Vacation Non-Vacation

 After a year of not traveling at all (unbelievable for our family) we needed a change in scenery. Desperately! We checked our options for some of our usual island destinations (Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire, St Croix) but couldn't make any of them work so we opted for the next best islands: The Florida Keys.

A week after the dawn of 2021 we packed our stuff and flew south. It was great to get first class seats for what we would pay for cattle class on most domestic flights. We landed in Miami, met the other family for lunch in Key Largo and caravanned south to Chardonnay House in Key Colony Beach, a man made area of canals at the northern tip of Marathon. 

This house was a very welcomed respite from the past 24/7/365 of living in our house.  We had 4 bedrooms, lots of desk space and lots of outdoor living space to essentially quarantine somewhere else. We worked and went to school the first week, in between dives and trips to the grocery store.

There were lots of walkers and bikers in the neighborhood and people were genuinely friendly.  Must have had something to do with the warmer, sunny weather?! Sunset Beach Park was at the end of the street and had nice views of the ocean. 

And then there was the diving with Captain Hook. It was more than chilly for our crew that is used to diving in warm waters (like 80+ degrees) but a good time was had by all!

At the end of our two weeks of non-vacation we all flew home with tentative plans for when we can all travel again and Covid-19 is behind us!

SXM Still in Recovery

We just spent 2 weeks on St Martin and while a lovely island it still has a long way to go with recovery after Irma in 2017.

The Dutch side fared better than the French side or maybe because the airport and cruise ship port are both on that side of the island they got it together quicker? Either way there's still a lot of work to be done on both sides.

Marigot is a sad version of what it once was. Few shops are open, the market is a portion of it's previous size but there are restaurants open and you can climb up to Fort St Louis for a lovely view of the harbor and Anguilla just across the water.

We stayed on the French side at Nettle Bay Beach Club which is about 70% rebuilt/renovated. There are few units that are completely abandoned with little hint of anything further being done. Many are beautifully rehabbed.

The beach is lovely however you do need shoes to walk around as there is still glass and debris from the storm and renovations that are all over.

It must have been cheap dock your mega-yacht week around Christmas as we counted at least 7 in our small bay and dozens more in Simpson Lagoon near the airport.  Then there were the private jets. One after another they came in past Maho Bay Beach where you can watch all the tourons get blown off their feet and blasted by sand for fun. Clearly this island is for the wealthy.

On the plus side, the food is spectacular! We had wonderful meals out and were able to get anything we wanted to cook to eat in. The prices are not hideous as compared to many other islands and are no more expensive that Paris.

We dove with Ocean Explorers and had a great experience with them. Our divers did 2 shark dives and saw all kinds of sea life!

The French side is way more laid back from the Dutch side. It is quiet for the most part and it was easy to be relaxed.  The Dutch side has the casinos, bars and clubs as well as numerous hotels and resorts. It's clearly the party side of the island.

While we had a great trip and totally relaxed and St Martin/St Maarten checked all our boxes, it will be a while before we think about returning.

Azores - go before everyone finds out!

We recently spent 12 days in The Azores or Sao Miguel to be precise. There are 9 islands and this is the one that is easiest to get to now that their government allows Delta to fly from JFK daily from May to October. It's a little over 4 hours from NYC and (currently) a reasonable airfare if you consider it is A) Europe and B) Summer.  We scored tixs for about $800/pp in AUGUST.

The Azores are a unique place. They are volcanic, have a tea plantation, grow the best pineapples you will ever eat, largely self-sufficient when it comes to food.

You can go hiking all over the island if you're that type of person.

You can go swimming in an ocean filled pool, scuba diving, sailing and whale watching (which we suck at because we never see whales) if your that type of person.

You can go to the botanical garden, historic and still active military fort/museum, or have a personal tour of the farmer's market and cooking class on what you've bought.

A really cool and unique thing to do is have dinner cooked by volcano. Furnas is the part of the island that still has volcanic activity. There is a park where restaurants take their pots in the early morning, let them cook all day and then serve dinner at their place in town. We were lucky enough to be there when they pulled one out of the ground. It's like Mother Nature's Crock Pot.

There aren't a lot of hotels so check out Airbnb for great deals. We scored a 3 bedroom flat with a view of the harbor and a parking spot in the building right on the main drag for about $239/night. We were walking distance to everything in Ponta Delgado.

Car rental was pricey but necessary if you want to see the island. Parking in town can be a challenge but is manageable. Driving is easy and as the roads that go around the island are winding so you don't go much over 30 mph. There are roads the cut across that move faster as does the highway. But take the scenic routes to really get a feel for this island. Just know that cows are really a source of traffic.

You can take 4 full days and do the highlights or a week to 10 days gets you a really in-depth view of these islands in the middle of the Atlantic.

Bonus: No regular cruise ships stop here unless they are on transatlantic from the US to Europe for the change of season. So you will not have days where the town is flooded with people!

The one thing you can't really do is shop. If you're a shopper looking for duty-free or lots of shops selling local wares, this is not the island for you, find somewhere else for that!