Saturday, October 7, 2006 (Ron)

We’re here! It’s warm and beautiful. We left Portland yesterday at 10:45pm, slept most of the way, arrived in Philadelphia around 7am this morning. We had a couple-hour lay-over so we had time for breakfast before boarding. The flight down here was a little bumpy as was the one from Portland to Philadelphia. Arrived in Phillipsburg around 2pm. Got off the plane and it was hot! It felt good after being so cold in Portland and Philly. We walked across the tarmac to Customs. It was very slow, but what the heck, we’re on island time now. We made it thru with no problems. Customs just stamps your passport and sends you on thru. We got checked into the resort without any problems. We unpacked and had a couple of Red Stripe beers while getting things put away. I had e-mailed them ahead of time to have some beers chillin’ in the refrigerator. You may be asking yourself ‘why unpack? Get out on the beach, the sand, the sun, the water!!!’ We had to unpack in order to find shorts and flip-flops. After unpacking & changing into something cooler, we went down to the beach. That’s pretty easy to do ‘cause the resort is right on the beach! I could almost stand on my balcony and spit in the ocean. It is right on the beach – so cool. The sound of the waves rocks you to sleep at night. Anyway, we got down to the beach just in time for Happy Hour, 2-for-1. We each ordered a Guavaberry Colada, so we each got 2. Guavaberry grows only in St. Martin and makes a wonderful liqueur. We each took one of our 2-for-1 drinks and walked along the water to the other end of the bay and back. Sat down outside and finished off the second of the 2-for-1’s while enjoying the ocean, the sand, the sun, everything. By now it’s after sundown, so we came upstairs to the suite and showered. Oh, by the way, the suite has a small kitchen with full-sized refrigerator/freezer, a dining area, and a living room, as well as two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. There is a balcony running the full length of the suite that looks out onto the ocean. So we showered and went down to the restaurant/bar on the property for dinner. Nothing fancy, but again, it is right on the beach. By now we were both pretty tired and didn’t feel like a big dinner, so Pat ordered a house salad and conch soup. I had the salad also and an appetizer of Conch Fritters. I wasn’t really sure what a conch was, just that they came from the sea. Pat said they were kind of like a large sea snail. They were pretty good, as was the salad. After dinner we just came back up to the room. I did the journal while Pat dozed. We are both pretty tired, so it is now bedtime, about 9:30pm local time.