TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report 10/16 to 10/24

I'm not one for keeping track of things and after many rum punches I hope I can remember enough to recap the trip....it's kind of boring but it was good for us to try and remember what we did. You come home and it's back to work and the vacation is so quickly forgotten.

We flew Jet Blue out of JFK -- smooth as silk flight and we arrived on time after leaving late. I'm always amazed at how that works. We were literally through the airport with luggage in hand in maybe 30 minutes. Amazing experience.

We drove over to Carefour to purchase a few items and then headed to Divi. Check in went smoothly with the Manager, Ann Marie on hand to insure things went smoothly. We were in the room and then out to dinner by 6 pm.

We wanted to try Sandbar after reading so many positive reviews here but it was closed--reopening on Tuesday so we quickly went over to Dinghy Dock for a quick bite and some cocktails. When we come in October, we make a promise to only try "new" places for dinner -- places we've never been to before. Happy to report that we enjoyed Dinghy Dock--some wings and a nachos hit the spot along with a couple of rum punches. The tap IPA beer was also very good but sadly no one knew exactly what it was. For the week we ate at Dinghy Dock twice --we went back later in the week so we could try the Mexican food offered by Pinche Gringo -- they share the same spot so you can order from either place, Sandbar (delicious Mahi Burger and tacos), Driftwood (good burger), The Pub (Friday sausage night), Dutch Blonde Beach bar for lunch, Rancho del Sol -- (great location and good food), one night at Divi after a boat ride on the Billy Bones boat appropriately named "Rum Punch"!. All in all, the meals were great, service was friendly and very good. I will even say that I noticed some improvement with the food at Divi which often doesn't get the best of reviews. We had lunch there a few times during our stay and enjoyed it all. The gals in the cafe--I think Wendy and Mimi are fantastic and can whip up pretty good sandwiches for either breakfast or lunch at a very reasonable price. I know some folks here like to grade the french fries on the Island. I was in search of the best rum punch -- maybe Driftwood followed by the one I had at the Yellow beach bar on Pinel.

Weather was a bit odd --we had some rain and were chased from the beach twice. On Friday the 22nd, the waves at Divi were crazy. I've never seen waves come up so fast. I went home with a mean looking black eye after being tossed like a rag doll in the surf. Could have been worse.

One of the places we didn't get to was Rembrandt--another recommendation from folks here. It's on the list for next year.

We dropped off the rental car with Michael from Unity and arrived at the airport at about 10:30 am for our 1 pm flight on Sunday -- the airport was empty and we breezed through and were at the gate in no time. We had probably the easiest trip over the mountain and a very smooth flight home to NY.

We had applied for Global Entry in July and had interviews scheduled for December. I had received an email indicating that when we land on Sunday we could just head to the Customs office for the interview. I wasn't sure where to go but they let us go through the Global entry line (there was none) and then he directed us to the customs office. We were interviewed quickly, Global Entry done and quickly in our cab heading home. The "travel" part of the trip went so well I'm still in shock at how quickly we were in and out of both airports.

Great trip, huge thank you to everyone for sharing their knowledge and experiences -- what I've learned here has enriched our time on the Island.