Easter on Anguilla and St Barth

Trip report Easter 2018
I promised a report, but want to add, that English is a foreign language for me, so please do not mind spelling mistakes and if something sounds somehow strange or unclear- just let me know and do not be angry with me.
We decided to split our time between Anguilla and St Barths this time and to go on a budget as we spent the Christmas holidays on the Seychelles and have some more plans this year. We booked AirFrance flights in December, but they were cancelled by AF in February. We could get a flight with AF to St Maarten, but on the way back we had to fly with KLM via Curacao, which was adding 4,5 hours to the flight time.
We left our apartment at 6, flew to Paris at 7 and took off on time to arrive in St Maarten on time. The view from the plane was, although we heard a lot about the damages and saw many pics, kind of a shock.



The airport is still in tents, but the immigration was as smooth as never before. The landing cards are gone and they just stamped the passport, so the line moved very quick. Within 20 minutes be had our luggage and left the AC tent. We had booked a boat transfer to Anguilla with Fun Time charter and they expected us and drove us to the pier. Within an other 15 Minutes we were on the boat and off to Anguilla. It was unbelievable how many boats wracks were still in the sea, which be had to pass very carefully. St Maartin was far from normal and the destruction was very obvious. In Anguilla the immigration was a blast and we collected our car from Andys and drove to our little villa at Shoal Bay. Anguilla was in better shape than St Maarten, but we also a lot of ddamaged houses and nearly all churches were damaged.

We stayed at Villa Catalina, a cottage, which looked pretty uninviting from the outside, but lovely from the inside.


As we got a very good rate due to the damages (some windows were still missing), we did not mind. We could walk to a little beach within 1 minute and reached Shoal Bay after a short stroll of less than 10 Minutes. We had not been to Anguilla for 16 years and the big resorts surprised my. Zemi resort was very close to us and it is certainly a nice hotel, but in my opinion far to high and big to be built so close to the beach.

Apart from some rooms right at the beach, the resort was intact. Gwens Beach Bar was open and fun. We went to Rendezvous Bay, which was as lovely as ever and the Sunshineshack was open.


The hotels on the beach were not- all suffered damages.

After 5 days, we enjoyed a lot, it was time to leave for St Barths on Easter Sunday. As the boat connection was very bad, we chartered a plane with Transanguilla, which was a great ways to hop over.

Flying into St Jean, of course one could see the damages. I add some pictures from recent years to compare the situation.



We collected our car from Hertz(which I would not adivice, as it had a broken window and made strange noises all the time) rushed to Match and met with Annick. She is a wonderful host and so was our villa "Yoh".

It is a nice little villa with no sea view but a small pool and very well equipped. At 3pm we had booked a table at Nikki Beach and there was a real party going on with a lot of champagne bottles being splattered and a great atmosphere. The food was very good and the service extremely friendly. Unfortunately a lot of sea weed was on the beach, but it did not ruin the party time.


Saline and Gouverneuer Beach were as lovely as ever and we enjoyed it a lot.

Beautiful beaches and good eye witness reporting on the islands of Anguilla and SXM.

The next day we headed to La Plage, our all time favourite. The villa next to it(it was called Oxygene), we had rented some years ago and absolutely loved, is now part of the hotel and hosts a beach suite. I have to admit, that the new decor did not thrill me and the atmosphere seemed different too. I always felt, that the place had an cheery easiness, which I did not feel anymore. We had a nice table in the back, but there was a strange smell. The service was effective, but not warm. The food did not impress us either, somehow uninspired. My sons chicken was just one tiny leg- a bit too tiny for that price and not crispy at all. We only returned for drinks this year. Which I have to admit, I still enjoyed

Flamandes looked very different and I was so sad to see the fishermans house Rayon de Solei, we rented some years ago, to be hit hard.
Comparing the pictures, one can see the difference. But I guess, in some years it will be as is used to be.



We usually stopped at the bakery in Lorient to grab some breakfast and went to beach, had some lunch and in the evening we went to Gustavia and ended up several times at le Select. Going there and grabbing the first Carib makes me feel come home.

Gustavia is still beautiful as ever.

The supermarkets were as they used to be- I could not see any difference and we enjoyed buying all the nice french food.

Shellona was a good experience as well. Very relaxed und friendly crew at a great location. Definitly enjoyed our lunch there a lot. Wonderful dessert too.

Grand Cul de Sac was also a big difference. We booked a diving trip with Turenne Laplace for the whole family and that was really amazing. Me and the kids did the "discover scuba" and he was so great with the kids. Both were totally amazed and want to go diving again as soon as possible. We saw a lot of different fish and lobster and even could hear the whales.
While be were waiting to depart with the boat, we had to witness the demolition of the Sereno. Felt very sorry to this. During our dive trip, two cottages vanished.

We enjoyed the beaches a lot. The kids were surfing and boarding and loved it.




On our last day, we went to Nikki again- a day usually reserved for La Plage, and had a wonderful lunch. No party that day, but still a great atmosphere and lovely service.



Leaving was as hard as it always is and at the airport be realised, that we must have left one bag at the villa. A quick call to Annick and she rushed all the way to the villa, grabbed the bag and rushed-just in time- to the airport. One minute later our flight with Winair boarded. As we had 3 hours, we took a tai to Maho Beach, which was packed with cruisers. Always nice to watch the planes come. But also here, you can see the damages:


KLM left St Maarten a little late and on Curacao we all had to leave the plane, just to spend 70 Minutes in the security control for transit. After the security check, our flight was urgently called. Via Amsterdam we finally arrived in Duesseldorf in the afternoon.

The trip was as nice as all the trips before and we will return soon.

Nice report. Thanks for posting. Your English is excellent.

Sounds like a wonderful vacation for all in the family. I am happy to see you are already thinking about that ‘next time.’

Great report! You are intrepid travelers & covered a lot of territory & many familiar scenes . . . and informed us about it so well! Thanks for posting, & your English is excellent.

Your photographs then and now were very helpful! Thank you for your report.

Great report, great pictures and I wouldn't even have known English was your second language if you didn't tell us:up:

Excellent report. Thank you for posting. You certainly expressed the "feel" of many sites on the island. Glad you had a good trip!