Hey you guys. Im plannning on visiting SXM in Aug with my lil sis. I need to know what airlines are the best and what hotels offer good rates. I also need to know If the school will accomadate with meetings and a tour. I would like to know of some fun and cool things to do in the sun. Ok thank you. Buh bye

__________________
Pathology
PGY-1.75

As far as hotels go:

• Summit: A block away from campus; 3 min walk
  Delfina: Two blocks away from campus; 7 min walk
  Maho: About 1 mile from campus...casinos, shopping
  Caravanserai: About 2 miles (tops) from campus...next to the infamous sunset beach bar & grill

Hope this helps!

Aloha,

__________________
Pathology
PGY-1.75

How much are roundtrip tickets?

Go to www.aa.com and register, place a "fare watcher alert" for your nearest city to SXM. The prices at times fall to the upper 300's low 400's, you just have to watch closely.

I've found that my best deals are made on that site (I travel to the Caribbean 4-5 times a year) and you get miles for reservations made on the site.

I've gotten really good deals in June for summer travel.

If I had seven days on SXM, this is what I would do:
***1 full day at Orient Beach, lunch at Kontiki, dinner at Kontiki
***1 full day at Maho beach, half spent body surfing and half spent sitting at Sunset Beach Bar watching the planes (and tourists)
*** Half a day at Coconut Grove (at the end of the road in French Quarter) at the lookout area... you can walk to the islands across the water (it's never deeper than your knees). Wear sandals or full shoes (sea urchins) and enjoy checking out the sea life... just don't hurt or
destroy any of it!!
***Save some $$ before Aug. and have a really nice dinner in Grand Case. About 70 US per person (you can spend a lot more, especially if you love wine), but food to DIE FOR. My favorite: Le Tastevin. (driving through Grand Case in the late afternoon.. you get fat just with the smells)
***A full morning exploring Marigot. Just realize that most of the streets roll up at 2pm for the infamous naptime. That's why the French can party all night long, you know.
***One day on a snorkeling trip from Simpson Bay area (over by Indiana Beach Bar) about $45 US per person, food included.
***One day at Plum Bay, Baie Longue or Baie Rouge (near AUC campus in flatlands). Take your own cooler with food/drinks - lots of the beaches are very quiet/pristine/unoccupied. Then, spend the evening back at Sunset Beach Bar.
*** Did I say spend some time at Sunset Beach Bar???

Honestly, my two favorite places on the island are Sunset Beach Bar and Kontiki. If you don't do anything else, you'll still be happy.

Oh yeah, for those of you who HAVE to shop, both P'burg and Marigot have all the toursity places (jewelry, watches, clothes, bags, perfume). I prefer to shop online and save my vacation for the beach.

Faith

__________________
Faith Dillard, MD

“Well behaved women rarely make history."
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

There are lots of kewl things to do here, and Faith hit alot of them. Personally, I don't share her love of Kontiki. I haven't eaten there, but one look at the menu was enough for me. I wasn't about to pay 16 Euros ($19) for a cheeseburger and fries. We went down the road to another one (Bikini Beach Bar, maybe?) and still ended up paying 12 Euros for a half-raw hamburger that I didn't eat. Of the four of us there, no one was impressed with the food, prolly half was deemed inedible, and the bill was still around $90. Oh well, diff'rent strokes.

Sunset is great. As for the snorkeling trip, I think Faith is prolly talking about Aqua Mania Adventures, in Pelican Key. They have several catamarans which go to other islands. I personally went on the Lambada, which goes over to Anguilla and makes 2 snorkeling stops, then feeds you lunch at a nice little restaurant on the beach. It was $56 for students, and I think $70 for non-students. They have other trips, too, to Prickly Pear and St. Barth's, etc. It all depends on what day you want to go, but it's all you can drink on the boat - sodas, beer and rum punch, and they serve good Frech bread with gouda cheese all day long and also some fruit, too. It's a great day.

