Jim and GM 2022

[Jim A]

It’s always eventful when your trip starts with a 6:30am JetBlue flight out of JFK, but having already shortened the trip to 6 nights due to family obligations we wanted to enjoy as much of day one as possible. So, in order to make the 1pm Tradewind flight our Sunday morning started with the alarm going off at 2:45am.

The scowls and complete apathy of pretty much everyone working at JFK reminded us we weren’t yet where we wanted to be. Our flight was probably about 80% empty and we were the only ones in “even more space” which made it feel a little like a private flight. The crew spread all of the passengers out for weight distribution purposes and since everyone had their own row, I wondered if we wasted our money on our seat upgrades since everyone had “more space”.

We arrived at SJU and it seemed a little more empty than usual but perhaps it was just due to the hour of our arrival. We arrived at the Tradewind lounge and I finally felt like we were starting our trip as we loosely plotted out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to eat over our customary complimentary multiple cappuccinos. I don’t remember them having full size sandwiches in the past which worked out great for us with our long travel day. They also brought out full bottles of wine instead of the small bottles we were used to, but we passed due to the lack of a bathroom on the flight and the previously stated multiple cappuccinos.

we arrived at SBH and after 7 seconds at immigration we were stamped, grabbed our bags and then our car and villa keys from Odile at Gumbs and were off to the villa. Since it was Sunday we bypassed our usual stop at the Super Marche U and made a quick stop at L’Oasis for just a days worth of necessities. We stopped off at the villa to enjoy the amazing view and put some clothes away and enjoyed some La Gloriette rhum that was graciously left for us and then walked over to JoJo Burger for our traditional first late lunch and bottle of rose’. Now the vacation had really started.


A great little surprise to start our trip and get us in the mood

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[amyb]

Welcome. You’ve only just begun. Enjoy.

[Jim A]

and our favorite burger on the island with some great frites and some rose’ to set the vibe

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[cec1]

. . . and so great to see you while we were walking on St. Jean beach — welcome back!

[Dennis]

Awesome. Have a blast!

[GramChop]

Ah…St Barth!

Wishing you a wonderful time.

[PeterLynn]

Love the JoJo!

[marybeth]

Yay! A trip report! Just what I need at 17 days to go. Keep posting please and have a GREAT trip.

[Jim A]

Our usual first night dinner is Les Bananiers but was changed to Black Ginger due to being Sunday and due to the fact that we will always end up with takeout pizza from there at least once anyway. Spoiler alert we did!!! We love Black Ginger and you know you are in St Barth when Black Ginger is considered a reasonably priced option. The only issue we ever have there is how hot and humid it can be, but we lucked out as we often do and the small table we like was available. It’s at the top of the stairs and isn’t too desirable to most because it is kind of in the corner and behind a post so they opt for other tables but due to the fact that the fan over the steps blows on you when seated there and you can look down onto the main level it’s the best table in the house to me.

GM had a black Ginger fizz cocktail and prawn rolls to start

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and I had a glass of Sancerre and the crispy crab spring rolls that I always get

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for our main course GM had the stir fry chicken with cashew nuts

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and I had the chopped pork with Thai basil and mixed in a healthy amount of the sticky rice. A little spicy and a lot yummy.

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we were very content and pretty full but we managed to split a mango and raspberry sorbet for dessert

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[Dennis]

All that.

[cec1]

Excellent “food porn!) — merci!

[Jim Kelly-Evans]

Looking great! Enjoy your time on the island.

[Tiffany]

Enjoy! One more month to wait for us.

[Jim A]

Monday was our rent chairs at Pearl Beach day. Always a great experience for us. A day on St Jean enjoying the sea, the sun, the planes and walking the beach is a great way to start a trip. I knew that Lil’Rock was closed but I didn’t know they were doing construction before reopening the new place. Supposedly it will open soon, but it sure didn’t look that way. So with one option gone we ended up just having lunch at Pearl Beach and really enjoyed it. We split a great tuna tartare appetizer with creole seasoning. GM went for the salmon entree with a side salad as her lunch and I had the mahi mahi burger with frites. Both were very good.


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we followed it up with a bottle of champagne at our chairs after lunch

[GramChop]

Sounds like the perfect afternoon, y’all! Santé!

[GMP62]

Looks like you’re off to a terrific start…enjoy!!

[Jim A]

Our walk on St Jean on Monday was our first encounter this trip with our resident sbh legend Dennis aka CEC1. Always a pleasure to meet such a gentleman and eloquent writer/poster/ambassador of the island. Stay tuned for our next encounter

[GramChop]

Our walk on St Jean on Monday was our first encounter with our resident sbh legend Dennis aka CEC1. Always a pleasure to meet such a gentleman and eloquent writer/poster/ambassador of the island. Stay tuned for our next encounter

Je suis d’accord!

[Jim A]

Monday night’s dinner was at our personal favorite spot on the island. Very under the radar here but absolutely amazing if you love great food and French wines and IMO the absolutely best service on the island: Le Papillon Ivre. Probably the best French wine list of any place I’ve been to. Julie and her staff just seem like they love every minute of their jobs and both the food and wines are incredible. Unfortunately I don’t have any food pics because we were so excited for each course that I forgot but these were our two favorite wines from this trip. The white we ordered a bottle of and the red by the glass. You choose which option is best for you


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this is one of the best red wines I’ve had at this price point. Absolutely amazing. If she still has it, try it, or don’t and save it for me for next year

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if you haven’t eaten at Le Papillon Ivre, try it, you won’t be disappointed. Not only great food and wine, but fun, fun, fun too. We just love it. Just tell Julie what types of wine you like and let her pick for you. We had some aged cheese she brought out for us just because she thought it paired well with the wine we ordered (it absolutely did), some amazing oysters, escargot Bourgogne style that were better than we had in Burgundy, a stracciatella cheese and ham dish that was incredible with some bread, an eggplant dish that we have ordered before and loved, a beef Bourguignon that was amazing and had just a drop of sweetness to it to set it apart and was very tender which brought out the switch to red wine and perhaps a couple more items that I’ll add when I think of them (there were so many!!!). Each was great and really creative and I’ll stress again the service which was incredibly attentive and helpful. A must try.

