Late and Long Trip Report:
First of all, here is a link to some pictures from our trip. They are in no particular order and sometimes days went by with no pictures while on other days we took a lot of pictures. Just click on the link, then click on slideshow, and enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/BCMPMAUS/SXM2007TRIPPICTURES?authkey=DPMlzuzcHz0I meant to get this out in August, but between sick relatives and 3 kids starting school times slipped away. So here it is, finally….
DAY 1 (July 21): We flew direct on United Airlines from Dulles. We live near Pittsburgh, but realized we could save over $1500 (at the time we booked) on our party of 6 if we flew from Dulles. Plus we got a direct flight, Dulles to SXM, instead of the usual Pit-Charlotte-SXM layover route. We decided the drive to DC was worth it, especially since we were able to visit relatives in DC as well, so we will probably do this in the future. We stayed the night before at Homewood Suites, where we got a sleep 6 suite for only $89 for the night! Plus we left our car there for the 2 weeks, free, and had a shuttle to and from the hotel. Great deal!
We arrived in SXM on time. We had a delay at immigration because the United flight attendants insisted that we only needed one form for the FAMILY instead of one per person. I told them that we needed one per person, since I have been going for 13 years, but they would only give me one for the entire family, insisting that was the policy now in SXM. So after waiting in line at immigration as each person approached the window they were asked for forms for each member of their party (as I predicted) and, of course, everyone on the flight with more than one person in their party had to get out of line and fill out all the forms on the floor of the immigration area. So it made for a lengthy delay in the line as people got to the window, got the forms, got out of line, filled out the forms, and then returned to the window. What a pain, especially as I had 6 in my party (me, hubby and 4 kids). Don’t let this happen to you!
Rented from Tropicana rental cars again this year. Mickey met us outside of the baggage claim area. We were renting a van for our family and a car for our friend and her two children. As our friend’s flight was due about 40 minutes after ours, Tropicana took me and my kids (and the luggage) to Sapphire while my husband stayed behind to wait for our friends. Husband came to Sapphire about 45 minutes later to tell me that (1) our friends’ flight was delayed so he was going back in about an hour, and (2) our van would not be ready until tomorrow, but Mickey was giving us a car to use until then. Since we had 9 people and 2 cars we knew we would all manage until the next day as long as we were all going to the same place!
Since it was only about 1:30 when we got to Sapphire, our villa at Sapphire was not ready yet. But our friend’s room was ready, so we put our luggage in their room and the kids and I went to the pool.. We ordered lunch and I finally started to feel the familiar feeling of being “home” as I watched the kids joyfully jump into the Sapphire pool. I had noticed a family on the plane that looked like they had either triplet girls or twins and an older girl, like I do, and I noticed them again at check in at Sapphire. When I saw them come down to the pool I had to say something. It turned out that they had a girl of almost 9 (like I do) and 7 year old twin girls (like I have!). The only thing they were missing was a two year old boy (who rounds out my posse of kids!). When the other mom and I started talking we found out that we both came to SXM at about the same time (about the mid-1990s), we had both come the first time with a college friend, and fallen in love with SXM and Sapphire. Both of us had bought during almost exactly the same weeks, and we both had chartered Neil (of the Celine) for the upcoming week…her on Wednesday and us on Thursday! We felt like we lived parallel lives! They were also there for the entire 2 weeks so our kids had a lot of fun playing together, and we had a few memorable afternoons and evenings with our combined families.
Our friends arrived about 4:00 pm. The kids joined us in the pool while their mom settled into their room. Our villa was ready, so we moved our stuff into the villa and the kids moved from the big pool down into our splash pool in the villa.
We had rented Cell phones, chairs, coolers, umbrella and snorkel gear from Craig at Packlight Vacation Rentals. He met us late Saturday afternoon. Great service as usual.
