San Diego, Try: www.randomwind.com They were redoing their website but this should still work. I can only say, again, we've done probably 15 different boat trips over our 34 or so years of going to SXM and this is the only trip we've wanted to do over and over again in the last ten or so years. If you don't have a large enough group to consider the private day charte
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Elaine, Tell me you're not home already. For those who have never done the Random Wind, I agree with Elaine totally. It's one of the nicest days I've spent on the island. Over the years we've chartered the boat for the day a few times but when there's been just the two of us we've signed on for the daily open sailing trips and I have to say - both ways it
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

EbenCooke, It's a little too late for you but for what it's worth for the OP, over quite a few years now I and my family have had much good luck renting from Lesley Bruce of Kenny's Car Rentals. He meets us at the airport WITH OUR CAR and we do the paperwork right there and we're done with the whole issue until day of departure when we meet him back at the airport to surre
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Dennis, I believe I may have read your post on another forum regarding St. Martin/St. Maarten and the crime issues there. I can only tell you, my family has been visiting the island for 34 years, at least once annually, and we've never personally had a problem on any of our trips. We exercise about the same caution we would when travelling anywhere - we leave nothing in our rental c
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Linda, Why don't you send e-mails to some of the local car rental agencies and ask them for price quotes. Prices vary from season to season and week to week within the different seasons. I could be mistaken about this but I believe I've read that daily rentals are generally more expensive than weekly rentals, but again, I'm sure that would vary from agency to agency and time o
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Hi Niklet81, You know what, I think I would be inclined to absolutely agree with Irina's post, too. She lives on the island and knows it well. But since she's a friend and because I already like that area around Maho, I might be just a bit prejudiced. Sonesta Maho Beach Hotel is very nice and the area around it has many good restaurants, party spots, shops and even a casino with
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Kris, You're very welcome and I hope this premier trip is just the first of many yet to come. The very nice thing about St. Maarten/St. Martin is, IMHO, that you can "do it all" or "you can do nothing at all" and either way, you'll end up having a wonderful time. Two words of caution, and this will apply to almost any location on the island, but particularly i
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Why, thank you, Spike, for the very kind words. And no, no poet here just another very satisfied owner who was lucky enough to get what she wanted, when she wanted and fortunate to have been able to enjoy it all these years since then. The Towers sure isn't for everyone but it works for us and has for all these years....the year we purchased, pre-construction, we went down to the islan
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Kris, It's hard to say if The Towers will appeal to someone else or not. We're owners and look forward to our weeks each year and obviously love it there. Others often aren't as enthusiastic and I can only think it's because their expectations are sometimes beyond the scope of time-sharing in the islands. The property isn't hotel beachfront so you won't hear
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Spike, Gee, I forgot all about the sliders.....I hadn't considered them to be a maintenance issue - I just assumed I was getting older and weaker and that was where the problem was. LOL Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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Marguerite, Sorry not to have responded sooner but I haven't been on line all that much lately. Yes, I do think there are improvements that could be made at The Towers in the overall up-dating of the building and units, but nothing that is really all that severe and certainly nothing that would cause me to consider going elsewhere. As you stated, our fees have increased each yea
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

dale, If all else fails, and since you and Lesley don't seem to have managed to connect yet, you might try sending each other private messages here. As registered members it's just one more option available to both of you. Good luck and I hope you guys manage to make contact with one another. Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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Clifton, Thank you so very much for sharing a lovely story with us - one that really does reflect the meaning of the holidays that so often we tend to forget or lose track of. Kudos to these young people and to their families also who have apparently done something very right in raising them. Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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Spike, We're 709 and apparently just a few doors away from you. I don't know why there appears to be such a difference but perhaps it's the additional benefit of the slider and screen door in the second bedroom. We've never experienced any difficulty with a/c. My daughter has her weeks in one of the three bedroom penthouses and she has expressed a/c issues in the upsta
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Spike, In all honesty, for the most part we keep the sliders in the livingroom and the screen doors in both bedrooms open most of the time, taking full advantage of the beautiful cross ventilization the upper floors have on our side of the building, so while I'm not an a/c expert, the suite is usually cool in the afternoon when we want it to be and that's all I've ever really ca
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Beth, Hadn't heard about it but thanks for the heads up and thanks to those who added the info that the pilot was okay. And welcome back, B - good to see you here and posting and better to know you'll soon be visiting our favoritie island again soon. Best regards, pat :-) :-)
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karen, After many trips spread over many years, we've done the car rental thing every which way you can imagine and I would be inclined to agree with the idea of renting two seperate small cars for your group. We've done it this way for the past few years when we've had larger groups, and in fact one year we had to get three cars because of the numbers and the arrival and depar
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

