Our trip was from Aug. 9 through Aug. 16.
TRAVEL:
AA flight 667 from JFK- When we booked this flight it left NYC around 8:30am. They changed that to 11:30am, and when we got to the airport and checked our bags we found out that the flight was delayed until 3:45pm then 4:20 pm. They said they didn’t have a plane for us there and were waiting for one to be brought in for us. I told them that I had just came in and I saw a lot of planes outside, and they could just give us one of those. That didn’t work, although the lady gave us a $30 voucher for breakfast/lunch. We live 200 miles from JFK and had used a Park-Fly-Sleep thing, so we had no car around to even go into the city. We spent 8 hours sitting around the terminal. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> Finally took off at a little after 5pm. Flight was great after that.
Return flight was AA660. It left about 15 minutes late due to an obnoxious guy demanding to be moved to 1st class, and his party’s refusal to “open the emergency exit door”, so people needed to be moved all over. He was loud and demanding all the way to JFK. When we were getting off the plane, he pushed his way through a couple in front of us and then got in the guys face because the guy said “EXCUSE ME”. I called the obnoxious guy a jerk, and we exchanged pleasantries all the way to the luggage claim area. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/hammer.gif" alt="" /> Someone in his party, his mother I think, went over to the customs guys and pointed me out to them. My wife says “great, now we will have our luggage searched.” I guess the customs guys also thought he was a jerk because when we got to them the customs guy said “welcome back, have a nice night” and waved us through. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
So the flights themselves were great but we had issues going down and coming back.

ACCOMODATIONS:
A villa in Pelican Cove. We liked this villa and this area. We liked that there was a private pool on our deck, and the villa was air-conditioned throughout. King sized four-poster bed, a well equipped kitchen, full size stove and refrigerator with ice maker, washer/dryer, maid and pool service, US cable TV (not sure we even turned it on), Lounges and a table and chairs on the deck, beach chairs and umbrellas, etc. Felt very safe and secure. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
We usually stay at Beachside villas, and like it there, especially the beach right out the door. But we don’t like the fact that only the bedroom had AC, the pool is on the end of the units, and there is access to the villa from the beach. Having said that, Beachside does have a security guard at nights and I never really felt uneasy, although the wife did some nights.

CAR RENTAL:
Kenny’s- <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> Lesley was there to meet us. Did the paper work in the parking lot and in 5 minutes we were trying to get out of the parking lot. We kept putting the ticket into the reader and it kept spitting it out without opening the gate. We went to the other gate and it did the same thing. Finally I waited for another car to come, and I zoomed through right behind them before the gate could come down. On our return to drop off our luggage, I saw that if you are longer that ½ hour in the lot you need to put money into the machine in the terminal to get out. Must be Lesley thought he had been there less that a ½ hour when he gave us the ticket. That was the only hitch. The car ran great, and the price and service was right. Gave Lesley a bottle of M&R Asti Spumante when we left the car off.

ACTIVITIES:
We went to Orient twice, Mullet once, Baie Rouge once, Simpson Bay once.

We went to the market in Marigot on Wed.

Went shopping in Philipsburg on Mon., (for booze), Tue. (crap for the kids, hat for Mary), Thurs. (for crap in general, it was raining), Fri. (Shirt for Son in Law, looking to see if the 2 stores that I get T-shirts in were open- they were not).

Casinos- Princess, Maho, Atlantis, Westin, Hollywood- all of them at least twice.

OBSERVATIONS about the above:
Orient is still great and still my favorite.
Rouge was fantastic and just may become my favorite (don’t know yet because I didn’t try any food). Very calm water, and saw some big Angel Fish swimming around us.
Mullet was nicer than I thought it would be. Water was pretty calm, food was good at Rosie’s. Mary was in the water (she usually only swims in a pool) and sort of jumps and says to me “ look, there are fish”. I say “what do you expect, we are in the ocean.” She goes “I know there are fish in the ocean, I just didn’t think they were this close.” <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> I had a good laugh at that one as she ran for the beach chair.
Simpson Bay beach is getting worse. Garbage all over, dog stuff all over, and the new beach bar (Karacter?) looks a lot better on their web site.

