St Barts Trip Report

July 8 - July 15
by Seashell Kids

This was our first trip to St. Barth, and our first trip out of the country since our honeymoon in Nassau 27 years ago. Now with the kids in college, it was time to take the big trip again. We flew USAir from BWI; bags were checked through to SBH. We had a 7:55 AM flight, which would have given us about a 1½ hour layover in Charlotte. Fortunately I checked the flight status, because they delayed the flight 2 hours for mandatory crew rest, which would have made us miss our connection in Charlotte. We were able to get on a flight that left BWI 1 hour earlier, but we had to hustle to make it through check-in and security (long lines). In the rush to leave home and get out the door, I left the digital camera at home--oh well, maybe I’ll enter the photo contest next time. The trip from Charlotte to SXM was uneventful, and St. Barth Services helped us through screening and made sure our bags made the WinAir flight. The flight from SXM to SBH was short and fun. We cleared customs, got our bags from Bryce of St. Barth Services. We found St. Barth Services quite helpful in guiding us through SXM and making sure that our bags made the plane. Next we picked up our car, a Samurai with a clutch that was fairly well used. Took me a while to get used to it! Although we were tired, we stopped at Match for some essentials before going to the hotel. I didn’t want to have to go back out to the store once we checked in. Found the hotel—we stayed at Le Village St. Jean—wonderful people! We had cottage #8, a deluxe terrace cottage with view—it was beautiful! There was a large porch with lounge chairs and a hammock and the porch overlooked the bay towards Ile Chevreaux. The cottage was clean and comfortable. There was always a pleasant breeze. Mosquitoes were not much of a problem—there were a few, but we never had to put repellent on. There are more mosquitoes back here at home.

Went to Andy's the first night. It was wonderful. Andy greeted us himself. Had pizza, pasta, and Caribs. The vanilla rhum was a treat! Went shopping in the morning--Ligne St. Barth for fragrances, sun tan oil, and then to Gustavia. There's a rush hour in Gustavia just around noon when the shops close for lunch, but it's pretty quiet on the streets around 1 PM. Visited the museum and walked around. Found M’bolo and bought some vanilla rhum to take home with us. The owner, Sandy, was quite friendly and was excited about her plans for her new web site. She will be able to take orders on line this fall. It is supposed to be on line in October; the address will be www.mbolosbh.com. We ate at an outside table at La Route Des Boucaniers overlooking the harbor. The sandwich was good but a little pricey, but the breeze, the view, and the Zouk music were great. Came back and went to the beach at St. Jean. Rented a lounge chair at Filao for € 8 per ½ day. Nice to have a Ti Punch on the beach. Friendly staff at the bar. Had pannini at KiKi e Mo for dinner.

The morning routine for me was to get up at daybreak and have a cup coffee on the porch. I would walk down the hill, and walk the beach, first on the Nikki Beach side of Eden Rock. Then after walking along the road past the little gulping fish and the fiddler crabs at the culvert between Eden Rock and Filao, I would walk the beach on the other side. It's a great beach for walking--pretty white, hard packed sand. One of my special St. Barth memories is the sight of spent magenta bougainvillea blossoms washing ashore in the aquamarine water onto the white sand. I got back about the time my wife would be getting up. The hotel brought continental breakfast to us each morning and we had croissants and coffee with the bananaquits and the hummingbirds on the porch—lovely!

We did some shopping in St. Jean in the AM and brought home pannini from Maya's to Go for lunch. They were very good. We went back to the beach at Filao in the afternoon. That night, we went to l'Orchidée for our first big dinner. We had red snapper and grilled mahi mahi. For dessert, my wife had crème brulée and I had a chocolate roll with a thin flaky crust. The dinner was excellent. There was a pretty good breeze, but they had dropped the plastic screens to break the wind, so it wasn’t a problem. I normally have an excellent sense of direction, but I got lost on the way back. It seemed that no matter what way I turned, I ended up in front of Le Ti. I went in and the hostess graciously showed me the turn that I kept missing. The road sloped away and the turn to the left was hidden from my view. Lesson learned—find your way in daylight first on the island, preferably more than once. Driving on the island demands full attention, so it's hard to pick out landmarks for the trip back the first time.

Had lunch at Le Grain de Sel the next day. The location of the restaurant is perfect. It's almost cut into the rocks on the hillside, and it's shaded with a nice breeze. Bossa novas were playing when we arrived—nice! Very comfortable and casual. It's a perfect stop for lunch before going to Saline—it's right next to the parking lot for the beach. I had sashimi and my wife had a Creole shrimp dish. It was an excellent lunch. Saline is awesome. The white sand and the turquoise water as you cross the dune is beautiful. Some blowing sand there that afternoon. Had fun playing in the water. I don’t want to even think about how long it's been since the last time we did that! We brought home chicken breast filet pannini from KiKi e Mo again for dinner. They were great.