And thank you, too, Norm. Our timeshare is at The Towers and a/c is included so every time I've heard people talk about the additional charges for this I never quite understould how it was handled. Thanks again for the information and have a wonderful holiday. Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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Thanks, mc, for the answer. I have heard some places charged for ac but I never quite 'got' how that worked. We have a/c at our timeshare but you use it or not at your own discretion without incurring additional expense. Personally, I prefer the breezes through the windows whenever possible but there are times when you've just got to have the a/c cranked. Again, thanks for th
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Norm, Just out of idle curiosity do they charge perdiem for all guests or do they have some means of monitoring whether or not the a/c is utilized on a given day? Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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Spike, That is really too bad. Cecilia is doing her job, I guess, but I will hate to see the lobby turned into a tacky activities promo area. Do you think anything has been said to management about the way it looks? If it's all that bad you can make book on the fact I'll say something to Rochelle when I'm there but that's not until April this year and I'm thinki
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Spike, They've had it for a while but it was their own little secret. We found out about it by accident a few years ago when we were purchasing an additional week through a resale company and wanted to know if the deal was legitimate. I love the fact that the ladies are using it more and more but when they get a little back-logged, their e-mails can be ignored for days on end. So,
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

riptide, In all honesty, and with the definite exception of the physical appearance of the Mullet Bay Resort property, the only loss we, as Towers owners felt, was the loss of all the Mullet Bay amenities. We had arrangements with them for dining and water sports, etc., which, with the loss of the resort all went away. Beyond that and the usual confusion in the minds of a lot of people as to
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Augie, my friend, I don't think, at this point in my life I'd buy a timeshare anywhere either but I think that has more to do with me and my age now than timesharing or St. Maaren. There comes that time in our lives, hopefully, that we 'arrive' so to speak and we are able do what we want when we want because our lifetime responsibilities and obligations are behind us,
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Amy, Contrary to so many of the posts above, we've had our timeshare at The Towers for almost twenty years and I don't have one regret in the world. We use it every year and we look forward to being there as much now as we did when we first bought it. There have been no special assessments and no huge maintenance increases. I'd never say timeshare is for everyone but it sure
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Ramkumar, I don't think working on the island is anywhere near as simple as just showing up and filling out an application, but I could be wrong about this. My best understanding is that to work on the Dutch side you have to be a legitimate resident and I believe you must be sponsored by your employer to get a work permit. Without one you don't want to get caught working accordin
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

varde, Anon has pretty much answered your questions but to the last one, yes, there is a tax on car rentals and I believe it's either seven or eight percent of the rental cost. The only other real tax that comes to my mind is the hotel tax (or timeshare tax which is actually a flat charge) but unfortunately, it's been a long time since we've done a seperate hotel rental and I&#
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Ed, I've always wondered about the 1 to 1 deal myself but the bottom line for me would have to be, if I wanted to eat at a place I'd eat there and pay the price, whatever it was and however it was charged but the 1 to 1 would probably be more of an incentive to try one new place over another, so it's a pretty good marketing gimmick, IMHO. I would never use a credit card on
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

Guy, I'm not Anon, but reading your questions, I would have to give you a definite no response for some of them. I'm sure you could get a taxi to and from Orient from wherever you're staying, although depending on where that is, it might be pricey. And likewise to Marigot and Philipsberg but again, cost-wise, no clue. With regard to Happy Bay, I strongly doubt you'd be a
Forum: The Friendly St.Martin Island Forum

jeannie, In a heartbeat, of the two, I'd stay at Marys Boon if it were available. It's reasonably priced, right on the ocean on a very quiet beach but still with it's own pool and honor bar and they have a great diningroom. How could you miss. RT's okay, too, but I'd rather be right on a swimmable beach. Respectfully, pat :-) :-)
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