The Marigot market was nice, although hot as usual. Got our spices and vanilla beans, and our yearly shirt from “the secret spot”, plus a picture frame to add to our SXM room.

We said “this trip we won’t be going to Philipsburg, maybe just to Rimas once. We went 4 times. Rimas and the “grandma” gene is strong in Mary. Not a lot of people in town even with a ship in port on Thurs. and Friday.

The Casinos- what can I say? You will be happy to know that they are all still open, and we did not do them any financial harm.



FOOD: <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />
Here is where this might get a little long winded. I am a foodie, and we eat whole grain this and whole grain that all year. I had not had pizza of any kind since April, and the only thing white I get to eat anymore is toothpaste. No Italian bread, no regular pasta, or white potatoes, or Basmati Rice or, well, you get the picture. So on my vacation I eat like I am being executed tomorrow. When I’m on vacation, especially in SXM, the only reason I would eat a food with whole grain is if that was the only way to make the meal more fattening and/or tasty.

Sat. 8/9- Pineapple Pete’s- we ran down to here because it was late after the delayed flight and checking into the villa (close to 11pm). We both started with a Mango Margarita. Mary had chicken fingers and French Fries. I had Escargot, Coquille St. Jacques, and Poutine (FF W/gravy and cheese curds). Bill was $52 included 16% service charge. Left a small tip .

Sun 8/10- Breakfast- At the new bakery at La Vista.
Mary had Scrambled Eggs (no pastries? What’s up with that?)
I had Crepe Royale (crepe with egg, ham, mushroom, and cheese) Fresh squeezed OJ. Bill was $20 incl. Tip.

Lunch- Baywatch- Mary had an Eggplant Parm. sub and a BBC
I had Mussels ala Andy and a Kamakazi. Bill was $60 that was for the chairs, umbrella, drinks, and lunch. Also left a tip for Adrian.

Dinner- La Gondola- Mary had Bruschetta, Gnocchi W/ tomato basil.
I had the cheese, sausage, roasted pepper Antipasto, and Osso Bucco. We split the Dessert sampler, had a bottle of wine (Peppoli), and a bottle of San Pelligrino. Bill was $145 plus tip.
Mary says they have the BEST gnocchi in the world. The Osso Bucco is better than mine (that is saying something), and the chocolate tart on the sampler was “to die for”.

Mon. 8/11-Breakfast- Went to Zee Best to get pastries for breakfast by the pool at the villa. Got 1 Ham & Cheese Croissant, 2 reg., 2 choc., 1 almond/choc., and 1 almond Croissants, 1 Peach Danish, and 1 Elephant Ear. Total $16.75 plus tip.

Lunch- Went back to Baywatch, but they were closed. Went to Kokomarina but they were closed also. We walked down to Kon-Tiki and were going to order off the “snack” menu. But the guy said we couldn’t sit in the restaurant out of the sun and order off that menu, so we left and went to the Pirate.
Mary had a grilled Cheese sandwich and FFs. I had a Presidente., and a Bacon Cheese Burger W/FFs. Bill was $14 plus tip.

Dinner- Went to Romantica but they were closed. Went back to the Hideaway but they were closed also (not having great luck today). We headed back to Maho but when we got to the end of Billy Folly Rd. I remembered Tutta Pasta. We had tried to go there on previous trips but they were always closed. This time they were open. The deck was full so we sat inside. A little warm, but they had fans going so there was a nice breeze blowing through. We ordered a bottle of Pelligrino and a bottle of Cosetello Chianti Classico, and Fried Zucchini while we looked over the menu. There are 40 different pasta dishes on the menu. Everything sounded good, and the prices were great, so I suggested we order 3 or 4 entrees and take some leftovers back to the villa for lunch or snacks later in the week. We settled on 3 entrees- Mary had the Manicotti, I had the Gnocchi with Sausage sauce, and we shared the Penne W/Vodka sauce. The Manicotti was made with crepes as it should be. The sausage was out of the casings and the sauce was a little spicy and not the least bit greasy, the Vodka sauce had a good (but not overpowering) taste of garlic and quite a bit of Pancetta in it. All the different pastas were cooked perfectly. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />The dessert menu is very limited so we took a pass. The Bill was $85 (no Service Charge) plus a tip. We walked around to the Gelatoria for gelato.

