St Barts Vacation Trip Reports and Reviews

Trip report, April 29- May 9

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:33:53 GMT

Another great trip! And lots of moving around!
Day 1-Got to Tropical around 4, went to Absolute Bistroy, then over to Andy's for an ice cream. He wasn't too thrilled to fill up a table with short timers, but we begged, said we would be quick, and said we knew Kevin, who was eating a great looking something.
Day 2-Loved the breakfast at Tropical, a nice continental in the garden. It is really a lovely place. Very french. Nice bar. Lots of smoke. I really felt this trip that the french are re-asserting their frenchness. I love that. Went over to Gloriette for lunch for the very first time, and afterwards we sat in a louge chair, and somehow, as usual, Jim confiscated a rum bottle. Lovely afternoon. Went to the Wimco cocktail party at the Wall House, then a burger at Le Select.
Day 3- St Jean, Tom Beach lunch. Not so much fun without JC, food ok. The rains were moving in that this point. Ran into Kim and her friends that are getting married at Christopher today. FUN! Dinner again at Andy's, ran into Kevin on his last supper.
Day 4-Morning at Governeur, then picked up the fromage and jambon sandwich at La Creperie. 4 euros for a, 18 inch sandwich!!! 2 euros each! And something in it, which might be about a pound of butter. Isn't mayo, so must be butter. OMG! Sat on our towels near Pink Parrot and had planteurs and that sandwich, a 10, if you ask me. Dinner at Cote Port for the first time. I am so proud of us doing lots of new things. Food was great, service was geat, we were the only Americans. Confiscated another bottle of rhum and sat on the harbor, looking at the clear skies that only happened at night. Great night.
Day 5-Moved to Les Islets. We used to stay there all the time when Coco was little, and I now remember how much I love that place. Ricky is so lucky to have a beach unit. They used to be easy to get, and now not so much. Lunch at Santa Fe? Perfect, need I say more. Except it poured, the room flooded, but we were done. Jim confiscated a bottle of rhum vanille, and we sat on the couch for awhile, until Manu could get it under control. Thursday at 5:30 met a fun bunch over at Le Select, dodging the raindrops. Went over to Le Repaire, which we love so much. Since we couldn't get into the Sunset this time, it was fun hanging in our old hood. The skies opened up like I have never seen, didn't let up, so eventually we had to run back to the car near Cantina. FUN!
Day 6-I have no idea what we did for lunch, but hung out for the day at Les Islets, then dinner at Harbours. Not my favorite.
Day 7- Moving day to the Little yellow house. Had a first nights provisions, which is highly highly recommended! Ate in for the first time in about 30 years. Saw a glipse of the moon through the clouds. Which is great, since I planned my whole trip around the full moon, yellow house availability, and our anniversary.
Day 8- This was the day from hell. Dinner reservations at Gaiac. So excited. thought we would pop over to Nikki, through the raindrops, for a wine and some sushi. After 2 hours, and a walk to Les Islets to meet Barty, I think we walked back to the yellow house. Konked out,and except for finding a baguette to toast around 10, completely missed Gaiac. Oh well, at least Jim bought a pair of Prada loafers for the event.
Day 9- I think another jambon and fromage sandwich with WATER, on St Jean. We rented the loungers from Jean Michel. 30 euros for 2 chairs and an umbrella. And dinner, a beautiful belated anniversary dinner, at Wall House. Merci Julien.
Day 10- An absolutely perfect beach day on St Jean, then our last dinner, a perfect dinner at Santa Fe.
Such a great time, very low key, met some great new friends. Counting the days til we return, but have a wedding to work on for September.

Trip Report 4/19-26

Tue, 01 May 2012 02:13:05 GMT

Hello all,
Here is our trip report of a fantastic vacation!

Arrival:
We flew from Indy to Charlotte, and then onto St. Martin and then took Winair to St. Barths. Our connections were tight all the way through. We had left our home at 4:15 for a 7:00 am flight, and were starved by the time we reached St. Barth at 2:45 pm. Fortunately, Winair put us on an earlier flight so we arrived an hour ahead of schedule. Our luggage arrived an hour or so later which was no problem.

