach was beautiful. i thought the waves would be bigger though. Ate at Busby's. tremendous chicken caesar salad and I couldn't believe $0.75 Caribs. We decided to eat casual that night so we thought we'd try Talk of the Town. Well I am little embarassed to say I thought I was eating a TOT until halfway through my meal when I realized I was snookered into the adjoining Germaine's Place, which pretty much looks like it is all the same establishment. The lady was real aggressive in walking over and seating me and I didn't know any better. The food was good but I felt a little pissed I didn't get to try TOT. Oh well next time for sure. <br><br>DAY 5: Had intentions of doing some shopping in Phillipsburg however once we got there we knew something was up when the place was empty at 10am. Turns out it was Ascencion Day -- a holiday on the island. So we went back and spent the day on Orient...poor us[Linked Image]. I really should have know when I got through Marigot in the morning with no traffic. Dinner was at L'Alabama that night and was incredible. i had a special which was roasted duck breast with a mango, ginger and tamarind sauce. To die for.<br><br>DAY 6: Its almost over[Linked Image]. Went back to Phillipsburg -- which was open this time -- and did some shopping. Picked up some ridiculously cheap booze, cuban cigars, a gold chain and tanzanite pendant for my wife and some other odds and ends. Spent the rest of the day on Orient beach...suprise suprise! Went back to Il Nettuno for our last island meal and finally got a seat by the railing looking over the beach. Then we went back to our hotel, packed our bags and sat on our balcony and listened to the waves and watched the stars while drinking a bottle of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio we bought earlier for $7 ($20 in the States)and I smoked a H. Upmann cuban. What a perfect ending to a perfect vacation. It occured to me at that point that I finally was on island time...didn't know what time it was and didn't care...I was just enjoying the moment.<br><br>DAY 7: Time to go. Our flight didn't leave until 4pm so we took an early morning walk down Orient beach and laid out until 11, after which we showered packed our bags and checked out. Ate lunch and returned the car to Alain. Got to the airport at 2 (next time I'll check my bags in the am and come back much later) and was very relieved that the gate areas were a/c. I would have died from heat exhaustion if they were not. That airport ia a sauna. Good flight back. Got to CT at 11:30pm to a cold rain and 50 degree temps[Linked Image][Linked Image][Linked Image].<br><br>Just some general observations:<br><br>Driving: Driving on the island was as hairy as advertised. Be prepared for anything (stopping in the middle of the road, psycho motorcycles, goats, chickens etc.). But I must say by the end of the week I had adjusted and felt just like a local.<br><br>Food: Didn't have a bad meal anywhere I went. My favorites beginning with the best 1) L'Alabama 2) L' Escapade 3)Il Nettuno 4) Bikini. Fresh island fruit and fruit juices was breakfast everyday looking out over Orient bay.<br><br>Beaches: We didn't go to a lot, partially because we fell in love with Orient. I originally thought it would be too rambunctious for me but it was a lot of fun people watching. Also I think it is much less crowded in late May than in peak season. Dawn Beach was nice and Shoal Bay is a muct if you go to Anguilla.<br><br>People: Generally very friendly on both sides of the island. Soem fo the French were a little snooty, but not nearly as bad as thought they might be. At first I thought they were being rude to us because they took forever to give us our bill after a meal, but I realized you have to ask for it. Local island folk were friendly as well.<br><br>French vs. Dutch: I preferred the French side vs. the Dutch. You really had the sense you were in some exotic place on the French side with the language and the food and the quiet atmosphere. To me the Dutch side looked like someplcae on the Jersey Shore with all the bars, casinos, resorts, pizza huts, KFCs, buildings right on top of each other. Granted the beaches were much nicer than Jersey, but it was very Americanized.<br><br>Geography: The island is beautiful...much more green and lush than in some pictures I had seen ( I think had to do with the hurricanes). My favorite drive was coming north out of Orleans heading toward Orient. You go up into the mountains and have a stunning view of the east coast of the island. The road is pretty rural and steep and windy. real nice.<br><br>Crime: Glad to report I felt pretty safe everywhere I went. Lots of security guards in Grand Case and the hotel area around Orient beach. i wasn;t out real late (10-11 o'clock each night) but didn't see any problems.<br><br>I think it is safe to say my wife and I are hooked, and are looking forward to a return visit...hopefully sometime soon. Thanks again everyone for all your advice and input. <br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 6/5/01 02:18 PM.</EM></FONT></P>