The main damper on our day was when we got our cell phones we realized that we already had calls from home trying to reach us (we have given them our numbers ahead of time). My 80 year old mother in law had fallen and broken her pelvis, and was in the hospital (side note: when we returned home in August she came home from the hospital, fell again, and broke her arm…so she is currently in a nursing facility recovering from BOTH injuries!) We spent much of the vacation talking to relatives and friends back home in order to keep current with her condition and make decisions about her treatment.
We decided to go to Ric’s for dinner on the first night, simply because we knew it would be a simple place to go with all of the kids. There is not a really large selection of food there, but what they have is good. Most of us had quesadillas, which were excellent, and my 2 year old graciously slept in his stroller throughout the entire meal, and all the way home straight into bed. So it was a nice, relaxing evening for all.
Day 2: (July 22): Given that there is no where else in the world that I sleep more soundly than in a villa near the water in St. Maarten, I was in no hurry to get up on Sunday morning. But I decided to go to the orientation. The kids swam in the pool during orientation, then they got their hair braided by Carol, whom I have known for the last 10 years. She sells beachwear and jewelry in the walkway out to the pool at Sapphire and she also braids hair. She is only there on Sundays now; she used to be there more frequently. Carol is a joy to deal with. We bought a few items for the kids as well…adorable outfits! After eating lunch at the Sapphire pool we left for Mullet Beach where we spent a lovely afternoon. A sting ray came in very close to shore, which created quite a stir! We went to to dinner at Lees, since my friend’s 9 year old boy wanted lobster! Mickey had brought our van by then, so we all piled into the van. Our meals were wonderful. Lee was not on the island that week, and Chi Chi is no longer working there (he is in the USA), so the ambiance was a little different for us, but we still greatly enjoyed the meal.
Day 3- ( July 23): The last time my friend had come with us she had never made it shopping in Phillipsburg, so she and I and the kids all went down to Phillipsburg for the markets, lunch, and the beach. We ate at a place on the boardwalk that tried to charge the service fee PLUS the tip, and got quite nasty with my friend when she disputed this. Later that evening my friend and I went on the Pub Crawl, which was rather subdued that evening but still a lot of fun. My husband stayed home with the kids that evening. My friend and I went to Atlantis Casino for a bit.
Day 4 – (July 24). We headed to Galion beach for the day. My husband went over to Tap 5 to get pizza, but they did not have any. He ended up picking up 3 different types of sandwiches (which were GREAT) and we ate picnic style on the beach with the kids. Awesome. After we went home from Galion my friend and I stopped at Gold Creations to do some shopping with our friend Neil. I had already purchased a lovely ruby bracelet from him earlier in the trip for my husband’s secretary (who was holding down the fort back at his office) and I went back to look for something for myself. I spotted a lovely black and white diamond bracelet, which would be mine by the end of the vacation. It is always a joy dealing with Neil and Gold Creations. We had been invited to go on the sunset cruise on the Celine, so we left Sapphire about 45 minutes before the cruise was to set sail. Without traffic the trip is about 15 minutes or so. Well, traffic was horrendous! It took us over 1 ½ hours to get to Skipjacks from Sapphire! We missed the sunset cruise, but we had dinner reservations for Skipjacks so all was not lost. The manager at Skipjacks had told us that he would make a birthday cake for my friend’s daughter’s 8th birthday, so after our lovely meal he came out with a wonderful chocolate cake with sparklers on it! She was thrilled, and major Kudos to Skipjacks for bringing such a smile to her face!
Day 5: (July 25). My brother was due to arrived in the late afternoon, so we made arrangements to leave a key for him and we took a day trip to Anguilla. We spent time on Shoal Bay East and had lunch at the restaurant next to Uncle Ernies (I can’t remember the name). Shoal Bay is just spectacular. As much as I love St. Maarten, the beach at Shoal Bay East has really taken a special place in my heart. The colors are just so spectacular! One of my 7 year old twins was swimming in the water with me and she looked up at me and said “Mom, do they put food coloring in this water?” It is glorious.