We rented a car at the airport, a Hyandai, which we saw a lot of on St. Barth's. I agree that driving on island was scary, and yes there were a lot more trucks than I remember from our last trip there in 08. We stayed at Emeraude Plage, and they upgraded our room to an ocean view which was unexpected, and we ate at Le Repaire, as soon as we arrived! Their shrimp tempura with a tomato chutney was very good. My husband had the American cheeseburger! Later that evening we went out for a light meal at Le Bistroy. It was a beautiful evening, and eating outdoors there was very pleasant.

Friday:
Our usual routine was to make coffee and get croissants at the Rotisserie for breakfast.(We had gone to the grocery in Gustavia and picked up a few basics for breakfast and lunches.) Then we would go to the beach, take a walk and hang out there until noon. Fortunately, it was not crowded until the following week. We usually ate lunch on our patio, and then went out for dinner. I went shopping in Gustavia and St. Jean from 3:00 to 5:00. St. Jean was always crowded, and parking not always easy to find. But, I think St. Jean had a great selection of stores. Friday night we ate at Harbours, and had a great dinner. My husband had the Ocean pizza, which was so good. It was a thin crust, covered with crab meat, salmon and lobster. I had the lobster and shrimp risotto which was also very good. We shared the profiteroles, and ended with espresso and vanilla rum!

Saturday:
By now we are getting very used to this routine, with the French coffee and croissants for breakfast, and the morning on the beach! We decided to eat at Eddy's this evening and had mahi mahi and wahoo. The meals were very good.

Sunday:
So today we decided to take Tim's recommendation and do the walk from St. Jean to Lorient. With the heat, we leave early, 7:00 am, and make the hike. It provided beautiful views, even though the traffic was at times noisy and bothersome. We had breakfast at Le Petit Colombe, and walked back. It took us about an hour and a half. A good way to work in some exercise.
Dinner was at Andy's. I had the shrimp creole, and my husband had the Salmon pizza. And of course vanilla rum!

Monday:
More of the same, breakfast, beach, massage at Le Sereno, beach side. Very relaxing! We ate at Santa Fe. I had the tomato tarte, and David had the crab cake. It was a beautiful evening

Tuesday:
This day we did the 1/2 day on the boat, with Jicky Marina. The catamaran was large, and provided drinks and snorkeling equipment. The water was gorgeous, you could see so much! We docked at Colombia and swam and snorkeled there. Decided to try Le Select that evening.

Wednesday:
Knowing this was our last full day on the island, we stayed at the beach all day, swimming and relaxing. The water was gorgeous. This night we went into Gustavia, and got pizza at L'Isoletta, and finished by sharing dessert at La Creperie. Cafe Leagois, my favorite!

Thurday:
Unfortunately, it was time to return home. We really enjoyed our trip this year, and hopefully, will return again next year, for our 5th time!

A big thank you to all who provided recommendations on restaurants, and marine services, spas, etc! It helped make our trip very wonderful.

Day1

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:59:37 GMT

What a day! Jet Blue flight left an hour and a half late, since the had to replace the navigation system. Got to San Juan just as the sxm flight was due to leave, but they held the plane for 21 of us to bolt through the airport. They were all not so happy when we got on, As I sat in my seat, I saw my suitcase go up the ramp. So I was ok. On the loud speaker, once we were in the air, he told us the bags were all on. Frankly, I would have stayed in SJU if my bags were there. So of course our bags were the last off in sxm, which was surprising, since they were the last on. Went to the Winair transit window, and got on a flight an hour earlier than we paid for. Went up the elevator to face a wall of people in security. Just as we got through, they announced over the loud speaker to come to the gate immediately. We ran barefoot down the stairs. Jus as we were about to land, the pilot said the landings were very rough due to the wind. Not too bad.
I knew the bags would not be there, and of course they were
not there for another hour. But all good. Ran into Rosita at the airport, saw Kimberly as we turned the corner up to the Tropical, and ran into Kevin at Andys. Nice to be home again so soon.
Went to Le Bistroy, which was great, except it had just rained,
need I say more. Then to Andy's for dessert et rhum. 8 pm.

