Hi everyone!!! Mindy, Tracy and I returned home last Sat

after 2 wonderful weeks in SXM. We left on Sat, 3/1 on AA's

9AM nonstop from JFK. Now we're no fans of AA, but we have

to admit that we had no experiences like many others here.

They boarded us at 8:30AM, backed out of the gate at 9:05 AM

and we were on our takeoff role at 9:30AM. Scheduled

arrival was for 2:04PM and the pilot told us we had a nice

tail wind so the flight would take only 3hours and 10

minutes. I always sit on the left-hand side of the aircraft

because of the arrival pattern into SXM. Well, about 1:30PM

well into our descent and there to our left I spotted

Prickley Cay, then we saw Anguilla, and next appeared the

north coast of SXM. What a sight!! We saw Marigot, Sandy

Ground, Baie Rouge, Baie Longue and then turned north

towards Maho and the airport. I can't tell you how my heart

felt at this point. We touched down at 1:40PM. As we

descended the steps I saw a NW 757, KIWI 727, SunCountry 727

and US 757. The line for immigration was a mile long; but

here is where it is good to travel with a 6 year old. The

people of SXM must not like to see young children wait too

long in line. We asked one of the women in uniform if we

could go up to the front, pointing to Tracy (as we had done

last year) and she told us sure...follow her. We went to the

far right side and walked up to the booth marked for only

for residents. No waiting... show our passports and we were

on our way. We don't check any luggage so we were out of

the airport in less then 10 minutes. We got our car, (the

usual Accent piece of crap) from Adventure, paying $210 per

week plus 8% tax. We were driving towards Sapphire Beach

Club and upon observing the sky and weather with wind

and sprinkles I thought about what Bruce and Edie had

reported and said to myself that they were right. Too much

clouds and wind. Let me take a moment to tell you what I

was able to find out about the "strange" weather on SXM

lately. Since the 3rd week of January there has been a

stubbern Bermuda high stuck in place. This kind of high

produces a lot of relatively high winds. Winds rotate

clockwise around high pressure areas. Based where SXM is in

relation to the high, the winds have been sweeping in from

the Northeast and east. This system is also responsible for

blocking the usually bad weather which we hav NOT seen on

the east coast this winter. We were very lucky in that by

about Thursday, 3/6 the high was being pushed out by a cold

front/storm sweeping off the eastern US coast and the

weather improved 1000%.

As others have said, the island looks real green and we

found a fair number of mosquitoes (SP?) this year. Both are

due to the above average rainfall for the past few months.

We spent our days going to beaches all around the island.

In the two weeks we drove almost 900 km or over 550 miles.

Funny how last year people stayed away from SXM in droves

because they were afraid of bad conditions from Luis. We

found the beaches to be in better shape last year then this.

Baie Rouge (our favorite) has lost some 8 to 10 feet (in

height) of sand and the part by the water is almost all huge

rocks. You can get into the water in 2 or 3 sections where

is is still sand, but it looks so different. And the maze

the land owner installed to try to keep the beach bars/chair

guys out is terrible. We only hope that the authorities

don't have to get a stretcher in there to get a sick person

out off the beach!!! Cupecoy comes and goes almost on a

daily basis. One day there is beach in front of Sapphire &

Ocean club and the next it moves to the far (clothing

optional) end. In front of Frank & Nina's there was only

about a 5' strip of sand. We couldn't even lie out at that

end of the beach. Frank and Nina have no chair and umbrella

rental business at this time. I feel for them. I also

wonder if they are getting tired of their business. A

couple of times we went over to their place to pick up some

sandwiches which we were going to take with us to some beach

for lunch. At 11:45AM or 12:15PM they weren't even there

yet! I guess 7 days a week is a lot for anybody.

Here's a quick rundown on our dining. #1 has hot to be.....

