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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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Trip 10/99 We are a little late in writing this report, but the islands don't really change. We traveled to St. Lucia last fall 10/99 for a long week. Our departure point was Dallas/Fort Worth, so all flights go through Puerto Rico, then on to the islands by ATR. American Airlines no longer flies into the southern airport, so we landed up north at the George F. L. Charles Airport (SLU - formerly called Vigie Airport) in Castries. If you enjoy driving a sports car, you will love driving the roads in St. Lucia; or any island for that matter - if not, take a cab. Yes, you have to drive on the left, there are potholes, local drivers, chickens, dogs, children, coconuts, when it rains, it really rains, washouts, drainage ditches ... to watch out for, but it's really fun and a blast to drive. I would recommend a standard 4-wheel Suzuki Jeep (an automatic won't handle the hills) - about US $320 for the week, plus US $17.45 per day for the CDW insurance (highly recommended for all the above reasons). You will also need an international driver's license - any AAA store can set you up with this (US $20-25 good for a year versus the temporary island permit). Rather then book it here, call the car rental desk at the airport. We used Avis - (758) 452-2046); their rates are 10-20% below the best deal you can get through the states - even with discount coupons. After about 20 minutes to clear customs (very nice, no problems), the Avis attendant was expecting us, the jeep was ready, and we were off. Due to our late arrival and not wanting to drive the roads at night, we spent the first night at the Auberge Seraphine in Castries (US $85 + tax; 10% government tax on the rooms plus 8% service charge - so figure tax at 18%). Highly recommended (also where our American Airlines crew was staying), a very nice restaurant (excellent fish dinner US $65 + tax) with a patio bar, pool, nice rooms with A/C and located within easy access to the airport. If I was going to St. Lucia on business or arriving late, this is where I would stay again. Castries is a pain to drive in/through, a lot of traffic, roads weren't really planned in block European fashion, but once you get out of town on the main road the signs are fair and it is pretty easy to find your way. If you get lost (and you will), there is always a local around who will give you instructions or climb onboard for about EC $10-20 (US $3-7). The few times I got lost it was worth every penny - we were after all on vacation and were trying to avoid hassles. Once when it was raining, I didn't realize we were on the same loop road until we passed the same cow twice! The larger banks are in Castries for exchanging your currency - better rates then the resorts or stores. Also there are decent supermarkets if you want to buy some essentials - cooler, beer, rum, ice, food ... or do some shopping for clothes or gifts. Always negotiate prices in EC for a better deal. The cruise ships unload in Castries, so the prices are higher even at the duty free stores. St. Lucia is only 30 miles long, but it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to travel from the north end to the south end; about 1.5 hours from Castries to Soufriere with a few stops along the way. The small towns will slow you down (stay on the main road however and you will pass right through), the roads are twisty (when they say hairpin turn, walk down your hallway and turn around, this is what they mean), the elevation changes are dramatic, but the scenery is something else. You will pass through several banana plantations, various parts of the Grand Bois Rain forest, always having the Caribbean Ocean in view. After doing a little research (where do all the day trips go?), we decided to stay near Soufriere - it had the best snorkeling, a rain forest nearby, several nice resorts and restaurants, and a fair size town for shopping. We chose the Stonefield Estates (Jasmine Cottage) - 7 days/6 nights for US $670 - a last night free special at that time and they were not charging the government tax; they are now so plus 18%. Arranged it easily through Villas St. Lucia (800) 823-2002. We had a very nice cottage (bedroom with double bed, bathroom, outdoor enclosed shower, living room, patio with hammock and a table and chairs) with an incredible view of the Piton and Caribbean Sea, it was higher up with a breeze so the bugs weren't a problem, a pool if we choose to use it, and a restaurant/bar if we were not eating out or in our room. The kitchen was nice - the markets were fair in selection. If you need a relaxing vacation and don't want to be fussed