This is a trip report of our latest stay on St. Martin from June 25th to July 16th 2000. It was our third trip to the island and the second time we have stayed at Club Orient (which we highly recommend!!). We had decided to go for the summer special at Club O - pay for 2 weeks and stay a third week free, even though our airfare out of Toronto cost us somewhat more because we were "deviating" from the usual 1 or 2 week stays - go figure!!

Our flight left early, fairly close to the scheduled time of 6:25 am and arrived in SXM about 10:45 am. We got through customs quickly and since we only had 2 carry-ons we didn’t have to wait for luggage. We caught a taxi to our resort, checked in (our studio was ready!), quickly undressed and were enjoying a Carib on the beach before noon. Life was great!!!

We won’t give a detailed daily report since most days were spent in a similar way. We got up around 6:00 am, showered and then enjoyed a walk on Orient Beach, usually all the way down to the Blue Bay end and back. It sure is nice not having to decide what to wear each morning!! We often met many of the same people each morning on the beach and exchanged friendly "good-mornings" and sometimes longer conversations. We would then return to our studio for breakfast before heading back to the beach for most of the day. A few days, especially toward the end of our stay, we enjoyed breakfast at Papagayo, the restaurant & bar at Club O. It was great eating breakfast in a very relaxed fashion and enjoying the wonderful view of Orient Beach, the beautiful water and the warm sunshine. About 10:30 each morning we’d enjoy a cold beer - a ritual we started on our first trip to the island! We often had lunch back at our studio, however, some days we ate at a beach bar, such as Pedro's (still enjoy the ribs!), Baywatch or Boo Boo Jam. Baywatch has a good deal on a hamburger (only $4.50 for quite a large one & very good). Met Andy for the first time - quite a character!! Boo Boo Jam also has ribs, different from Pedro's, but also quite good. We would share one order since the servings were quite large. The afternoons were usually spent on the beach relaxing and enjoying the beautiful warm water.

We finally went on the nude cruise for the first time and it was a lot of fun. Emanuelle and Philippe treat you very well and the other people going with us were great! Lunch is wonderful, complete with linen tablecloths & napkins, champagne, wine and after-dinner liqueurs. We also did the mud bath - a real hoot!! There was another group of people on the island while we were there, but they pretty much ignored us. It was well worth the $80/person.

Another day we spent the morning on Green Key and enjoyed a little picnic of cheese, crackers and wine - just the two of us (very romantic!!). It seemed to us that if you want the island to yourselves it’s best to go over in the morning. Often by afternoon there were other people there and more boat traffic in the bay. The Watersports at Club O will take you over for $10/person and come back to get you at an agreed upon time. They were very punctual for us.

As great as Club Orient, the island and Orient Beach is (it’s our little piece of heaven on earth!), what really makes the holiday is all the great people we meet. We met a number of people from the TravelTalk bulletin board, including Eric & Carol (it was great meeting you!!). We attended the TT July 4th party and met more great people - special thanks to Wendell for the T-shirt commemorating the event at his own expense (he refused to take anything for it!). We also met some other special people (you know who you are!) with whom we enjoyed many great happy hours and dances at Papagayo, some fantastic dinners out at a few of the many famous restaurants on the island or just conversation on the beach. Hopefully we’ll meet at least some of you again! Even the many people who work at Club Orient, the beach bars and restaurants on the island were very friendly and gracious - one of the reasons we keep coming back!

The restaurants that we visited include: Chez Martine (ate there twice), Le Portoafino and Le Mambo in Grand Case, and L’Estiminet and La Taverne du Flibustier in the Cul-de-Sac and another in the Marigot marina (I apologize for any spelling mistakes). We enjoyed them all for the great food, but even more so for the great company.

We had planned to rent a car for a few days (didn’t need one for the entire 3 weeks), but ended up renting only for one day. That day we visited a few places on the island we had missed on previous trips such as Fort Louis in Marigot, Baie Rouge and Cupecoy Beach (still like Orient the best!), as well as some shopping in Philipsburg and the mandatory stint at the Sunset Beach Bar. We met a fellow Canadian working at the Sunset as well as enjoyed a very good burger!

Unfortunately, July 16 all too quickly arrived and it was time to return home. We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at Club O and take us to the airport, and while we had everything packed we were delaying the dreaded clothing as long as possible. Well, you guessed it, the taxi was early and we weren’t even dressed yet!

Our flight home was uneventful - just how we like it. One small point - they’re doing construction work on the airport and the restaurant/bar that was accessible after going through security is closed. We had planned to have one last beer there partly to settle some nerves for the upcoming flight. So it was a long wait with only a pop machine to keep us company! Oh well. We had a fantastic vacation!! We didn’t get bored and are very glad we decided to stay for 3 weeks. Thanks to all the great people we met, both island residents and fellow vacationers, who made our stay so enjoyable!! We just have to return!!

Don & Linda