Tues. 8/12 – Breakfast- I made breakfast in. Mary had scrambled eggs W/cheddar cheese on a toasted Croissant. I had scrambled egg W/ prosciutto, gouda, and hot sauce on a toasted croissant.

Lunch- Didn’t really eat a real “lunch”. We had to go to the Mailbox, so I ran over to Hilma’s for a Saltfish and Jonny cake. $2 plus tip on the way to Mullet beach. At Mullet I got ribs from Rosie’s, $4 plus tip. On the way back to the villa Mary got a cone from Hagen Daas. We were going to go to Skipjacks for happy hour and get an appetizer to hold us until dinner. The sign in front said Happy Hour 4 to 6 so we went in. It should have said Un-Happy Hour. We were 2 of the 4 people in there. The bartender looked genuinely pissed that we came in and now he was going to have to get us a drink. I ordered a Sidecar, Mary ordered a Ginger Ale. He didn’t know what a Sidecar was so I ordered a Tequila Sunrise. I think the guy left out the Tequila, and Mary said she thinks he left out the Ginger. Couldn’t get a waitress to come over to us so we left. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" /> We decided to get stuff for our own happy hour in the villa, so we went to Cole Bay Grand Marche. Got the stuff, so Happy Hour cost us $55 plus tip to grocery boy.

Dinner- We went to the Hideaway at La Vista. We were seated by the pool, as I requested, but I think I am banned from there now (more on this later).
We started with an ESK recommended Cote Chalonnaise Champ Perdrix wine($23) and I had the Shrimps ”French Riviera” appetizer.
Mary had Linguini Carbonara.” I had Striploin Steak “Madagascar”.
The wine was a steal at $23, the shrimp had a good grill taste, the Carbonara sauce had a lot of Bacon, and the Steak was cooked perfect and the wine/peppercorn sauce over it was very good. A real good meal all around.
Bill was $ 80 serv. Incl. Plus a little tip.
We were sitting there and the guy brings the check. The table is small and there is a lot on it, so he is looking for a place to set the check. I take my wine glass and move it to the right of my plate, so he has room and doesn’t have to reach across the table to set it down. Being left handed, that is the side I normally have my glass, and I keep my money in my right front pocket. I get my money and reach to put it down on the check book thing when I hit my wine glass and knock it over. I make a gallant effort to catch it, my fingers actually nicked the stem on the way down, but it hit the edge of the pool and broke. Some (about ½) of the glass went into the pool. There was a guy over by the end of the pool who looked to be a maintenance man for the place. He set down the tool he had and came over to us. He ask if we broke a glass and we said yes. He says, “ I don’t think it went into the pool”. We both said we thought that yes it had. He didn’t look too happy with that answer, figuring that now he will have to drain the pool. He was starting to give us some attitude (I can see why) when the waiter comes back to retrieve the check-book thing, and see why the maint. man is talking to us, and we tell him what happened, to which he says “Oh that’s OK, don’t worry about it”. The maintenance man looks at him like he has 3 heads, and the guy waves him off and tell us again “no problem, don’t worry about it”. We leave there feeling like heels, but I guess that if you have tables a foot and a half from the pool, idiots like me will knock stuff into it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />
We left the Hideaway and went to Maho for dessert. We were on a mission for Crème Brulee. We saw that Romantica was open so we tried there. No Crème Brulee. So we went to Sopranos. Shared a Crème Brulee and a Tiramisu and a bottle of Sangevese. Bill was $45 inc. tip. All was good with the Tiramisu and the wine being the best.