over, stay here. If you need something, Claudia can arrange it. If you are going to cook some of your own meals (or a cook will come to your cottage for US $10 per meal), my suggestion is that you bring your favorite spices and sauce mixes, oven bags with premixed spices for the fish and chicken, and some snacks if you want to go to the trouble. The local seafood was caught that day, the markets had fresh veggies and fruit and the chickens were all free range (better flavor). Having the jeep gave us the freedom to go where and when we wanted. Actually, I think we would have spent close to this amount on cabs/taxi's - so I call it a wash when you add in the convenience. We also took our own snorkel gear (a lot of the snorkel trips will have the masks and snorkel, but not the fins???). Two places to snorkel are at the Anse Chastenet (better reef and three Scuba boats; serious divers stay here) or the Joulise Hilton (a beautiful resort; they imported the sand for the beach and the bar near the beach charged me the most I paid for a beer anywhere on the island). The road to the Anse Chastenet is kept in disrepair to keep out visiting tourists (we gave young couples rides most of our trips in or out; a long walk to town). The Hummingbird Beach Resort is the place to buy Batik and have a cold beer or cocktail (on the edge of Soufriere just near the base of the road leading up to the Anse Chastenet). There are several great little restaurants and bars in Soufriere (the fun was exploring; there is one across from the market in Soufriere worth a look; try Camilla's Restaurant & Bar, #7 Bridge St. - also has a B&B) - shopping is so so. There are always the locals trying to give you instructions or beg a few EC, but the minimum wage is only EC $30 per month (that's only about US $10; the island has a some poverty); we just basically said yes or no depending on if we wanted help or not and dealt with it. The locals are very friendly - several took us to some of their local bars on a few occasions. We always take a few gifts along on vacation to an island, inexpensive sunglasses, perfume samples, small toys or blowup beach balls for the children - things they can't get and appreciate. If you are going to be driving around the island, eating at local restaurants, visiting the rain forest, or spending an extended time on the island, the CDC recommends a Hepatitis A immunization prior to visiting St. Lucia. The island also has a tick - lyme disease problem in the interior (take your bug spray) and you should probably stick with bottled beverages and well cooked food - all common sense stuff. We had some great drinks one evening at the bar at Ladera (a very nice small resort with a great views and rooms with plunge pools). Regretfully, our dinner reservation at the Ladera was canceled due to the impending hurricane - the locals disappeared and the island basically shut down for a two days, we toured one of the Sandal's resorts (very nice landscaping, but I'd pass; it reminded me of an ant farm - people everywhere), the Le Sport on the north end of the island (this is a resort worth a return trip for the healthy; very, very nice), the Anse Chastenet was gorgeous; cottages go up a terraced hill (the place to snorkel or scuba as I said; also there is the Cloud 9 house to rent at the very top with probably the best view of the Pitons and Soufriere on the island), and several places in Marigot Bay (a great harbor if you have a sail boat). Soufriere is our choice for the smoother water, scenery and variety. Several B&B's in Soufriere if you were on a smaller budget and wanted to hangout on the island for a month (Chez Camille, #7 Bridge St.) A visit to the rain forest(s) is a must. Unlike several smaller islands we have visited, St. Lucia is a big island and there are several; the government has done a great job in setting them aside and protecting them. Get a local to take you up for the day for US $50 plus EC $20 tip; take your binoculars. Saw seven indigenous parrots (large and noisy), orchids (some very nice pale blue Oncidium's and miniature orange Phal's), bromeliads (not blooming in Oct.), nice tropical trees and plants, many types of butterflies and birds, and the black rock waterfalls (take a splash - cool and refreshing after a long days hike). I did not have the opportunity to climb the Pitons. The rain forest and the Pitons in the same day would have been tough - next trip.
