This was our first trip to SXM during the month of April. I was skeptical, because of all the wind and swells that had been reported in previous weeks, I thought the water might be murky or too cold, or it might be rainy, but everything was very nice. Our flights were a breeze; Houston to Miami to SXM, just a slight mechanical delay and immigration in PJIA was empty! It took about 20 minutes to get our luggage, and outside Lesley Bruce was waiting with our rental car, plus he had our rental cell phone from Sharon. I don’t know whose idea it was to combine their services, but it is brilliant! It saved us a lot of time. We stopped at Food Express in Maho for supplies (the store is quite nice and well stocked; it was my first time there) and on to the Sapphire where we rented villa #7, a beautifully appointed place with a Euro-Caribbean flair and a beautiful view of Saba on a clear day. We were a little tired from our travel day, so we stayed closed and ate at the Sapphire Café. The food was good, the service was excellent. We stayed at the Sapphire for four nights and then moved on to our timeshare at the Flamingo for another week.

MEALS:

Breakfasts:

Le Bistro @ the Pelican
Sapphire Café
Turtle Pier
The Veranda – still the best “American” breakfast

This trip we also discovered the art of making our own breakfast on the balcony, with French bread, ham, cheese and tomato. Delicious!

Lunches:

KokoMarina – delicious crab cake salad with curry dressing
Mr. Busby’s – excellent jerk ribs
Sugar Cane Café
Rosie’s – sorry, I know her ribs have a lot of fans, but I am not one

Dinners:

We wanted to try a couple of new places and had mixed results.

La Gondola – the appetizers were good but we were very under whelmed with our main courses, Spaghetti Bolognese for hubby and swordfish for me. This was one meal I was looking forward to. The service was excellent, but the earphones on the wait staff I thought were a bit pretentious. We’ll move on.

Rare – this meal was the best; one of the highlights of our trip. I almost did not need a knife to cut my filet. I don’t know if I have ever had such a tender piece of meat. And those wasabi mashed potatoes. Dino is awesome, and so is his Dad, who was our host. Superior dining. Worth every cent.

Thai Savanh
The Veranda – excellent stuffed baked lobster!
Lee’s – we went just to see if we hit a good or bad night, and it was a good one! Lobster was good, service was excellent!
Toppers – always good
La Palapa Bar & Grill @ the Flamingo – excellent Cobb salad

BEACHES:

Orient – I have never seen it so crowded and the water was a little cool
Mullet – beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful
Dawn – fantastic and fun; warm and a little rough

OTHER ACTIVITIES/MISC:

We once again did the $10 pp sunset booze cruise out of Aqua Mania. This is such a deal! I don’t see how they can offer it at this price, but I sure am glad they do.

Phillipsburg – parking is a nightmare, even if you get there early. We parked across the street from Rima’s and schlepped it down to Front Street. We don’t spend much time in Phillipsburg during our trips to SXM, but what they have done with the ocean-front promenade is nice.

For the first time, we went to have a cocktail before dinner at the St. Maarten Yacht Club. It is not as snooty as it sounds.

We did not witness or experience any crime during our stay.

We were lucky enough not to have very many traffic problems at all. We hit the bridge opening once and I think we just hit the right side of the island at the right time.

And, I finally found Amilab at the pharmacy in Grand Case. (Thank you, Contessa!)

All in all, a lovely trip. Looking forward to doing it again in November. Thanks to all you fellow travelers for your tips and advice.