St Barts Trip Report

June 19 - July 3, 2003
by Erma

Previous trip…last December for ten nights ….loved everything about the trip. Decided around the first week of June we wanted to go to St. Barths again (actually we knew on 12/17/02 we wanted to go again...just needed to make time for it!)...left on June 19th…makes the countdown clock nearly useless!
*Even though we were not connecting on the first day we did manage to go for 15 days with only carry on luggage….still didn’t use all of the clothes we packed…evolution….One thought-what if you bet yourself that you had to leave any clothes that you didn’t wear on the island-would you pack those few extra items?

We stayed for four nights on Saint Martin @ L’Hoste Hotel. Long story as to why this occurred but it did give us the opportunity to decide…did we like our two trips to Saint Martin in 2001 because we liked the island…or the villa (C PER from Wimco) we stayed in. Verdict: La Perla was the main reason we liked Saint Martin. This trip…after an 18 month absence…was very different in many ways. We now know it really doesn’t make sense for us to plan any more time on the island…kind of sad because we really did enjoy our two trips a while ago.

We continued the “do we really like the island or just the villa” theme for the remainder of our stay on St. Barths. Our first trip we spent the entire time in Mont Jean at SIB CDM….this villa is really our style-laid back/comfy indoor and outdoor living areas/great view and PRIVATE. This trip I decided to try St. Barth Properties (after three rentals with Wimco) and go with a lower priced villa and tack on a few nights before hand at an interesting but inexpensive “hotel”. We decided on P’tit Morne in Colombier and were VERY pleased with the choice. Everyone is right on the money with their reviews of this hotel….the wonderful and sweet staff…views that keep going and going…cozy feel and a great front porch with a perfect hammock! We grilled out on the little Weber provided at the room….used the fridge for stocking up on some items from the store….took a few dips in the pool in the evenings….enjoyed walking up at night to the look out point…nice fresh towels for the beach available every day….and the flowers made the air very fragrant. Only down side is that when someone moved in next door then you didn’t have quite the feeling of privacy…could be a problem with a longer term stay. We would absolutely stay there again! If anyone is interested I did take a few minutes to view the “New Moon” cottage that they built about six months ago. It is located next to the pool and is behind a wooden privacy fence. Furnished very nicely and it is quite modern but comfortable looking. For those familiar with the hotel they are renovating rooms 14 and 15 with the same style and they will be priced the same as New Moon. Given the additional privacy of New Moon I would pick that over the “separate” rooms 14/15. I would be glad to send the pictures of New Moon to anyone interested. I also took a few of our room #3 (again for those familiar it is located just behind the reception area/on the upper floor-I would pick this room again). On to the last half of our trip….

One of the main reasons we decided to try SB Properties is the rave reviews Carmen and Ann Talarico (hey guys…where are you any way???) gave them in December-plus the reputation they have with others on this forum. We were NOT disappointed! Matter of fact Kathy came through in a big pinch for us and we are grateful. Not to dwell but we originally chose a villa on the east side of the island in the Cul-de-Sac area. The day before we were to move in we located the villa and just decided for several reasons it was not where we wanted to spend the second half of our trip. So I contacted Kathy and she got us changed to another villa. I must say we were impressed but hope that this type of impromptu service won’t be needed in the future (more questions on my part/planning)…but glad to see how SB Properties handles issues. We ended up at Le Pechoir which had been in our original pool of choices. As you can imagine we had to go with a: what was available and b: what villa could be opened up on such short notice. Since the owners of Le Pechoir live on the island that made this villa a good choice. We had actually seen the house a few times since we had been staying at P’tit Morne so we knew what the view/location would be at this villa. I can’t begin to tell you all how happy we were with this villa-from the incredible view to the fact that the owner has thought of nearly every little detail to make your stay perfect. It was so peaceful and we truly enjoyed all of our “little friends” like the sugar birds, lizards, frogs, and of course the massive Iguana living on the boulder out in front of the house! Well we just fell in love with this house and had to force ourselves to get out everyday. When we did hang around I was like a cat going from place to place following the sun….a.m. sun was best in the courtyard area…then move to the small area next to the Jacuzzi…when the sun is over the porch go to the beach….come back around four-ish for soft sun over the hammock. Not a bad day! There really are so many comfortable places to hang out it was hard to choose. I especially enjoyed the contoured chairs on the back porch along with the hammock. We really liked staying in the Flamands area with the great views to St. Martin and Anguilla-of course the view of the beach with the sound of the waves crashing were a big plus. Early Saturday…a non-Forma Fitness day…I took a walk down to the rock and back-I prefer the uphill to the downhill and can’t say I would do this on a week day due to the blind turns but it worked out and I enjoyed the walk. On Sunday we hiked to Colombier-and once again loved the hike but really just don’t dig the beach….didn’t even get in that day with the many boats and wind blowing up the sand….missed the mass amount of butterflies that were around last December. I brought along a pair of hiking sandals just for this – will probably leave them at home for the next trip.
As no place is truly perfect (so far that I have found) I will say that the maid at Le Pechoir is very good at cleaning the villa and it stays fresh and sparkling...bathing towels were replenished on a regular basis but we only had TWO beach towels for the entire eight day stay. I ended up washing them in the sink at one point and buying one at Patti SBH. Not sure what was up with that but if that is the ONLY negative for a villa then we came out good! There is some construction in this area so make sure you check that out before going down-we only had two days of a very annoying rock busting machine and felt fortunate it didn’t last longer. All in all I would say RUN to the phone and call Kathy at SB Properties for the July/August/September rate at Le Pechoir…it is a steal.

