Cupecoy Beach on St. Martin, our favorite place to be.

We got up early and Craig (Bob) from Packlight picked up our chairs and umbrella at 8AM at the Summit. We then dropped off our cell phone at the Royal Palm. We were at the beach by 8:30AM. We relaxed and soaked up as much sand, sun & surf as we could before we had to head back to the Summit to clean up, and check out. Once we checked out we went to the SSBB and had lunch. About 2 hours before our flight was to leave we went to the airport to check in and drop off our rental car. We checked in and got our boarding passes and waited for Marius from St. Louis car rental to arrive, and waited , and waited. It was getting close to boarding the plane and he was not there. I was getting nervous. I asked all the car rental guys at the arrivals area if they had seen him and they said not today. One of the guys let me use his cell phone and we called Marius and he was stuck in traffic. He said "give the keys tot he guy who lent you his phone and I’ll get them when I arrive, sorry." I was apprehensive about doing this but wasn’t going to miss my flight over it, so I gave the guy the keys and headed to the gate. I worried about it the whole way home and the next day sent Marius an email to make sure everything went OK. He apologized for not meeting me and said everything was great. What a relief.
Needless to say we spent the flight home planning our return trip. Can’t wait til then.

This was our last full day, where else to spend it but our favorite beach, Cupecoy. We had quite a few of Danny’s rum punches and some of his chicken for lunch. It always tastes great on the beach. We left the beach a little earlier than usual so we could make one last trip down to Front Street for some last minute gift buying. Of course Sue had to go back to see Sam at Kays for more jewels. After shopping we walked down the boardwalk to the Greenhouse for happy hour and dinner. It was another great evening in SXM and a fantastic way to close out our trip.

We got up and had some croissants from the market at Cupecoy and headed down to the beach at Cupecoy. Once we got to the beach we noticed that there was still some of Emily hanging around. It was nice out, but the surf was really up and a lot of the beach was gone that had been there the days prior. After getting up the guts we ventured into the water but it was very rough so we decided to go over to Baie Rouge and see if it was better protected from the surf. Once we got there we found tranquil waters, it was very nice. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and walked down a ways in the waves. After going back to the room, we went to Happy Hour at the Kissing Fish (notice the trend). Later on we met Jeff & Lori in Marigot at the Marina for dinner at Don Carmillo’s. We had a nice dinner and said our goodbyes as they were heading home the next morning.

Sue & I at Cupecoy Beach trying to take our own picture, July 05.

We went to Pinel about 11AM, it was nice. There was less beach than last time we were there and it seemed the beach was really crowded with beach chairs and umbrellas, not with people in them, just lots of empty chairs all over the beach. Were there about 2 hours when the thunderstorms rolled across and we all headed for cover. We were still dealing with the remnants of Emily and decided to head back. At least it wasn’t anything too bad. Just some heavy rain for a little bit. We drove back through Grand Case, someplace we have not eaten yet, but someday we will. We did Happy Hour at the Kissing Fish and then had our favorite burgers on the island and watched the sunset at the Sunset Beach Bar. After dinner we walked around the shops of Maho and spent some more $$.
Later on we went to the Red Piano Bar at the Pelican with a bunch of TTOL’ers, Ron & Gina, Chuck & Kathy, Rick & Sue, Dave, and Jeff & Lori. Jeff was the only one with the guts to get up and sing and he did great. We had a great time with everyone that night.

We started the day by having breakfast at the Croisanterrie at the Marina in Marigot. Sue chose a chocolate crepe` and I needed some grease after the day prior on the Tiko Tiko and went with a good ol omelet. After that it was time for Market Day in Marigot. We wandered around the venders and some neat stuff and some junk, but that’s what one expects. After shopping for a bit the tour busses started rolling in with all the cruise ship folks. That was our cue to head out of town. We went back to the Summit and dropped off our things from shopping and loaded up the cooler and went down to Cupecoy and spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun and Sue had a couple of Danny’s rum punches, which pack quite a punch I must say. At about 5 we went back to the Summit and jumped in the pool and then went to visit Tierry & Chloe at Happy Hour at the Kissing Fish. We ended up hanging there for quite a while and never made it out to dinner.

