The "It's All In The View" Story

It was an ordinary day. We finally made it! It's May, 2009, and we are in St. Martin again after arriving at the airport, going through customs, picking up our bags and waiting for the rental car pick-up. Now we have to wait for our escort to Villa Sea Haven. This is a newly renovated 3 bedroom 3 1/2 bath villa located in the prestigious Oyster Pond hillside with stunning views of Dawn Beach, the Atlantic Ocean and Isle of St Barts. Now that last sentence I copied from the website for the villa. We are only renting one bedroom so the price is considerably less that the 3 bedroom price. Also, if we only use 1 1/2 baths, the price is even cheaper. Since we are renting in May, the price is about 1/2 what it would be from December to April 15. We learned all these things after a few years of travel to St. Martin. Well, the escort is finally here, so we leave the car rental place with our rental chairs and umbrella in our trunk and follow him to the villa. We saw this place last year when we searched for a spot that had a better view that the villa last year. We arrive at the foot of the hill we must climb in our car to reach the villa. Pretty steep and part of the road is just gravel. "Close you eyes, dear," I tell Carol. As we enter the villa, it is just as we had remembered from last year. Even better, since we will get to stay two weeks this year in the villa instead of an hour like we did last year. We weren't sure we were going to make it this year. The swine flu was causing problems all around the world. We both got flu shots, called the doctor and got a prescription for Tamaflu and bought masks to wear in case we noticed a lot of coughing in the airport and on the plane. Took forever to locate the masks. Everyone was out of them at the pharmacies and drug stores. Finally found them at Walmart in the hardware department. They sell them to protect you if you are sanding, removing insulation, etc. The villa is gorgeous. Gonna spoil us when we have to go home. Our house is just as nice, but we don't have that view. We have an unobstructed view of the ocean from our porch off the living room, the porch off the master bedroom and the the pool area. From our porch we can see the massive Westin Resort complex. Not a pretty sight from above. The first thing we notice is how windy it is. Must be on the windward side of the island. If you leave the doors open, it blows everything off the tables close to the door. In the evening you need to bundle up because of the wind. When we go to bed we close the hurricane shutters for security. But, they rattle soooooo much that we have to open them slightly to stop some of the noise. Oh well, can't have everything. Breakfast on the porch in the morning is fantastic. It's all in the view. "Just hold onto your food so it doesn't blow away", I tell Carol. This year we have USA Cable TV, since we are staying on the Dutch side of the island. Also have 110v electricity instead of the 220v on the French side, so we didn't need to bring the converter this year. Living room, dining room and kitchen are beautiful. It looks just like the Beach! And, the master bedroom, even with the shutters that rattle at night, is really neat. Get up in the morning, sit on the porch and watch the sun rise since we face east. You know, there were many days when we decided to just stay at the villa for the day. We had gone to the store and had the supplies we needed for our meals, so why not enjoy the great weather by our own private pool. And ...... the view!!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are: Carol and LDub preparing for the worst on vacation, entrance to gated community where Sea Haven is located, nighttime view of Sea Haven from the beach, panoramic view from our pool deck, view of the Westin Resort below us, our beautiful pool, enjoying the pool, master bedroom on second floor and interior of Sea Haven showing living, dining and part of the kitchen.