Questions

Arriving the 31st.... two questions:
Mosquitoes, especially in the Simpson Bay area?
And is the Tee Shirt lady in the Marigot market back after Irma?

Huge ones, the size of your hand..............and they drop missiles on you from 50 feet(joking) mozzies are everywhere and nowhere, just depends and the wind flow and if they like you...have an invasion of love bugs at present in florida..
T-Shirt Lady at market? Many of them sell tee shirts...others here will probably know what you mean.....:-)))))

Yes, Secret Spot T shirt lady is back. Different spot since restaurant bldg. was scheduled to be replaced in March. She was near the Cane Juice bar in Feb.

In all my visits to St. Martin I have only one time encountered a mosquito ... honestly. It was when I was walking through the woods from Friar's Bay beach to Happy Bay beach. Just bring a tube of repellent for the dusk and evening hours and you'll be just fine. Mosquitos around the beaches are likely rare, because they need standing water for their larvae to hatch. Hope this helps.

We are recently back from almost three full weeks and I have to say, moskie magnet that I usually am, I wasn’t bothered at all. DH, on the other hand, could scarcely go out at all in the evening without being devoured. After the second night there he automatically applied OFF repellent before going out and carried an extra packet with him jic it was needed. We were mostly in the Cupecoy to Simpson Bay areas at night and their presence most,y seemed to depend on the humidity and breezes on any given night. Best to be prepared.......

I live in Miami and they are around at dusk and dawn.
Just spray yourself or don't
They won't bother you if you are in a well lit area with lots of people around.
We like to spray under our patio tables cause that's where they go in the heat.
Thats what to watch for.
Then they come out at dusk.
Just put some stuff on and relax. It's normal.
No tse tse in SXM

"I saw two total in April and they were not together". I read that somewhere else and encountered the same thing.

bran--love bugs are the WORST, huh?? Hate those buggers!!

To the original poster---mossies are a function of how much rain there has been lately (not much at all for SXM lately), how much wind is around, vegetation, etc. That said, if you are a mossie magnet like I am, if there is one around, it will find me! Be prepared with insect repellent and hope for the best!

And, the Secret Spot t-shirt lady has some very nice new ones since we visited 6 months ago.

I'll let you know in 2 1/2 sleeps.

2 1/2 sleeps?? What's a half sleep????

The Friday night red eye from SEA to CLT.

Oh, ok. I count time from when I leave my house, but I certainly can see your point.

Very few mossies around just now. We are in drought conditions with no rain, which is usually what brings them out.

I have a redeye on June 6 as well but was rerouted through DFW and MIA and arrive mid-afternoon. Was a great price when I booked.

Been going to SXM since 1988. In 2010 we forgot to spray our room with insect repellent and go out for a beer or two. Got bit there or somewhere and got Dengue Fever. Was one sick person. Fortunate for us the rough symptos didn't show til about two days before we left. Once home saw our Dr. and he took care of things. NOW! We spray every thing every day. Use bug spray with high deet content and use dryer towellets to wipe on all skin areas and even tie small pieces to belt, hat, shoes and whatever. Been great ever since. Many resorts and places have the insect repellent at the front desk if you need it before you go shopping. Products are improving every year.

Good luck and just prepare.

We get in at 1:30 pm. $840 first class on AA.

Round trip or one way?

One way. Using miles for return first class at 50,000 on AA.

Then you probably don't want to hear I paid $600 outbound, $725 return. FC on all legs.

Happy for you, but somehow that just isn't right, compared to what people pay from the Midwest, for cattle car seats, often $800-$900.

It's a redeye with two plane changes. Not exactly a luxurious trip.

$1650.00 return FC. for two people

Well, that's true, I guess. Pricing for airlines is weird..

The airlines, AA in particular, are crazy right now. We did AA FC to SXM at $630.00 pp one way. The guy across from us was livid because he paid over $1200.00 one way each and couldn’t get the breakfasts they wanted. He should have pre-ordered as we had no problem, having done so.

