The "Life Has Been Put On Hold! There Goes Our Vacation!!" Story

Pre-Preface:  The Preface that you are about to read was typed about two months ago and saved on my computer for publishing at this time.  We had scheduled our vacation, which was to run from May 10 to May 31, to the island of St. Martin about a month after we returned from the island a year ago.  

Villa Joie de Vie, our favorite rental.

We have fallen in love with the island and enjoy the same particular area on the island that our realtor, Magali, offers for rent.  But, in the meantime, life was put on hold due to the COVID-19 virus.  The island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin closed to air traffic about a month ago and will not open anytime soon I suspect.  All our planning and anticipation for this year's trip to the island went up in smoke.  I had to place calls to:  Magali, to cancel the three weeks, the hotel in Philadelphia where we had planned to stay the evening before our flight, Leslie, the fellow who we had rented a car from on the island and Karen, our long-time friend and tour guide/ticket manager who had made our flight and insurance plans for us.  LIFE HAS BEEN PUT ON HOLD.  Yes, I did make new plans with everyone, but depending upon how long this virus holds us captive, I may have to cancel it all over again.  And, the entire time, we are getting older.  Will I be able to hear everyone in another year?  Will I be able to carry a suitcase and walk through the airport in another year?  Will I still have enough money to go on vacation in another year?  So, what you read in the following Preface will mean nothing, but since I had already spent fifteen minutes of my life writing it, I put it in anyway.  So enjoy the rest of this story and be prepared not to read any follow up stories that I would have written about our vacation.  

Preface:  I am writing this part of my story on Saturday evening about 6:30 PM.  We have just finished our evening meal at the restaurant inside the Clarion Hotel Philadephia and are back in our room preparing to get into bed by 8:30 PM, or by dark, whichever comes first this evening.  

Getting ready for takeoff.

We have parked our car in the hotel lot and it will remain there until we return from our vacation to St. Martin in three weeks.  Tomorrow morning we will receive a wake-up call at 3:00 AM so we can be on the shuttle bus to Phiadephia International Airport by 3:45 AM, checking in at the American Airline counter by 4:00 AM.  Our flight is scheduled to depart at 5:00 AM, landing in Miami at 7:50 where we must wait until 10:45 AM when we board our flight to SXM.  At 1:57 PM we will step off the plane into paradise.  

Our traditional 1st night meal at Le Piment.

After picking up our rental car in the parking lot from long-time friend, Lesley Bruce, we are off to Orient Village where we have rented a condo with pool from Magali who is the owner of Island Escape Vacation Rentals. She has been the perfect island host for close to 20 years now.  Time to relax around the private pool and then off to Le Piment for the first meal of vacation.  Our traditional first meal of salad and lasagna will greet us after when we arrive.  After some unpacking we will be in bed and asleep in quick order.  Read on:

It was an ordinary day.  Feeling awful knowing that by the end of the day I will still be in the same place as I am when I began writing this.  I should have been going on vacation for three weeks with absolutely nothing to do buy get up, go to the French bakery for breakfast croissants and sandwiches for Carol and myself for lunch.  Place called "Good Morning."  The owner got to know me a few years ago and when I return every year, he greets me with a big smile, for he knows he will sell me French goods for the next three weeks.  The sandwiches and chips were to be our lunch for the days we didn't care to eat at a beach bar.  An hour after breakfast we would have been on the beach on a lounger, sharing an umbrella.  Our host on the beach was a fellow named Cedric who stopped to talk a few times each day.  Our days would have been spent putting lotion on, catching some rays, reading, lounging on our water noodles in the pristine water, and doing it all over again.  Oh, yeah, we would take a break from relaxing to eat lunch sometime around noon.  And, that was our day!  Every day except maybe days that were overcast when we would visit with longtime friends on the island or head into the towns of Marigot or Philipsburg to spend our life savings.  Well, by now you know what we will not be doing for the next three weeks.  And, since I will not have any photographs to share with you, I thought I would go through my collection of photos from the past and share some with you, since I'm sure when you found out I was going on vacation, you would have expected photographs to view.  Some of the following photos I have posted before, but you probably forgot them by now anyway.  I did!  Some are photos I found when I discovered a few SD cards I thought I had lost.  Enjoy the following and if you begin to get bored, stop and return later.  The photos are in no particular order.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click to enlarge photographs.

Plane landing at Sunset Beach Bar.

Woman waiting for ferry to nearby Pinel Island.

Happy Bay beach!

Sugar bird building a nest. 

Beautiful island flowers.

Under the umbrella on Orient Beach.

The outdoor store on Pinel Island.  It was washed away in hurricane Irma in 2017.

Restaurant patrons arriving by boat in Grand Case.

Sugar birds feeding on sugar.

Beach on Pinel Island from the top of the hill.  In the distance is Orient Beach.

After Hurricane Irma in 2017.  Houses along the beach were destroyed while beach chair awaits a patron.

A soaring frigate.

Variety of breakfast macaroons in Orient Village.

Such a soulful look!  He wanted me to take him home so badly. 

Jars of local jams.

Directional signs on Pinel Island.

An old friend!

A young gecko.

Colorful view from the boardwalk in Philipsburg.

Shops at Paradise View.  They were destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

View from the Mt. Vernon Resort area.  This shows the beach known as Orient Beach.

From under our umbrella on Happy Bay.

Not a care in the world!

Cactus.

Hummingbird searching for a meal.

The rooftops of Orient Village.

I took this photo last year while on Orient Beach.  High above was a kite.

Saw this guy every day on my way to get our breakfast croissants.

Beach memories.

Sir Roland Richardson signing our numbered print we had just purchased from him. 

Roland's hat.  He took it off while he was showing us around his studio and placed it on this bench.

Sir Roland contemplating his garden.

Just a beautiful flower.

Another island flower.

Silhoutte of woman smoking on Friar's Beach

Silhouettes of Carol and Me in the late afternoon sun on Orient Beach.

Did you see the frog?

One of many, many butterflies that were at the Butterfly Farm.  It too, was destroyed during Irma.

Boo Boo Jams.  Neat little area that burnt to the ground one night when we were there.  Located on Orient Beach.

An intense game of checkers!

Bartender waiting for the evening crowd.

Anna!  Friend of Barbara and Dee!

Fisheye photo of the Marigot market place. 

Our all-time favorite Orient Beach meal.  Mussels a'la Andy from Andy and Cheryl's Baywatch.

On the road to the Ma Doudou Rhum "Factory."

Do you know why his yellow pouch is expanded?

One of the many signs for the five different beach bars on Orient Beach.

Church is opening for Sunday services, and we will miss them!