Trip 9/00 This is our trip report from our September 16 to 24, 2000 trip to St. Martin. This was our third trip to St. Martin this year, each one seeming as good or better than the last. We had booked the trip around March this year and at that time, Eric's brother, Gerald, had told us that he wanted to come along. For that reason, we booked Green Cay Villas, so he would have his own bedroom, as opposed to Club O, which is probably where we would have gone, if we had been by ourselves. We figured for him, we would "put up" with the great room, the refrigerator with ice and water through the door, the CD/TV/VCR, and oh, the pool and jacuzzi. G!! Are you feeling sorry for us yet????????? We called our friend and travel agent, Jim Ruos (phone number 800-476- 5849 OR see his ad on www.travetalkonline.com) and requested one of the high view villas, 18 or 20. Villas 18 and 20 are the only ones at Green Cay that have air conditioning in the great room. Villa 18 has a jacuzzi, but not 20. The bedroom which has the jacuzzi can be rented out separately during parts of the year, as a studio. I believe, although I am not sure, that there is only the one studio, as we looked for other jacuzzis and did not see any. Because Jim is such a great travel agent and because it was September (and apparently there were maybe 4 or 5 villas altogether rented out) Jim was able to get them to waive the normal extra 10% fee for the villa. They also ran a special after we booked, so that helped. Numbers 18 and 20 are advertised as 10% extra because of the view, but frankly, I didn't think that the view was that much better than the lower units. However, having the a/c in the great room was nice, especially since there were four of us and we did spend a lot of time in there. (And Eric and I had on more clothes than we normally do, staying at Green Cay! G!!) We booked what is called "the home package" at Green Cay. It's quite a bit cheaper than their normal packages, but only available during certain specific seasons, September being one of them. You do NOT get any maid service, and most importantly for me, anyway, no replacement clean towels throughout the stay. The price for replacement clean towels was $4 for EACH clean bath sheet, $3 regular bath towel and $2 for small towels. Ripoff? I think so. Here you have Green Cay, which I think is THE most deluxe hotel in the Orient Beach area, and you don't even get free clean towels?? Anyway, after my whining long and hard with Jim Ruos, and pointing out how Eric is the owner of the BEST BB on SXM, Jim was able to convince them to allow us to switch our towels for free. If you want to charge for clean towels, fine, OK, give me a package that's $25 or $50 or whatever, for the week and I will pay that. Paying $4 for a bath sheet and trying to decide how many times I want to switch towels over the course of the week, in order to keep from spending another $15 or $20 just sucks. Well, if anyone is paying attention, you noted that I said FOUR of us. Well, just about 10 days before we left, AA ran a sale which we were able to take advantage of. A friend of Gerald's, Cindy, decided to come along for the really cheap price on air that we got, and bought her ticket 10 days out. Gerald got a voucher for money back on AA and Eric and I traded in our FF tickets and paid for tickets, then switched our FF tickets to next June! The price was outstanding, at $384 pp, including tax, Washington Dulles to St. Martin. That was certainly the best price we have ever gotten. September 16 came and we got up at a time which is obviously right out of the Twilight Zone, as no rational human being gets up at 3:30 A.M. It was off in the car to Dulles for our 7:15 A.M. flight. Cindy did not have a passport, only a birth certificate, and the lady at the counter from AA was very ugly about it, but eventually ok'ed her paperwork. She told Gerald to not allow Cindy out of Virginia again without a passport. Not a great beginning to her trip. BTW, NO ONE throughout the trip other than this _itch looked at her papers for more than 10 seconds or said a cross word. The flight to San Juan was about 2/3 full, but we were both able to get 3 seats for two people, so were able to stretch out. The plane from SJU to SXM was a PACKED 757 and Gerald, Cindy and I were very close to the rear, but they opened the back doors. I took off at a fast clip for the immigration line. I had forgotten to tell them to get a wiggle on to get toward the front of the line, so they couldn't figure out why I was moving so fast. They did keep up with me though, and looking at the huge line of folks BEHIND us in the immigration line, they finally figured out the method to my madness. Anyway, it was through immigration in good time, no bags checked, all carry-on's, so straight out to the Hertz counter to pick up our two automobiles. We had decided that we didn't want either one of us to be "joined at the hip" and since cars are so reasonable, got two cars for the first 7 days of the trip. We were in the cars in about 30 minutes from when we landed. I rode with Gerald and