Hi Barbara and David,
Kristen1206 and I will be in St. Martin for a week in May with our families, and were wondering if you would have any interest in meeting up for lunch one day? It would be nice to meet you guys.

That's a nice idea - plus the fact that I have never met Barbara though, as it's a small island and we might well recognise each other !

Sounds good! We'll be there May 7-15. We'll be at Grand Case Beach Club Friday and then Happy Bay villa (above Happy Bay) for the week. Email me at kellybellew at yahoo dot com and we can work out the details for meeting.

sounds like a good idea
you guys make the arrangements and I'll be there. let me know
email is
[email protected]

perfect!

I would suggest that we get together while you are at the Grand Case Beach Club, right at the start of your stay, then Barbara and I can 'wise you up' on what is happening that could be of interest to you while you are on the island, and also warn you of exactly where the worst traffic jams and potholes are likely to be found !!

What do you think Barbara ?

I'd love to, but Kristen and her family don't fly in until Saturday. We're flying in Friday b/c the flights are so much cheaper from PHL. We can certainly meet you Friday, but I know Kristen was hoping to meet you too. What about meeting up Sunday or Monday? Our villa is only about 5 minutes from Grand Case (I believe) and we're pretty flexible on times once there. Or we could meet at Friar's Bay -is it Kali's beach bar there? Our villa is right by there too. Do you know if they do the Friday night parties there in May (even if it's not a full moon)? That sounded like fun.

any date is good with me, although Monday may be better than Sunday..
and Friars Bay sounds like a good place for lunch
the Kali parties at night are full moon parties only I think.
and if I am going to meet you all on the french
side,coming from the Dutch side, then I can give you a full "trip report" on the traffic jams and pot holes. LOL
t he

Hi David and Barbara! Would love to meet you both but I am totally fine with you meeting up with Kelly on Saturday if it more convenient and so we can get the scoop early on

Hi Kristen
I don't know what David's schedule is, but waiting til you get here is no problem for me.

Are you the same Kristen posting on Trip Advisor?

Hi everyone.

Sounds like Monday lunch would be best for eveyone. How about 12 noon at Kalis ?

You should still be white then, before the sun gets at you, so you should be easy to recognize !

How many will be in your party ?

Barbara, I believe you have a shop / boutique or something in Philipsburg - am I right ?

If so, what is the name of it and where exactly is it ?

I will try to stop by to introduce myself next time I am on the Dutch side of the island.

Hi David,
Noon on Monday is perfect-we're pretty flexible so if the time needs to change as we get closer just let me know. We'll probably just veg at the villa all day Sunday, and Tuesday we're doing a power cat charter (Captain Allans) over to Anguilla.

Too funny about us all still being white! It'll be 6 adults, 5 children (ages ranging from 1-14). Not sure if you've seen any of my or Kristen's trip reports, but we both have pictures included in them too so you really won't be able to miss us then! Our usual travel buddies are coming w/us too (they went to Long Island, Bahamas and St. Martin w/us before too).

Barbara, we're planning on doing a day trip over to the Dutch side one day and do Sunset Beach bar to grab lunch/watch the planes land, and then do some shopping in Phillipsburg. I haven't been there since '04. I saw online they built a new promenade/board walk thing there? Do they still have the couches on the beach? Those were nice to hang out on! We'll have to stop by your store too while there! I remember a Jimmy Buffett like store-it was my favorite (I'm a huge parrot head). Hopefully it's still there! We were there in September when a hurricane was on course to hit (it swerved last minute and missed), so they weren't letting cruise ships into port or taking any boat trips out, so there were barely any other people on the island it seemed when we were there (there were about 10 other people on Orient beach, and about 20 in Phillipsburg from what I remember-it was a ghost town)! I'm guessing it'll be a tad more busy this trip

Barbara...I do post on TA a lot but my name on there is EllieBean. I started using that board when I was pregnant or my daughter was a baby and we thought that would be her nickname but it never stuck. I tried changing it but they wouldn't let me because I had too many posts attached to it.

David, we own Cannegie Liquor Store on front Street and Radio Shack,but I am never in either place very often.
I call it semi retired. my husband calls it retired.LOL
so you'll probably just have to wait til May to meet me.

Monday at noon at Kali's on May 20th sounds like a plan.

Kelly, yes, Philipsburg is lined with a boardwalk now. there are restaurants and water sports all along it. I think they took the couches off the beach but there are plenty of beach chairs for rent. The whole boardwalk is packed when there are cruise ships in.
If there are no ships, it is pretty quiet.
The Jimmy Buffet type store was called Last Mango in Paradise. It is no longer on front Street but is a smaller boutique type place next to the Greenhouse restaurant at the eastern end of the boardwalk.

Do you both check email regularly? Not sure what our phone situation will be so will email be a good way to reach you both in the event that we have to change time/date for any reason once we are on island?

I check my email all the time.

I check my e-mail virtually 24 hours a day !

Barbara, have you got the date of our proposed meeting wrong ?

I thought that they arrive on May 7th and leave on the 15th.

If that is the case, surely we are looking at Monday May 12th to meet up.

My calendar shows it as Monday, May 10. So we'll plan on meeting you at noon at Kali's then and will email you if anything changes. thanks!

May 10th is what I meant. typo. sorry