TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report - Week 1

We are here for 5 weeks so I’ll do a weekly report.

We arrived (Sunday Feb. 25) on United flight 1629 out of Newark. We touched down at 1:15 (15 minutes early). got bussed to the immigration huts. Fortunately, the passengers for the planes that landed ahead of us had already been processed. Had a bit of a wait for our luggage but we exited baggage claim and out into the sunshine at 1:45!! It's purely luck as to when your plane lands and the wait time at Immigration. Our shuttle driver said that on Saturday a number of his clients had to wait 3 hours. Saturday mid-afternoon seems to be the worst.

Very humid yesterday and the Sahara dust made it extremely hazy. It was quite a bit better Monday morning.

We’re in our new unit at Simpson Bay resort. It’s on the top floor of the upper B Building so we have a spectacular view.
Continued our Sunday tradition of carryout salads and pizza from Isola. Never disappoints.
Oyr days are all pretty similar, breakfast on the balcony with pastries from La Sucriere, lunch and a glass of nice French white wine in the balcony with dinner being usually a big salad with some baked chicken breast. Etna Rhum Raisin Ice Cream. Happy hour on the balcony too.
On Thursday we went out to dinner with good friends to the Indian Restaurant by the Atrium, Shiv Shakti. We began with Samosas covered in some kind of sauce. Very fresh and herbal. We shared the 4 other dishes for our dinner. Two were chicken, one fish and one chickpea. Very tasty!!
On Friday we had carryout from Avantika. Sory, forgot to take pictures but it was great. We got the appetizer platter and it’s huge! We’ll go back later in our trip and this time there will be pictures.
We’ve really enjoyed watching the Regatta from our balcony. Today is quite a bit windier so it will be challenging for the boats.

Glad you guys made it and thanks for the pictures.

Glad you lucked out in your arrival experience! Looks like a nice beginning to your stay. Carry on!!

You're on your way to a wonderful trip. Thanks for report and pictures!