I would say the villa is located just beyond Corrosol, but has an “address” of Columbier. It is less than a 10 min drive from St. Jean, making for easy access to SBH and also the grocery store Super U. There is a superb view from the villa with Gustavia harbor, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Eustasius, Saba all within view from the pool or terrace. From the end of the villa, St. Maarten is also in view. The villa has very good privacy, within view from only one villa that is at a lower elevation and roughly 200 yards away. The pool itself is plenty large and has a powerful jet and color changing lights to set the mood in the evenings. The pool and pool deck receive all day sun. Though there are very nice umbrellas on the pool deck, the direction of the sun (at least in November) does not allow for them to provide shade on the pool deck – great if you are a sun-worshipper, not so great if you just want to lounge in the shade near the pool. The kitchen is very well equipped with toaster, Nespresso machine, blender, ample flatware and glassware. The glassware, in particular, seemed to be of high quality. The negatives about the kitchen include: outlets that weren’t functional, non-functioning icemaker in the refrigerator, microwave mounted above eye level, and a stove hood that extended over the counter and is a headbanger for anyone over 5’ 4” (bring band-aids!). The living room is pleasant with a TV receiving US satellite. Though the living room is spacious, there is only seating for four. The terrace area (outside the kitchen and living room) is very spacious with a large dining table (seating for 8), and a sitting area that would accommodate six. As there were just my wife and me, we used only one of the bedrooms. We chose the bedroom adjacent to the parking area. This may have been the largest bedroom, though there is minimal difference in size between the bedrooms. The AC worked very well. The one thing about this bedroom is that the bathroom is separated from the bedroom by a small hallway, allowing it to be directly accessed from the terrace area. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, having not used the other bedrooms. Since the bathroom did have this separation, it did not benefit from the AC in the bedroom. The bathroom had an overhead and handheld shower, though the water pressure was often not sufficient to keep the flow diverted to the overhead shower – requiring a makeshift method to wedge the diverter to obtain flow to the overhead shower. The bathrooms in the other bedrooms are truly ensuite and therefore may gain some AC benefit from the bedrooms.
Other notables:
The internet was not stable upon arrival, but this was corrected the next morning, and worked well for the remainder of our stay
At the villa location, we were unable to connect to the mobile phone provider my carrier partnered with (are there multiple mobile carriers in St Barths?). We were able to connect at other locations on the island. We were able to enable WiFi calling on our phones and could text and call successfully using that functionality while at the villa.
The lower sitting platform is at quite a lower elevation than the villa. Though there is a nice path with stairs and stone walkways, it is still a quite a climb. I would not attempt to traverse it after dark. It does provide a closer view to anchored boats and is a nice place for an afternoon glass of wine. Remember to take everything with you, as you won’t want to make a return trip to the villa for a forgotten item.
There is an outdoor shower, interestingly located across the parking area, but provides a nice place to rinse off after a day at the beach.
A neighboring villa further up the hill has one or two dogs that can bark for 10-20 minutes non-stop. While this wasn’t a major problem it did occur a couple of times a day, pretty much every day. There was also a dog, Ogustine, that visited us on multiple occasions during our stay. This may be the most polite dog I have ever encountered. She would stop by for some attention, maybe lie down for a few minutes and then return to her adventures. She would never bark while with us, and I cannot believe she is one of the barking dogs mentioned above.
If you are a “greenie” you would be happy to know that this villa has solar hot water. If you like to take warm or hot showers you would be disappointed to know that this villa has solar hot water. I would guess the “hot” water temperature averaged around 85F/29C, based on the reading on the solar controller and personal estimates. The faucet in the kitchen did not have Hot/Cold labels and I could never decisively determine which was hot and cold. The “cold” water was not cold, which I presume is standard across the island. This lack of hot water was the biggest negative about this villa.
US style plug adapters (not voltage converters) were readily available – a thank you to Wimco.
Other notables:
The internet was not stable upon arrival, but this was corrected the next morning, and worked well for the remainder of our stay
At the villa location, we were unable to connect to the mobile phone provider my carrier partnered with (are there multiple mobile carriers in St Barths?). We were able to connect at other locations on the island. We were able to enable WiFi calling on our phones and could text and call successfully using that functionality while at the villa.
The lower sitting platform is at quite a lower elevation than the villa. Though there is a nice path with stairs and stone walkways, it is still a quite a climb. I would not attempt to traverse it after dark. It does provide a closer view to anchored boats and is a nice place for an afternoon glass of wine. Remember to take everything with you, as you won’t want to make a return trip to the villa for a forgotten item.
There is an outdoor shower, interestingly located across the parking area, but provides a nice place to rinse off after a day at the beach.
A neighboring villa further up the hill has one or two dogs that can bark for 10-20 minutes non-stop. While this wasn’t a major problem it did occur a couple of times a day, pretty much every day. There was also a dog, Ogustine, that visited us on multiple occasions during our stay. This may be the most polite dog I have ever encountered. She would stop by for some attention, maybe lie down for a few minutes and then return to her adventures. She would never bark while with us, and I cannot believe she is one of the barking dogs mentioned above.
If you are a “greenie” you would be happy to know that this villa has solar hot water. If you like to take warm or hot showers you would be disappointed to know that this villa has solar hot water. I would guess the “hot” water temperature averaged around 85F/29C, based on the reading on the solar controller and personal estimates. The faucet in the kitchen did not have Hot/Cold labels and I could never decisively determine which was hot and cold. The “cold” water was not cold, which I presume is standard across the island. This lack of hot water was the biggest negative about this villa.
US style plug adapters (not voltage converters) were readily available – a thank you to Wimco.