Big Girls Trip

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:20:37 GMT

My sister is taking me to St Bart's tomorrow!
She is an old timer (her 3rd trip in 10 years---she's 28) and my first.
We are looking forward to time on the beautiful beaches, snorkeling, good dining and just a little time out listening to music.
If anyone else is around next week send me PM.

Trip Report

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:52:48 GMT

We just had a fantastic 8 days in St Barts.....One of the reasons, for me at least, that it was particularly enjoyable, is we ve had some significant drama going on over the past month....long story short, I began to show some signs and symptoms of either kidney or bladder cancer...no sweat said the Docs, it could just as well be something minor, so lets do some tests.....well the tests ( some of which I would not wish on my worse enemy they were so bad ) started to eliminate all the minor things it could be, and things started to look scary....and because I do nothing the easy way, the final test to determine once and for all what is wrong with me looked like it couldn't be done before we left for vacation and we were going to go to St Barts with this weighing on us...but lo and behold they were able to squeeze me in the day before we left.....talk about running around like chickens with out heads cut off!!!....anyway the result is I have a ganglion cyst on my kidney, which although it has a 10 per cent chance of turning cancerous, is NOT cancerous at the current time, and poses no immediate health threat to me...I will make arrangements to have it removed sometime after the summer fishing season..

so armed with that knowledge I was REALLY ready to party now!!!!.....LOL

and so it went....

The Highlights:

Trip Down: To me it looks like the United/CO deal has had no effect whatsoever.... EWR/SXM/SBH once again, for the umpteenth time in a row, we were out on time, in early, and thanks to St Barts Commuter, on the island early afternoon....it couldn't be more seamless and easy if we wanted it to be

Wendi filmed the landing because it looked like we were going in backwards but instead just turned wide to the west because we were too close to the plane in front of us....never had that happened before...going home..same deal..a walk in the park....

The Weather:....perfect....sunny everyday...a little rain at night..breezy....not to hot or humid....

Auberge petit de Anse:.....this year we got two bungalows adjacent to each other, attached by patios...and gave the brat her own bungalow...what a home run this was....lots more room for all...two bathrooms....and most importantly, private adult recreational time for Mom and Dad!!!!...wooohooooo!!!!.....no more getting creative....although that was fun too....but this is better!..two bungalows will be our standard now

The Food:....great as usual

we dined in:

Harbours
Andys
Eddys
Creperie
Select
Take out Creole joint in Lorient
Ti Zouk K'fe
Gloriette
Chez Mikes

all were very good....the best of the bunch for us was definitely Ti Zouk K'fe....love the new menu...well done..and the live Zouk music with dinner was super!

The take out joint in Lorient whose name escapes me was very very good...Kevin and I got Chicken Fricassee, Mahi Brochettes, Red Beans and Rice, and Vegetable au Gratin for four people...came to 40 euros, and we had leftovers..highly recommend this place

I did not do my usual Mahi on the grill with lime cilantro butter sauce this year..instead I got my hands on a nice small mahi ..fileted it and skinned it to two thin filets and pan seared it meuniere style, but not so heavy with the sauce..I let the fish be the star (and it sure was ) of the plate...served along with a lobster and goat cheese risotto, and a salad, this dinner was very much enjoyed

and the breakfast of a poached Vitet egg on top of Pain Cereal toast with a thin shaving of Parmigiano and Parma proscuitto under the egg was awesome...how about taking that Wednesday Fig Bread,slicing it, battering it with some fresh Vitet eggs and making french toast, with fresh fruit and champagne...oh yeah..it was rocking

Thanks to Kimberly for handing off enough St Barts Blend for not only vacation, but for most of the summer...wow....really appreciate it!

