June 22-29 report

leep75

SBH Insider
My wife and I made our 4th consecutive trip to SBH in June. We had a one week stay in Villa Avril (Anse De Cayes) and had another great time. As I've said many times, we don't really do much of anything while on the island. We are not "foodies" we are not too adventurous (no hikes, etc). We simply pick a beach and relax.

Flights:
We flew USAIR from O'Hare through CLT, then continued on Winair. No trouble whatsoever and bags were supposed to be checked all the way through, however, when we arrived on SBH only 1 of our 2 bags were on the plane with us. We later found out that the bag arrived at Punta Cana and we finally did receive it on Tuesday evening. We did have a change of clothes and swimsuits so we were OK. We did have to buy sunscreen, lotion, deodorant, razors, etc. We are supposed to be reimbursed for these, but I'll be surprised if they actually do. Return flights SBH-SXM-PHL-ORD went off without incident and we were driving home to Indiana at 11:30 PM EST.

Villa:
Villa Avril is a very nice economic villa and Byron the owner was great to work with. He gave me a great rate for the week, however, it didn't include housekeeping since it was low season, but he did provide extra towels and allowed me the use of the washer/dryer. The villa is well appointed with great AC in the bedroom. It is an all open living area (as well as bathroom) and that did allow a lot of bugs (mosquitoes) the opportunity to try and feast on us. We did use coils and spray but they still seemed to get at us. The villa had several stereos with Ipod hookups and Dish Network TV (although no ABC,NBC or CBS channels available) with HBO so we were able to watch movies, etc. The bed was comfortable and there was also a TV in the bedroom.

Beaches:
Unlike the past where we usually hit 6-7 beaches on the trip. This year we mainly stayed on Flamands and Saline. We did visit L'Orient one day for a few hours, but that was it. I did try to capture some of the waves crashing down on Saline with my Panosonic Lumix camera (I recently read an article in a photography magazine about a guy in Hawaii that takes photos of 10-15 ft waves and they look super cool). Mine were not nearly as nice as his, but I did get some good ones and got beat up pretty good crashing around in the surf. I'll post a link to the pics once I get them off the camera.

Food:
Again like the beaches, this year we didn't even venture out to different restaurants (for the most part). We visited:

Andy's --- First night was spent at Andy's. We were tired from the travel day and waiting around for luggage that never came. Simply ordered some cod fritters and a "hawaiin" pizza (can't remember the name exactly, but it had ham and pineapple). It was really good! Vaniila rhum never dissapoints.

Le Select --- Most of our non-beach time was spent here. Drinking Caribs and eating burgers/fries is what we like--- we're simple mid-westerners! A TV was added for the World Cup matches and was usually on when we would stop by.

Gustav --- The former Route de Bucaneer (among others). We watched the first half of USA vs Portugal here. 2 eruo Caribs during all World Cup matches! We also ate here another evening. Kim had the Cobb Salad and I had a Mahi Burger. Both were very good and the service was just fine. No vanilla rhum after, however they did bring us some type of shot that appeared to be made with Jolly Rancher. It was good.

Glorriette --- We had a pizza here one night. Very good, we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time, however, it had just opened up. I was sad that the Rum shop wasn't open at the time, but I did end up buying a bottle of Gloriette Rhum from the market in Gustavia.

Chez Yvon --- This resto is right down the road from the villa and since we didn't feel like going out we dined here one night. Seemed to be a very local "mom and pop" type of place. Food was good, but not exactly what was on the menu. I ordered a "grilled" chicken, but was brought "fried" not a big deal and it was good. Another salad for my wife that she seemed to enjoy.



Final Thoughts:
We love the solitude that St Barths gives us. We have hectic schedules and with two children (ages 13 and 10) at home we are constantly running them around and this week alone gives us a chance to slow down and recharge. We've been taking a week sans kids every June since 2006 with visits to Jamaica(4), St. Martin(1) and St. Barths(4). We are already planning our trip next year and I think it is narrowed down to Anguilla, Belize, Montserrat (I really enjoyed reading Martin's review a few months ago) OR back to SBH. We are researching daily.
 
Thank you for sharing your special week with us. Recharging the batteries so you can deal with life is a must in my book. You are doing very well at it!
 
Thanks for sharing.

For future reference, Rhum may be purchased over the counter at La Gloriette when the Shop is closed. You'll save a few euros over the cost in a grocery store.

Near Chez Yvon is Chez Ginette, where you'll find many different flavors of Rhum to try.
 
Great report! Thanks to the proximity to my wife's parents we were able to enjoy those much-needed island vacations.
 
Thank you for your in depth report. I'm proud of you for trying Chez Yvon.

For those who aren't familiar with it, Chez Yvon is a place that is frequented more by locals than by visitors. The pricing is affordable, and the menu is nothing fancy. The table to your left may be the gardeners at your villa, the table to your right may be a few Gendarmes, and the table behind you may be shop owners. All are there for an affordable lunch. A recent menu may be found at http://restaurants.alacarte-stbarth.com/menu/1369174024.5198CHEZYVON_MENU_151212.pdf €5.50 Cheeseburger, €5.50 Langouste Sandwich, €4.00 Frites.
 
Thanks for the link Kevin - I've now added Chez Yvon to our list of affordable restaurants to try out on our visit.
 
We awe also Hoosiers. Where do you live in Indiana? We fly IND-CLT-SXM-SBH but spend the night in CLT because we go in the winter and the connection is too tight to sleep well the night before in Indianapolis.
 
We live in Northern In, about 20 miles south of South Bend. The connection to CLT from ORD is close (1 hr) but flying in the low season, usually the only thing we have to worry about is strong thunderstorms delaying us.

Here's a link to our pics from this most recent trip. I've included some pics of the villa (Avril) and those from the day in Saline trying to get the roll of the waves.

https://plus.google.com/photos/1130...ms/6036447485752272913?authkey=CLXgt5bd55HwLQ
 
You've got a great sense of relaxing on St. Barths . . . and describe it so well. Thanks for the fun reading.
 
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