The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Trip Report (07/12/08 thru 07/21/08)

Here I sit, it's 103 degrees outside, there's a hurricane ravaging the Gulf Coast, and I can't concentrate on a thing. Is it too soon to start planning a return trip? Well, I may as well give a little insight on the most recent trip and re-live a little of it by sharing it with all of you.

In the beginning there was the "RUSH." Hurry up. Get the kids off to their destinations. Work to get done. People to have coordinated. No, don't call me while I'm gone. Be sure the Blackberry is fully charged. A million things to do and get coordinated by flight time on Saturday. My life is too complicated. I NEED A VACATION!

I promise this report will not be a list of complaints, but here's the first one. Traveling anywhere by air, especially on American Airlines, is hardly worth the trouble anymore. We take child #1 to the airport to send to "medicine camp" in Chicago. His one suitcase weighs in at a whopping 56 pounds (must be the barbells). That'll be $50, each way. You can fly two suitcases at 49.99 pounds for no extra charge, but not one at 50.01 pounds. Doesn’t make any sense. Child #2 and a friend are then taken for their flight to the mountains. Since both are under 15 yrs. old, that's $50 each, each flight. For this fee the airline does nothing but keep the kids on the plane until everyone else is off and then tell the kids to get off the plane. Planes are full, passengers are unhappy, flight attendants are testy. Yuck!

Fortunately, the Dearly Beloved and I are getting to St. Maarten first class the whole way. Because of timing and unavailability of flights we have to spend the night in Miami. Word of caution, shuttles on the Westin website are a figment of your imagination once you actually get to Miami, but the hotel is nice.

Sunday -- Wake at a reasonable time and take the midday flight to SXM. Rested and a little more relaxed, with the help of a few glasses of bubbly grape juice. We arrive at SXM for the first time since the new airport has been built. We are a little anxious about the whole transfer thing, but resolved to handle it ourselves. The Dearly Beloved decides to stop at the Information Desk. I continue ahead, as expected, to the immigration line and figure out what our next steps are. Up walks the D.B. with information from a really helpful Info Desk person that we should go through immigration, get our baggage and then turn left to the small airline counters by the luggage carousel. Seems simple enough. I’m missing the old airport – it had it’s issues, but was cool in so many third world ways, plus I knew where to go and how to get around.

We breeze through immigration to "The Friendly Island." At least we don't get arrested or yelled at. Just a scowl and a couple of grunts. Do they actually speak any language on St. Maarten, or is it really just grunting and scowling all of the time. In four trips, that’s all I’ve seen so far…with one exception. The luggage comes out on the carousel. We turn to the empty airline counter and walk over. As soon as we cover the 30 feet to the airline counter, a voice from beside us greets us by name and immediately starts checking us through on St. Barth Commuter. It’s the nice gentleman from the Info Desk. We receive boarding passes and instructions on where to go, but "hurry because your flight is about to leave." I look at my watch that indicates it is 3:00 local time and wonder why the 5:00 flight is about to leave, but figure it’s better to just not ask, I might make the one conversant fellow devolve into a grunting, scowling troglodyte (I have that effect on people worldwide), and I didn’t want to be responsible for that on “The Friendly Island.”

A few minutes later we are standing in front of the SBC counter and someone grunts at us to not go anywhere. Evidently everyone for the 5:00 flight has arrived in SXM and as soon as they can make it to the gate we will be leaving. Lift off at 4:00, a full hour early -- Is this a great airline or what? An extra hour in Paradise for no extra charge. Oh by the way, we did see a couple of other residents of "The Friendly Island" around the waiting area that appropriately scowled and grunted at us, but to save the day, Mr. Info Desk (or his really nice twin brother), he’s everywhere, shows up to help be sure we get on the plane. I don't know his name, but Mr. Info Desk needs to be given a raise and put on the lecture circuit for customer service. The rest of “The Friendly Island” could learn a lot from him.

Great flight to SBH. The weather is mostly clear. The winds are calm. The landing is uneventful for any standards - spectacular for SBH standards. All of our luggage shows up on the carousel. We walk to the Top-Loc car rental counter. Our Smart is waiting. Things are looking good.

One minor problem. Since we are an hour early, Rosita (more about Rosita later, but a little preview - Rosita's the "best") is not there to meet us as expected. Kalu with Top-Loc calls Rosita. We visit on the phone and arrange to meet Veronique at 5:00. Since the Match is still open (I thought it was closed all day Sunday?), the D.B. and I walk across the street for a little shopping. We pick up a few essentials, wine, cheese, bread, wine, crackers, pastries, wine, ham, water, etc., and walk back to the airport with our goodies in hand. Our hostess, Veronique Giraud, arrives as we are loading the groceries in the car and off we go to Villa Tom.

Originally, we had tried to rent several different villas and they all kept getting rented the day before we tried. The same was true with Villa La Baleine. Did I mention that Rosita was the "Best?" When we couldn't work out a stay at La Baleine, Rosita contacted Veronique and helped us with everything we needed to make that rental work. She coordinated the deposit, etc. She helped with the car rental and even got us her discount. She helped with the air transfer arrangements. My only disappointment was not getting to meet her upon arrival at SBH so that I could kiss her feet.

Off we go to Villa Tom. Is it my imagination of have the roads on the island gotten MUCH worse in the last four years? The road from St. Jean to Lorient seems to be little more than a series of potholes interrupted by worn out concrete. At least it slows down some of the American made behemoths whizzing along. The Smart bumps along and like the "Little Engine That Could" finally chugs to the top of each of the hills. I miss the Mokes.