Tiko TIko

This was the day for the Tiko Tiko cruise. We were somewhat apprehensive as we had not done it before but excited as well. We headed over to Club O and waited at the restaurant for Phillipe and Melanie to arrive to shuttle us out to the Tiko Tiko. We had a total of 10 people on board and it was a diverse but fun group. The day was great and we had the best time. It was the best day trip we have done by far and something we will defiantly do on our next trip back. Well worth the $$. I would not hesitate to recommend this trip to anyone. Just an awesome day. Maybe a few too many rum punches, but who’s counting. We made dinner plans with some of our Tiko mates and went to Jimbo’s with Dave & Yvette. Some of our group didn’t make it out, too many rum punches apparently. Dinner was good, but I felt like I ate too much, but that’s my own fault.

It was time to go shopping in Philipsburg. We started by heading to Rimas, the place to get all your beach stuff and souvenirs. Then we went to Front Street for the serious stuff. Kays was our destination to see Sam for some bling bling for Sue. After abusing the credit card we walked the rest of Front Street and the boardwalk. That area is so much nicer than it was just 2 years ago. Kudos to the planners for this nice upgrade to this area.
After shopping we hit Taco Bell for a quick bite, wish the Taco Bells in the states sold $1.40 Heinekens too. Cupecoy was calling our names and we made our way back to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. We started to recognize some familiar faces at the beach and chatted with quite a few nice folks as we relaxed on the sand.
Monday evening was the TTOL Party at the Summit Resort. It was a great turnout, a pretty large crowd and Thierry and Chloe worked for 2 days getting ready for it. They did a super job. Food was tasty and the service was superb. If only we could dance better. We met a lot of nice folks as well as the group we seemed to be spending a lot of time with since we arrived.

Sue and I at the Kissing Fish Bar on St Martin, 7/11/05

Happy Bay

We had heard about Happy Bay as being a great beach so we decided to give it a try this time. We parked at Friars and found the trail over to Happy Bay pretty easily. The hike wasn’t too bad at all and it was an easy 10-15 minute hike over as everyone says. Once we got to the beach we were surprised at the number of people there. There were at least 3-4 boats parked there and a number of local families at the beach, then we realized it was Sunday and was probably much quieter during the week. We spent the day and it was a very pretty beach and the water was calm.
We ate dinner at one of our favorites, the Greenhouse.

Our spot on Cupecoy

View from the Summit Resort

We left our house about 5AM to head to the airport in Portland, Me for our 8AM flight to CTL and then on to SXM. Our flight was delayed by 30 minutes because of flight restrictions on our flight crew from the night before. This was a big concern considering we only had a 37 minute layover scheduled. Once we in flight the Captain said that due to hurricane Dennis they hadn’t gotten in til late the night before and had a minimum amount of sleep which accounted for the late departure, but to make things worse, the usual flight path was not available due to Dennis. We had to fly across NY and over Ohio and then south to CTL. The flight was an extra half hour of flight time. We were pretty depressed as we figured we were spending the night in CTL due to missing our connection. One smart thing we did was to not check any luggage and we hit the ground running. Didn’t it figure that we were as far as possible from our departure gate. We ran like OJ through the airport. Upon arriving at our gate we saw a large crowd and the monitor said our flight was still on the ground and we could make it. The run was worth it. Thanks to US Air never being on time we made the flight.
Upon landing we breezed through customs and had our luggage with us. Marius from St. Louis Car rental was waiting and we got a near new Kia Picanto. We were on the road in minutes after landing. We headed over to Royal Palm to pick up our cell phone from Sharon Harris. A great deal for the week. We then proceeded to the Summit Resort, our home for the next 9 days. Check-in was quick and we got a room on the second floor, 10-B. A great view of Simpson Bay and the whole area. We then met Craig, aka Bob, from Packlight at registration for beach chairs and an umbrella for the week. What service.
After unpacking we went down to the Kissing Fish bar. We had heard great things about it but they didn’t do it justice. Very nice folks, very laid back. We met Thierry & Chloe, so cool. They work too hard, but we all appreciate it. While at the Kissing Fish we met some other great folks we ended up spending a lot of time with the rest of the week. Jeff & Lori, Rick & Sue, Chuck & Kathy, a motley crew to say the least.
We all went to dinner in Marigot at Tropicana in the marina. It was pretty nice. A great start to our trip.