The rest of the trip….

-Beaches: still loved Gouverneur…still don’t like St. Jean (except for the lunch at La Plage-Hi Tom and Pam Parker! hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip)….found out we LOVE Lorient….Saline was beautiful as always but we just weren’t up for the sand blasting that day…didn’t make it to Shell this time…rather enjoyed the easy access to Flamands and the beach itself for a dip in the ocean…again didn’t make it to the washing machine.

-Food-we ate out, cooked in, did whatever …not a big priority for us (EXCEPT for a daily dose of croissants..I am going into withdrawals at the moment)….still love Andy's (thanks for making space for us on our last night! Loved the Neptune grill thing – fun times), La Gloriette was again our favorite dinner (also good lunch at their new beach place Cocoloba…Mojitos were awesome and even took one “to go”!), Santa Fe was okay for lunch, La Saladerie and La Route des Boucaniers for dinner. Most breakfast meals and a good many lunches were from the Petite Colombier boulangerie. Maya's to go…to die for flourless chocolate cake!

-Forma Form-loved my 7:30-9:00 mornings while Randy slept; entirely TOO MANY “soldes” signs-really shouldn’t go back in June because of it-Elysee Caraibes had Lancel and Longchamp on sale…too hard to resist so I didn’t; lot's of stuff from other stores-made it difficult to pack for the trip home since we came down with ONLY carryon! Ligne-just not the same without Sofie but I did manage; discovered Carit products-oh so lovely shampoo and conditioner (great for keeping my hair protected) and body stuff like exfoliating and oil/lotion. Stocked up for a few months! The pharmacie just got the products in about five months ago (I know they were not there in December..) and they are truly wonderful.

-Driving..still one of the highlights for Randy. Suzuki from Gumbs. He is a motorcycle nut and loved all of the super motar bikes on the island (I swear half of our pictures are of BIKES!). Also, Le Pechoir had French satellite and he was able to watch a good bit of moto GP racing which made him very happy. Since we haven’t had television in four years (by choice) he actually enjoys watching tv while we are on vacation-mainly since I go to sleep much earlier and also while I am sunning at the villa. Works out for the both of us!
Although he loves to go on holiday after two weeks he is itching to get back on his motorcycles and ride for more than “fifteen minutes and over 30 mph” that you are allowed on St. Barth! Out right now doing just that…

-Interesting moment-passing the church in Gustavia during a funeral…the hearse has a glass top so you can see in it (empty at that time but very different to say the least). Noticed two funerals while we were on the island-just seems like a lot to me.

-Much more island feel in the Colombier/Flamands area vs. Mont Jean which is more a “la la land” feel. We liked this and it was more in tune with the over all feel of this trip. A very different vibe to the island in the summer vs. December-you don’t get that feeling that everyone is “on” during June-they are much more relaxed. Also, a more diverse population for some reason?

-Weather-very windy which wasn’t a bad thing except for the blowing sand…I think it was due to Bill. Cleared up on the last few days and felt very different/more blue sky/prettier sunsets. I much prefer the warmer weather of June vs. December.

-Flights: can not possibly say enough about Saint Barth Commuter. They are a top notch company and very efficient. Flew out of the Grand Case airport and returned to SXM for our flight home. Once again I was able to fly shotgun back to PJIA and loved every minute of it! I think the flights are one of my favorite parts of the trip….I wish I could just fly back and forth for a day with one of the airlines. AA for the other legs of the trip-we arrived back home late Thursday night after a tedious connection in Miami – note to self…never go through MIA again.

-Next trip….booked our air with Delta (non stop from ATL to SXM, thank you!) within 48 hours of arriving back home for our December trip. Plan to leave 12/11 and return just before XMAS on the 21st. Last year we came home on the 17th and it left way too much time to get caught up in the holiday rush-I’ll fix that! I have no idea where we want to stay and look forward to the planning process. We should all make it our goal to book part of the next trip before even writing the trip report, don’t you think?

Having a hard time adjusting to life again...15 days is the way to go with a 3 day weekend tacked on the end to get back into the home groove.

Thanks to everyone who participates in this wonderful site-Kara and Bob we appreciate your work. I would also like to thank Phil and Louise Stripling for helping me with some pre-trip planning and for their years of work on Cieux. Without these four people we would not be able to share our experiences and live vicariously through others in between our trips.

Oh, the answer to our question "do we like the island of St. Barths or just the villa"....I think you can tell-we love the island! Complete relaxation at it's best :-)

 

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