Took a road trip to Corossol and the Colombier lookout the next day. An awesome view. Didn’t have the footwear with us to take the overland trail to Colombier beach. Went to Gouverneur later that afternoon—it's a pretty impressive drive to the beach! The beach is little smaller than Saline, but pretty much just as pretty. There was some blowing sand, there, too. Didn’t like it quite as much as Saline because we didn’t want to chance a cut from the rocks by going in the water. Had dinner at Andy's again—greeted by Andy again and just as fun and relaxed as the first night.

We had a big thunderstorm that night, with lots of lightning. It rained for an hour or two. The only time I took off my sandals the whole week was when I put on my boat shoes to walk down the hill to Andy's in the rain. That night I woke up before dawn feeling like there was sand in the bed—I knew I washed it out of my hair before we went to dinner. Couldn’t figure it out what the story was until the sun came up, and there was a layer of powdery gray dust outside over everything. There was a thinner layer over everything indoors. At first I thought that a shower might have dumped some sand that was sucked up by a waterspout. Manja at the front desk said that it was from a volcano. Although she thought it was Montserrat, she didn’t know it for sure at that time. The hotel had a pretty big clean up job that day—it even covered the bottom of the pool. That morning the beach above the tide line was gray instead of white, with the normal white sand below the tide line where the waves had washed the ash away—an unusual sight. They asked us to keep the windows closed that night because they were expecting some more ash, but there was no visible ash the next morning. When I got back I checked a few volcano web sites for information about Montserrat. Apparently heavy rain and a full moon are associated with eruptions—they had both that night.

The weather was fine otherwise. It was a little hazy with broken clouds on most days, but we had one afternoon of deep blue skies. Frequently the wind would pick up at about 3 AM and it would pour for a few minutes—sure made the tree frogs happy! Then it would be real still for a while until the breeze would return after a little while.

Took another road trip the next day and went to Lorient, Grand Cul de Sac, Petit Cul de Sac, Toiny, and Grand Frond. This island is really beautiful. Came back and had an early big lunch at La Langouste. I had grilled lobster; my wife had langouste croustillant. It was an excellent meal. The seating around the pool and the friendly staff make it more like you’re eating at a friends house than a restaurant. Took a nice walk on Flamands beach afterwards. We got a little hungry and went for sushi and cocktails at Nikki Beach Club later that night. I didn’t expect live music, but they had a three-piece group—two guitarists and a keyboardist who doubled on soprano sax. I loved the fluffy white pillows. Should have brought a camera for them to snap a photo of us sitting on the poster beds!

Took a drive to Gustavia the next day and had cheeseburgers at Le Select, did some more shopping, and then drove to Anse des Cayes. Made another trip to Saline in the afternoon—lovely! The big dinner was that night. Went to La Case de l’Isle at Isle de France. I had grilled sea bass; my wife had seafood fricassee. It was a spectacular dinner.

We packed and checked out the next morning, Tuesday. St. Barth Services picked up our bags at 10:30 AM. We returned the car at about 11:30 and hung around the airport until boarding time at about 12:00 noon. It was an easy flight to SXM. St. Barth Services helped us again with checking the bags and customs at SXM. The airport was especially busy because all carriers canceled flights on Sunday because of the volcanic ash. USAir canceled all flights on both Sunday and Monday. American eventually was offering a $500 voucher, a stay overnight, and first class travel to anyone that could wait until the next day. Our USAir flight was late taking off and we got back to Charlotte about 10 minutes before our flight back to BWI was to leave. Believe it or not, they held the flight—there were many others in the same situation. Cleared customs and hustled to make the connection. Got back to BWI at around 9:30 or so.

Here are a few additional random notes:

I actually found the corkscrews (with some housewares near the disposable cameras) and the dairy cream at Match (with the cheese, not with the milk). I could never get the ATM or the gas pump to take my card, however.

I bought a € 15 phone card, thinking that I probably would use it up. Called home a few times—probably talked about 7 to 10 minutes--but still had more than € 12 on the card when we left.

It was a little sad watching the planes take off while sitting on the porch at VSJ, because it reminded me that we would have to leave, too. However, one of the happiest moments on the trip was when my dear wife started a sentence with the words “When we come back…”

It was altogether a perfectly marvelous trip! Can’t wait to go back! French lessons this fall and back next year!

 

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