AND an overnight in DFW on the return.

Pat--having never flown first class myself in my life, I still can't imagine that ANY meal on a plane is worth making a fuss over.....

Never in your life?? You should treat yourself on your upcoming special-anniversary trip!

Plane tickets are already bought for that trip, with frequent flyer miles. Just never thought first class was worth the money..

Jazzgal Are both routes Sat to Sat? Ours are and we have to overnight in MIA on our return. Then to Dallas on a 777 and then on to SEA arriving at 12:30pm Sunday. Our original to SXM was through JFK then to SXM but that got changed to SEA-CLT-SXM. Out return was originally a morning flight from SXM-CLT-SEA getting home same day. Makes for a long trip but sure beats going to Hawaii for a vacation which to me is like Southern California on steroids.

No. Leaving on a Thursday midnight PDX-DFW-SXM (originally through CLT), arriving 3:15 PM Friday. (Trying Baker's Suites for one night for the first time.) Departure is on a Friday with overnight in DFW (originally through CLT on same day).

And I learned last trip that if your overnight is less than a 12-hour stay, you can check your checked bags through to your home city. I really enjoyed having only my rollaboard to worry about on my overnight.

"And I learned last trip that if your overnight is less than a 12-hour stay, you can check your checked bags through to your home city. I really enjoyed having only my rollaboard to worry about on my overnight."
Yes. I like that. My overnight layover is like 11 hours 40 mins. Hoping I can check all the way through too. Sometimes it all depends on the check in counter attendant. Fingers crossed.

Just go carry on! SXM is certainly worth the trip and coming from the mighty PNW it is worth the money for First Class. We don't always do all legs in the bigs but as many as we can. Next trip we are going Alaska on the red eye to JFK and then Jet Blue down. The trip back will be AA via MIA and then a night in Kansas City before going back to PDX. We also enjoy SXM more than Hawaii although Kauai and Hawaii are very pleasant islands, I usually spend 1 to 3 weeks in Hawaii per year for business (no really, lol). I fly a lot, so airline status helps getting the big seats.

Cheers,
T

Carry on only would never work for us. We stay for 3-4 weeks and bring a lot of Sh*t. We also keep a box on island too with a lot of sh*t. First class gives us each 2 checked at up to 70lb apiece on AA. Ours never weigh that much but it's nice not to have to worry about that.

We stay for three weeks most trips, we quit bringing lots of stuff with us, although we have at times brought down items for people on island and then use the checked luggage but it is so much easier the less we bring.

I wish I could learn that skill. I still check two bags for my 3-4 weeks on island although last trip it was one 26" and one rollaboard size that I checked compared to two 26" on previous trips.

Whatever do you people wear? Where do you go that requires that much clothing? We have mastered one carry-on each after years of looking at the clothes we brought and never wore. We pack thin non wrinkle fabrics in compression bags with a few cottons mixed in on top. Wear sneakers for me, regular shoes for hubby,, pack neutral color sandals, beach shoes.

Every one has there own preferences on how they dress and what they bring. We bring more stuff than cloths along with food, dive equipment and such. I will always recognize that one person that stays at the same resort we do at the same time by his smell that we all renamed "stinky" as he always wore the same cloths day after day. There is a fine line for bringing to much or to less.

cut right back........what we need we buy there and leave there if needed.

A wise man once said:"If you can't say something good about someone, say nothing at all." That's a good idea.

We are with bran on this one, carry-on only, and what we didn’t bring or forgot too, we just by on the island. It fits us. We use to bring a lot, but as the years passed along we got a little wiser and sure makes traveling a WHOLE lot easier.

The first time we went the cab driver at the airport looked at our bags and asked us how long we we staying. We said a week and he chuckled. We wore 25% of what we packed. Carry on only now but we don’t pack dive gear or food.