Reflecting on the Mississippi Gulf Coast...fun, welcoming, comfortable!

And what made us fall in love with the Gulf Coast? We'd been there before, but just for a few days at a time.  One trip was pre-Katrina, back in the late 1990's and one was just last June, a few weeks into the BP oil spill. In fact, I wrote a piece for the Concord Monitor on what we found. Click here to read the text and see the photos and slide show.

When we turned onto Gulfport's Beach Boulevard in late January, the midday sun lit up the beaches.  The Live Oaks were magnificent. It seemed that each house sported a front porch wider and more welcoming than the next--always with rocking chairs and little tables to set your tea on. It felt great to just drive around and look!

And the view from the deck of our rental home? Dreamy!

So we started out feeling grand.  The beach was less than a block away. We were right on 2nd Street, which runs parallel to the beach and is shaded by ancient Live Oaks...a neighborhood that made for great walks. 

We had spent some time in the casinos on our trip last June, and were struck by the friendly nature of the people--from tablemates to dealers, they greeted us with smiles. But we found the hospitality even kicked up a notch.  When we would explain that we are from New Hampshire and had rented a home for a month, people would say "Thank you for doing that! We are so glad you came!"  Part of it seemed to be the famous southern hospitality, but some seemed to be relief that people are returning after the BP oil spill disaster.  No matter.  It made us feel truly welcome.

We also saw so many changes brought about by Katrina. The hurricane swept the beach area clean of honky tonk businesses and decades of minimal zoning--all resulting in no view at all of the beach itself for miles.  Now many houses on 2nd St. have wonderful views, and while that's not likely to last forever (rebuilding is happening), the beach will remain clear, boardwalk and fishing pier construction is now just about complete and the houses going up on vacant lots are well-built and very much in character with the area.

Maggie could not get enough of the beaches!

By day we would tour, walk, explore.  By night, we would prowl the casinos--always something new going on (including headliner shows) and no dearth of our favorite machines or seats at low-limit table games like Mississippi Stud. We found that shopping was a breeze no matter what you were looking for.  From Dillards to Target and Ann Taylor to Best Buy--finding goods and services is a 10-minute event.

So there we were--a wonderfully appealing setting, great nightlife and shopping.  Anything missing? Well, perhaps getting to know some people--and, happily for us, this happened too. Through some volunteer work for the local SPCA, making friends with neighbors who also had dogs, meeting the terrifically fun owners of our rental home and just taking people-magnet Maggie with us everywhere, we got an inkling of the real community.

And we love it! For more details, just look at the archive posts from 1/31 to 2/28.

Reflections from a St. Maarten Lounge Chair: Florida v. Mississippi--and the winner is....!

So many people have asked which we liked better, the Florida Keys, or the Mississippi Gulf Coast? A month in each area surely is enough time to form an opinion. Our gut answer was immediate--the Gulf Coast captured our hearts!

By why? We've been contemplating our reaction, trying to ferret out lessons that will help us as we begin thinking about "real' retirement. Part of it relates to us--both what we like to do and what we expected of each area. Part of it centers around the distinct natures of the two areas...each so lovely, but each so different. In fact, that's why we chose them.


Key Largo and the vacation home we rented there held some surprises. The weather was a bit cooler than we anticipated (nobody's fault, of course). Long days of lying in the sun didn't happen. But it made for good reading time and meant we could ride around and explore the area without feeling guilty that we weren't taking advantage of the sun.

Speaking of the sun, the sunsets were magnificent off our dock--addictive, really. One evening I took 75 shots of one sunset.  My favorite being this one:

We had friends Steve and Noreen and Ted and Lucy to buddy around with, which made for some fierce games of dominoes and great eating--both in and out at several of the great restaurants. Having friends around eased the shock of having nothing critical to do for weeks at a time--and also brought home the importance of having a strong social network in retirement. Bud and I have vacationed for a month at a time alone, of course, but always with a fairly rigid schedule of touring and sight-seeing.

This was different. It often felt more like vacation than a new lifestyle--but with more time than we had ever had to explore an area. It felt great sometimes and unsettling at other times. We'll have to work on that!

Having Maggie along was cool--she is a magnet for new friends and got us into the "dog-friendly" world of the Keys (significant!) almost immediately.  This was a real joy and quite unexpected--with the dog parks and dog-friendly restaurants we met lots of people and made lots of new friends--canine and human. This was one of the most rewarding parts of our time in the Keys.

But a lot of life in the Keys centers around fishing and boating. If (like Bud) you're not that comfy on the water and you're not that into fishing...well, there might be better spots than the Florida Keys to settle in for a spell of retirement. 

We did find the restaurants terrific--especially the dog-friendly ones like 88 at Mile Marker 88. They gave Maggie ice water in a "silver" bowl!

