Arrived on our favorite island 4/16 Sat. flight was Boston to San Juan and than into St. Martin. Flight was uneventful. Arrive to our see our friends from Unity car rental ready for us. Our jeep was ready and we were off in record time. (4th time renting from Michael). Drove to the Royal Palm to pick up our cell phone from Sharon Harris. (first time user). We were very happy with this arrangement. She made pick up and drop off very easy.
Off to the Pelican who let us check in early. This was our first time at the Pelican. Last time was Oyster Bay (which we loved) We had a two bedroom/two bath the first week on the beach. We were very happy. We had a couple of maintenace issues that were fixed very quickly. Made several stops to the Peli Deli. Weather was hot, hot, hot for first 6 days. We had rain Sat. & Sun and that was o.k. time to move out of the sun.
We went on two snorkel trips. 1. Lambada to Anguilla we had a lot of fun.
2. Probably the best trip we have been on in St. Maarten is the three island snorkel which leaves out of Oyster Pond with Captain Alan. You do the mud baths/snorkel at tintamarre (sp), we also snorkeled another small island and than to Pinel. Great trip 4 hours and Captain Alan is the best!
Most of our time was spent on Orient Beach/Dawn Beach.

We went to several placed to eat but food is really not a big deal to us. So it was Sunset Beach Bars 1/2 price burgers on Monday. Thursday is a great barbacue buffet at Bamboo Bernies. We also ate twice at the Pelican's Italian rest., Marty's Gyro, which is a local rest. that Captain Alan recommend and it was great, Peg Legs, The Wharf was probably our best meal.

Second week we moved into a one bedroom/one bath up the hill at the Pelican. I know that I have heard a lot of people complain about this location but we didn't mind. Room was great. No problems. We were on the fourth floor and had a great ocean view.

We had some car trouble on Sat. and called Michael who immediately came over to our condo and called a mechanic who had the car towed/repaired and brought back to us in a couple of hours. Great customer service.

We flew home for the first and last time thru Santo Domingo. That was a huge mistake. Funny stories though. We broke about every law in the airport before we were able to find someone who spoke English to explain to us that we need a transit stamp in our passports. We were with another couple so lots of laughs about that part of our trip.

We also keep a diary while were were there and all 4 of us would write in it. It is amazing how many laughs you have while you were there. We back to Maine around 12:30 this morning and up and off to work today.
Great vacation and we are looking forward to our next one 2007.

Great trip report. Welcome home Hope DIF doesn't hit you to hard.

great trip report
thanks!

Thanks for the great report!! Last year we had the misfortune of connecting thru Santo Domingo and had the most awful experience!! How about the elevator for one + 2suitcases or 2 people + suitcase? We roared at that.......but the lack of assistance and lack of English was the pits!! But, afterwards we laughed at all of this......must have been the heat!
Thanks, again for sharing!!
:-D C



I love cooking with wine.......somtimes I even add it to my recipes!!

Was Unity Car rental right at the airport or was the car delivered to you there?

Did you get the added insurance and if so what is the price range for it? What does it cover?

Thanks for any info concerning your rental.

Unity will meet you at the airport and take you to your car. Very short drive. The reverse when you take the car back.

You will need to get the liability insurance. Most credit cards will handle the rest. BUT - it always pays to check!!



~~ Once you've slept on an island, you'll never be the same ~~
2008 St Maarten Pics

Yes,

As noted above, they picked us up at the airport and transported us to their lot. The paperwork takes about 5 minutes. We use our American Express Card and we do buy the additional liability ins. I think it was an additional $55.00 for 12 days but he charged us for 11 days. We saw an accident while at dinner one evening when this guy hit a van and the security just let the guy drive off so we were glad we purchased it. Better safe than sorry.

Thank you so much for the info. We rented a car ahead of time and are very psyched for the trip!!!

Could you compare Pelican and OBBR? I'd appreciate knowing the difference.

Nice report....thanks..

Hard to compare. Totally different atmosphere. Oyster Bay is remote. Smaller resort. I actually loved both resorts but we are very easy to please. We love Orient/Dawn Beach so when we stayed at Oyster Pond it was less travel. You don't have to deal with the traffic issues. We found lots of places to eat around this resort so we liked it. The Pelican is a large resort. Again, great rooms and it forced us to try new places. We never travelled to that end of the island due to long days on the beach and a few cocktails so driving was not something we wanted to do at the end of the day. If you like night life, I would say Pelican offers more. My husband and I are in bed by 9:00 and up at 5:30 so it was not important for us. It was nice when you wanted to do a day trip because you were already at the marina. I would recommend both resorts for different reasons.

Hi Lori and Chris,

Going to Oyster Bay Beach Resort in January 2007 - first time at the hotel. Can you elaborate on the few restaurants you found around the hotel. Were those walking distance. Was walking at night safe. Thank you.

We ate at Captain Olivers and loved it. We also ate that the beach bar on Dawn Beach which has a great menu...(I can't remember the name of it) We also went back to Orient Beach and ate at some of the beach bars that stay open for evening meals. You can find lots of places to eat without any problems. We love Grand Case but I like the local barbacue places vs. the big expense meals. I don't think we have ever had a bad meal in St. Maarten and we this will be our 6th trip in April 07. Good luck and have fun.

Hi Dominique
I came across your question about walking at night at Oyster Bay. We also have time share there and have been going down to Oyster Bay ten years this year. We love the resort. We started going down before any of the new buildings were built. We will be there the irst week in January. You are very safe on the resort, going to the restraunts right beside Oyster Bay on the Beach. It is safe to go for walks on the road in day time light only. We have done it many times. HOWEVER it is dark on that road going round the pond at night.There are some lights but still very isolated in places. Please do not walk around the pond on that road at night. The cars whip around there and it being so dark in places makes it unsafe. The other issue is it is just simply not safe to do. Some one could stop on the road and grab you or your money. You could be hit and them take off. A few years ago we had two big men jump out suddenly from the long grass and try to stop our car. We always lock our doors at night as soon as it is dark. My husband kept right on going. One guy jumped out of the way just in time from getting hit. The other tried to grab the car. We reported to police and they told us never stop at night for any one at any time. no matter what. If police tell us that it definately told us do not walk at night. Saying this we have been going to the island for fifteen years this year. We have had very few problems. We practice saftey there the same way we do at home. I know the island and that road and I would never walk it at night in the dark. You would be wise to rent a car if you want to go out at night on the island or get a taxi. We always have a working cell phone with us as well. We always have a great time when we go, with very few problems. We are there a month and so we make sure we are careful even in the day going to different beaches. Again be aware of surroundings and your holiday will be great.
Sharon

Hi Chris and Lori we are party of seven planning our vacation to St. Martin in March 2007 and looking for advise

we rented a villa in the Happy Bay for our March 2007 vacation and is wondering how much would it cost us from the airport to that area. From the chat room comments Happy Bay does not sound like a very nice area and the road sound like is not very easily travel. Is that true??

The other thing is we are not if we should rent just 1 vehicle when we arrive and send one person with a taxi along with the luggages. Trying to save money and not to have two cars for 1 week. We hear there's alot of traffic there and we dont want to lost each other. Do you know if Unity rent a seven passager SUV and is that a good idea?

any suggestions is greately appreciate