Cindy to give them directions. We stopped at Match on the way, as always. WOW! A word of warning for those traveling to SXM in the near future--Match was a disaster area. They were putting all new coolers, deli counter, shelves, etc., in throughout the whole store. The new store will be beautiful when it's done. However, in the meantime, they don't have half the stock they normally have, and I would frankly recommend going elsewhere for a little bit until they have their construction done. They were giving 7.6 exchange rate, by the way. All right, supplies in hand, it was time to be OFF to Green Cay! Having stayed there before, we knew what to expect but were anxious to get there and to show off the place to Gerald and Cindy, as we knew they would be impressed. The lady from reception (who appeared to be new, by the way) started telling us how we were going to be charged for towels, and of course I had to set her straight on that. She proceeded to take us to the villa and show us TWO bedrooms and NO JACUZZI and started to leave. Well, I instructed her that we paid for the 3 bedroom package, with the jacuzzi, and she looked confused and called the front desk. Then she went to the front desk to get the key for the 3rd bedroom, opened it for us, and showed us that bedroom with the jacuzzi. NOW, she could leave! G! BTW, if you rent villa 18 as less than a 3 bedroom villa, you will have to specially request that 3rd bedroom, the one with the jacuzzi, as they can rent it out separately. So if the jacuzzi is important to you, during the times of the year that they rent out the studio separately, you probably would have to pay extra to get that bedroom or wait to see whether they have somebody that wants to rent that bedroom, then if not, then they would give it to you, I suppose. We will have pictures of the studio up in a few days on the web page. Be advised it has a nice separate small balcony which is private from the rest of the villa, but not necessarily private from the other villas or from the road. It has two chaise lounges and an umbrella and the jacuzzi, but has two twin beds in the bedroom, which is really stupid, in my estimation. Eric and I were given our pick of rooms and I stewed for a long time over the twin beds situation, but we ended up taking that bedroom. It does have a very nice view, both directly out the sliding glass door and on the separate balcony. After the tribulation of deciding which bedrooms we wanted, we listened to a bit of music on the CD and enjoyed some liquid libations, looking out over that fabulous view of Orient. Since we were all beat, we headed over to Talk of the Town for an early dinner, each of us ordering "a plate of food", either chicken or ribs, at $8 each. It was great, although I should have asked for more plantains! G!! After our first meal in paradise, we headed home to the hot tub and to Ma Dou Dou, provided by our friend Jim Ruos. I crashed about 8:30, while the other 3, inexplicably, stayed up till 4 A.M., drinking, carousing, arguing, whatever. Even though the sound insulation to the bedrooms is very good, every once in a while, I could still hear the sounds of the music, etc., etc! Sunday dawned rainy and cloudy. We had breakfast at the villa of quiches and croissant form the bakery across from Match (which we had purchased on Saturday). I thought my quiche tasted fine. Eric wasn't so pleased with his, although I personally thought that might have had something to do with the quantity of Dou Dou he had consumed the night before! G!! Since Gerald and Cindy had not been to SXM before and we wanted them to feel comfortable driving around on their own, we decided to do somewhat of the tourist thing on Sunday and take them around the island. The weather was BAD all day, raining basically all day, so it turned out to be a good day to do that, since we couldn't have made much headway on the beach anyway. As it turned out, the other days were beautiful, with only a couple of scattered showers throughout the day and fairly light winds. We drove around all over the island, stopping for a late lunch at the Greenhouse. Eric and I had the chicken breast sandwich and Philly cheesesteak sandwich, along with their excellent home fries. Gerald and Cindy shared a burger and nachos. We found the Save A Lot (had managed to miss it in July) and would compare it to a BJ 's or Sam's Club here at home. The liquor prices and other prices appeared good, although some items, like at BJ's, you have to buy large lots (i.e, sodas, you have to buy a case). They are open till 8:30 P.M. weekdays and till 3 P.M. on Sundays. We also checked out Cap Caraibes, the new hotel on Orient Beach, close to L'Hoste. The hotel itself is very nice, and has great views from the second