Thinking of SXM

As many of you know I frequent a travel board by the name of Travel Talk on Line or www.TTOL.com There was some conversation this week about waterfalls on the island.
When we were last on island we walked the entirety of Baie Rouge. At the far West end past the last house there were cliffs with a small waterfall. This may be man made from one of the palatial palaces on the cliffs or run off from landscaping and or their pool but I did snap a pic ….

There was also an earthquake off the shore of Martinique yesterday. I sent one of my friends on SXM a note asking how they fared and it sounded like pretty well. She said she was in her car at the time so felt it but at first thought her car was acting up. Said no damage to her home or the resort she works at. Damage aside I was just glad to hear that her entire family was safe.

I knew that there was volcanic activity in the general area as well as a very deep trench off of Puerto Rico but for some reason never gave significant earthquakes a thought….guess was just thinking too much about hurricanes…oh yeah that season officially ends today too! Woo Hoo my favorite island has escaped for yet another storm season.

Re-visiting parts of our trip checklist…

Tier I (make or break stuff) COMPLETED!!!!
Step 1 pick dates…check
Step 2 invite friends….check
Step 3 book Time Share…..check
Step 4 book extra days on Anguilla……check three days at the Allamanda on Upper Shoal Bay.
Step 5 price flights…..check and not only priced but purchased.

Tier II (nice to have…..very nice to have) Big changes on this front!!!Big ticket items to purchase (hopefully) before tripPurchase 1 Procure a laptop from son….This purchase took a huge turn this weekend. Darned Black Friday Sales…lol. Had son’s laptop and got it running again but still needed a battery. Found a great sale on a pretty decent laptop and decided to scoop one up. So now I am not in process of rebuilding his machine rather learning Vista software on my new one. This task can now be checked off as done!
Purchase 2 New digital camera(s) Eldest son just purchased the Canon Rebel XTi 10.1 MP……Has offered to loan it to me for our vacation….still investigating an Olympus point and shoot that can be used in snorkeling…depth to 33’ with no external case, I’m very interested. Most likely done here too but one never knows.Purchase 3 pick up some dive equipment for CB (child bride) …at least the “underwear” We have a mask and snorkel. Will probably hold off on the fins as we are planning to pack carry on luggage only and fins won’t fit into that combination… Pretty much finished here as well.

We are still planning activities for the trip and I have contacted a local dive shop on Anguilla to set up dives but the other activities will wait until we are on island.

My page will be changing a bit soon as we have met almost all tasks needed to be finished for our trip. We are already kicking around where to go next year and who to go with….It wont be back to St Maarten next year for sure…we are actually talking about either Mexico or possibly the Florida Keys…

Same flight…way different price!!

Got on line today to add my FF id for my flights to ST Maarten in April.
While there I poked around a bit and selected the same flights to the island and back ….wow what a difference in pricing. I thought I did well getting our tickets at about $600 each. Guess I did really well as the fare today was over $1500 each for yes the exact same flights and no this isn’t first class either!

I know that the airlines change the prices of their seats almost daily but come on!!!
This is exactly the reason I watch several travel sites for months before I decide to pull the plug when the price is satisfactory to me.

When we travel to the islands we book our timeshare 13 months out and then at 360 days out from the end of the trip I start looking for airfare…best days I have found to watch for sales seem to be Tuesday and Wednesdays. Have made it into a routine to browse several sites and when they get to a price that my wife and I agreed upon, I whip out the card and grab up a couple of tickets.

Know that the airlines are making the business travelers or those that have to fly last minute pay dearly while those of us that can sit on dates can find deals.

We are slowly getting there.

Well folks the calendar keeps changing, the weather is going from Indian summer to oh my God it is getting chilly and Rob isn’t too happy! I think the season change has impacted me and I suffer from an affective disorder that when I don’t get enough sun my body goes into a mild depression. Obviously time to blog and think about this Spring sitting on the beach with my beautiful wife and celebrating a quarter century together.

Am looking at cameras on a regular basis and think we have a purchase narrowed down to a couple of possibilities. One is another point and shoot…with a bit of a twist. Olympus makes a 7.1 megapixel point and shoot that is good to 33’ under water…something to snorkel with for sure and play a bit in the surf … the other is more traditionally what I am looking for. I really have the itch for a D-SLR camera. I am an ole 35 mm guy and would love to be able to do some nice depth of field work and to be able to change out a couple of lenses. Of course a D-SLR will run me more than twice the price of the Olympus camera.

My wife spent some time looking at our pictures from years past and said that it was fun to look at all of those and to reminisce about all the fun we have had on island. She also discussed starting to tuck away some money for our next trip … a mere 5 months away.

We still have lots to do and plan but some of this will be last minute planning. I still need to find a photographer on island for some portraits. We will have some friends meeting us on island and have talked of taking a day trip to Prickly Pear.

Some of the things of interest we plan on doing…. 3 days on Anguilla, there we would like to drive around the island and visit a few beaches, possibly pick up a couple of dives and enjoy some fantastic food.

7 days on ST Maarten, will visit Grand Case for a nice meal, go to Pinel island as well as Green Cay. Visit Friar’s Bay and make the hike over to Happy Bay. I know it seems like a lot but when we get to the beach we do relax a lot so no problems mon. We will be rested upon our return.

More later…….