St Maarten Trip Report Jan/Feb 2012

St. Maarten, how I love you, let me count the ways.......

We can say now that Kurt's bday trip 2012 was a raging success. Loved everything about it, I can't really say one negative thing about the trip. At all. St Maarten may be one of the prettiest places I have ever been to, maybe prettier than Hawaii. Close though. It def was not a party island, and we would prob even be considered young for visiting there. A lot of retired people from Europe, I think. Even though half the island is French and half Dutch, we had no language issues, everyone we encountered spoke great English. The island def was not cheap, most meals were pretty pricey that we had, even though most places we ate were not high end. but it was a short trip, so whatever. We only celebrate Kurt's bday once a year. :).

Anyway, we flew via US Airways via Philly. The flight from Detroit to Philly was delayed due to deicing in Detroit and a delay landing in Philly and Kurt and I had to literally SPRINT about a mile in Philly to our connecting flight. Good since we did not work out that night. ;). Just barely made the flight, but we did. Got to St Maarten and flew thought customs and to our shuttle to the rental car place (Payless). we had rented a full size car, but when we got there, the full size car had a mechanical issue so we received the next smallest car for money off, which was fine. As long as it fit our rather large luggage, that's all I cared about. We were there off to the condo. I had gotten direction to The Cliff from the guy we leased it, and we drove right there. Was only about 10 minutes from the airport. Pulled up and were buzzed in, got our keys and headed up to one of the most perfect places ever. I immediately was drawn to the huge balcony overlooking the ocean, with lounge chairs. You could sit in these and hear the waves crashing against the shore. Amazing. One of the most relaxing sounds ever.......We sat there nightly for long periods of time just relaxing. Anyway, the room had a master and guest bedroom, three bathrooms, a laundry room (which I loved having), a full kitchen (which was awesome), dining area, living room, foyer. I think it was like 1750 sf? It was incredible. I would highly recommend anyone staying there. We were in condo C6. The complex also had beach access to Cupecoy Beach, a pool (which we never used, I hate pools when a beach is nearby), a fitness area (which we used daily), a tennis court (which we oddly never used), a lap pool, a spa, a cafe, and steam rooms/saunas. Used the steam room and loved it.

The food the entire trip was incredible. most of the places specialized in unique seafood, and lobster is huge there, caribbean lobster. Anyway, we ate a lot of soup, salad and seafood. I had a crab stuffed grouper burger I loved at a beachside place that was so good. Every day, we bought snacks, etc. at a local grocery store, so Kurt could have yogurt every morning, and I could have healthy snacks as well.

We spent most of our day time on the beach. Two beaches specifically, Orient Beach and Cupecoy Beach. I liked Cupecoy better as it was more secluded and I loved the ocean swimming there. Orient beach was more busy, but had more of a selection for food and stuff. Kurt liked Orient better.

We drove into Phillipsburg one day to shop and had an awesome Indian lunch. Did not buy anything but sunscreen, as we ran out.

Didnt take a ton of pics, but you can see the ones I did take by clicking here.