and third floors. Right now, though, you have to drive through a construction zone to get there. We parked at L'Hoste and walked and still had a heck of a time finding it. The hotel will be nice, and has great views, but the trip to get there right now is somewhat daunting. We also drove down by the new cruise pier and were shocked at the appearance. The actual pier may be finished, but the area really looks like a construction zone. Looking at that, I kind of understand why there are still no ships docking, as it doesn't give a good first impression of St. Martin. I didn't get any pictures of the area, as it was raining pretty good when we were there. They have a fence which is fairly far away from the actual pier, to prevent you from getting too close, at this point. After trips through Grand Case, Marigot, Sandy Ground, Phillipsburg, and Oyster Pond (YIKES, the road over the hill is still VERY bad!!), we headed back to the villa. After the previous night's festivities, the other three laid down for a nap. Eric woke up around 7:30 P.M. and we waited a while for the other two to appear and they didn't. We headed out to Portofino on our own. We had ravioli and chicken curry and a carafe of wine for $27. The chicken curry tasted fine, but I thought the choice of pieces of meat was odd, since it was three chicken legs. We headed to the Pelican and lost a little bit and headed home. Unfortunately, soon after we got home, as we were sitting drinking wine and listening to music in the great room, the electric went off. Eric determined it was the circuit breaker for our particular unit, and found the box, which unfortunately was locked. Eric walked down to the guard shack, which, of course, was uninhabited. We checked back later, and of course, still no guard, so we had to do with electric (and a/c) that night. Monday morning there were leftover showers around sunrise, so I was afraid the weather would be bad again, but it cleared up. We woke somewhat early and went down and found one of the maintenance guys and they said they would come take care of the breaker situation. We headed over to Grand Case to the little bakery right beside Portofino and enjoyed coffee with milk and croissant for breakfast. Since we hadn't found everything we wanted on Saturday at Match, we headed over to US Import/Export to try to get a few items for the Traveltalkonline party, which was to be this evening. I was looking for seedless grapes and frozen cooked shrimp, but was unsuccessful. We probably should have gone on over to Food Center. We had been in St. Martin for over 24 hours and still had not been to the beach, except our brief trip to check out Cap Caraibes, so it was time to go to the beach!! We arrived on Orient around 10:30 A.M. on Monday morning, and there were still plenty of empty chairs and umbrellas to be had. This would prove to be a theme for the week, as Orient was EMPTY all week, except for Tuesday, when there were FOUR ships in port. The Perch was closed all week. I talked to one of the security guards, who said that it was closed because there were so few folks staying at Club O. I'm sure that was partially because of leftover concerns from the Club O management flap. This day, the chair guys asked us for our initials. Eric said "EH", just as the fellow suggested "TT", based on the flag. I suspect he remembered us and the flag from July and January! G!! Soon after we appeared, Contessa and the Sword showed up, ragging on us for not showing up in the rain on Sunday! She said that she and a few of their new found friends spent the day on the beach on Sunday, even though it rained all day. I guess she had a run-in with Andy from Baywatch, although I don't really understand why. Gerald and Cindy (not really being c/o type people) headed down to Baywatch and got chairs down there for the day and we met them down there for lunch. Eric and I shared a basket of onion rings and chicken parmigiana, which were great! We had scheduled the traveltalkonline party for Monday at 5 and headed back to the villa to set up. Gary Taylor and Maryann Karrer (still in SXM, those bums!!!) and Contessa and the Sword attended. We had the best time, with loads of food, fun, and liquid libations. Contessa, great guest that she is, made some nice appetizers, along with our offerings and we had a great time. We introduced Gary to Ma DouDou and he finally figured out what all the shouting was about! Neil, from SSBB, dissed us. We found out later that one of his bartenders had quit on him and he had to work. What a sorry excuse to miss a party! G!! Well, Monday evening was supposed to be the BIG game, Redskins vs. Cowboys. We are huge Redskins fans and thought (stupidly, as it turned out) that the Skins would whup up on