First of all, please allow me to thank all of you for your help and advises on this forum. Well, we just came back from 2 weeks in paradise…
We flew from Edmonton to Toronto, and then on the direct Air Canada flight to SXM. Arrived at around 4 p.m. and were met by “The Chair-Man” (Bob) from Pack-Light, and escorted to our car, which we rented from Mohamed at Panoramic Car Rental. We booked the Hyundai Getz, but Mohamed run out of them and gave us the Toyota Corolla instead for the same money. The paperwork took us about 15 minutes and we were on our way to The Queen of SXM to pick up the cell phone. It took us another 20 minutes and we drove away towards our “villa”.
We rented the place with the help of Barbara and Vern from St.-Marten- Vacation.com. It was a beautiful one bedroom apartment in a private and secluded villa on top of the hill in Terres Basses. The only problem we had is that the place did not have any cable or satellite TV at all. We were disappointed at first, but actually did not miss it at all after all. Over all, it was a very nice place. The owner of the property was not there when we arrived, but we were met by his father who didn’t speak a word of English and we don’t speak a word of French. We managed to communicate well. We met the owner only a few days later, he showed us around the property, which he designed and build himself, and offered his help in any way we needed it.
We had breakfast a few times at our place but mostly at ZEE BEST and Le Suceria on the Dutch side and the place in Marigo called Le Serafina (or something like that). What they make there should be illegal because it causes severe cravings and addictions in your body…
We didn’t do lunches except for couple of times, especially in Tropicana at the Marigot marina which was absolutely fantastic! We also had desserts there on a few occasions. I am not going to describe the food that we ate on the island, just tell you that we started taking the pictures of the plates….
We also ate at : Chez Martine, La Marine, Bistrot Caraibes and L’ Auberge Gourmande in Grand Case and The Stone and Le Moulin Fou (behind Cheri’s café in Maho). All of those places were absolutely fantastic!!!! The only disappointment we had was at the La Gondola at Atlantis Casino in Cupecoy. The food was very expensive and NOT worth the money at all.
We also visited Peg Leg twice and the Wharf. Peg Leg is by far superior in food, service and settings.
One of the best places we ate at was the Le Chanteclair located at Marina in Marigot. It was recommended to us by Erich Kranz and his lovely wife who we happened to meet at the Select Wine Cellar owned by Sylvain ( who is also the waiter at the Moulin Fou restaurant in Maho). His store also supplies wine to the restaurant next door; it’s called “Night Off”, which is wine and cheese place run by Vino Chahad who knows more about the wine and cheese than all of us together. They serve fine wine with the selection of 12 fine cheeses and fine bread called baguette. We made a fantastic supper out of it!!
But enough about food.
Cupecoy , our favorite beach…. When we arrived there on the 10th of February, there was some sand at the main beach, a little bit of sand at the second section by the Rock, and only a small space for 2-3 people at the farther end of it, what used to be the best part of the beach. During our stay on the island, the beach was constantly shifting from left to right and back. But we were always able to find a place for ourselves. Danny is there running the concession and so is John – he is running the grill. Everything is “smooth”. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/busted.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />
I am not going to talk about the construction, just tell you that it does not look good for us who like this beach.
We also visited Bay Rouge twice when at Cupecoy the sea was extremely rough and enjoyed it as well.
We did Tiko Tiko cruise with a wonderful group of people led by Philippe and his beautiful first mate Isabella. WE HAD A BLAST!!! I will say no more… <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />
We made a few purchases; of cause we came to see our friend from previous trip Neil and his new partner at Gold Creations in Maho and visited Divinitii Jewelers on Front street where my wife found a beautiful unique bracelet.
Over all, we had absolutely fantastic vacation and are looking forward the next one already. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

"Often Wrong, Never in Doubt"