After we returned to SXM and Sapphire at about 6:30 p.m. My brother was already relaxing at the pool, trying to settle into island time. We all went to Cheri’s for dinner…the food is fine there (nothing spectacular) but it is just such a FUN and LIVELY place that it has become a part of our routine. The kids absolutely love it with all of the clappers and dancing and music and colorful cups, etc.
Day 5 (July 26) We had booked the Celine for a half-day charter today, so we were up early and over at the Celine by about 8:30 a.m. so that we would make the 9:30 a.m. bridge. We had invited our friend “King” Bob to join us on the charter so it was great to spend some time with him. We had breakfast and lunch on the boat (Neil’s ribs are fabulous!!...His entire lunch spread is unreal!). Neil sailed us over to Baie Long where we anchored and went swimming, snorkeling, and fishing. We saw some really big starfish, and we had a barracuda in our sights for about 45 minutes! Thrilling and a bit scary! We headed back to Skipjacks about 3:00 or so. My husband and I got changed at the room and went out to the TTOL party at Buckaneer Beach Bar, where we met two other couples. I am blanking out on names right now since I can’t find my notes, but both of the men were named Dave! I want to say it was Dave and Peggy and Dave and Ruth Ann, but I am probably wrong. Anyway, we had a great time meeting them until we had to go back since my brother and my friend were watching our kids. My husband had a swordfish sandwich at BBB since he was not going to go out to dinner with the rest of us. Then my husband watched the kids to my brother and friend and I could go to dinner at La Gondola. As usual, this was one of the highlights of our trip (in terms of a meal). Every year I have the Gnocci in gorgonzola sauce, and every year I say the same thing. It is absolutely unreal. It is probably my favorite meal on the planet. My brother and my friend had it also (they have both tried it on previous trips and feel the same way I do). We did have different appetizers and desserts, so we were not totally copycats. But the Gnocci is just a “must have”. Great….now I want some…yummmmmm
Day 6 (July 27)
We had a few people arriving today, so we decided to hang around the pool at Sapphire. Plus my brother was moving into his own studio that day (obtained through St. Martin Bllue) He had spent the first two nights in the villa with us, but since more people were coming we had arranged for him to have his own space. The studio through St.Martin Blue was better maintained (because it was privately owned) than the other units we had during the week. My husband woke up with a stomach ailment and was feverish and sick all morning and afternoon. He pretty much stayed in bed, so I did all of the airport running. Our babysitter was the first to arrive. I picked her up at the airport, got her settled into Sapphire, and then picked up another friend and her daughter about an hour later. We had won $100 off a rental car at Esperance car rental (in a contest on Erich Kranz’s site) so I had booked the car for my brother. Esperance delivered it to Sapphire at about noon. Great service! Nice people! The kids and the babysitter had dinner at the pool, while the adults (my 2 friends, my brother, my husband and I) drove to Loterie Farm to the Hidden Forest Café for dinner. We got there rather late and were virtually the only people there other than one or two other couples who were finishing when we arrived. It was our first time to Loterie Farm since the addition of the new area (bar/tapas area) and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was like escaping into a far away hidden treasure. Such a romantic and exotic setting! As usual, the chef Julie’s food was fabulous. I had the curried spinach chicken. Love it! We ended the evening with a run to Atlantic Casino again, where one of my friend’s won over $100. I ended up a bit ahead as well. When we got back to the Villa we discovered that our keys did not work! Plus one of the kids had set the deadbolt from the inside, so we had to get security and also call and wake up our sitter to get back in the room. Five minutes after we got in we checked our keys and they worked, so we don’t know what the glitch was. We had tried all 3 of our keys initially and none had worked. So our first week ended with 5 adults sitting on the sidewalk locked outside of our villa at about 1 in the morning like delinquent teenagers past their curfew! It was rather funny…