Dallas. Contessa's husband doesn't drink, so he was volunteered by Contessa to drive us to a casino to watch the game. We ended up at Atlantis, watched part of the first half of the Redskins getting their tails kicked by the hated Cowpokes and headed back home for the night. BTW, here's a primer on the subject of football as it relates to SXM: French side TV is a joke. Don't expect to see ANYTHING on the TV there. The channels that we had on our TV were 2 HBO's (one French), 2 Cinemax (one French), 1 South American ESPN, CNN, and one South American station. Dutch side TV is reportedly a little better and allegedly has all three major networks and possibly U.S. ESPN. As far as going out to Casino's--Lightning has a nice new round bar with lots of TV's in their new sports book section; Atlantis has a section with one big screen TV (which gets a BAD picture) and around 10 smaller TV's, with old wooden benches to sit on and no open bar there when you want it; Pelican has one big screen TV, with several small tables, in front of the bar to the side of the casino; Dolphin has one big screen TV with by far the most comfy seating, by the nice large bar at the end of the casino; Port de Plaisance and Casino Royale--sorry, we didn't go there this time. BTW, Rick's Cafe is closed for the time being. Neil told us that he had lost his lease, but Rick's web site says that they had problems with erosion of their foundation and were having to do extensive repairs and hoped to be open in time for the season. Tuesday morning the weather dawned sunny and beautiful. We ate breakfast at the villa and Eric and I stayed there and Gerald and Cindy headed out to P' burg for some shopping. As it turned out, they picked THE worst day, as there were four ships in port that day. They didn't seem to mind the crowds though and enjoyed their day out. Eric and I cooked burgers on the grill for lunch. That evening we went to Grand Case for dinner. We found probably 60% of the restaurants in GC closed for the week. Closed for the whole week were Auberge Gourmande, Il Nettuno, Hevea, Le California, and La Marine, among others. Fish Pot was closed until the Saturday before we left, when it was open. Open were Portofino, Chez Martine, Calamos, Bistrot Cariabe, Talk of the Town and La Mamba, among others. This evening, we decided on Chez Martine. We enjoyed 2 onion soups, lamb chops, salmon in foil, pork with pineapple, snapper with amaretto and almonds, profiteroles, creme brulee times two, bananas flambe, 3 coffees and 2 bottles of an Alsace wine. Total bill $150, not bad at all. It was a nice meal, although truthfully nothing like we would get on Saturday night at Bistrot Cariabes. We headed to Dolphin, Eric winning back most of my losses for the night and headed home. Gerald is a diver and we had encouraged him before we left home, to go diving in Saba, and Wednesday was the day that he picked for that. For any questions regarding that trip, please send Gerald an email at ghill@info-res.com. Gerald drove himself to the airport for the plane trip over to the Saba. BTW, parking at Princess Juliana Airport is $1 per hour. From his descriptions, Gerald enjoyed the plane trip over and back more than the actual dive, as the waters were pretty murky. The rest of us went to the beach. Cindy set up shop at Baywatch and Andy and Cheryl took care of her, but wondered where her husband was. G!! Eric went up to check on her after a while and they sat at Pedro's and got a little (or should I say, a LOT!) sloshed. We had always planned on eating at the villa Wednesday night, since we weren't sure how tired Gerald was going to be from the dive. We needed some red wine for dinner and went to L'Orientique to get it. I could tell the lady there thought that Eric probably didn't NEED any more wine. Thankfully, we made it back to the villa in three pieces and Eric and Cindy sobered up some. We cooked steaks on the grill for dinner and then headed out to the casino. Lightning has $2 blackjack and Caribbean stud, which is nice, BUT the place was still empty. I gave the pit bosses hell, though, as they had $1 per chip roulette. I told them that, since they were running cheap blackjack and caribbean stud, they needed to run $.50 or $.25 roulette. The pit bosses seemed to agree but of course said it wasn't up to them. Actually, we had a great time, especially at craps. Cindy commented that she didn't really know how it worked. No one was playing craps, so Eric walked up and plunked down some money. As things go sometimes in craps, in 15 minutes of furious action, we made back three times what we had lost in two hours of previous action. Time to go to home to bed, even though the pit bosses hated to see us leave. G!! To celebrate, we went home and celebrated