My wife and I just returned from almost 2 weeks on St. Barts. This was our fourth vacation on the island. We now try to come every other year although we missed last year because our daughter was pregnant with our first Grandbaby and we did not want to tempt fate with Zika.
We love St. Barts for so many reasons. The people are so friendly (except the motorcyclists) and the island always feels very, very safe, again, except the motorcyclists. We have vacationed at many, many Caribbean islands and have not felt comfortable from a safety standpoint on most of them. St. Barts is the very rare exception.
For the second time in a row, and not the last, we stayed at Villa "Sud Ouest" in Corossol. This villa is perfect for us and the owner, Ernest BRIN, could not possibly be a nicer person. He comes every day very early morning before he goes to work as Harbor Master and makes sure everything is ok with the pool, etc. The few times we were up when he came by he was just so informative on the "goings on" on the island and anything else we wanted to know. Great views of the Corossol Bay and the planes flying in.
So here's where our trip report is a little different. We are not "foodies" at all so no pics of meals or restaurant reviews. Our routine consists of coffee and fresh croissants from La Petite Columbe in Corossol on the pool deck in the morning, either lunch at Le Piment (our favorite place on the island) or sandwiches or salad from La Petite Columbe or perhaps lunch somewhere else. We then pick a beach and go for the better part of the day. On the way back from the beach in the late afternoon we sometimes pick up salads, or cheeses and meats and a bagette (and a few bottles of wine) and then spend the rest of the day at the villa. First, cocktails in the pool until it gets to be dusk listening to music from the outdoor speakers and then a lite supper gazing at the stars and drinking some fabulous wine. Then we repeat this until time runs out and we need to leave. For the first time, we actually cooked a couple of lite meals at the villa. We rarely go out to dinner mostly because driving on the island is difficult enough sober, and after drinks at the pool, and then drinking at dinner, it seems like too big of a risk (and again, we're not "foodies"). We did check to see if Uber was on the island but no go. We, once again, got massages at the villa by Cleo and once again they were outstanding. We get massages regularly in the states and hers are as good as the best we've had. Highly recommended, (cleosbh@gmail.com, http://www.cleo-massage.com).
Some observations... the island is bustling with construction. This has to be a great sign for the economy of St. Barts albeit sometimes a little annoying for us visitors. Le Piment, as I said earlier, is our favorite place for drinks, appetizers, and lunches. The two gentlemen working there everyday we were there were just so nice and friendly. The food there was excellent, and we tried several different things. We had dinner at Les Bananiers, delicious, and had a fabulous pizza from there one night. (Note the drive to Les Bananiers from the villa is about 2 minutes.) The beaches seemed more crowded than usual in April, our normal time for vacation. And it was very windy these last two weeks. Not sure if this is a product of the time we went or just the weather. I need to research this a little because I have a skin condition and cannot take too much direct sunlight for too long a period of time. We have a great umbrella that works very well in windy conditions but even it was challenged this trip. One note to self, do not look at the weather forecast, ever. It is never accurate and just depresses you. We made that mistake the first week and it predicted rain the entire second week, and a lot of it. We had rain one day we were there and we were having cocktails at Le Piment so no big deal.
One disappointment is the fence on St. Jean beach. Going to the "other" end of St. Jean was one of our favorite things to do. Watching the planes landing and the quiet nature of that end made it a favorite. Last trip, we got to see a bunch of young children there most days with what looked like a "school" activity and it was great fun watching them play in the water. The fact that there is no way to enjoy that end of the beach now is too bad.
Overall, a fabulous vacation as always on St. Barts. Can't wait to come back in 2019! In the meantime, I'll go back to lurking on this website.
We love St. Barts for so many reasons. The people are so friendly (except the motorcyclists) and the island always feels very, very safe, again, except the motorcyclists. We have vacationed at many, many Caribbean islands and have not felt comfortable from a safety standpoint on most of them. St. Barts is the very rare exception.
For the second time in a row, and not the last, we stayed at Villa "Sud Ouest" in Corossol. This villa is perfect for us and the owner, Ernest BRIN, could not possibly be a nicer person. He comes every day very early morning before he goes to work as Harbor Master and makes sure everything is ok with the pool, etc. The few times we were up when he came by he was just so informative on the "goings on" on the island and anything else we wanted to know. Great views of the Corossol Bay and the planes flying in.
So here's where our trip report is a little different. We are not "foodies" at all so no pics of meals or restaurant reviews. Our routine consists of coffee and fresh croissants from La Petite Columbe in Corossol on the pool deck in the morning, either lunch at Le Piment (our favorite place on the island) or sandwiches or salad from La Petite Columbe or perhaps lunch somewhere else. We then pick a beach and go for the better part of the day. On the way back from the beach in the late afternoon we sometimes pick up salads, or cheeses and meats and a bagette (and a few bottles of wine) and then spend the rest of the day at the villa. First, cocktails in the pool until it gets to be dusk listening to music from the outdoor speakers and then a lite supper gazing at the stars and drinking some fabulous wine. Then we repeat this until time runs out and we need to leave. For the first time, we actually cooked a couple of lite meals at the villa. We rarely go out to dinner mostly because driving on the island is difficult enough sober, and after drinks at the pool, and then drinking at dinner, it seems like too big of a risk (and again, we're not "foodies"). We did check to see if Uber was on the island but no go. We, once again, got massages at the villa by Cleo and once again they were outstanding. We get massages regularly in the states and hers are as good as the best we've had. Highly recommended, (cleosbh@gmail.com, http://www.cleo-massage.com).
Some observations... the island is bustling with construction. This has to be a great sign for the economy of St. Barts albeit sometimes a little annoying for us visitors. Le Piment, as I said earlier, is our favorite place for drinks, appetizers, and lunches. The two gentlemen working there everyday we were there were just so nice and friendly. The food there was excellent, and we tried several different things. We had dinner at Les Bananiers, delicious, and had a fabulous pizza from there one night. (Note the drive to Les Bananiers from the villa is about 2 minutes.) The beaches seemed more crowded than usual in April, our normal time for vacation. And it was very windy these last two weeks. Not sure if this is a product of the time we went or just the weather. I need to research this a little because I have a skin condition and cannot take too much direct sunlight for too long a period of time. We have a great umbrella that works very well in windy conditions but even it was challenged this trip. One note to self, do not look at the weather forecast, ever. It is never accurate and just depresses you. We made that mistake the first week and it predicted rain the entire second week, and a lot of it. We had rain one day we were there and we were having cocktails at Le Piment so no big deal.
One disappointment is the fence on St. Jean beach. Going to the "other" end of St. Jean was one of our favorite things to do. Watching the planes landing and the quiet nature of that end made it a favorite. Last trip, we got to see a bunch of young children there most days with what looked like a "school" activity and it was great fun watching them play in the water. The fact that there is no way to enjoy that end of the beach now is too bad.
Overall, a fabulous vacation as always on St. Barts. Can't wait to come back in 2019! In the meantime, I'll go back to lurking on this website.