bellatheball
SBH Member
Hello everyone. First, thank you all for the great tips and advice. We still have two more days left on the island and I'm looking forward to each minute of it. Please forgive any typos or errors. I am typing this on an iPhone. Not an easy feat!
We flew in from Charlotte to St. Maarten. It was a surprisingly fast trip. We got through customs in, literally, minutes. It was a much easier process than I had anticipated. We took Winair over to St. Barts. They were t able to get us on an earlier flight so we had an hour and a half in the airport. It was fine. We had time to look at a few souvenirs.
The flight into St. Barts was fantastic!! I am thankful to the person who posted the video of the landing into the St. Barts airport. If I had not seen that, I would've been a nervous wreck. The flightpath was beautiful. Our pilot was a 20 some-year-old blonde girl. For no good reason, I loved that. The landing was amazing. As a general rule, I am not happy flyer. But I would gladly do that trip again.
we met our villa owner at the airport. He could not have been any nicer. We also used Maurice's car rental. They had sent me a few emails over the course of the last few weeks and we're extremely helpful.
We took the trip to our villa on Flamands. My goodness, it is beautiful! I will post a separate Villa review later. We had a quick tour and learned some island history and tips from the owner. It was great help and really interesting.
Food so far:
I will prefice this by saying I eat very limited amounts of meat/fish so I am of limited value in that respect.
la Languiste - sort of a strange setup. The restaurant overlooked the pool for a group of villas (or is it a small hotel?) and we watched people going in and out of their rooms while we ate. The waiter was incredibly nice. I tried my limited French but he was quick to use English. We started with a goat cheese and honey. It was excellent. My husband had the Seabass. He said it was enjoyable. There were a few bones but that didn't bother him much. They were out of my first and second choices so I had pasta. Not much to write home about. I didn't expect it would be. After all, most people are not coming to the Caribbean for pasta. The dessert was fantastic. I had a plate of sorbets and fruit. They were delicious. My husband had creme Brulé. It was quite curdled. Still tasty. We walked home on the beach in the pitch black. It was quite an experience.
The next day we made it up the hill to the bakery. We had almond croissants that were fantastic. We also took home a few baguettes and some sandwiches for later. It was wonderful to eat breakfast on our deck and overlook the beach.
The next night we went to l'Isola. We were trying to find other restaurants but having troubles locating them. This place was very nice. Very dark. Again the waitstaff was wonderful. As I'm finding repeatedly here, if you falter it all in French, they quickly speak English. I will keep trying! I had Caprese salad which was fantastic! The cheese was delicious. My husband had a pasta Bolognese and I had the spinach ravioli. Again, I realize you don't come to the Caribbean island to eat Italian food. However, my family is Italian and I realize I am a particularly harsh critic when it comes to sauce and pasta. Both dishes were okay at best. For dessert, I had the panna cotta with berries. My husband had their chocolate cake. Both were fantastic.
yesterday we returned to the bakery. We had to have those almond croissants again. Again, they were outstanding. The crispy edges are the best!. We also tried a few of their pastries. Each was better than the next. They had some sort of chocolate cream pastry with a cookie base that was out of this world. We again had their sandwiches at the beach for lunch.
We tried to find Nikki Beach last night but couldn't. Instead, we tried Gustav's. It was almost entirely locals there. One waitress spoke a bit of English. We both managed to get by. They were not terribly friendly as a whole but we're certainly attentive enough. They had a mango drink that was wonderful. Very refreshing. I ordered a Greek hamburger. My husband had a bacon cheeseburger. Both could've been cooked a minute or two longer but otherwise were delicious and juicy.
We are going to try to find Nikki Beach again today.
Beaches:
So far we have tried Flamands, Saline, Colombier, Governeur, and Shell Beach. I love Flamands for the wide beach and fun waves. The water is crystal clear. It also happens to be right off our deck. All of those things make it very hard to beat.
Saline it was beautiful as well. Only later did I remember hearing that it's one of the entirely nude beaches. I had no idea where to look! So I kept my eyes on the water. LOL
Gov was also quite fun. There were several families there. The drop off is fairly quick. It was really fun looking for shells though.
Colombier was the calmest of the beaches we've been to so far. It was much more like the Caribbean beaches we are used to. Certainly it was worth the hike there.
Shell Beach was just beautiful! It was hard to wrap my head around a beach entirely made of shells but there it was! We didn't really swim but we walked the beach a few times. It was truly beautiful.
Running:
I have gone for two runs so far this trip. The first one was to run the path from Flamands to Colombier. That was a great workout! I am used to running 5 to 12 miles at a time. This one took a fair amount of energy. Such a beautiful scenery as well! There were at least two times where I really had to stop running to make sure I didn't fall. Otherwise, it is certainly doable as a run. Getting to the top where you can see both bays at once is an incredible experience.
I also ran up the hill from our villa to the bakery. Then I turned right to go to Colombier. I got to the top of the very steep hill and wasn't sure where to find the path. I was thinking that I would've run both Colombier paths back to our beach. With a bit of uncertainty, some worn-out legs, and the sun getting hotter, I just retraced my steps. Running here is certainly a sport! At times, it felt like I was choosing between being squashed like a bug by cars that could see me or, having to jump over an embankment down a steep cliff to avoid cars who could not. In the end, it is still worth it! Having some of those of those vistas come into view at the top of the hill is truly a reward.