Wed. 813 – Breakfast- Again I made it. Mary and I both had Poached Eggs on Toast with Home Fries.

Lunch- Peg Legs Pub- Mary had Grilled Cheese W/FFs and a Ginger Ale.
I had a Caesar Salad W/anchovies and Grilled Shrimp and a Boddington ale. Bill was $25 incl. Tip.

Dinner – La Gondola- Started with a Pellegrino and a bottle of Peppoli and the special appetizer for me. The appetizer was a salad made with baby Arugula which was topped with some grilled Scallops and a light sauce then shaved Black Truffles.
Mary had Gnocchi W/ Tomato Basil Sauce (again, she said the best in the world)
I had Veal Cannelloni. We shared the warm Chocolate Tart for dessert.
The bill was $125 plus tip.
If I had to pick, the Scallop appetizer was the best thing I have eaten since I had the same thing last year at La Gondola. The Cannelloni was excellent, with the pasta sheets being very tender and the Veal filling very rich.

Thurs. – Breakfast- Chesterfields (forgot there was a ship in port, but not real busy) Mary had the #1- 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage. She ate 1 pancake, most of the eggs and 1 slice of bacon. The rest of the meat came to me. I had the Eggs Benedict and a Tomato Juice. The EB came with some Potatoes that were fried with Onions and Peppers. Everything was quite good. I would go here again. Bill was $23 incl. Tip.

Lunch – Went to Carlo de Napoli @ Atlantis but they were closed. Even though we were not impressed with Pizza/Pasta in Maho when we went there 2 years ago, we stopped there to give it a try again so I could take care of my pizza Jones. Mary had the Minestrone Soup and a coke. I had a Sausage Pizza. The soup was a Chicken broth base and had no pasta in it. Mary said it was very tasty. The pizza, while not a big as I remember, was very good. It was the size of a large dinner plate with a thin crust that was crisp and soft, (tender is maybe a better word) at the same time. The Sausage was spicy and plentiful. Really a great pizza, and a nice surprise for lunch.
Bill was $24 incl. Tip.

Dinner – We were going to go to Tropicana tonight, but it was raining so hard that when we got to airport road, we both agreed we didn’t want to travel all the way over to Marigot. Mary said she wouldn’t mind going back to Tutta Pasta, and that was fine with me.
We again ordered a bottle of Cosetello Chianti and a Pellegrino. Mary had the Penne W/Vodka sauce. I couldn’t decide and the waiter ask what I was thinking over. I said I couldn’t chose between the Gnocchi, which I loved on Mon., or the Linguini W/Seafood. The waiter looks around and say “it isn’t busy tonight so I will have the chef give you a half dish of each, and you can tell me which one you like best. That sounded good to me. Now the last decision is what type sauce do I want my Seafood in, the Marinara, Aglio Olio, Cream and White Wine or Rose (like vodka sauce). I picked the Cream wine sauce. The bill was $66 plus tip.
The thing about Tutta Pasta is they know what they do and they do it great. They don’t try to be everything to everybody. They are a pasta place and they got that stuff down. We had 3 different shaped and sized pastas and each was cooked perfect. The sauces were individual and distinct. The seafood (shrimp, calamari, and clams) was also cooked perfect. Yes, this is expected when dining in St. Martin, but not for $66 including a bottle of wine. By the way, I told the waiter I liked the Gnocchi W/sausage sauce best.

Fri. 8/13- Breakfast- I cooked again. Both had scrambled eggs and toast and coffee. I swear we are both starting to cluck.

Lunch- We stayed at Baie Rouge longer than expected so instead of changing to go to someplace for lunch, we decided to do lunch at the villa.
We stopped at Pizza/Pasta and got a ½ plain ½ sausage pizza, then went to the bakery at La Vista and got a Roasted Chicken and some dessert Pastries. Opened a bottle of Asti and ate on the patio. Really great lunch.