Mario's. No surprise there. We made reservations to go

there on WED before we left New York. The meal was great

and as we were leaving the restaurant we mad another

reservation for the following Thursday. This is why it

really pays to stay for 2 weeks (G) Both meals were GREAT. I

had their gnocci (sp?) with 3 cheeses for a starter and I

must say that this is now one of my favorite all time

dishes. We went to L'Auberge Gourmand and Christine is as

lovely as ever. The food was fine and we always have a good

time there. We decided to try DaLavio due to the good

mentions here

As I was saying we tried DaLivio due to you guys here and we

are now on the bandwagon. Had the veal chop and veal parm.

MAn were they both good. Tender and so full of flavor!!

Can't wait to go back there and do it again. We tried Bar

de la Mer in Marigot. The food was okay, but the service is

so disorganized. It was so hectic and as we were sitting

near the grill we saw how some orders come up and sit for at

least 10 minutes till the waiter fetches them and serves

them. In fact I ordered the red snapper, Mindy the lobster

and Tracy a pizza. My fish was sitting so long that when

the waiter brought it over I sent it back and got a new one.

There is a lot of action to see while sitting at the sidewalk

tables but we probably won't go back there just yet. We

went to Restaurant Taitu in Mount Vernon. We had been there

in July 1995 before hurricane Luis and enjoyed it so we were happy to

know that they were back. We had a nice meal and the

service was very good. We tried Tutta Pasta this trip and

I'd rate it a 6.5 out of 10. The service is pretty good and

the food is good, but not great. We did the Ren and Stimpy

thing...I like the place except I think the prices are way

too high for the quality of wine they serve. But overall, I

think the food and service are very good. We went to

Bistro Nu in Marigot and Jean Claude is doing a splendid

job. The atmosphere is wonderful...just like being in the

French countryside. Their food is delicious and not

overpriced. One place we went which does not get any press

here is Captain Olivers. We usually go there for lunch and

had a really nice meal this time (as usual) Salad nicoise

for $6.95 and a cheeseburger and fries for $7.99. Use your

TI Gourmet for a free rum punch, look at the sea turtles,

sharks, crocodiles, tucans, parrots, monkeys etc. and you

have a really nice time. We went to Mr. Busby's which was

just okay. They don't know how to make I rum punch. In

fact I had some in my Heinekin bag and I gave the waitress

a glass to show her how it should taste. Lunch was $40 there

for some fish, ribs, cheeseburger and 2 drinks and a coke.

The beach (other end of Dawn Beach) by Busby's is

nice...umbrella and chair rentals available. The sand must

be artificial because it was sooo soft. Like baby powder.

We went to Pinel Island for the first time. A nice place

especially with small kids and the water is real shallow

pretty far out and it's real calm. The "find" of the trip

was Piciolo Cafe (ex Drew's Deli) The presentation and food

quality was wonderful. 2 starters, 2 main courses, 2

desserts, 1 bottle of H2O, 1 bottle of wine, 1 coke and 1

coffee was $57 (plus $10 tip). Their phone is 87 32 47.

It's very small so a reservation is a must. Highly

recommended.

We saw (but did not meet) Ethel and Jerry at Heeru's. She

didn't tell us who they were until after they left. Last

year we met Jim and Janet at Touch of Gold. Why don't we

ALL make plans to meet there all at once some time? (VBG)

Mindy traded in a bracelet and earnings for a much nicer

bracelet and on another visit later in the trip bought a new

diamond and sapphire ring (both beautiful). Tracy got here

second gold bracelet there too. I'm the only one who came

away empty handed. But that's not really true...I did get

a new earring (a small hoop). The island was really great

as usual and we can't wait to return. The 2 weeks felt like

3 or 4 days. WE are so relaxed there and it's just like

home. Oh yeah... our return on AA was okay too. Funny how

I don't like to think about the return. Well that's about

it. hope we didn't bore you guys too much. If we have to

be here it's nice to be able to talk about our favorite

place with wonderful people like you. See ya,

Mark, Mindy & Tracy