In August we returned to St. Martin. This time we took along a couple of friends, Mike (Cat Man) Coulson and Jewell Ann. Mike and Jewell were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. We are all great friends. Claudia and Jewell are often mistaken for sisters. Mike and I are often mistaken for members of the Rolling Stones.

Claudia and I had visited St. Martin in 2002. We stayed at the same resort L'Hoste Hotel, on Orient Beach. It is fantastic. It is a small resort that sits right next to the beach. We had a second floor room, with a balcony. Due to landscaping we could not see the beach, but the rooms are spacious and contained a small refrigerator, stove, microwave, dishes, and a safe. It was very nice, and the best part was we scored an internet deal of only $105/night.

A couple of hot beach chicks!

The north side of the island is French (St. Martin) and the south is Dutch (St. Maarten). The resorts are smaller and more intimate on the French side. The Dutch side has high rise casinos. If you visit St. Martin I suggest you avoid the "all inclusive" resorts. There are too many fantastic French restaurants, especially in Grand Case. Grand Case is about 5 minutes from Orient Beach. It is known as the gourmet capital of the Caribbean. A couple of other observations... Traveling around the island is "a piece of cake". It is a small island and there is one main road around the coast. Traveling between the two countries is a non event. A sign informs you have just entered France or the Netherlands (no big deal). As long as you stay around the major cities or on main roads, you shouldn't be concerned about security. The French recognize the Euro, the Dutch the Eastern Caribbean dollar, but in reality they all recognize the good old US currency. Many of the restaurants and shops also give a $1 to $1 Euro exchange rate if you use cash. That is a real deal, the rate should be times 1.2 (OUCH). Gas is expensive, but the island is small. The French capital is Marigot, on the Dutch side it's Philipsburg. Marigot is a prettier city, but prices are better in Philipsburgh. Cruise ships dump off thousands of day trippers in Philipsburgh. Many of them make trips to the French side. Getting to St. Martin wasn't easy. It took over 13 hours with stops in Miami and San Juan. St. Martin is one hour ahead of St. Louis time (est.).

Jewell had rented a car from Hertz. I talked to other tourist and it sounds like there are better deals from some local companies. You might want to check out Traveltalkonline for additional travel trips.

July - Oct. is the low season, one reason it is also hurricane season. You take a chance but there are some good deals on hotels. It rained twice in 12 days. The longest rain shower lasted 20 minutes. If you got away from the beach there were several days when it was rather warm.

Our vacation... We arrived late Tuesday night, picked up our car and headed for Orient Beach (OB). On the way we stopped at a small store for a few supplies. Airport food sucks. That first night we walked on the beach. It was beautiful! L'Hoste has two restaurants (Madras and LaPlaya). A free continental breakfast is included at Madras. The French have great coffee and fresh breads and croissants. Fresh fruit and cereal gave us plenty of energy to start each day. For lunch we tried LaPlaya, their beach bar. Our hotel also gave us two free drinks at LaPlaya plus free beach chairs, umbrellas and beach towels. If your not staying at the resort you can spend about $12/day for chairs and umbrellas. Mike fell in love with the tuna steak. O.B. is 1.7 miles long, and during the day it is customary to walk the beach, how else do you burn off those calories? In the afternoon we rented sea kayaks, and paddled out to a small island (Green Key), for some snorkeling.

On Wed. night we went to Grand Case for dinner, and tried L'Escapade. It was a major disappointment. The food was good but the service was terrible. Mike ordered swordfish and was served sole. They offered to replace his dinner, but we had been there over an hour and a half. The restaurant was understaffed, and overpriced.

On Thursday we spent more time on O.B., and then drove to Cul De Sac (5 min). We caught a water taxi ($5/person) to Pinel Island. Pinel Island has uninhabited, but during the day it has two very good restaurants. The beach is pristine. When we arrived we walked inland and turned left to a deserted beach. We snorkeled from that beach back around to the public area. It was some fantastic snorkeling.

We had a delicious lunch on Pinel. After lunch the waiter brought us a bottle of rum punch and we helped ourselves (FREE). The same thing happened at LaPlaya. They sure know how to treat the guests.

That night we went back to Grand Case for dinner. This time I took the Coulson's to the Talk of the Town. This little restaurant specializes in some darn good BBQ. When Mike smelled the BBQ chicken he lit up like a Christmas tree. Dinner and drinks was only $48. On Friday, Claudia and I hooked up with a dive operator. They took us to Tintamarre island. Claudia snorkeled while I dove. Beautiful coral, but no big fish. Claudia really enjoyed the snorkeling. This deserted island also has a special mud that makes the skin soft. People come to this island just to take mud baths.

