Travel Dates:
Saturday, May 9 – Saturday, May 16. Our3rd visit to St. Maarten.

Travel:
We used US Air FF miles for our flight. Our flight was extremely smooth and on-time.

Car Rental:
Our first time using Unity Car Rental and our experience was excellent. Immediately upon exiting the airport, a van took us to the rental office for Unity and the paperwork was very brief. We rented a Getz which was clean and in great condition. We were a little worried about getting a small car with the hills in St. Maarten, but the power was plenty. Good air-conditioner too!

Traffic:
Not bad at all – of course this is low season.

Weather:
Somewhat windy which felt great! Several brief showers off and on through the week.

Phone Rental:
Rented from Sharon. Thank goodness we did this as our Verizon phone did not work at all on the island. Talked to a number of other people who also said their Verizon phone did not work either.

Accommodations:
Pelican Resort. We were assigned M311 through Interval International and that is the unit that we received. We absolutely loved it!! The view from our balcony was gorgeous. The room was clean and decorated with a Caribbean feel. After staying in 3 different buildings, this is our first choice for future years. We rode around and looked at other options of accommodations offered by Interval and still hope to return to Pelican next time. Some places remind me of a Marriott or other chain resort instead of a Caribbean resort. Pelican has so many amenities and is in the perfect location for many of our favorite beaches and restaurants. We did hear about the hold-up in the accounting office but never saw any commotion. We did notice increased security roaming around in the later part of our week.

Entertainment:
Sunset cruise through the Pelican- Not the value that it used to be as the price has increased from $10 to $20 a person. The beer and rum punches are not the greatest. But the view and the staff were wonderful, making it a fun hour.
Red Piano- Only made it there one night. Missed Frankie G from previous years.
Shopping – Marigot Market & Phillipsburg. I think we will skip Marigot next year as you can get the market items in Phillipsburg.
Hollywood Casino – We are not big spenders here which was good this time as our pockets were lighter when we left.
Sunset Bar & Grill- Don’t miss plane watching here if you are a newbie to the island! Fun! The improvements after the destruction last year are really nice.
Toppers by the Sea – They offer entertainment most nights. We ate dinner there on the night when they had students from a local dance studio presenting a “Chicago” style show. They were quite good! We also sat on the beach and listened to a few songs on their “oldies” night.
Buccaneer Beach Bar – Fireball on Friday night. Neat to see and was fun to watch all the families with children having such a good time.

Beaches:
Kimsha Beach (at Bucaneer Beach Bar) – This is still our favorite beach. We love to sit back under the palm trees. It is soooooooo peaceful! And it is so close to wonderful food and drink!
Maho Beach (at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill) – Plane watching is as fun as ever! My photography skills get plenty of practice here!
Simpson Bay Beach (at Karakter’s) - What a beautiful area!
Mullet Beach – Attempted a visit here but it kept raining. Of course, by the time we got back to the Pelican, the rain stopped but didn’t go back.

Breakfast:
Topper’s by the Sea – Very good! Nice place for our first morning on the island!
Au Pain de Sucre (bakery at the Pelican) – Yum! Ate the apple pastry 3 times!
St. Maarten Yacht Club – Went for bridge opening, but had my times wrong. Still a good breakfast.
The Cafeteria (above the Pelican Bakery) – Turned out to be our favorite place for breakfast. The prices were extremely reasonable and the food was the best!

Lunch:
Buccaneer Beach Bar –Ate burgers here 3 times and could not branch out and try something else. I tasted Danny’s ribs, barbequed chicken and chicken kabobs with peanut sauce and all three were YUMMY! I refreshed my memory of those wonderful Guavaberry Coladas! We were very impressed at how clean they are keeping the bar area, bathrooms and the beach. Seemed to be better than ever before (and we loved it in the past!)
Talk of the Town – I had the grilled shrimp and it was fantastic! I was not crazy about going because I’d rather have the ribs at Buccaneer Beach Bar but was extremely happy after tasting my first shrimp!
Karakter’s – Loved our time here! It was a treat being served in our chairs with real plates and glasses. The coconut shrimp was delicious!
Sunset Bar & Grill – Had a shrimp basket and it was pretty good. The young lady who was bartending did a great job and was very personable.

Dinner:
Skip Jacks – Danny had a bone-in rib eye steak and I had stuffed shrimp. Fantastic! Would order the same thing again next time!
Pineapple Petes – Seafood Gratinee was Yummy! Danny said his seafood pasta was also good.
Topper’s By The Sea – Went for Prime Rib night and I tasted Danny’s and it was really good! I ordered the stuffed mahi-mahi and boy would I like to eat that again right now!!!
Greenhouse (in Simpson Bay) – Went for happy hour and were too full to order dinner. The calamari was wonderful! The jerk wings were good too!

Summary:
One week is not long enough. Hopefully Danny will be retiring this time next year and we will be 2 weekers on our next trip!