with MaDouDou in the hot tub till 1 or so in the morning. Thursday morning none of us was feeling particularly well from the previous night's festivities. BUT, we had made arrangements to meet the folks from LaVista this morning and have breakfast between 8:30 and 9:00. I woke up at 8:00 and poked Eric and told him the time. Man, the look he gave me!! (Like, and I give a _uck that it is 8:00!?!?!?) Thankfully, he eventually remembered why he was getting up this morning. We took our showers and got ourselves together and had a wonderful breakfast at LaVista. For those that don't know, LaVista is a small resort on the Dutch side, right by the Pelican, that does timeshare and regular weekly rentals. They have a lovely view from the pool and restaurant down to the water and we thoroughly enjoyed a lovely breakfast and a nice chat with Andrea (the owner's daughter and a thoroughly delightful lady) and Debbie (who is designing their web site). We finally got to Orient beach around 1 P.M. and spent some lovely hours on the beach in the afternoon. We had decided we wanted to get to Sunset Beach Bar for sunset that day, so headed out. For the first time we remember in SXM, we got caught behind the drawbridge at Simpson Bay, and we missed the 747 taking off by five minutes. We took a picture of Air France passing over as we were sitting at the bridge! Since we hadn't had any lunch, we each split a steak sandwich and enjoyed some drinks, on Neil. Thanks, guy!! After a while, Neil came out from behind the bar and spent quite a while talking with us. For dinner, we weren't interested in anything big, so split a couple of pizzas at Good Fellows, plus some drinks. We headed back to Lightning, hoping to repeat the previous evening's performance, but there is some truth to the statement that lightning does not strike twice in the same place, so we headed home slightly poorer. Friday morning Eric, Gerald and Cindy decided to do the tourist thing and headed out to Pik Paradis to check it out. I headed to the beach. Looking at the pictures, it looked like I got the better part of the deal, as I would have been stroking out from the road! Be advised, if you decide to go to Pik Paradis, that there have been several credible reports of robberies occurring at the top. After PP, they headed to the Ma DouDou "factory" and rousted the owner from painting duties, probably NOT related to the rum product. They arrived on the beach around 11:30 and we spent the rest of the day there, before heading out early in a quest to actually see the 747 land at Princess Juliana. We arrived in sufficient time today to see the Air Fence land. The fence was still standing as it landed. As we were watching it land, we talked with a group of folks from South Africa who were waiting to board the plane. SXM to Charles De Gaulle to Capetown, South Africa. A long day, I suspect. We saw it take off, including watching one fellow standing on the road, holding on to the fence to keep from getting blown away! G!! Friday nights, Neil apparently has free Domino's Pizza most of the time, in advance of a band, which plays from 6:30 to 9:30. We weren't particularly impressed with the band, so listened for a little bit, then headed home. We had steaks on the grill for dinner, more DouDou, then bed. A successful night........... Saturday morning we wanted to go out to breakfast and tried Bikini, which was not open, so we headed down to Baywatch, which was open. It was VERY windy this morning. We initially tried to sit out by the water at Baywatch and after the umbrella blew over on us for the second time, we finally figured out it was too windy to sit out there, so we sat back by the kitchen. We had a great breakfast of omelettes, etc, and coffee. Eric and Gerald went and turned in the second car at Hertz, and Cindy and I began the awful task of packing to come home. Once we got to the beach, Gerald and Cindy decided to spend the day on the Club Orient end of the beach, but did not fully participate. However, that was fine, as though Contessa and the rest of the crowd gave them hell, it was all in good fun. They decided to do the parasailing thing, and the Jetskiing thing and had a great time. Eric took some pictures and sat at Baywatch and watched. Mid afternoon, we had some chicken fingers at Baywatch, not wanting to ruin our appetite for dinner at Bistrot Caraibes! Before we left home, we had arranged to meet with Bob! and Charlene for dinner in Grand Case on Saturday, which was the day they arrived from California. We had decided to meet in front of Bistrot Caraibes at 6:30. We drove down the street to the corner and saw someone standing in front of Bistrot and Eric yelled out the window "Bob!??", just like a local and sat in the middle of the street