Day 7 (July 28) (Week 2)
We went to the Sapphire pool in the morning because our friend and her two children from the first week were leaving, and we were moving out of the villa into 2 more rooms in the high rise portion of the Sapphire (my brother was continuing to stay in his Studio). We moved into a studio in Building 1 and a Sleep 6 in Building 3. After our friend left for the airport we piled into our car and went to Baie Rouge. The kids had an absolute blast snorkeling by the rocks. We ate lunch and enjoyed a few drinks and essentially spent a perfect afternoon there. When we returned to the rooms we got ready to spend an evening on the Celine. Neil had invited us and the other family with twins that we had me to join him for a little cruise in the lagoon and a barbeque on a small island in the lagoon. This trip was described by another TTOL poster in his trip report and Neil was telling us how much fun he had doing it with them that he wanted to do it again with us. So we all boarded the Celine (along with Neil’s son’s puppy!) and took a short sail to a little island beach. It was just about sunset and absolutely stunning so be in this spot as the day ended. Neil set up chairs for us around the tiny beach and we all relaxed and talked and drank for hours. Neil and a few of the guys cooked ribs and chicken, plus Neil had some wonderful side dishes. We also had bananas foster for dessert…out of this world!! Nature even through in an almost full moon for the finishing touch. It was a wonderful, relaxing, enchanting evening that will be long remembered by us, our friends and our children. Thanks Neil!!!!!!!!!! Our friend who left earlier that day tried in vain to change her flight to the next day so that she could attend the barbeque….she really missed a great evening!
Day 8, (July 29) We went to the Catholic Mass in South Reward at 11 a.m. and it was a truly joyful and wonderful service. It was the Haitian mass, and the music was partially English and partially French. Very upbeat music…and a wonderful homily. We truly enjoyed this experience! Later, my brother and my husband took off to visit a few other beaches, while the rest of us went back to Baie Rouge so that the kids could snorkel again. Later that evening, the babysitter watched the kids and the adults went to dinner at Calmos Café in Grand Case. This was perhaps the most hysterically funny evening of the trip. We had such a wonderful, relaxing meal sitting with our feet in the sand just feet away from the surf, listening to the wonderful band. And the drinks were flowing. And the free rum was flowing….and for the next several hours we all were just laughing and relaxing and enjoying the wonderful evening. For some reason we all just seemed to have hit our complete and total island relaxation mode on the same evening, and we laughed until tears ran down our faces. It was a really special evening, especially because all 4 of us in the group had gone through a lot in the past year, with the most recent being our concern about my husband’s mother. So it was nice to totally forget our troubles and just be happy to be alive.
Day 9 (July 30). For the simple reason that the night before had been so glorious, Murphy’s law demanded that our usual series of mishaps begin today. A trip that had been virtually perfect since Day 1 began to take some detours. We went to Phillipsburg shopping, and my two year old seemed to be a bit hot and sleepy. Then our babysitter got stung by a jellyfish in Great Bay beach (it wrapped itself around her wrist). We decided to head home to take care of it, and as we walked to the car one of my 7 year olds decided she needed to go to the bathroom. She went into the public bathrooms by the pier and the stall door stuck, trapping her in there. She started to panic but we finally got her out (after many tears) and headed home. My babysitter started to develop welts all over her body, so we gave her benadryl and some other medicine. Since my 2 year old seemed to have a fever and my babysitter was sick, I stayed alone with my 2 year old in our room. My other kids and my friend stayed with my babysitter in the suite, and my brother and my husband used my “$50 off of a romantic dinner for 2 at Blue Martini in Grand Case” prize that I had won from Erich Kranz ,. I hope it was good, guys!
