We flew out of JFK (NY) for our 4th trip to the island with 2+ hours of delays due to icy conditions. This caused us to miss our Winair flight. At the counter we were told we could wait and hope for room on a later flight, which probably wouldn't happen, or take the ferry. We wanted to get over to St. Barth ASAP and avoid spending the night on SXM so we took a cab to "the ferry" and ended up at Great Bay Express and paid $170 for 2 tickets which got us on the island around 6:15. Thankfully we booked our car with GUMBs and we were able to get in touch with Odile after hours who was kind enough to have our car meet us in Gustavia, despite the kiosk in the airport being closed already. After we got our car we made our way to Ptit Morne and let ourselves into our room. After unpacking we headed over to Baz Bar for some sushi and a bottle of wine. The food was great and the live music and drinks made for a relaxing way to unwind into the start of the trip. I will list the food/drinks by date, but the beach report is easier to do by beach, as multiple visits would make it overly complicated.
Saturday the 10th:
The next morning we decided to do Nikki Beach so we could relax and drink by the beach to ease into the start of the trip. The service and the food was better than we have experienced in the past, however there was a little push to get us to buy the 2-300 euro per bottle rose, but we simply disregarded their bottle presentation and opted for a more reasonable choice.
That evening we went to Santa Fe and Manu picked our favorite bottle of wine of the entire trip and served us an excellent Lobster from his tank and a really great veal special, we finished with the always excellent Madagascar creme brulee and rum.
Sunday the 11th:
Started with the Brunch at Le Gaiac which was great as always, although a bit lighter on the seafood and a bit heavier on meats than we recalled from previous trips.
Lunch at Do Brazil was also much better than we have experienced in the past, the tuna with thai noodles was an excellent snack.
We stopped into Monbart and had the cheese plate which was huge and really great as well as 2 awesome cocktails.
Dinner at Andys, they were out of all of the seafood appetizers so we didn't really get to experience a full meal.
Monday the 12th:
Sandwiches at the bakery in Colombier to start the day, as good as usual.
Picked up a couple of bikkinis at Gisele in St. Barth, the girl working was extremely friendly and helpful.
Cocktails/snacks at Le Gustav and Bar de l'oubli was a nice way to use the WIFI and check in on the dogs (we have a camera).
That night we had out best dinner of the trip at Le Sereno, everything was simply outstanding, and the bouillabaisse was the best we ever had.
Later that night we tried out Modjo which we were really really satisfied with, the cocktails were among the best we had on the entire trip.
Tuesday the 13th:
We went back to Le Sereno for Sushi considering how great the dinner the night before was and it proved to be a wise choice, lunch was excellent.
Later in the day we stopped into the new juice stand in Kiki Mo and had 2 really refreshing green drinks, we will go back.
Dinner that night we headed to Cote Port, which unfortunately for us was our weakest dinner of the entire trip. On a good note we did see some forum regulars and they may have noticed us notice them (we were a bit star struck), however we didn't want to interrupt their meal so we didn't say hello this time.
Wednesday the 14th:
Breakfast at the bakery, some drinks and snacks at Do Brazil for lunch, everything was good.
Dinner we tried the new Provenca and has a truly great dinner, everything was very well done and the thyme mashed potatoes and beef was an excellent dish. We like the 3 choices of after dinner rhum and our favorite was the ginger.
Thursday the 15th:
Lunch at Tamarind was very good, the grounds were awesome and the parrots and cocktails were quite entertaining. We will have to try it again for dinner. They mentioned that the ground is being worked on so that the tables/chairs will be on solid footing.
Dinner at L'Esprit that night was good quality wise, the mahi-mahi was excellent, however the portion size of the appetizer and dessert left a bit to be desired. Unfortunately the service was very clumsy and forgetful as well (no wine list, had to wait longer than anywhere else to order, fight to get the bill, etc. and it wasn't very busy). We are likely going to skip it on the next trip.
Friday we packed and got light food and caught our flight back to NYC, no delays at all this time.
The beach erosion was very noticeable on St. Jean & Gouvernour so we spent more time on Shell, Flamands, and Saline. We did the steep hike to Colombier and that was fun and there seems to be some work going on at the start of the hike as there are real concrete steps at the beginning.