for a couple minutes, talking to him and telling him we would park and be there in a couple minutes. Contessa and the Sword and two other couples we had met on the beach decided to come along for the party and they showed up a few minutes later. We ended up with two tables for six alongside each other and the party was ON! (I kind of feel sorry for anybody else that was in the restaurant that night, as it was somewhat noisy! G!!) We had an absolutely fabulous dinner, with great presentation of every course, pretty enough for a picture. On our table of six, we had baked Camembert & herb cheese baked on french bread, french onion soup, lobster bisque, endive salad, scallops over mashed potatoes, salmon with mushroom sauce, tuna, red snapper, lobster, beef, apple tart, chocolate cake, sherbert with raspberry sauce, creme brulee, coffee, water, and 3 bottles of Gerwurteminer, $320. An absolutely wonderful meal, all selections absolutely wonderful, FABULOUS presentation, a wonderful meal with great, new-found friends. What more could one ask for? Sunday morning we had decided to just stay at the villa in the morning, which ended up being a good idea, as the weather turned out a little problematical. There were scattered showers throughout the morning. We had an early lunch of burgers on the grill and cleared out the refrigerator of the remaining items, and did the last of the packing. Eric checked out with the front desk and dropped us at the airport, arriving there at 1 P.M, for our 2:30 P.M. flight. We were shocked to see NO line whatsoever at the American counter. As soon as Eric got back from turning the car in, we checked in, still with no line, then went upstairs to the bar to get some liquid refreshments to get us home. I found the St. Martin 2001 calender I had been wanting at the airport shops. Our flight left on time, only about ½ full, to Miami, then on to Dulles from there. Both flights were fine, except for the fact that we were going home! G!! General stuff I missed-- GREEN CAY--Home package--In the regular package, they provide a welcome package of beer, soda, eggs, OJ, Milk, bread, etc. In the home package, they provided only coffee, sugar packets, salt & pepper, dish soap and a couple of napkins. There were no paper towels and no dishwasher soap. Provided in the bathrooms was a welcome package of bath and shower gel (NO shampoo), soap, body lotion, shower cap, woolite, toothpaste. In the most expensive package at Green Cay, they are supposed to provide umbrellas and chair pads for the chaise lounges, BUT the umbrellas and chaise lounge pads were on our deck when we arrived and appeared to be on all the decks of the other villas, so I suspect they are providing them for all the villas. The chair pads were made of some miracle fiber, as they seemed to dry out within minutes of a rain shower. The pool guys came maybe 2 or 3 times during the week to clean the pool. For the week, I think there were maybe 4 or 5 villas that were being occupied, although numbers 16, 18 and 20 were occupied the whole week we were there. Trash was supposed to be picked up at the villa, if you left it on the front porch. One day that we left it on the front porch, it disappeared promptly. The next time, it stayed there for a couple of days and a cat/dog/whatever got into it. I'm not sure that I would want to rent number 18 if someone else has rented the studio. If someone else has rented the studio, there is no effective place that you can grill. Also, the only tables are the ones that are out front toward the water, which is fine, so long as it's not raining. If it's raining or windy, it's not real comfortable to sit there. The driveways for 16, 18 and 20 are kind of a _itch. Not something that one feels real comfortable navigating after a couple bottles of wine. In that respect, the driveways on the villas on the lower levels are a lot more forgiving. There is internet access and a workout room available now at Green Cay, right across from the front desk. We visited neither during our stay. ;) BAYWATCH--We talked to Andy a couple of times during the week. He has big plans for the future, particularly for c/o folks. He is planning on running specials for Club O folks for breakfast. More exciting, he is planning on trying to bring in a band in the evenings and have a c/o party at least one evening during the week during the high season, and inviting everyone from Club O down. He plans on enforcing Club O type rules--no cameras, etc. That will be a welcome addition to plans for the evening from Club O during the season. Please visit our new bulletin board, at http://www.traveltalkonline.com All in all, a great trip. Wish we were going back tomorrow!!
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