Ray's burger
1. Vlasta & Ray returned the safe key and the two front door townhouse keys to the Cap Caraïbes rental office.
2. Then off to the airport but first we needed to fill the fuel tank of our Kia Optima at the Cadisco station by the access road to Boo Boo Jam on Orient beach. Marius of St. Louis Car Rental had told us two years ago to go there because they give 1€ for $1. They still did so on December 10th. We paid $1.03/1.03€ for a liter unleaded. That's about $3.92 for a U.S. gallon. We got 37 bucks worth to fill the tank. That was the only time we got gas during our 18-day vacation.
3. We arrived at the PJIA airport w/o any delay by taking the Marigot > Sandy Ground > Terres Basses > Maho route. We stopped in front of the new terminal at about 10:45 to drop Vlasta and the luggage off. Ray parked their rental car on the new parking lot and then joined Vlasta inside the air conditioned terminal. Ray and Vlasta wandered over to the AA counter to check three suitcases and get the boarding passes for their flights to Miami and Chicago. We didn't have to open any luggage. We were outside and breathing the warm SXM air again at 11:00.
4.Ok, now what??? We weren't going to meet Marius and hand over our rental car keys till 2:30. Well, you probably guessed it, we drove 1.4 km (.9 mile) to the Caravanserai parking lot and strolled over to the Sunset Beach Bar. It was time for some lunch and watch some planes come in. We found a table with a good view of the bar, the beach and de planes landing. Ray was lucky to get this great shot of a Continental 737 about to land. Vlasta walked around a bit while Ray waited for the server. We only saw one for all the tables, luckily a lot of the barflys were still sleeping. Ray finally got her attention and ordered a Presidente ($4). They now have free WiFi at the SSBB but Ray "wisely" had left his laptop at home in Illinois. Ray glanced at the menu but decided to wait a bit, it was still before noon. When Vlasta joined Ray it was time to order two black angus burgers ($8), a Presidente for Vlasta and another one for Ray. The burgers were delivered at about a quarter to one. Mike & Susan showed up around 1:30p and right away ordered burgers and Caribs. Ray ordered a coke ($3) for himself to make sure he was alert and sober for the drive back to the PJIA parking lot. Our friends had checked 4 overweight suitcases (Susan's clothes and countless Ma Doudou bottles) at the US Air counter but did not have to pay any fees. It took over half an hour before their beers and burgers showed up. Susan was famished and dug right in. Ray & Vlasta stuck around till about 2:20 hoping to see the Air France Airbus 340 land (it was scheduled to arrive at 2:15) but no such luck. Time to go. Vlasta's carry-on was still in the trunk of our Kia Optima rental car parked in the Caravanserai parking lot and Marius of St. Louis Car Rental met us in front of the terminal a few minutes past 2:30.