One scary thing was getting caught at the checkpoint by Tom Beach after half a bottle of wine. They didn't speak much English but did have me do the blow test, thankfully I passed or they didn't want to deal with the language barrier and they let us go. What is the story with the check points? Does one need to worry about having a couple of cocktails or are they only looking for seriously impaired drivers?
Overall, the best trip yet, and we're already looking forward to the next one!
Saturday the 10th:
The next morning we decided to do Nikki Beach so we could relax and drink by the beach to ease into the start of the trip. The service and the food was better than we have experienced in the past, however there was a little push to get us to buy the 2-300 euro per bottle rose, but we simply disregarded their bottle presentation and opted for a more reasonable choice.
That evening we went to Santa Fe and Manu picked our favorite bottle of wine of the entire trip and served us an excellent Lobster from his tank and a really great veal special, we finished with the always excellent Madagascar creme brulee and rum.
Sunday the 11th:
Started with the Brunch at Le Gaiac which was great as always, although a bit lighter on the seafood and a bit heavier on meats than we recalled from previous trips.
Lunch at Do Brazil was also much better than we have experienced in the past, the tuna with thai noodles was an excellent snack.
We stopped into Monbart and had the cheese plate which was huge and really great as well as 2 awesome cocktails.
Dinner at Andys, they were out of all of the seafood appetizers so we didn't really get to experience a full meal.
Monday the 12th:
Sandwiches at the bakery in Colombier to start the day, as good as usual.
Picked up a couple of bikkinis at Gisele in St. Barth, the girl working was extremely friendly and helpful.
Cocktails/snacks at Le Gustav and Bar de l'oubli was a nice way to use the WIFI and check in on the dogs (we have a camera).
That night we had out best dinner of the trip at Le Sereno, everything was simply outstanding, and the bouillabaisse was the best we ever had.
Later that night we tried out Modjo which we were really really satisfied with, the cocktails were among the best we had on the entire trip.
Tuesday the 13th:
We went back to Le Sereno for Sushi considering how great the dinner the night before was and it proved to be a wise choice, lunch was excellent.
Later in the day we stopped into the new juice stand in Kiki Mo and had 2 really refreshing green drinks, we will go back.
Dinner that night we headed to Cote Port, which unfortunately for us was our weakest dinner of the entire trip. On a good note we did see some forum regulars and they may have noticed us notice them (we were a bit star struck), however we didn't want to interrupt their meal so we didn't say hello this time.
Wednesday the 14th:
Breakfast at the bakery, some drinks and snacks at Do Brazil for lunch, everything was good.
Dinner we tried the new Provenca and has a truly great dinner, everything was very well done and the thyme mashed potatoes and beef was an excellent dish. We like the 3 choices of after dinner rhum and our favorite was the ginger.
Thursday the 15th:
Lunch at Tamarind was very good, the grounds were awesome and the parrots and cocktails were quite entertaining. We will have to try it again for dinner. They mentioned that the ground is being worked on so that the tables/chairs will be on solid footing.
Dinner at L'Esprit that night was good quality wise, the mahi-mahi was excellent, however the portion size of the appetizer and dessert left a bit to be desired. Unfortunately the service was very clumsy and forgetful as well (no wine list, had to wait longer than anywhere else to order, fight to get the bill, etc. and it wasn't very busy). We are likely going to skip it on the next trip.
Friday we packed and got light food and caught our flight back to NYC, no delays at all this time.
The beach erosion was very noticeable on St. Jean & Gouvernour so we spent more time on Shell, Flamands, and Saline. We did the steep hike to Colombier and that was fun and there seems to be some work going on at the start of the hike as there are real concrete steps at the beginning.
One scary thing was getting caught at the checkpoint by Tom Beach after half a bottle of wine. They didn't speak much English but did have me do the blow test, thankfully I passed or they didn't want to deal with the language barrier and they let us go. What is the story with the check points? Does one need to worry about having a couple of cocktails or are they only looking for seriously impaired drivers?
Overall, the best trip yet, and we're already looking forward to the next one!