We are pretty much done with Marche U for all but the things we cannot get anywhere else....its just a big corporate grocery store now...when Wendi went to get the cheeses and saw no more wheels of cheese, just prepackaged cheeses, I thought she was going to get sick right on the spot....she just looked at me in disgust and said, "if this is what St Barts has become, its now beyond French lite now! "....well the good news is ALMA and others still do cheeses the right way....ALMA and the new and improved Superette by the gas station at the airport were the best of the bunch by far....cheapest Whispering Angel was at the Airport Superette by the gas station at 12 Euros

Entertainment

Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish????..at Baz Bar???..really??...what a treat for us this was....Johnny Hoy is and has been one of my favorite local yocal Cape Cod Bar bands for many years..so to hear they are in St Barts???...wow!!!..we went both nights...had a blast..ad being used to seeing them in packed hot packed sweaty Cape beach bars, what a pleasure to see them play in front of about 20 people in a really laid back venue...a better blues harmonica man you will
not find..and it was great to be able to sit with Johnny and Jeremy and talk about the Cape music scene

Dontcha wanna take me on a sea cruise...ooooou eeee ...oooou eeeee baby.....the boat trip to Colombier

So off we went..armed with enough food to feed a third world country and enough alcohol to embalm an entire neighborhood we set sail for Colombier on a 34 foot Contender

best day of the vacation if you ask me.....Colombier was loaded with turtles around the boat all day to entertain Lena....great music...super weather..Salty Dogs were consumed in mass quantities...much laughter..what a day!

Sunset at the Goose

Love the new look...love the new prices...one Sancerre..one frozen chick drink....one Shirley Temple....20 euros....nice..in the past it wold have been much more.....but a Karioke singer as entertainment????..really?????.....big thumbs down.....doesn't fit at all....get a piano player..or someone to play guitar and sing....that was shameful....and the reason we only went once.

Random Stuff

The Island was fairly quiet....almost too busy for our tastes, but not quite, which is good....Parking in Gustavia is an absolute joke..its a joke because it is not tourists cars..its all locals...clear evidence of that is how much parking opens up at 1 and again at 7.....how can they be so stupid????>...Retail 101 = make your store and products easily accessible???....the easier the better....how in the world can they possibly think its not effecting sales when the customer cant get there!....case in point...K&K wanted to eat lunch at Le Bistro....couldn't find a spot...tried and tried...ended up eating at Harbors as one of their three spots opened up....so - Le Bistro loses out.....I would be livid if my retail shops were there, and some of the merchants I spoke to are very unhappy about it all...they better get a handle on this soon....cant even imagine high season....parking lot in St Jean is hideous....they can do better than that...but at least its parking.....severe lack of seabirds...not good....sea weed wasn't bad at all and it all pushes to the west side of whatever body of water its in so is no big deal....flying back to SXM I saw weeds as far as I could see in both directions.....driving is getting fairly harrowing....after 32 years of driving on the island and never a scratch on a car, I had more close calls than I can count...some very close calls...why??...cement mixer trucks are bigger....septic tank pump trucks are bigger..personal cars are bigger...and here is a news flash..the roads aren't bigger...and a lot of these big vehicles are being driven by drivers who need to be in the middle of the road due to low driving skills..it aint good.....so starting next year I am going down there OVER insured...too many close calls.....luck will run out eventually......the current obsession with Italian food there now is pretty funny....even in the markets....snorkeling was excellent....really enjoyed three windless days to be able to swim Flamand and Governeur without getting your ass kicked by waves

That's about it..... no sadness when we leave...we just don't roll that way....just happiness and gratitude for our time spent together decompressing, and very much looking forward to a long fun filled Cape Cod summer coming up in three weeks

and now Lena's slide show

HOUSE GUESTS..........

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:12:51 GMT

An interesting topic that I would like some feedback on. We have had 5-7 different couples over the last few years that have been invited to stay at our rental property. We never asked anyone to chip in for car or rent. We recently had very generous guests that treated for a few lovely meals and spa treatments and we have had another couple that will be married down here shortly that do so as well.