For food, dining out is great, even on the Dutch side. I don't go to the French side very much, probably due to their legendary hospitality, but on the Dutch side I would recommend Bananas in Simpson Bay next to the movie theater for sandwiches someday for lunch. Their steakwich is great, sliced strips of steak, gouda cheese and grilled mushrooms and onions served on a French baguette (sp?). The Cajun chicken sandwich is also great, and their burgers are big and very good as well. Peg Leg Pub is very good if you have plenty of time to wait (read between the lines), and of course, Ric's place has a great atmosphere, with Tex-Mex food (decent quality, but not like we're used to in the South), right on the lagoon with a nice breeze, big screen TVs to catch sporting events, and a perfect view of all the great yachts. Sand Bar is also great, in Simpson Bay Yacht Club. The Boathouse, across from Bananas and the movie theater is good, too, for seafood, but service times are usually only slightly better than Peg Leg Pub (Peg Leg has darts, too, if you're looking for some recreation). I hear Summit Hotel makes great ribs, but haven't ever been there (for ribs, we make our own, as delicious as any I have ever tried). Sugar Cane Cafe near the school is good for sandwiches as well, their burgers are good, too. Bamboo Bernies in the Caravansarai has great atmosphere and often music and such, too. If you make it over to Philipsburg, Front Street is a nice shopping place, and they recently completed a nice new boardwalk that is very relaxing. Dinner at the end of the boardwalk at The Greenhouse is recommended. Shopping for jewelry is all over on Front Street, but we have found the best prices and service to be at J&N Jewelers in Maho, where we (and our friends) have bought many items and had no problems. I don't personally recommend Riviera Jewelers in Maho, due to some bad reports. Cheri's Cafe in Maho is a neat experience, they have a nightly drag show (it's hysterical). The show is better than the food. Also at Maho, around 9-9:30PM, the dance troupe comes out of the casino and spends 15 minutes or more dancing in the streets and such, with elaborate, Carnival-style costumes, but in August, they may not still be doing it. It seems to be mainly during high season. For Italian food, I recommend (from vast experience) either Trattoria (better known as Pizza Pasta) in Maho, La Gondola in Atlantis Casino (near the school) or Laguna near the airport.

So there's my dissertation... can you tell I like food?

Casinos are around aplenty, and for $20 you can spend a long time playing conservatively at the slots. I like to go once in a blue moon and drop $10 or so on nickel slots. I know, I know, I'm a big spender. $5 hands of blackjack can keep you occupied a long time, too, if you're not greedy.

If you're into scuba (or want to be!) I would recommend the Discover Scuba course at Dive Safaris in Simpson Bay. They do a very good job, and I think it's about $60 per person. If you're already certified, you can also pick up on a dive with them or Dive Adventures out of Pelican Key and see what the water's like in Sint Maarten. The beaches and snorkeling are really awesome in Anguilla. Movies are all first-run at the theater.

So anyways, my fingers are cramping, and I'm sure you're medial and lateral rectus muscles are, as well, so I'll sign off now..... have fun!

For airfare, if you can make it to NYC pretty cheaply, you can go on Jet Blue (a great airline) to San Juan for $200 round trip. Then $200 or less gets you round-trip to Sint Maarten. Or you can set up fare-watchers on Travelocity, follow bestfares.com (a $70 membership which you can sometimes save on the ticket price alone), or whatever. Connecting through Neward with Continental, Charlotte or Philly with US Airways, and JFK, San Juan or Miami direct to Sint Maarten. Also, I think Delta flies in direct, too, from Atlanta.

Lotsa decent fares to be found, if you have the money to buy on the spur of the moment when they drop for a few hours. Just keep checking them. If your dates are somewhat flexible, that helps, too.

Lynseystew & I had lunch at Waikiki Beach one day and our bill for the both of us was somewhere near $100 USD...the food was quite awesome, though! Took my wife there for lunch when she got into SXM and spent nearly the same amount, but the food was every bit as good.

Enjoy your trip here!

Aloha,

__________________
Pathology
PGY-1.75

Oh yeah, if you love Indian food, Anands is AWESOME. During my years there, we ate at the P'burg location on a weekly basis. Now there is a second restaurant in Pelican Key right across from Indiana Beach Bar.

Yeah, as trMedic says, JetBlue is awesome. I haven't looked at DC flights into SJU - I'm not sure if they fly between the two, but definitely worth looking into. (US airlines need to get a HUGE clue about service... I think every exec from AA, USAir, Cont., United... should fly both Jet Blue and Virgin Atlantic to see what "service" means)

Faith

__________________
Faith Dillard, MD

“Well behaved women rarely make history."
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Turtle pier in simpson bay makes a very good champagne lobster dinner and the walk down to the restaurant is interesting.

__________________
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.