[Jim A]

Tuesday afternoon was at Saline beach and lunch was sandwiches at the absolutely most beautiful spot/view on the island. Here’s a quick sargassum report. Monday at St Jean no sign at all. Tuesday at Saline a little bit, but not too bad. Some in the water but very easy to avoid and some on the beach but not too much. Wednesday Colombier, none and while a little on the “lower walk” no smell at all, unlike some other times.

GM patiently waiting for me to go to the beach…meep meep…


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saline not nearly as rough as usual. The walk is always worth it and never really crowded

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Tuesday’s takeaway lunch from L’Oasis with a million dollar view…yummy…

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[amyb]

GM….you wear that car very well.

Keep having fun and enjoying the outings.

[cec1]

Monday night’s dinner was at our personal favorite spot on the island. Very under the radar here but absolutely amazing if you love great food and French wines and IMO the absolutely best service on the island: Le Papillon Ivre. Probably the best French wine list of any place I’ve been to. Julie and her staff just seem like they love every minute of their jobs and both the food and wines are incredible. Unfortunately I don’t have any food pics because we were so excited for each course that I forgot but these were our two favorite wines from this trip. The white we ordered a bottle of and the red by the glass. You choose which option is best for you


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this is one of the best red wines I’ve had. Absolutely amazing. If she still has it, try it, or don’t and save it for me for next year

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if you haven’t eaten at Le Papillon Ivre, try it, you won’t be disappointed. Not only great food and wine, but fun, fun, fun too. We just love it. Just tell Julie what types of wine you like and let her pick for you. We had some aged cheese she brought out for us just because she thought it paired well with the wine we ordered (it absolutely did), some amazing oysters, escargot Bourgogne style that were better than we had in Burgundy, a stracciatella cheese and ham dish that was incredible with some bread, an eggplant dish that we have ordered before and loved, a beef Bourguignon that was amazing and had just a drop of sweetness to it to set it apart and was very tender which brought out the switch to red wine and perhaps a couple more items that I’ll add when I think of them (there were so many!!!). Each was great and really creative and I’ll stress again the service which was incredibly attentive and helpful. A must try.

Fantastic review! and I’ve tried both of those wines. You’re on the mark, IMO — wonderful choices!

[GramChop]

Very nice review of an underrated gem.

I’ve had a similar lunch at that same spot in Lorient.

Thank you for sharing!!

[Jim A]

Tuesday night was a no reservation/no plan night which usually means takeaway pizza from Les Bananiers and this night was no different. When we arrived it was empty. Thinking back now a few days later, I can’t remember if it was early and before the dinner rich or not but I’m guessing it likely was. I asked if we would be able to sit if we preferred and they confirmed we could. After thinking about it for a while we decided we were looking forward to eating “at home” and decided to proceed with the takeout instead and shuffled back to the pizza area to place our order and wait and watch aaaaaannnnnddddd enjoy a glass of white wine.

always enjoyable to watch one of the hardest working people on the island do his thing. So we ordered, enjoyed our wine and probably watched Luigi make about 50 pizzas while we waited and literally every single one of them looked delicious!!!

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we also passed on our condolences when we sat and chatted for the loss of Thierry who was always so friendly and good to us and told them how he taught our kids “L’addition s’il vous plait” which they still use from time to time wherever we are to let us know they are done and ready to go

[Jim A]

Our choices were the usual Tartufata which I think I have ordered every time I have ever ordered from Les Bananiers, a new pizza called chèvre miel which is with cheese and honey and whatever else made it incredibly tasty and a vegetarian pie. Apparently the chèvre miel was too tasty to wait for the picture…

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[Jim A]

Tuesday was also All Saints Day so after we ate we walked over to the cemetery. Coming this time of the year we always just miss the gourmet food festival as well as missing the holidays and the big “races” on the island, but we feel totally lucky that we are here for this day. It’s such an amazing display to walk around at night with all of the flowers and candles. Not even one grave was empty. So we put a couple of candles of our own on the large cross in the middle, thought our thoughts, and walked around enjoying the peacefulness and beauty of the display. I always leave wondering why this isn’t done everywhere. Usually we come much later and are the only ones there or part of a very small group, but since we were a little earlier this time there were still a lot of people walking around even though the early crowd had long gone.

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Johnny Hallyday’s grave always an amazing display

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[amyb]

The cemetery visitors are adults and children. Good to see the little ones participating and bringing flowers and candles. Hope for the future.

[NancySC]

Thoroughly enjoying the Jim A posts, thank you for the which beach, dining spots & pix each time, living vicariously from your posts !

[Jim A]

Sitting on Flamands as I type this but that’s still a few days away since my posts are well behind real life and feel like I’m in a little bit of a Time Machine as I’m typing this. Dinner reservations were for the chefs table at Zion on Wednesday so we decided on a hike to Colombier that day. Looked like there were some new rocks barricading the very end of the turnaround but still plenty of room for us to park. It was a little cloudy which was great for the hike over.

Whatever you do, don’t hit reverse by mistake from the parking spot.


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uh oh. Going to have to fix that pic on WiFi later I think


almost there. love this walk. The payoff is always worth it

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merci Mr King

[Jim A]

The “boomerang” catamaran with blaring music seemed a little close to shore for Colombier, but what are you going to do…

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