Trip Report: July 2003
by Sandy Beach
My wife and I just took our third trip to St Barths. It just gets better every time. Here are some of the highlights:
Villa
Our search for the perfect villa took us to Villa L’éclair
– a very private luxury villa on the hillside in Anse De Cayes.
This villa is owned and managed by a local couple whose family names go
back to the original inhabitants of St Barth. They met us at the airport
and made sure we were comfortable. Very charming people. The Villa has
a beautiful terrace with a pool and and spectacular view of the water
and hillside homes. This location is also very convenient – close
to the airport and half way between Gustavia and St Jean. It is the highest
villa on the hill – so it is very private and so relaxing. Tile
floors everywhere, indoor and outdoor dining, direct tv, king beds. It
is also one of the best values on the island. (Please send me a private
message for more details on this.)
Beaches
As usual, we spent most of our time alternating between Saline and Gouveneur
– but for the first time – we finally discovered Columbier.
What an awesome treat. It is now my all time favorite. The “hike”
is only about 15 minutes, and you do not have to be in great shape to
get there. It's an easy walk. I love it because it is so quiet and
so peaceful. The water is almost still – you can be up to your chest
in the water and look down and see your toenails. For future visits, this
beach will be an item on the daily agenda.
Food
Breakfast – pastries, breakfast pizzas and/or quiche – from
Match or La Rotisserie.
Lunch – either baguette sandwiches with ham and cheese on the beach mostly. But we did go to Le Select for a Marius Special Cheeseburger one day and a Panini from La Piment another day.
Dinner -
L’espirit Saline: Best lamb I have ever had. This was a great restaurant,
highly recommended.
La Gloriette – nice little cozy place on the beach – excellent food, best value meal on the island, I think
Andy's Hideaway – always great. Had a ham and pineapple pizza and goat cheese salad. Superb. I love the local charm of this place.
Wall House – exceptional dining experience. From appetizer to vanilla rhum – this is a first class place – excellent service, excellent quality food. Have been here on every trip and always leave saying the same thing.
L Ananas – wow – great but so expensive. I don’t know whether it was the lobster or the bottle of vanilla rhum or the frozen daqueries – but somehow we ran the ticket up to 300 us dollars. Yikes. For just two people, it seemed a little high, but I guess I just wasn’t paying attention to the prices. Really cool restaurant – we at there on the night of the fireworks (july 14 Bastille Day) and got to watch the fireworks from our table overlooking the harbour.
Nikki Beach – they had a BBQ on the beach and we had ribs and other assorted goodies. I really like this place – very comfortable. The music was low key on this particular night, but it looked like the kind of place that could really get rocking if the right people are there. I love the big pillows and the “bedroom” theme of the place. Is this the first official “chain” restaurant/club on the island?
The island was beautiful – and bit more crowded than I remembered
it being last July. I use the term “crowded” loosely –
certainly not crowded by US beach standards. I got stuck with an automatic
transmission this time – not the stick shift that I requested. They
said it was an upgrade – but I didn’t enjoy the driving experience
of St Barths nearly as much this time. But it was a truly wonderful vacation.
This time, we even left our beach chairs at the villa – in safe
keeping – for our return next year! No more lugging those things
through the airports, thank goodness!
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