Left our place in Southern Ontario, February 28th to spend the night in Buffalo to fly out March 1st on US Airways. Hooked up with friends in TGIF in Buffalo to cheer the Canadians on to Gold in Olympic Hockey. A fun time in TGIF with the US fans. Stayed at Sleep Inn near the airport where we can leave our car for the 3 weeks we were in St. Martin. Comfortable accommodations at a reasonable price.

Flew US Airways to Charlotte where we met our son and flew onto St. Martin. A good flight without any problems. Through customs and got our bags quickly where we met Lesley Bruce (Kenny Car Rental) to get our car. We have rented from Leslie for all our visits to the island (at least 20 times) and he is the best. Meets us at the airport and takes really good care of us.

Off to Paradis Cottages in Orient Beach. Bruno Lemoine, who has Le Cottage in Grand Case, has a villa, 2 small bungalows and 2 large bungalows to rent. With our son, we were in the Villa which has been recently painted and a new deck added. We stayed there in 2009 as well with our son and it is a great place. Over the years we have also stayed in the small and large bungalows. Bruno and Geraldine are great hosts who go out of their way to be accomodating.

The weather for our 3 weeks (March 1 – March 22) was great. The best we remember having. It was warm and we could swim in the pool. It was like the weather when we are there in July.

Mostly, our days were spent on the beach. On our first day, we had chairs at Palm Beach (Koco & Marina’s Place). We had 2 sets of friends from home on the island at the same time and the 7 of us had lunch there. A fine lunch, good food and service. The 2 of us went for another lunch later in the trip and again had fabulous food and great service from Lucy. The foie gras appetizer. was wonderful as was the beef Carpaccio with foie gras. The pasta special when we went the second time was done with salmon and was very tasty.

Most of our days were spent on the beach at Club Orient. Lunch was either on the beach under our umbrella or at Orange Fever or Aloha. We had lunch at Papagayo’s once. All were wonderful but our favourite place is Aloha where the food and service is outstanding. Natalie and Sonya are great hosts. Our son says he can have gourmet food on the beach better than anything he can get in Toronto. The grouper in lime butter is fabulous. The mussels on the weekend are a huge portion for great price. Great seafood salads as well, and the homemade rum at the end of the meal makes for a great finish.

We ate in a few times barbequing beef or chicken. The new supermarket in Hope Estates has a good selection of beef and chicken. Dinners out were mostly in Grand Case. Twice we ate in the village, once in Oyster Pond and once in Marigot at the Heineken regatta party.

Le Cottage (Grand Case) – 3 dinners and once after dinner desserts & drinks. Absolutely, the best. Bruno and his team present a dinner experience second to none. Over the years, we have eaten here over 50 times. We have probably eaten almost everything on the menu. The escargot presentation this season was spectacular. We also enjoyed the surf and turf. Probably the best beef I have ever eaten. We are looking forward to the new menu when we return in July.

Le Shore (Grand Case) – 3 dinners. A new find and one we recommend. A lovely setting overlooking the water and wonderful food. Great beef Carpaccio with fresh cut French fries as well as a wonderful cassoulet of scallops and shrimp in a lobster sauce. The portions were very generous and the food was served piping hot.

Piazza Pascale ( Grand Case) – 2 dinners. Another new find and another one we recommend. Located down a short alleyway not far from Le Cottage, the food and service was wonderful. Donna is a great hostess and we enjoyed our chats with her and Pascal. Be sure to eat upstairs to get a nice breeze and to have a bit of a view of Anguilla. Everything we ate was delicious. The mushroom risotto was the best we have ever had. Portions were very generous so we did not have the room to try dessert. In March they offered 1 EURO to 1 US.

Other places we visited were:

Le Cadre – Always our first night dinner in Orient Village. Great food in a French atmosphere

Le Piment – Always a visit at least once for a great pizza in Orient Village

Momma’s Pizza – A favourite in Oyster Pond for the pizza and sitting on the wall with a spectacular view over the marina. We think the ownership has changed. The pizza was great as we remember but the service was a bit off. Still a great choice.

Shopping was mostly at the new US SuperMarket in Hope Estates with a couple of visits to their location in Grand Case. The new location in Hope Estates is wonderful. A wide selection and only a few minutes from Orient Village.

Be sure to stop by Bacchus and say hello to Stephane. Stephane was the sommelier at Le Cottage before venturing off. A great place to pick up some wine for yourselves or for someone special back home.

One place we did not get to was Paris Bistro in Marigo on the marina. Two sets of friends of ours did visit and speak highly of their food. Definitely a stop for us when we are back to the island in July.

The trip home had some challenges as we missed our connecting flight from Charlotte to Buffalo. US Air was about 20 minutes late and it took us about an hour to get through US Customs. We missed our connecting flight by a few minutes and had to stay overnight in Charlotte. The US Air folks in the airport were wonderful helping us out in getting settled in Charlotte and in flying to Buffalo the next day. Our luggage did not get to Buffalo when we did but arrived at our home later that day.

A great vacation, again and we look forward to our next visit in July.