Question is.......is there a "normal" procedure for having people staying with you that are not paying rent? We are by no means cheap people and always have a stocked fridge with wines, beers, and any other libations one could hope for as well as tons of nibbles etc. (that's what we do). I have never seen a thread on this forum regarding the appropriate behavior (i.e. leaving tips for the maid to clean the bedroom etc.). I am in no way trying to be tacky but I am just wondering what other long term or short term people tell their friends what to expect when they come down for a rent free visit. Kind of an weird question but I suspect other long term renters have wondered the same thing. k.

St. Barth Trip Report 4/16/2012

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:28:15 GMT

The first time I went to St Barth was in the summer of 1995 or 1996. Along with some friends we chartered a 54 foot sailboat in St Martin. My first encounter with St. Barth during that week was when we dropped anchor (or picked up a mooring don't remember) in Colombier and the rest is history.

I always told my girlfriend at the time that when we get married our Honeymoon would be in St. Barth and that she was also going to fell in love with the island.

Well on April 14 we got married at the El San Juan Resort & casino in San Juan Puerto Rico. A couple of days later we went on our way to St Barth, first taking a short flight from SJU to SXM in very bad weather and then onto St. Barth in the Voyager Ferry or better known during those days the "barf ferry" because of the bad seas. Flights from SXM to SBH were cancelled. After a 50 minute ferry ride in the oldest voyager ferry we arrived at the Gustavia ferry dock. The St. Barth Properties rep. and the Alamo car rental person were waiting for us. We rented the car with Alamo because they have a 20% discount for the low season and a brand new Daihatsu Terios with a nice big sun roof for 40 euros per day.

We then followed the St. Barth Properties rep to our villa in Pt. Milou. Our first impression of the villa was the amazing sunset view. The villa was recently remodeled and everything in perfect condition.

After enjoying the beautiful sunset we went to Marché U to buy some snacks, cheeses, breads, hams, beers, wine and alcohol mixers. Later that night we had our first dinner at Harbour's (review and pictures in the restaurant forum topic). Every dinner in St Barth was great Harbour's, Wall house, Bonito, Santa Fe, Andy's Hideaway etc.

Every morning we either went to the Lorient bakery and apart from buying breakfast we would buy sandwiches to enjoy at the beach or we would drive all the way to Gustavia and had a very late breakfast at La Creperie and then onto the beach.

We brought with us a half gallon igloo cooler that my wife would fill everyday with either Piña Colada or Margaritas to take to the beach. We enjoyed our Piña Coladas and Margaritas at Saline, Gouverneur and St. Jean beaches. The beaches were as beautiful as I remember them but surprisingly more crowded than I thought they would be specially Saline and Gouverneur. We also did the Nikki Beach lunch which was very nice.

After the beach or shopping in Gustavia we would go back to the villa to enjoy the amazing sunsets and have some snacks and Rosé by the pool.

We had a great time in St. Barth and now the love of my life is also in love with St. Barth.

JC

Stbartslover's April trip

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:47:57 GMT

Down a day before my wife...up early for a "beach-to-myself jog on Saline, just a single vehicle in the carpark.

there had been lots of rain and the ponds were full about the island.

as I walk over the dune who do I see but a photographer who's work we all admire---my buddy Ricky G.

of course work arround the villa, this is when you are too compulsive---touching up our neighborhood sign, the lady who snapped this pic assumed I was the maintenance guy

I cleaned up and walked down to the "new" Hotel Taiwana to join Ricky for lunch---the place is gorgeous---lunch is run by the hotel and dinner by PaCri we were told.

dining room is beautiful right up to the beach---food and service were very good.

Caroline in that afternoon evening and we were happy to make dinner with Jim and Teri at EdenRoc---a place we had not been in quite a while---excellent company, views and fare---this vacation starting out well.

First few days the winds were calm (too much so for LesVolies) and Baie Flamands looked like a pond.

racing yachts in the harbor---big ones.

and the smaller class boats...really wanted to see these guys under full sail--some had come a very long way

next evening we were invited over to "Rivertrash's villa in Colombier to watch the sunset---nice company and the views were breathtaking.

afterward we went to Wall House for dinner which was very good---Julian has finished the exterior adding cool neon.

