On the Island

Landed with Jet Blue at 10:05 am out of Boston. We went to our rental apartment after getting groceries. It was too early to check in so we went to Perch Lite for a great chicken lunch.
Back to the apartment and later meeting friends at OB.

Saw Cedric. He said rebuilding to start in the fall/winter.

Bikini for appetizers and a drink on our patio. Lights out after for a long nights sleep.(catch up)
Today the festivities begin.
Unpacked the beach balls.

BTW
The airport was a breeze. Luggage came right out. We stopped to show all paperwork prior to immigration. (5 tables set up)

The e mail for temp checks came while we were on the plane. All good. We reported this morning.

Off to the beach shortly.

carib cheers,
doctorj

Let the games begin!! Enjoy!!

Thanks Carol.

We are thrilled to be back. Anyone concerned about the hoops to get here should relax. I think the hiccups have been straightened out.

Water on the French side will be shut off Tuesday for 24 hours at 8am and again on Thursday at 8am for 24 hours. Repairs are being done.
Restaurants all have cisterns.

carib cheers,
doctorj

Wow, that doesn't sound good, as far as the water. At least you know, so you can plan somewhat.

Thanks for the heads up on water issue. Won't be going to French side Tuesday or Thursday.

We will work around it for sure. We have a great apartment directly across from Orient Beach. Walking to all restaurants in the village.

Beach ball races started today,

It was a very wet track with balls from Zimbabwe, Sxm, to Maine and everywhere in between competing for the winners/losers reward. Today it was a shot of coconut rum.
All racers are given a shot if they would like it after each race until the bottle is empty.

Being Covid Conscious all recipients were given their own shot glass.

It was a blast with approximately 20 people chasing their contenders in the surf.

90 percent of our racing program were fist time racers.

We now have a bunch of new SXM vacationer friends and a couple of new Island friends.

1 of 2 balls will be checked for steroids since he won the first two races.(Kentucky Derby?)

Timing tomorrow is an after lunch start time give or take an hour or two.

Le Telegraph for dinner shorty.

carib cheers
doctorj

Sounds like fun!!!

It was a blast. Dinner at Le Telegraph for us was amazing. Service was incredible.
A special night on the Island.

We will be back again during our stay.

Thank you Maxim and staff.

Highly recommended.

carib cheers,
doctorj

Thanks for the report. Le Telegraph does a great job!

Yes we had a great meal there also and the service was excellent!

Another great day on the beach with beach balls running at top speeds. We ended up with two rum sponsors.
SXMbeacher brought a bottle of rum whose name cannot be repeated on line.
Brendan supplied the second.

Dinner at SAO last night. It was very good and the service was excellent.

As an FYI lunches have been running very long approximately 2 hours. Orange Fever/ Chez Leandre.
It appeared to be a lack of servers.

Perch Lite was great and quick when we arrived. Chicken special for $12.00. 20 minutes tops.

Great weather:

Let the games begin,

carib cheers,
doctorj

Pretty tough life on da island.

For sure!

One tip:

We always book extra legroom with Jet Blue. The plane from Boston to SXM is a New York plane.
Seat configuration is not the same. On the way down we didn’t get extra legroom yet we paid for it.

I just checked seats for our return and would have been in the same situation.

I was able to book exit row seats which the charged again for.

Have been on hold for 40 minutes so far.

If you are flying out of Boston by JB check your seat assignments.

carib cheers,
doctorj

We are with you there in spirit Jim! Off to CA on Thursday for Terry.

BBD rum! Shortage of help is everywhere it seems. Enjoying your updates.

Oh, I understand doctor’s reference to the rum now.

Kathleen,

Thank you for being there for Terry and Jackie. You are a good friend .
(Sail on Captain)

Love to all.

Biturbo,

You guessed it. Made for some interesting commentary. It was purchased by a Maine couple we hadn’t met.
No one seemed offended in the least bit.

Today we had a field of many new people and rum sponsors with Ma Dou Dou were Steve and Nancy.

We had many entrants from the great State of Georgia.

Tonight I was wearing a Club O t-shirt at Bikini when a lady came over and asked where I got it.
Part of her party was from Maine.

This world is very small. Enjoy Life!

carib cheers,

doctorj

It's been quite the events and a lot of fun as everyone laughs and talks and you meet new friends in the process. Thanks good Dr.

doctorj: Wish we could be there. We're not back until next February. Your beach activities sound like a blast.

We keep discovering more and more of us (Mainer's) the longer we participate in this forum.

Gee.........I wonder why so many people from Maine love SXM. LOL

Maine loves SXM!

Night before last we went to Bikini for dinner and I was wearing a Club O shirt. A lady came over from her table to ask where I got it. We struck up a conversation and the rest of her family was from Maine.