Check out HSL 2000

O.B. is a great place to people watch. The beach is very diversified and full of interesting people. One of the more colorful residents is Andy. Andy and Cheryl own Baywatch a small restaurant/bar. I met Andy two years ago. If you bring a license plate he will hang it up. Andy came to the island about 30 years ago from New Jersey. He fell in love with the island and made it his home. At Baywatch they play classic rock and roll, and serve some darn good food. Friday night we went back to Grand Case and had a wonderful seaside dinner at IL Nettuno. Our waiter was John Paul (not the Pope). Don't miss this place.

On Saturday we checked out the farmers market in Marigot. Mike and I found the one cigar store where they make their own cigars. We also climbed to the top of Fort Louis. Next we toured some of the Dutch side and ate lunch at the Sunset Beach and Bar. It is right next to the airport and people come to watch the sunsets and the planes land. The burgers are big and inexpensive, and the drinks are cold.

The cabins were small with bunk beds (happy anniversary Mike and Jewell). Each cabin had a private bathroom. Our cabins were on the third (bottom) deck.

On Sunday the real adventure began... we left a couple of suitcases at L'Hoste, drove to Philipsburgh, returned our car, visited the downtown area, and then boarded the Windjammer Polynesia. There were 101 guests and 45 crew on this voyage. The first night is an optional "stow away" package ($55/person). We were greeted with drinks, had a nice dinner, and entertainment was brought on board. The girls had concerns about seasickness. Both of them wore the patch.

A little after 1:00 pm on Monday we set sail. On a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise there are not many rules but there is one... When the sails are raised they play Amazing Grace over the ships speakers. It is an awesome sight to watch the crew working together to raise the sails. When the wind fills the sails and the boat turns to the open sea it is an amazing feeling. Most of the time no one talks, you just hear the wind, the waves, and the bagpipe version of Amazing Grace. It is truly something to experience.

We sailed all afternoon and into the night. When we woke we were at Nevis. Nevis and St. Kitts are independent neighboring islands. The next morning I decided to do a couple of dives. Mike, Jewell, and Claudia went on a plantation tour. The various tours and diving are an additional expense. The diving was great, I saw sharks, lobster, barracuda, sea turtles, stingrays and lots of large fish.

That afternoon we all took a snorkel tour. There were about a dozen young people on the boat. A couple of single Mom's brought their sons. On this trip I met Zach and his Mom Scotty. Zach asked me if I would be his snorkel buddy. He's a great kid and a pretty good swimmer. That night we had a BBQ dinner on the beach. There was always some kind of planned activity. The children had their own activity director and lots of special events. The adults had their own fun. One night we had a special scavenger hunt. I won for getting dressed into snorkel gear the fastest. Mike won for the hairiest backside, and Claudia won for having a postcard written out. Most of the other events can't be mentioned.

The next morning we woke to find ourselves docked at St. Kitts. I did a couple of more dives while the rest of the gang checked out the town. That afternoon we took an amazing rainforest hike. We saw lots of interesting plants and animals, including wild monkeys.

After dinner an eight piece steel band entertained us. They were great. At midnight we set sail for St. Barts. Some people would take blankets up and sleep on the deck. The stars were awesome.

On St. Barts we rented motor scoters to tour the island. It was a lot of fun. St. Barts is an upscale French island. David Letterman has a home there. It is also very expensive. Coffee was $3 Euros and no free refills. OUCH! Speaking of OUCH, Mike and Jewell had an argument with a parked car. I'm a real friend - I bandaged his toes!

On Friday morning we got up at set sail at 5:30. Almost everyone was up at surise to watch the crew raise the sails. It was a beautiful day. We reached Anguilla before noon. Anguilla is a British island. We took a bus to a beach and spent the afternoon snorkeling and reading. I wasn't really too impressed with the island. Later that evening we headed back towards St. Martin. As you can see they even let us take turns steering the boat. The crew did everything possible to make our vacation as safe and enjoyable as possible. The ships captain was Casey. He has been with Windjammer since 1982, and he loves his job. Thanks Captain.

When we arrived at St. Martin we rented a car and headed back to to L'Hoste. YEA clean clothes! We spent the rest of Sat. and Sun. getting our land legs back. Several days after getting off the ship you could still feel the ground moving. It was a strange feeling.

A couple of days on the beach was just what the doctor ordered. Sat. we ate dinner at the Talk of the Town. Claudia, Jewell, and I had the grilled lobster. It was great. Sunday was our last full day on St. Martin. I swam to Green Key Island. I did this two years ago. I guess it's a tradition. For dinner we splurged at went to Bistro Caraibes in Grand Case. In a recent survey it was voted as the best French restaraunt.

We flew home on Monday. It was time, we were all out of clean clothes. It was a great trip with memories that will last a life time.