This was a long over-due trip for us. We always go mid April for two weeks and for the last couple of years have added July to our calendar as well. But..this year we gave up our April trip for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck with grandkids and had to sit back and wait for July to come.
FLIGHTS
We flew USAir on Friday, July 13 and even though, I had read all of the horror stories, our flight out was uneventful. We arrived on time, no problems with connections, immigration, our luggage was right there as was Michael from Unity right outside the door and a quick drive to Royal Palm for a phone from Sharon. Our first flight into the new airport and it was great. Our return flight on Saturday, July 28 was another story. We were scheduled to depart at 2:56 p.m. ended up leaving about 30 min late then. Taxied out, then had to go back—we had to unload an unruly passenger. Evidently he was intoxicated and high, making obscene remarks and gestures to the passengers as well as the stewardess. We had to now unload him and his luggage and start all over again. This delay caused us to loose our place in line and we had to sit out on the runway and idle to get rid of gas b/c there were no winds and, yes, for those of you who were at the SBB, you saw correct, a large USA plane took off over the water instead of the mountains. We arrived in Phil four hours late, again had to idle because there was no room at the inn for us. Got our luggage, through customs and immigration and of course, our connecting flight at 8:30 to CT had left, now we had to wait until midnight for the next flight. Arrived in CT and, of course, no luggage but alas it would be delivered to our home sometime on Sunday, sure, it only came late Monday afternoon.
ACCOMODATIONS
We like to stay at least one night on the French side prior to going to our timeshare and this time stayed at the Esmeralda, had a great dinner at the restaurant there, swam with the stars and off to bed. Woke to a great morning, ventured over to Baywatch for breakfast with Andy and a friendly hello from Adrian. Back to Coco Beach for the start of some sun and wait for check-in time for our two weeks at The Sapphire. We decided to get some food in, so we stopped at Cost-u-Less and Grand Marche and proceeded over the hill to check-in. We had a great two week stay, nice studio over-looking the pool and what more could you ask for.
We had made plans to meet up with friends from Virginia, Gary and Susan, at Orient Beach and found them on Sunday as well as my sister and brother-in-law who had flown down w/us but ventured off on their own. Our days were spent pretty much the same every day, breakfast either in our room or we would venture out and then onto Orient. We took advantage of the weekly special at Club O and it worked out really well for us—not bad, pay for five days, get seven days worth of chairs, etc and use over a 9 day period and parking. We were never charged for the parking so I doubt we will take advantage of the upfront parking but overall it was worth it. The beach was smaller then it had been last July, not as many people there but it was SXM and who could complain about that. I think we hit, even though we did discuss going to other beaches, Orient 14 days out of the 17 we were there.
We would spend about 5 hours on the beach and then just tend to drive around, not sure how many miles we put on our green Rav4 but gas cost us $120 and found the cheapest gas to be on the French side near Orient.
We had great days, only one horrible day of just plain rain and it rained hard all day. We explored the island, like we had never done it before, hit the Marigot shops, Grand Case for some lunch, and shopped the streets of Philipsburg and then onto The Greenhouse for happy hour.
We stopped in to see our friendly jewelers, only to find Deepti at DK away on vacation and Jay @Shiva’s in India. Made some purchases here and there, t-shirts, liquor for friends at home and whatever else hit out fancy and our special stop, Belgium Chocolate.
We toured the new Westin. Once you got past the cement wall it was nice. The pool area with the swim up infinity pool and the beach, both with cabanas were very nice. We were tempted to sit by the pool, buy why? So we left.
Did the TTOL party at Calmos on July 20, which was hosted by Wendi and even though there was no sun set, we enjoyed being there. Nice being with friends that you have met over the years, Wendi, Carol and Mike, Susan and Gary, Rich and Joann, Larry and I apologize can’t remember his wife’s name.
EATERIES
We found that we ate differently on this trip, whether it was because we tended to travel with our friends or my sister but. Instead of big eats we did this and that. The Greenhouse, our favorite for happy hour, but we found ourselves there for dinner as well. Pineapple Pete’s, Jimbo’s, BBB, Turtle Pier, Fathom’s, too many times, Toppers, Where is Evan (great breakfast and desert) and the one we liked the least, Dingy Bar. Our best meals, and I can’t even put them in any special order as they were all great: LaGondola (I think our very favorite); LosGauchos, The Big Fish (just started serving dinner the week we arrived and, it was great—nice ambiance especially if you opt to eat outside). Our other favorite, especially with my sister and her husband, is Mia’s in Marigot. It is a French/Vietnamese restaurant and Mia; the owner is absolutely beautiful, both in style and looks.
Traffic, was it bad, yes, but worse then being on I-95 in Ct. or anyplace in New England-no. We never encountered anyone that gave us a bad feeling and no one approached us to tour timeshares.
Reservations are made already for next April at The Sapphire, now we just have to find some decent airfares.
Sorry, it is so long, once you start talking about the island, you just can’t stop.
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