We started our vacation in St. Martin on Orient Beach at Esmeralda where we stayed for the 5th time. It was nice to break up the trip to SBH with a couple of relaxing days on Orient. We spent our days at Coco Beach and had a great lunch at Bikini Beach and Kontiki. The first night's dinner is always at L'Astrolabe where we were warmly greeted by Thomas and Amin like old friends. We ventured to Grand Case for dinner at Il Netunno (sp) for great Italian. For the last evening we walked to Orient Village, via the well-lit street, and ended up at Paris-Texas for a good meal. Patrick, the owner is a delight. We never felt unsafe but we were careful. We also met some great folks from Tennessee and Arizona. It was a nice way to start the real vacation. On to SBH for a way too short visit.