Last night we ate at Le Cote Plage and the same family sat right behind us. (Too funny)
BTW my favorite meal. Pan seared tuna was amazing.

Two ladies from Ga. raced with us. They had never been in the ocean and had never experienced the freedom of Orient Beach.

They are taking their beach balls home as keep sakes.

Water will be shut off at 9am again.
Need to get my shower in.

carib cheers,
doctorj

doctorj- Is the water being shut off only on Tuesdays and Thursdays? How long are the water shut offs lasting? We come down on May 31st for 8 days in a Villa at Orient so appreciate your insight as to what to expect.

Thank you

CaribEagle,

I will try. The water was to be shut off according to the paper at 9am today. It appears to be still on?
I will Post our activities today and let you know if my shower lasts.

carib cheers
doctorj

It's actually being shut off around 9 Friday morning till 9 Saturday morning. Not good when you need to leave the villa at 8 for a flight home. Sorry fellow passengers.

Sxmbeacher,

That is so disappointing. We have the same flight a week from Saturday.

Sxmbeacher and Candy Niplz will be co sponsoring tomorrow. Mark and Robin sponsored a great Pineapple rum today.

Snowballs actually won a couple of races. Lefty/Righty balls was a winner/ winner. Itchy, scratchy, puffy balls was a multiple winner.

Candy Niplz won first to the beach with her punch , retrieve, and run routine.

More fun tomorrow.

No idea what schedule the French side is following for their repairs.

carib cheers,
doctorj

Thank you.

Beach balls were lots of fun! Not to mention the rum! Thanks for letting us join in. Will be there tomorrow for sure.

That's great that you are in Orient Village area. Try Kontiki for dinner, there lunch was amazing!!

We needed to say goodbye to many good friends. Safe travels all.

Now for the disappointing news:

The French side will be shutting water off tonight again at 8pm for 36 hours ( we are here waiting for it to come back at 9am)
On 8 am Monday Water will be on for 12 hours then shutoff for another 36 hours

Weds off at 8pm until Friday at 8am

Absolutely crazy and unacceptable. Wouldn’t you think they would work all nights?

carib cheers,
doctorj

We are just off the phone with Florence. (formerly Club O )
We will be moving to Orient Beach Hotel.
They have a cistern so water will not be interrupted.
Go with the flow when you are on vacation!

carib cheers
doctorj

Glad to hear you were able to find someplace to move to. You are correct, the amount of time the water has been off during your stay has been totally unacceptable. Enjoy your remaining time.

Orient Beach Hotel is absolutely amazing. We have a suite on the ground floor looking right at the ocean.
Thank you Florence!

carib cheers,
doctorj

Nice, glad y’all got it worked out. Are the bars and restaurants in Orient having issues due to the water shut offs?

Carib Eagle

All Restaurants and hotels appear to have cisterns so their water supply is not interrupted.

Thank goodness Florence was able to help us out.

It appears it is more severe in the Orient Village area for private apartments/ villas.

The unfortunate part is their information is limited.

When we were informed there would be at least two rounds of no water for 36 hours we bailed.

carib cheers,
doctorj

doctor--good for you! Enjoy!

Glad you got a great replacement spot. I saw the water schedule and it sounded like a nightmare. We escaped in time and just got home. Nice meeting you and Debbie. Have a great week!

Glad you have it worked out. That's something I would not put up with on vacation.

We are waking up the way vacation should be. What an awesome hotel. Dinner at Cote Plage last night.
carib cheers,
doctorj

Glad you took matters into your own hands and are enjoying yourselves.

Another plus- Florence told us we can have a nurse come to our room to give the Covid test for entry to the States!

$45 per person/ our schedule

Well worth it!

It’s great here. I was asked to ring the Happy Hour bell at Perch Lite yesterday!

Not sure it gets any better.

carib cheers,
doctorj

Great Beach Ball racing has ended with the last 6 balls dispersed yesterday.
We are still receiving rum sponsors so the rum circle evolves.

Great people, great weather and a fantastic vacation.

Happy Memorial Day!
carib cheers,
doctorj

Safe travels home, doctor j!! Sure sounds like a fun time, when you're around!

That's great! BB racing is something you just have to experience, and the rum makes it better! Glad your having a great time still!

We are just so happy to have this opportunity.

Today was very low key. Getting my relax for the next couple of days.

Gave Cedric our flag towels today for his Fourth of July celebration.

Club Orient/ Papagayo has deteriorated more since our last visit

Two more days then back to reality. Le Telegraph went over and above last night as my wife wanted a salad with protein but a normal big salad.

Her request was served including shrimp.
Great restaurant for us. Also Le Trattoria was very good the day before.
I needed pasta!

I have taken some photos I will post on return.

And yes my friend beach ball racing and rum work well!

carib cheers,
doctorj