After a VERY rough and full day of flying, we were rested and hopping on another plane to our final destination; St. Maarten!

We were going down to St. Maarten for my BIG birthday, something I had been planning since last year and FINALLY it was here!  Our flight from Newark left on time and arrived early, something Air France didn't seem to be able to do!  The airport is small in St. Maarten, the planes fly in literally just over the beach and land, barely missing the ocean.  We breezed through customs and made our way out into the tropical warm air.

Yeah!  We were finally in St. Maarten!  I had arranged a rental car with Marius of St. Louis Car Rentals and he was there, waiting for us with a sign with our names on it and led us and our baggage out to a car in the lot.  Had I not read about him in Trip Advisor, I might have thought he was a shady operation as we all got in the car, he sat in the driver seat, filled out the information he needed, and then he drove us to his car, grabbed us a map, and sent us on our way.  Of course I had filled my head with a little too much information on the message boards of Trip Advisor also reading about crime on the island and ending up being a bit paranoid by the time we arrived.  The locals we were dealing with confirmed we should be cautious but that crime really wasn't happening all the time and just to be alert and not to stop if you were rear-ended.  I was on high alert.

It was beautiful out, sunny, warm, in the 80's, but not too hot or horribly humid.  We headed out with casual directions to the house we were staying at, edging ourselves around the airport.



The drive didn't take as long as we had expected, in a mere 35 minutes we had navigated correctly, a little challenging due to not many road signs, and were entering Dawn Beach Estates.



Our directions were to "keep driving straight until the ocean is right in front of you", which made is seem as if we were almost driving into the ocean!



We finally had arrived at Villa Ella!



A local, who was walking along the street as we arrived, came up behind the car as we parked in the carport and when we got out, asked for our keys to take our bags.  We immediately became suspicious and told him "no thanks" and then he asked us again, saying he would take care of them for us.  I was almost in a panic, told Keith to stay with the car while I walked down to the house immediately greeting our host Ella and then telling her that some strange guy was trying to take our bags.

Come to find out it was Curtis, someone who helps her, and not anyone bad or evil trying to steal our stuff.  I felt a tad stupid and realized that perhaps I should take everything I hear with a grain of salt.

Ella welcomed us to her beautiful seaside home and showed us the apartment we would spend the next two nights in.



It was gorgeous with sweeping views of the ocean.



There was meticulous attention to detail and if felt just like being in a five star hotel, just without the inflated prices!





I think I'm REALLY going to like it here...







Then she showed us the outside terraces which made me think that I might be willing to give up my Tuscan views for this one...



The waves were crashing on the rocks below us and the sound of the ocean was everywhere.



This is looking back at the apartment we would be staying in...



There even was an outside pool perched on the edge of the terrace.



Ahhh...we were finally here!  On the island!  I could already feel myself beginning to relax.  I LOVE being in a tropical setting, in fact I would pick living on an island over Italy but I don't think Keith or the dogs could handle the tropical heat.  It had been WAY too long since were on a tropical vacation and I was just SO excited to finally be here!

Ella was wonderful, explaining the nitty gritty and then giving us some recommendations.  I left her with a bottle of "Tuscan gold", some olive oil that I had brought down to give to her.  The first order of business was to head out and grab lunch as we were starving, so we drove a quick 5 minutes over to Oyster Pond to Big Fish for some lunch.

Of course a trip isn't started on a tropical island without a rum punch drink. sweating from the heat in its icy cold glass...



Lunch was GREAT!  I started off with a crab cake, probably one the best I've ever had...



Keith had a fish cocktail that was really fresh and quite tasty...



I had a jerk chicken caeser salad - REALLY good and more than I could possibly eat.



Keith had a jerk wrap that he did a good job at finishing off.



Ahhh...tummies filled, rum punches in hand...life is VERY good!

We walked across the street to FINALLY check out the beach and stick our toes in the water.  It was just perfect.





We stopped at the bar for another frozen drink and a local beer and just enjoyed the tropical breeze.



I finally couldn't stand it anymore; I needed to be one with the ocean!  We went back to our house to change, and then walked back down to Dawn Beach.

The sand was so fine, it was just white powder that stuck to everything but was very soft to walk across.  The water was wonderful, like bathwater.  LOVELY!

Keith grabbed us drinks from the Westin's bar right on the beach and then headed in himself to enjoy the fantastic Caribbean ocean.





We stayed in until past sunset, turning ourselves into prunes but loving every minute of the beautiful beach and warm waters of the ocean.  We finally walked back to the house and cleaned up to get ready for dinner.



We were pooped enough from our horribly long travels that we decided to take the easy route for dinner and go back to the same restaurant we had lunch at.  I was still a tad paranoid about things I had read and didn't want to push our luck on our first night, not being that familiar where anything was.  Dinner was REALLY good and we had a lot of fun with the people working at the restaurant, it was a great experience.

On return, Keith made us a couple rum punches and we sat outside, enjoying the sounds and smell of the ocean.  It was just absolutely fantastic.  Happy birthday to me!

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