Dinner – Spiga- We drove to Spiga from a stop at the Westin. Mary was freaking out at the dark curvy roads, and the kids all over the road in Orleans. We stayed at Princess Heights on or first trip to SXM in 2003 and we drove those same roads every night, but we haven’t been on them at night since. Mary was jumpy and the security guard at Spiga, guiding us into the parking spot and then walking us to the restaurant set her mind at ease.
We started with a bottle of Nippizano Chianti and a bottle of Pellegrino. I had the Seafood Dou for an appetizer. Mary passed.
Mary had the Meat Ravioli with a Veal Bolognese sauce.
I had the Pork Tenderloin. We shared the Chocolate Tiramisu and the Crème Brulee. I finished the meal with a Lemoncello.
The bill was $130 plus tip. It was 1 for 1 here.
Also a $5 tip to the guard on the way out.
This was, from start to finish, the best meal of the week. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />The seafood duo was Shrimp and Crab. The Shrimp in a Lobster reduction and the Crab in a sweet red pepper mayo. There were some greens with a Basil dressing and a sliced Avocado with a herb dressing on it. Excellent!
The Ravioli was filled with a mix of meat and cheese, and the Veal Sauce was thick and rich. The Pork Tenderloin was dry rubbed, then grilled. It was served over 2 squares of Polenta, which had a link of Italian Sausage on each end and covered with a Mushroom reduction sauce. This could be the perfect dish. The Pork was “like butta”. The desserts were great. We were not thrilled with the Chocolate Tiramisu, only because we had voted Spiga’s regular Tiramisu as “the best we have ever had” in previous visits. The Crème Brulle was good (though not nearly enough), and came with a Raspberry Flan or custard. The service was outstanding. I think Spiga and La Gondola have THE BEST service on the island year in and year out.

Sat. 8/16- Breakfast- Zee Best-
Mary had Scrambled Eggs and Bacon and 1 Chocolate Croissant
I had Eggs Benedict, and 1 Almond and 1 Chocolate Croissant.
Bill was $24 incl. Tip. Watched a little girl chase a chicken all around the patio. Try doing that in a restaurant in the States.



Some Misc. Items:

Didn’t see or experience any sort of crime. I know there was an incident at the Westin while we were there, but nothing we saw and we never felt unsafe (well maybe the wife a little, driving through Orleans on Friday night with all the skateboarding, scooter riding youth all around the car.)

Not sure what was going on, but there was a traffic jam/grid lock on Wed. afternoon from the roundabout by the Cole Bay shortcut to at least the bridge in Simpson Bay. Two cop cars went by us coming from Philipsburg way, then things started to move slowly.
On Thurs we ran into the same thing starting at the sports book place all the way to the airport. The only thing that I saw that was holding traffic up was having to stop at the crosswalk at the airport. This was around 2pm. Once we got past there it was smooth sailing.
On our return trip to the villa, we ran into traffic backed up just as we got to the crosswalk at the airport. It was 3:50 pm and the traffic would move about 200 feet at a time then we would sit for 10-15 minutes without moving. It was 5:20pm when we reached Billy Folly Rd., and the only reason we got there that soon was that I drove down the right side of the road for about a ½ mile to get to Billy Folly Rd. I think the problem was all the way to the Cole Bay hill to Philipsburg. It was really raining out for the whole time and the road at Picante was flooded over, so I can imagine how much water was coming off the BIG hill.

Thanks to AA and Tropical Depression/Storm Fay, we didn’t get to do a couple of things we had planed. We were going to go for a day trip to Anguilla on Monday, but with losing all of Sat. we decided to put it off until Thursday. Big mistake, Thanks Fay. Well it gives us something to do next time.

The weather, except for Thurs. was the best we have ever had in the 5 trips (July and Aug. visits).

We cut back on the amount of clothes we took, and still took twice as much as we needed.

Well, I have run on for long enough. I am sorry this is so long and probably includes way too many details and random thoughts, but when I get started about SXM I can’t stop. Just a great vacation spent with a great lady. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" />