That's the good news about restaurants.  The bad news--a 5 pound weight gain for me!

Our final ranking of the Florida Keys--4 stars. Great for those who love the water, fishing, dogs, and a laid-back life style and don't mind having limited nightlife or having to travel an hour plus for shopping. We met lots of fun people--but they were all from elsewhere, mostly colder climates. I am sure there are natives or "locals"--but we didn't find any.  It left us feeling the Keys have a transient nature.

Of course, we were only there a month. And the rental home we chose was very private--not in the middle of a neighborhood. About the weather--it was a heck of a lot better than New Hampshire and (to be fair) you just can't expect Caribbean weather and water temps in Florida.

For details and pictures of our time in the Keys, just wander through the archives of my January posts--click on a set of dates to the left and just pick a title.

Tomorrow I'll summarize our thoughts on Mississippi's Gulf Coast and explain why we just can't get it out of our minds.

Ooh la la...the French side of St. Maarten!

Rich and Dot and Bud and I headed for Marigot, the main town on the French side of the island, for lunch and a bit of walking through the market down some fun side streets.

First stop was the Brasserie de la Gare, a restaurant known for its "scratch" pizza and calzones.  It sits right on the water at Marina Royale.

This fellow made the dough right in front of us...fresh for pizzas and calzones!

The shops were a lot of fun...so very French.  Dot and I thought this shirt was a hoot--can anyone picture it on Rich or Bud?

The Marina Royale has a great look about it--a little Caribbean, a little French.

Bud and Rich waited for Dot and me to finish in the market--Dot bought a great cover-up, I got a starfish--rolled from a steel drum and hand-painted, for our kitchen display of island artwork at home.

We stopped in to Sarafina's, a to-die-for-bakery, but escaped without indulging in more calories.  We'll be back for sure.

Yum!!!





Saba scenes!

I know, I know.  I am missing a whole day--yesterday.  Not sure exactly where it went...that can happen here on St. Maarten.

Today, however, was one of those days stays with you a long time.  The sun was perfect, the water very blue (if a bit cooler than normal). Best of all, and quite unusual, was a clear view of Saba.  Normally the peak hides behind clouds...and I know people who have visited St. Maarten many times and have never gotten a clear view of the entire island.

Bud and I visited Saba in 1995, on our first trip to St. Maarten. We took a short (and spine-tingling) plane ride over and picked up a taxi just off the runway to usher us around. We also hiked the 1000+ stone steps through the rainforest up to the top of Mount Scenery, which also happens to be a potentially active volcano. We were inspired by tales (true?) that one of the Dutch queens (Beatrix?) had made the hike in high heels. By God, if she could do it...so could we! And we did, though we began in sunshine and ended in a cloud--no view from the top. To learn more about Saba click here. It's tiny, population of just 1500, and only sees about 25,000 tourists a year--a fraction of those that visit neighboring islands like St. Maarten.

Today we were less ambitious and lounged under umbrellas on the Little Bay beach here at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort and took note of passing ships, kayaks and such--all with the island as a backdrop.  here is a sampling:

And now you should all recognize the shape of Saba!  Perhaps after 16 years and many hurricanes, it's time to revisit!

Hello from Sint Maarten--Phase 3 of our Faux Retirement Begins!

We're now back out of the New Hampshire weather and happily settled in our timeshare unit at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. Well, that is as happy as we can be without Maggie. It's hard to believe that we bought our first unit 16 years ago, a mere 6-8 weeks before Hurricane Luis flattened the island. How's that for timing?

But while other timeshare resorts here (Mullet Bay, Dawn Beach...and now apparently Pelican) were not able to make it through the rebuilding, renovation and re-sale process, Divi has always been there.  We are grateful and love it here.

More about the island's response to the need for improved infrastructure later, but now let me just say that each year we try do something new--a bucket list activity, or something that stretches our horizons.

Last year it was the zip line at Loterie Farm on the French side.  Noreen and I were the brave ones, and Steve and Bud did the photography. I did a piece on it for the Concord Monitor (click here for the slide show) which shows the level of challenge.  Fun!! To read the text click here.

This year, we're going for something less physical and more...elegant, perhaps.  While reading the Destination St. Maarten magazine (a great publication put out by Christine de la Cruz, who lives over on the French side of the island), I noticed an article on a new place over in Grand Case (also on the French side), where you can take classes in perfume making and actually make your own perfume. It's called Tijon, St. Martin (http://www.tijon.com/). How cool is that? We are definitely going to do that before our three weeks are up!

Here's another shot from this morning...if you're more interested in taking in the view than taking aim with your cannon, there are a number of spots to sit an contemplate the exact color of the water.

We'll see if this entry actually posts to my bog.  I am working from a WiFi connection in our room, and all the directions seem to be in Dutch!