We stayed at our home resort, Ocean Club (OC) (website woefully out of date) in Cupecoy.  Flights were fortunately non-eventful except that we again had to stay in Miami going and coming.  AAdvantage points are nice, but restrictive.  Hopefully, with SJU opening up now, AA can get us from Texas to SXM in one day next June.

Went to Grande Marche in the Phillipsburg area for food and supplies.  We bought quite a bit since we planned on cooking often in our room and saving some money.

Sunday:  On to Orient Beach (drive through Marigot took 31 minutes) and relaxed on a beautiful, well-sanded OB beach.  Not too many folks there, but saw Raz and met Judy/Jerry.  The biggest change on the island is the road to Orient Beach being repaved; concreted up to the bend to the Butterfly farm!   Wonderful, but took the "challenge" out of the trip!  Drive back through Marigot took only 28 minutes.
   

Rained a little almost everyday and night, but the island needs the water.  Everything is green and pretty.

We met Jane and Connie from Canada in one of the OC units getting their permits to re-open the Ocean Club Bar and Grill in October.  Jane and Ken are the vendors and they have great plans to make the grill a fun place again.  We understand and heard that Jill is still on the island and that Bert is in Puerto Rico.

Monday:   Went below OC to Cupecoy and stayed for a couple of hours.  Beautiful day again.  The surf was kind.  Rained some more, but the moon over the OC pool at night was pure heaven.

Tuesday: Back to a very windy Orient.  Cruise ship in offered a few grins.  Had lunch at Baywatch and enjoyed seeing Andy, Cheryl, and Adrian again.  They were very busy.  Noticed that the Perch is again selling food...ribs, hotdogs, and burgers.  (a burger w/ fries and one BBC cost $18). 

The new Roundabout (or "Rotary") which is under construction at the "T"  before Cole Bay is coming along.  We can not tell if the traffic is better or worse now during the construction - it has always been a mess, but it should improve. 

The worse traffic we experienced was at the intersection between the pond road and the road toward the Grande Marche..  (see image at right)

Wednesday:  Took a leisurely drive to Marigot to find the Sir Roland Richardson studio, but it was closed.  Traffic in Marigot was terrible since they have the road from Cole Bay blocked off and diverted it to downtown.  Went back to La Samanna to find Richardson's home studio and he was there painting.  He spent about 30 minutes to explain the way he uses and understands colors through a light prism and his philosophy of colors.  Interesting artist.

Back down to Cupecoy by OC.  Had a nasty run-in with a very aggressive, rude cliff pervert who would not leave us alone.  He came right up to our chairs, over our books, and accosted us with his "bushwacking".  We begged him to leave us alone, but he told us that this was his beach and we could go if we did not like it.  The only choice we had was leave or possibly getting in trouble for teaching him manners.

Came back up and told the security and Elvis at OC who got on it immediately.  Elvis helped id the jerk and Emma called the cops... (yes, they really came and looked for the guy).  They left knowing who to look for and we have not seen him since.  It made us decide to stay up on the OC landing, wait for our friends next week, or go down to Danny's.  We have been on this beach for years and have never witnessed such aggressiveness from pervs.  Leaving them alone, challenging them, or ignoring them did not work this time.  (in retrospect, this appears to be an isolated incident with this particular individual)

The access to these small Cupecoy beaches between OC and Shore Pointe is too easy for these guys and they know there is no one there to answer to (except Danny).  For the time being, our advice is to go all the way to Danny's to use these beaches unless there are more than two of you. 

Thursday:  Back to Orient for another very windy day.  Blown off after two to three hours.  Stopped at Rimas' for some shirts.  Then back to the OC landing on Cupecoy. 

Friday:  Drove to Phillipsburg for another Rima run and searched out the oldest, original liquor store in SXM.  It is by the cruise dock on the east side of town.  Small store, beautiful building, and a pretty big wholesale business.  Afternoon, nap, pool, and OC landing time.

Saturday:  Stayed at OC, watched D-Day ceremony, played dominos.  Went to meet Bob&Jo's plane but did not find them.  They finally arrived about 5.  We all went to the Sugar Cane Cafe at Atlantis Casino for dinner.  Great place and patio atmosphere.  Large servings of all kinds of foods.  A little gambling and then back to OC for some pool and moon time.

Sunday:  Awakened at 4:20 A.M. to a loud boom and a car fire on the road outside OC.  Several other explosions from the vehicle made for an interesting morning.   

Left about 9:30 for Orient to meet Jo&Bob.  John&Wanda came later.  Saw Alfonzo&Julie, ScubaDeb&Linda, Roger, and of course, Noodle man.  Also saw airport friends, Dawn and Wendy. 

Home for pool and pizza from Pizza Galley at Lady C.  in Simpson Bay right across from the Royal Palm.  Really good veggie pizza!

Monday:   Slept in and joined Jo&Bob and John&Wanda on Cupecoy @ Danny's.  He is a great guy!   Two chairs and umbrella for $15.  ribs - $8...  chicken - $6.... beer - $2.   Danny and his mother play dominoes every day at his table. 

Our group went to the Princess Casino for the buffet (not very good) and deplete the kids' inheritances. 

Tuesday:  A great day on Orient!  Perfect weather.  Bob&Jo, John&Wanda, Terry&Flo, Bill&Mae all together.  Found Don (IowaBoy), ScubaDeb and several of the crew. 

Wednesday:  A trip to Marigot with John and Wanda to sightsee.  Went to the market, the Mall, the Roland Richardson Studio, Murano Glass, and ate at Tropicana.  A wonderful afternoon on Cupecoy below the OC.  No problems with the "boys".  Spent the evening by the pool and played dominos.

Thursday:  Stayed at OC and spent a very pleasant morning on Cupecoy below OC.   Again, no problem with the "boys".   Went to Sopranos with our group and had a great time.  Back to OC for midnight pool time under the palms and the moon. 

Friday:     Swimming at the pool, walking down to Cupecoy, and sharing the leftovers with the OC staff.  Had to leave at 3:10 P.M.   Stayed in MIA again and flew the rest of the way home Saturday.

Observations and Hints

Grande Marche on the Cole Bay Road to Marigot is the nicest place to buy groceries. 

Local grocery market that we like is the Sapphire store.