A description of Villa Tom is included in a separate posting.

Veronique shows us around. She's thoughtfully stocked the fridge with a couple of bottles of wine (a thoughtful Laurent Perrier brut and a sparkling rosé that I don't remember the name of), cheese, fruit, and some other snacks. We get the luggage to the bedroom, throw our provisions in the refrigerator and it's time for some serious R&R. A dip in the pool. Lie down on the lounge chairs for a while and start the debate that becomes the hardest question of the entire trip..."red or white?" Then it's upstairs with the D.B. to the balcony to watch the sun go down, play a few hands of gin, and enjoy the compromise to the raging debate, sparkling rosé with some cheese, crackers and fruit.

The sunset is spectacular. A few years ago, I was watching a football game and John Madden was going on and on about having never seen that last moment of the sun slipping below the horizon. We have front row seats for the day's event and make sure to appreciate that last second of the day before evening starts. Afterward we pull ourselves inside to get dressed for dinner without knowing where we were going.

The D.B. was beautiful. I was along for the ride, as usual, and happy to be in such fine company. A short relaxed drive to Gustavia and to our disappointment Au Port, one of our favorite restaurants, was not open. We decided to give Le Sapotillier a try for the first time ever. Look a table by the window just for us. Four other couples in the restaurant. It’s quiet, but we play “Spot the American Tourists.” It’s not a difficult game usually based on size, dress, and attitude. We win. We skip cocktails, move straight to the dinner – tenderloin (the sauce is incredible) and the special of the day…pigeon. Fantastic! A little dessert. Vanilla Rhum – this is why I’ve started making my own at home. And voilá, we trundle off to find the villa in the dark, delightfully fed and well on our way to a new state of relaxation.

Monday – It’s only 5:45 a.m.! Why am I awake and unable to get back to sleep? Oh well, there’s so much to see and do, I better get started…oh wait, no there isn’t, that’s why I came here. I bop down to the pool laptop in hand to check the office e-mail and a daily report I have to do because partners “should consider them selves to lucky to be on vacation” and are required to check in every day. Humbug! Maybe I’ll do a trip report for the folks on line. No that’s too much like work, this book is really good. Maybe a nap. A couple of hours later the D.B comes downstairs and finds me relaxing. She’s not happy that I got up so early, but it passes quickly.

Breakfast in the villa. Off to Flamands beach. It gets a little breezy and we settle on the beach. There are only five other people on the whole beach. Then the sand starts blasting us hard. We still have the pool and can spend a little time in Gustavia if we want to. Decide to go to Gustavia for lunch at Le Cantina. This is our second time to eat lunch there. Salad with goat cheese, honey, and bacon on toast. Delicious! Glad we only ordered one. A couple of cocktails and about an hour and a half playing cards and “Spot the American Tourists.” A couple from an indeterminate country comes in with their two small children. Nice family. Back to the villa. Sit by the pool. Nap. Sunset on the balcony with a bottle of white wine. The day turned hazy and we missed the end of the day moment. Good thing we saw it Sunday, it will be the only one all week, but it was still special.

Dress and go to Gustavia for dinner a little late. For some reason, there are hordes of people abandoning Gustavia as we approach it. I’m wondering if we missed an evacuation notice. It turns out that July 14th is a French national holiday, I think it’s Bastille Day. We missed the fireworks over the harbor by just…that…much. Dinner’s at Le Saladerie which is buzzing. Every place else that was open looked full too. Pasta dishes for the evening. Shrimp over fettuccine in a tomato sauce and fettuccine carbonara that is some of the best I’ve ever tasted. Vanilla Rhum in a small bottle that we managed to make a fair dent in. This was the most generous serving of any of the restaurants we went to. The service was hustling, but they were a little overwhelmed with the crowd. Still, a very friendly place and great food.

Tuesday – Slept in today, until 5:55. I gotta get a life. Monotony is a good thing. Check in at the office which is really good since it’s only 5:00 a.m. there. I get credit though. Ignore the Blackberry all day. Beach. Pool. Nap. Finally made it to the store for more provisions

Breakfast from the pastry shop in Lorient on the way to Gouvernor beach. There are only three other people there. Spend the heat of the day by the pool in the shade. Lunch at the villa. Dinner at La Plage at the Tom Beach Hotel. The food was OK, but not up to St Barth standards. Only two other couples in the restaurant. The mahi mahi was very tasty, but a really small portion, no really tiny. I don’t remember the D.B.’s dish, something beef, I think, or chicken. Plenty of room for dessert, always a bonus. Warm chocolate brownie with ice cream, etc. Not very imaginative, but helped fill the corners. To me this restaurant still had really good appeal for being more reasonably priced than any of the other hotel restaurants I’ve eaten at. Service is good, but was a little quick (I can’t believe I said that, but three minutes from order to entrée seems a bit quick) and not as warm as most other places we’ve been.

Overall, the day was notable because the daytime activity really ramped up. It seems like there is construction everywhere. The traffic is buzzing like mad. Lot’s of activity. Still there are few tourists anywhere which is not disappointing. After six, things really calm down, and in the evening, there’s almost nobody out. All’s quiet and peaceful as we head to the villa to look forward to a good night’s rest.

More to follow.

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Doing nothing on vacation is highly under-rated.

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