My long awaited trip to St Barth – booked last MAY!
Travel day was rough. I couldn’t sleep at all – not even an extended blink, so I finally just got up. Although I was flying with two friends, they said they were taking the subway to JFK, so I rose to that challenge and did so also. The subway stop is right at my apartment, and that particular stop is only one flight of stairs, so I made the schlep with my 46lb suitcase and took the scenic J train to Jamaica and switched for the air train. I was so early – I don’t think my friends arrived for another hour. Jet Blue changed the flight times from when I booked, which made our transfer to Winair at SXM almost impossible. And in fact, it was. It took some doing, by the woman at the Winair counter finally rebooked 2 of us on a later flight (one made it – he only had carry-on). We were two hours “behind” schedule, but all was fine once our plane took off. I just love that flight! Lots of air traffic at SBH, necessitating our beautiful and talented pilot to make a wide swing out from Gustavia and circle back in, a flight path I hadn’t experience before. Wheels down was as smooth as gliding on ice. Magnifique!
We had a tad of trouble finding the villa in Devet, google maps was off a bit. I should have learned in Italy – never follow google maps. But our lovely and helpful villa owner came and found us and escorted us to our short term home. And our villa was stunning! The photos didn’t do it justice. Each room was unique, private, and each offered something special, there was no best or worst room among the five rooms. So special.
After settling in a bit, I had to do a run back to the airport to pick up the last member of our group of six, and we did a stop at the Super U (we were only there for four full days, and I made 2 stops at Super U and two at L’Oasis, and others made several other stops. This group was addicted to grocery shopping!).
Dinner at Mapo was a delight. We ordered a bunch of tapas and shared. As our group has different tastes (some heavy meat eaters, some dislike fish, I don’t eat meat), sharing was a bit of a challenge in some places, but it all worked out perfectly on our first night out at Mapo. The tuna tacos were a big hit, but I particularly loved the fennel scented wahoo ceviche. That was the memorable dish of the night for me, although I was impressed by the flakiness of the shell and the freshness of the tuna in the tuna tacos, and the perfectly fried eggplant fritters. We all walked happy and fully satiated, and I believe it was our least expensive dinner (this group of 6 turned out to be big drinkers, which tends to run up the bill.) After a tough travel day for everyone, we happily tumbled into bed quickly.
Travel day was rough. I couldn’t sleep at all – not even an extended blink, so I finally just got up. Although I was flying with two friends, they said they were taking the subway to JFK, so I rose to that challenge and did so also. The subway stop is right at my apartment, and that particular stop is only one flight of stairs, so I made the schlep with my 46lb suitcase and took the scenic J train to Jamaica and switched for the air train. I was so early – I don’t think my friends arrived for another hour. Jet Blue changed the flight times from when I booked, which made our transfer to Winair at SXM almost impossible. And in fact, it was. It took some doing, by the woman at the Winair counter finally rebooked 2 of us on a later flight (one made it – he only had carry-on). We were two hours “behind” schedule, but all was fine once our plane took off. I just love that flight! Lots of air traffic at SBH, necessitating our beautiful and talented pilot to make a wide swing out from Gustavia and circle back in, a flight path I hadn’t experience before. Wheels down was as smooth as gliding on ice. Magnifique!
We had a tad of trouble finding the villa in Devet, google maps was off a bit. I should have learned in Italy – never follow google maps. But our lovely and helpful villa owner came and found us and escorted us to our short term home. And our villa was stunning! The photos didn’t do it justice. Each room was unique, private, and each offered something special, there was no best or worst room among the five rooms. So special.
After settling in a bit, I had to do a run back to the airport to pick up the last member of our group of six, and we did a stop at the Super U (we were only there for four full days, and I made 2 stops at Super U and two at L’Oasis, and others made several other stops. This group was addicted to grocery shopping!).
Dinner at Mapo was a delight. We ordered a bunch of tapas and shared. As our group has different tastes (some heavy meat eaters, some dislike fish, I don’t eat meat), sharing was a bit of a challenge in some places, but it all worked out perfectly on our first night out at Mapo. The tuna tacos were a big hit, but I particularly loved the fennel scented wahoo ceviche. That was the memorable dish of the night for me, although I was impressed by the flakiness of the shell and the freshness of the tuna in the tuna tacos, and the perfectly fried eggplant fritters. We all walked happy and fully satiated, and I believe it was our least expensive dinner (this group of 6 turned out to be big drinkers, which tends to run up the bill.) After a tough travel day for everyone, we happily tumbled into bed quickly.
