We didn’t actually have a cottage, just a really nice suite with a really nice view of the Caribbean. We’re leaving in a few minutes, off to the airport and back home.

It was a great trip.

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Keeping with our apparent strategy to alternate days with some kind of excursion with days spent at the hotel, today we are hangin’ out. Which is doubly nice because we leave tomorrow for the airport and back home.

We did make a brief trip to a food market a few minutes from the hotel to try and get some snacks for the flight, as we’re expecting the airline food to be mediocre at best and the airport selection poor. We just picked up some chips and Cliff bars.

And then we returned the rental car. Hertz is extremely convenient, as they have an office right here at the hotel. They’re also not very reliable – when I went to pick it up last week, the agent showed up 1-1/2 hours after his posted opening time. I rented for three days, and he said I could extend if I needed. The process for extending is; don’t return the car. It turns out the office is closed Sunday (when our three days were up) and Monday. And when I went to the office this morning around 10, it was still closed. So I dropped the key in the lock box. A couple of hours later I received a receipt from Hertz for the five days, exactly as expected.

Longue Baie (Long Bay), where the hotel sits, is apparently a popular destination for day tripper boats to drop anchor and allow their passengers to play. They dive off the boat, swim, snorkel, play with noodles and float on rafts. As the beaches are all public, they’ll swim or be ferried to the shore and lie on the beach. We’ve noticed these boats every day, but today the frequency of arrivals and the total number seems out of control.

We get group tour boats with 5-15 passengers on a three-hour (or five or six) hour tours. At one point this morning I counted six catamarans and a couple of other single-hull boats all anchored at one time. As I’m writing this at 2:30, there are eight boats, including one very large private motor catamaran and a two-masted sail boat that is designed to look like a very old ship.

I suppose some of the hotel guests are annoyed that these people are using “their” bay or “their” beach, but the fact is that both the bay and the beach are open to the public.

As we no longer have a car, lunch and dinner were at the hotel.

Zelda and Mateo left this morning after breakfast, They arrived here in St. Martin two days ahead of us, which enabled them to get the lay of the land and guide us through our first day here. We’ve taken a few trips with them now, and I have to say I enjoy their company. I’ve known Zelda for over 55 years now (Sally knows her even longer), and Mateo since they started dating more than 45 years ago. Old friends are the best friends.

As this was our last day with the car, Sally and I decided to drive up to Grand Case, a little town at the north end of the island. Grand Case is known for its fine food. In the evenings, it has reputedly the best French food on the island. During the day, simple restaurants called “lolos” are strung out along a single street in town, their backs open to the water, and all offer the same menu: barbecue. They are found in different places in the Caribbean and have evolved over the centuries. Today, they are open air, often with long picnic-style tables, and arranged so the barbecue grills are adjacent to, or in the center of the tables.

After walking around a bit, we carefully chose the first lolo we came to and sat down. Neither of us are big barbecue fans for different reasons, but it was fun watching the controlled chaos as the chefs cooked on the open grills, the waiters ran around getting orders and delivering food and drink, and the patrons all having a good time. The portions were huge and the prices were low.

We got back to the room mid-afternoon, rested a bit and then planned dinner back in Maho. It seems like today’s agenda was all about planning and eating meals. We went back to Mr. Chow, the Asian place we enjoyed a few days ago, and had another good meal. After dinner we took a quick walk through the casino (1) next door. We weren’t impressed. A couple of 21 tables, a roulette table and a poker game were open. Lots of slots, mostly sitting idle. We didn’t play, making this the least expensive casino visit ever.

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(1) The casino was named “Casino Royal”. Very creative.

After the excitement of our trip to Philipsberg yesterday, we decided to stay at La Samanna today. We relaxed by the pool, did some exercise, had a nice lunch in the Beach Bar.

I started the day as I do everyday, sitting on the balcony, enjoying the sounds and the view.

You access your accommodations by walking down a path through a garden, with the main building and restaurants at one end and our suite at the other end. It’s quite a long walk! But it’s very nicely landscaped, and is usually mostly shaded, so it’s a pleasant walk.

I mentioned that La Samanna is designed so that every room faces the beach and the Caribbean. This is accomplished with a series of buildings that stretch the length of the property, each housing from 1 to a dozen of the ~80 rooms, suites and villas. The buildings are each two stories. The first floor units have patios that allow access directly to the beach, but also allow anyone walking by on the beach to see in unless you keep the curtains drawn. We chose second floor units for the privacy. They all have balconies where you can sit outside and enjoy the sight, the sound and the smell of the beach in complete privacy.

This was Zelda and Mateo’s last night, so we went back to Maho for dinner at a steakhouse. The food was good, but I have to say that I was disappointed by the watered down bourbon they served me. I didn’t make anything of it, because we were all having a nice time. Overall, we’ve been pleased with both the food and especially the service everywhere we went this week.

And just for fun, one more shot of the beach in front of our hotel. All of the lounges appeared to be in use.