Day 10 (July 31). Since my brother, my babysitter, and my friend had never been to Anguilla, we decided to take another trip over to Shoal Bay on the ferry. It was about $32 per adult round trip (including port fees) plus about $50 taxi far (each way) for the 8 of us to go from Blowing Point to Shoal Bay East. We had a fabulous day (my husband stayed back in St. Martin with my 2 year old, whose fever had seemed to go away by then) and we had a great lunch at Uncle Ernies (all 8 of us ate there for about $75 total!). We took an early ferry back to SXM as I planned on spending a little time with my husband on Cupecoy (as we had not yet been to a beach without kids on this trip) in the late afternoon and to use my OTHER “$50 off romantic dinner for 2 at Hibiscus in Grand Case” gift certificates that I had won. My husband was out when we got back to Sapphire, so we waited at the Sapphire pool for him. Bert and Jill (formerly of the Oasis Grill) met up with us at the bar and I spent some time catching up with them and having a few drinks, and discussing their unfortunate situation and their hopes for the future. When my husband returned he and I went to Cupecoy to catch the sunset. We had a couple of Danny’s rum punches, and then headed back to Sapphire. Unfortunately, Paul began to not feel well again, so he went back to the room to rest. The kids were with the sitter, so I took my brother and my friend with me and we went to have that romantic dinner…..never did get a single “romantic dinner” with my husband the whole trip!!
When we got back from Grand Case my sitter was in a panic. My 2 year old’s fever had spiked again and my sitter was crying and scared, which sent me into a panic. Furthermore, my sitter’s day in Anguilla had cause her welts to resurface (due to sun exposure) so she was covered in hives again. She had been unable to reach my husband (he was sound asleep and did not hear the phone) and she could not find my cell phone number. I quickly grabbed my son and put him in the car and raced to the emergency room of the hospital. I had a hard time finding it because it is really off the beaten track and NOT marked! It is over Cole Bay Hill on the road to the Divi (off of one of the roundabouts) and I could not find it. I drove past the Divi to the Great Bay Hotel and began frantically asking people in the parking lot where the Hospital was. I received many blank looks and shrugs. I am sure I was a hysterical mess at this point. Finally, a guard directed me back to where I had initially thought it was and told me where the UNMARKED and UNLIT entrance was. Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore. So I finally got to the hospital, took my son in and checked in with the man at the desk. He told me to sit in the waiting room, and just as I did my son decided that the excitement was too much for him and he threw up all over me, the floor, the seat, and anything else he could reach. Just great. So I spent the next 15 minutes getting paper towels and trying the clean up the mess while watching and trying to take care of a sick child. They called me in, checked my child’s temperature and throat, prescribed an antibiotic and a fever reducer, and I went to check out. The man at the desk kept telling me that he wanted to meet up with me during the rest of the trip, despite my telling him I was married. At first I thought he was just teasing me, but it became clear he was serious! The absurdity of the situation just had me tongue-tied. Here I was, a 42 year old mother of 4, at 1 a.m. in a small emergency room in SXM, covered in vomit, holding a feverish 2 year old child, eyes swollen from crying and stress, and I was being hit on. Too funny. I got back to my room around 2 a.m. and finally got to sleep around 3 a.m.
Day 11 (August 1) I got up very early as my brother had to be at the airport by about 7:30 a.m., so I was going on very little sleep. I took him to the airport, stopped at the pharmacy in Maho as soon as it opened so I could get the antibiotic for my son, and then drove back to Sapphire. I was a little on edge that day because the last two days had not gone so well. I had agreed to meet Bert and Jill at Calmos Café for lunch (with my kids and their daughter) so my sick son and hubby stayed at Sapphire together, my hive covered babysitter sat in her room, and my friend and her daughter went off shopping in Marigot. So 3 kids and I headed to Calmos. The beach was lovely there, and we had a wonderful lunch by the water. However, there were a ton of little jellyfish (invisible unless you knew they were there) that stung 2 of my 3 children on several spots on their body. So we poured vinegar on them and the pain seemed to lessen. I have been to SXM since 1995 and never had any jelly fish incidents, and on this trip we had at least 3 ( my brother thinks he also may have been stung, but not severely). Must just have been a bad year from them. After spending a wonderful several hours with Bert, Jill, Keeley and her friend, and another friend of Bert and Jill’s who was visitng the island, the kids and I headed back to Marigot to pick up my friend and her daughter. At that point we stopped in Maho to see Neil because I definitely felt I deserved the bracelet I had been eying all week, so I bought it and a really cool purse (with Sworovski crystals on it). That evening my friend and I did the pub crawl on the Celine (where we met several TTOL regulars including SoonToBeNude and his lovely wife. What a GREAT night, with a bonus stop at the end at The Stone (the restaurant owned by Neil’s son) I also owe a pub crawl to one of the women I met that night! We had bet one pub crawl admission on the Notre Dame/Penn State game (in advance). So I have to pay for her to go next year. She was so much fun I don’t even care that I lost the bet! We had a BALL! I have her e-mail address somewhere….I need to find it just to show I am a graceful loser! But as a Notre Dame graduate I just can’t ever bet against them! She and her husband are down in SXM at the same time every year, so as long as we plan our trip for the same time again next year we should be able to have a great reunion on the Celine!
