What a wonderful time we had.
Great flights –
AA 667 and 660 – on time or early each way. Landing in SXM this trip was different, to say the least. Our pilot made two attempts before finally getting us on the ground on the third time around, and the second one we were literally a third of the way down the runway in landing mode when he pulled up and did his second fly over. That was an experience I hope NOT to have too often. Other than that, there is a definite advantage to those seats up front – we were the third or fourth people off the plane and likewise, through immigration and out into that glorious sunshine.
Regarding carry-ons, for those who wondered last month, yes, they were checking and enforcing the carry-on rules and sizes on both ends, and yes again – they did seem to be a little more lenient with Business and First Class ticket holders.
Once in the airport parking lot,
Lesley/Kennys Car Rental was right there with his typically good service to speed us on our way to another great stay at
The Towers and a lovely trip in its entirety.
The changes to the road around the airport seemed to help the traffic flow a bit but, IMO, it’s still often congested – just not as bad as it used to be. And the rotaries are everywhere these days and they seem to help the over-all traffic flow, but trust me on this, nothing can help the mess the bridge openings create. We were very fortunate that we only got tied up in traffic one night – Sunday of all nights, but we did give up our grocery shopping at LGM because of the back-up on the day we arrived. No problem, shopped at
Food Express at Maho and it was fine – we found everything we were looking for and didn’t break the bank doing so. They accept credit cards there along with travelers checks for anyone who might want to know.
What can one say about St. Maarten that hasn’t been said a gazillion times already? We had great weather – a few brief rain showers at night – the ocean water was as warm as bath water and the pool was almost as nice. We ate great food and enjoyed wonderful days at the beach and felt so honored to enjoy the company of some really nice people while there. We finally met
GaKaye and David along with
Laura and Roger,
PJ along with finally meeting both
Elaine and
Vicki and Rick and also meeting
Todd and MJ and Katie and got to see
Annie, SandyandBill,
Sharon,
Ray and
Bob and Dot again along with a host of others whose names escape me at the moment.
We were introduced to
Karakters Beach this trip and I can only add to what’s previously been said,
“it’s all that and more.†The beach was impeccably clean, the food was great and well beyond the typical beach fare one might expect
(translate that to read - no ribs!!), the service was awesome and the owners just couldn’t have been any nicer. Their puppy, Meep, is the very best kind of beach company – quiet, unassuming and the sweetest little guy you could hope to meet. And surprisingly enough, I felt the prices were very reasonable for the quality of food and service. Look out Friars Bay Beach Café – you’ve been replaced by a new, closer and easier to get to venue – and priced in US dollars, to boot. And
Mullet Bay Beach should take note - this beach was, and I know I'm repeating myself,
impeccably clean.
Many thanks to
Todd and MJ for hosting their evening here and introducing us to this new (to us) spot on the beach. The party, btw, was lots of fun and it was great meeting so many new faces and being reacquainted with some old ones. So again, sincere thanks,
Todd, MJ, and Katie, for a lovely evening of toes in sand and drinks in hand.
And then there was the party of parties – thanks so much
Vicki and Rick and Elaine for sharing your homes and your hospitality. I think I can safely speak for all of us who were honored to be there – it truly was a wonderful evening. How nice to be able to renew old friendships and meet so many St. Maarten ‘notables’ for the first time. You ladies really outdid yourselves and I know everyone had a great time. And for those who’ve never had the pleasure of visiting
The Rainbow, the apartments are lovely. It was an awesome experience to witness the sunset from this location and to see, firsthand, the vantage point from which Elaine creates so many of the wonderful photos she so kindly shares with us all.
Other than these two events, the rest of our trip was pretty low-keyed. We had breakfast one morning at
Barefoot Terrace on our way to doing some serious Christmas shopping at
Caribbean Gems and then on to the
Butterfly Farm for some souveniers. Most days we breakfasted while we enjoyed the view from our own terrace along with freshly delivered
Carl & Sons pastries and baguettes and coffee and then off to the beach or the pool. I can’t believe how really lazy and laid-back we were on this trip. I actually managed to read four books while there along with everything else we squeezed in.
We lunched out a few times:
Buccanier Beach Bar the day we arrived,
Rosie’s on Mullet Beach and
Karakters on Simpson Bay Beach and the rest of the time we either skipped it completely or made sandwiches from fresh baguettes and we even lunched in our room once or twice on left-overs from the night before. It really was pretty low-keyed stuff.
We dined at
Antoines twice – awesome meals and service, as always;
Uncle Harry’s one evening and my grandson was so right – they really do have a great tasting grilled steak - perhaps not as tender as some places but a flavor that is out of this world;
Bajatzu, which is always a definite treat for refined dining in a very up-scale island location; and then there was
Lee’s – and I can safely say, the lobsters were once again
out of this world as was the company – thank you
Barbara and Dee for the pleasure of your company, and also for sharing your incredible gardens with us since we’ve been trying to get there for what seems like forever and we finally did it!!
And alas, as is always the case, good things must come to an end.
We arose on Saturday morning to beautiful sun-filled skies and shimmering calm waters only to be smacked back to reality with the realization that this was “going home†day and there was packing to be done and all the good-byes to be said. Departed SXM on time and arrived early back at JFK to be hit with another dose of reality –
the dreaded “S†word. Well, it was raining and blowing in NY but the further north you headed towards CT, the more the snow came down. Nothing serious, mind you, but a major contrast to what we’d enjoyed all week long.
And because of this snow, one final reality hit me - when one travels to warm climates in the cold winter months, one really ought to pack warm socks and shoes for coming home. Next time I will for sure.
A great week and a great trip. Could it get any better? Well, perhaps if we were still there…..but I’ve set my trip counter already and we will be soon enough.
Respectfully,
pat
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2009 05:26PM by pat.