Our favorite waiter Fedrico poured some good Rose' that was a gift of one of our prior villa Guests.

Most seaweed was on St.Jean Beach---but this guy, with the best job on St Barts was on it.

We snorkeled Colombier which was the best we'd ever had this time of year since the sea was so flat---checked this group off a yacht preparing the spot for Guests with chairs, cooler, and beach toys.

Someone dropped my phone so I got a French one that I could not figure out so Julian Tatin was nice to pass by and set it up for us.

Caroline and I enjoyed a nice lunch at the villa with Dr Brosnan

we had another nice one by ourselves at the Chris.

I'd wanted to hire a boat to watch the races since last year the one we went out on was not fast enough to run with the racing yachts.
I was put in touch with these guys with a 42' craft with a complete hardtop...the crew was excellent, the boat "Blue Escapes".

We were off for a great afteroon among the gorgeous racers.

The area about St Barts was filled with 65 yachts under full sail in 2 courses.

There was so many to watch---most professionally crewed from Italy, France and the US.
Someone like Rosemond or RickyG's photos are better but you get the idea---if you're on-island when something like this is going on to be out on the water is a must.

as we went out toward the big boats it started to rrain off Saline---no problem---we had a hardtop!

this was a particulary beautiful one.

It was a great day among friends---I'm passing Rose' to my friend Kimberley watching one of the smaller boat on the return.

Back at the dock (as a professional caterer) she served us lunch along with the crew.

Our skipper pouring champaign for Deborah while he books the next days' charter.

We've had some great times on boats with friends but this was right up near the top---I would highly recommend this crew!

Just prior to leaving Detroit we changed our tickts so spend our last evening with our good friend Dennis Carlton and he invited us to his beautiful villa CaseetCusine in Marigot.
We had a nice dinner at PaCri with another friend Terrance Rey from Air SXM.

Last morning Dennis Caroine and I had breakfast before on flight on the beach at Grand Cul de Sac.
a great trip!

Trip Report: 17 - 31 March 2012

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:30:29 GMT

Trip report sub-title =
The 9€ - 99€ St. Barth's Lunch for Two Tour =
(in chronological order)
Boucherie St. Jean BBQ (takeaway)...
La Langouste (Baie de Anges Hotel)...
La Plage (Pink Lady's Lunch) + Au Regal (Men's Lunch)...
Ti Zouk K'fe...
JoJo Burger...
L'Esprit de Jean-Claude Dufour...
Cre'Age (takeaway)...
Harbour's St. Barth.
I'll have individual reports (w/Food Porn Pix!) on each of the above next month. In the interim, y'all can try to guess the Price Order for all these lunches -
but I'm not telling 'til May!
As for the non-eating portion of our trip: This was our 3rd Bucket & by far the best one yet since we spent Friday on Top-Loc's catamaran and Saturday on Lone Fox - both Thanks to this site. I took waaaaay too many pix & may never be able to bring myself to delete any of them. (I think I "missed my calling"!)
We have New Neighbors in our villa in Camaruche: a pair of young Gliglis (American Kestrels) have moved into a tiny space (above the electric hurricane shutters & below the roof) in a corner of our living room window. The Good News is that - since the windows are mirrored (because of the afternoon sun) - they can't see us watching them as they sit on the ledge right in front of the window = made for Great close-up pics.
This trip also saw the "birth" (sprouting) of the 55th coconut palm tree on our property. Now, if only the price of coconuts would go up - maybe I could finally retire to St. B. full-time!
Finally, it was so nice being able to "put a few faces/voices" with their corresponding avatars during the Pink Lady's/Men's Au Regal lunches =
Merci to all for your kindness to Nancy & I as Newbies.

It Doesn't Suck...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:29:52 GMT

...to have your own boat during the Bucket Regatta, courtesy of Libby Troyer. Not seen are Earl, Bananaboy, Dennis, and the newbie Ashley.