Day 3 – Later - Decompressed finally. Walked to town and got more stuff from Rams. Lunch at Circus Grill. Pool time until dinner. Went to Fisherman’s Wharf. We have been there many times before and had almost given up going again. Poor service, lame food, watery drinks. WOW!!!! What a pleasant surprise. Complete remodeling and what a change it has made. Meals were excellent. Waitress so good she got a BIG tip. LIVE JAZZ, too! And the best yet – good value.

Day 4 – Pool most of the day. La Cuchina at Marriott for dinner. We usually do the antipasto bar and a salad. Excellent as always. Gambled a bit and tried to see an old friend from other trips. Tony is a bartender there but had gone home early. Pleasant service also in the Key’s Cigar Bar.

Day 5 – Got a car from TDC/Thrifty thru the hotel desk. We had warned them on check-in that we would want one around lunchtime on Monday. Spoke to the desk early on Monday. “NO PROBLEM” Famous last words. Had planned to go to Turtle Beach for lunch and some beach time. Wound up getting a car at nearly 2 p.m. after Mr. James, OTI resident manager got involved. 20 minutes after his call to TDC, we were upgraded at no extra charge and were finally off to see the island. A little driving around and a stop at Port Zante to see the changes and check in with our friend Vic at Kay’s Jewelers. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and fortunately none of his friends still there had been directly affected by the tragedy there this past Spring. Dinner at CIAO near the St. Christopher Club. Good meal and service. We will go there again. More casino at Marriott.

Day 6 – Off to Turtle Beach. Lunch and a few hours in the sun. The beach seems to be getting smaller each time we come here. They used to be able to drive a small tractor & wagon to collect seaweed. Now it is a wheelbarrow as the beach is not wide enough for the tractor. Wilbur the pig slept under the overhang of one of the beach huts the entire time. This is a really big pig!!! Today is our 25th wedding anniversary. Dinner at Marshall’s. The owner stops by our table and congratulates us and offers a couple of glasses of champagne to help us celebrate. Great food in beautiful surroundings. Impeccable service. More Marriott casino. Finally catch up with Tony. He is well and is holding court at the lobby bar. If he works here much longer, he’ll probably own the place.

Day 7 – Off to Romney manor. The batique is open and we watch a demo. The grounds are lush and beautiful. A little remodeling and the addition of an observation deck has improved the already gorgeous view. I spend a few minutes relaxing under the 300+ year old tree and wonder about what it looked like at various times in history. A surprise awaits us in the room. The Mr. James has a bottle of Pinot Grigio and 2 glasses chilling in a champagne bucket decorated with flower petals waiting for us. The gift is in honor of our anniversary. Dinner at PJ’s. This is a place we just can’t miss. Excellent pizza and pasta. Last trip to the casino follows and we total up the damage. Cost us about $150 for 3 nights of entertainment. Not too bad!!

Day 8 – Pool in the a.m. Check out and go to the Marriott for a comped lunch using our casino points before they expire. They covered all but 50 cents of the bill. Points expire every 3 months. We arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight. 30 mins. to check in even though there were only 4 people in front of us. I gotta get one of these jobs. 8 airline people standing around but only 3 are working. No improvements to the check in area. Beastly hot and not even a fan to move the air. The airport management needs to fix this as this is the last impression left by the island on it’s visitors. Plane leaves on time for SJU. Check in at Embassy Suites Hotel & Casino. Great room. Took advantage of the Happy Hour free drinks. 2 bartenders cranking it out non-stop for 2 hours. Followed reviews and ordered 2 apiece. Long lines to get a refill. Dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Lots of fun at casino. Made enough at blackjack to pay for our time at Marriott and buy a bottle of JW Blue Label scotch at the duty free shop.

Day 9 – Don’t want to leave but we are off to the airport and home. Stop in the duty fee store for cigarettes and booze. You can take the sealed container on the plane as it is after security and we had a direct flight to ORD. Flight is on time and actually arrives 30 minutes early. The airline broke one of the wheels on our largest bag, so I actually drag it to the bus/shuttle center. Avistar picks us up and we are at our car in less than 30 minutes after getting our luggage. Can’t beat this service and the price. Parking for 9 days is less than $90 including tax. Home at 11 p.m.

Summary: We need to spend more time in SJU. Our 2 hotels there were great and only a short walk from the beach. Will contemplate a timeshare trade for a week to Puerto Rico. OTI was great as always. We even got our favorite room overlooking the pool and bay. This property is so quiet, you feel as if the pool is your private domain. Most restaurants on St. Kitts include a service charge with the bill, but service in general has improved so much that they deserve an additional 10-15%. The government is frantically building shops at Port Zante. Condo and villa developments are everywhere. If all of this becomes occupied, the cruise ship and tourist business will need to double or triple to support them. This will be the end of a quiet island. My decision to do the itinerary as 2 separate trips worked well. No running to a connection and no long waits for a connection. Great hotels on the overnight layovers. Missed the daytrip to Nevis, but there’s always next time.