Day 12 (August 2). We went shopping at Marigot Market, then on to Galion Beach. We ate at Tropical Wave. My babysitter’s hives started acting up again, so she and my husband and 3 of the kids went back to Sapphire, while 4 of us went to Orient for an hour or so and then to Mullet for a while (so that my friend and her daughter could see a few more beaches before they left the next day). We all went out to dinner at Cheri’s again, and my husband went up and joined in the show (costume and all). I am not allowed to post pictures of him from that night, under penalty of having my passport taken away!
Day 13, (August 3). We went to Maho shopping, and then I took my friend, her daughter, and my babysitter to the airport. Once they left my husband and I packed up the kids to head to the beach. Traffic was horrible again, so we decided to skip the beach and go to Jimbo’s for lunch and let the kids swim in the pool. Great idea. They LOVED it! What a gem! Great food, great drinks, great pool! We wish we had tried it sooner in our trip! On the way back we stopped at Mullet beach to do some last day swimming and snorkeling, and then back to the room to begin packing and getting ready for dinner. We finally got to go to dinner at The Stone (I had only had drinks there after the pub crawl). What a great meal! My husband had the kebabs, and I had the Cajun fish, and both were great. The sauces were spectacular! We hope that Johan continues to have great success in this endeavor! He is also quite handsome, as some of the younger girls on the pub crawl earlier in the week pointed out quite emphatically, so between that and his fabulous cooking word of mouth about this place seems to be spreading nicely.
Day 14 (August 3). Our last day. How depressing. We packed up and got our stuff out of the room. As I thought our flight was at 4:30 I figured we had plenty of time to go to Dawn Beach and still get to the airport by about 2. So that is what we did. We spent about an hour or so on Dawn beach, where my kids enjoyed jumping the waves, and we finally got to see the Westin. I have mixed feelings about the place. Dawn Beach certainly did not seem the same to me, but it was clean and beautiful nonetheless. Just different. We packed up, went back to sapphire to change into travel clothes, and headed to the airport. We got there at about 2 and looked for Mickey to turn in the car. Usually either he or one of his coworkers appears as if by magic when we pull in, so we were surprised that we could not locate anyone. We tracked someone down about 15 minutes later and went in to check in. We were stunned that there was no line (only one family in front of us). Well, the reason Mickey was not looking for us was because we were about an hour late. Our flight was scheduled for a little after 3, not for 4:30 (I had accidentally looked at my friend’s itninerary from the day before) and the machine to check the bags was broken! So we stood in line for about ½ hour panicking since they could not get the family in front of us checked in, they were mad at us for being late, and we knew boarding was going to start at any minute!
Miraculously we managed to get checked in, race through security and get to our gate just as they started to board! So much for checking out the new airport! It was a real squeaker! We had a great flight back to Washington DC, spent the night at the Homewood Suites in Dulles, and had brunch the next day with about 10 of my relatives before heading back to Pittsburgh.
Sorry this is so long, but I could have made it 10 times longer with all of the things we packed into this trip! We had a fabulous time (despite the setbacks) and only love SXM more and more all the time. Final thought? Having 2 weeks was amazing and really allowed us to enjoy the island.
I intended to be more organized with this report, but it took everything I had to finally get something written so I hope everyon enjoys it as it is!