As I said, we have two more days on the island before going to another. I'll add to the report as I can. Hopefully this was helpful for someone.
We flew in from Charlotte to St. Maarten. It was a surprisingly fast trip. We got through customs in, literally, minutes. It was a much easier process than I had anticipated. We took Winair over to St. Barts. They were t able to get us on an earlier flight so we had an hour and a half in the airport. It was fine. We had time to look at a few souvenirs.
The flight into St. Barts was fantastic!! I am thankful to the person who posted the video of the landing into the St. Barts airport. If I had not seen that, I would've been a nervous wreck. The flightpath was beautiful. Our pilot was a 20 some-year-old blonde girl. For no good reason, I loved that. The landing was amazing. As a general rule, I am not happy flyer. But I would gladly do that trip again.
we met our villa owner at the airport. He could not have been any nicer. We also used Maurice's car rental. They had sent me a few emails over the course of the last few weeks and we're extremely helpful.
We took the trip to our villa on Flamands. My goodness, it is beautiful! I will post a separate Villa review later. We had a quick tour and learned some island history and tips from the owner. It was great help and really interesting.
Food so far:
I will prefice this by saying I eat very limited amounts of meat/fish so I am of limited value in that respect.
la Languiste - sort of a strange setup. The restaurant overlooked the pool for a group of villas (or is it a small hotel?) and we watched people going in and out of their rooms while we ate. The waiter was incredibly nice. I tried my limited French but he was quick to use English. We started with a goat cheese and honey. It was excellent. My husband had the Seabass. He said it was enjoyable. There were a few bones but that didn't bother him much. They were out of my first and second choices so I had pasta. Not much to write home about. I didn't expect it would be. After all, most people are not coming to the Caribbean for pasta. The dessert was fantastic. I had a plate of sorbets and fruit. They were delicious. My husband had creme Brulé. It was quite curdled. Still tasty. We walked home on the beach in the pitch black. It was quite an experience.
The next day we made it up the hill to the bakery. We had almond croissants that were fantastic. We also took home a few baguettes and some sandwiches for later. It was wonderful to eat breakfast on our deck and overlook the beach.
The next night we went to l'Isola. We were trying to find other restaurants but having troubles locating them. This place was very nice. Very dark. Again the waitstaff was wonderful. As I'm finding repeatedly here, if you falter it all in French, they quickly speak English. I will keep trying! I had Caprese salad which was fantastic! The cheese was delicious. My husband had a pasta Bolognese and I had the spinach ravioli. Again, I realize you don't come to the Caribbean island to eat Italian food. However, my family is Italian and I realize I am a particularly harsh critic when it comes to sauce and pasta. Both dishes were okay at best. For dessert, I had the panna cotta with berries. My husband had their chocolate cake. Both were fantastic.
yesterday we returned to the bakery. We had to have those almond croissants again. Again, they were outstanding. The crispy edges are the best!. We also tried a few of their pastries. Each was better than the next. They had some sort of chocolate cream pastry with a cookie base that was out of this world. We again had their sandwiches at the beach for lunch.
We tried to find Nikki Beach last night but couldn't. Instead, we tried Gustav's. It was almost entirely locals there. One waitress spoke a bit of English. We both managed to get by. They were not terribly friendly as a whole but we're certainly attentive enough. They had a mango drink that was wonderful. Very refreshing. I ordered a Greek hamburger. My husband had a bacon cheeseburger. Both could've been cooked a minute or two longer but otherwise were delicious and juicy.
We are going to try to find Nikki Beach again today.
Beaches:
So far we have tried Flamands, Saline, Colombier, Governeur, and Shell Beach. I love Flamands for the wide beach and fun waves. The water is crystal clear. It also happens to be right off our deck. All of those things make it very hard to beat.
Saline it was beautiful as well. Only later did I remember hearing that it's one of the entirely nude beaches. I had no idea where to look! So I kept my eyes on the water. LOL
Gov was also quite fun. There were several families there. The drop off is fairly quick. It was really fun looking for shells though.
Colombier was the calmest of the beaches we've been to so far. It was much more like the Caribbean beaches we are used to. Certainly it was worth the hike there.
Shell Beach was just beautiful! It was hard to wrap my head around a beach entirely made of shells but there it was! We didn't really swim but we walked the beach a few times. It was truly beautiful.
Running:
I have gone for two runs so far this trip. The first one was to run the path from Flamands to Colombier. That was a great workout! I am used to running 5 to 12 miles at a time. This one took a fair amount of energy. Such a beautiful scenery as well! There were at least two times where I really had to stop running to make sure I didn't fall. Otherwise, it is certainly doable as a run. Getting to the top where you can see both bays at once is an incredible experience.
I also ran up the hill from our villa to the bakery. Then I turned right to go to Colombier. I got to the top of the very steep hill and wasn't sure where to find the path. I was thinking that I would've run both Colombier paths back to our beach. With a bit of uncertainty, some worn-out legs, and the sun getting hotter, I just retraced my steps. Running here is certainly a sport! At times, it felt like I was choosing between being squashed like a bug by cars that could see me or, having to jump over an embankment down a steep cliff to avoid cars who could not. In the end, it is still worth it! Having some of those of those vistas come into view at the top of the hill is truly a reward.
As I said, we have two more days on the island before going to another. I'll add to the report as I can. Hopefully this was helpful for someone.