 |
St Barth Trip Report Our first visit to St.
Barth was 10 years ago. Albeit a short two day venture, we found the island
charming, and vowed we would return. Since that initial short visit, we've
visited St. Barth January 2006, 2007, and 2008. And our total combined nights
spent on the island total approximately 34. While I don't consider myself an
expert on French culture, I do consider myself an expert on fun in the sun, and
great places to run naked on the beach, and this is one of the best, albeit
extremely pricey. Because this is not wild crazy like Hedonism II in Jamaica,
those seeking adventure should try nearby alternative, St. Martin. St. Barth is
a sleepy little island, and the attraction will surely be more the sound of the
cackle of the local rooster, great restaurants, and unspoiled and generally
uncrowned beaches moreso than discos, loud music, and toga parties. There are
some water sport activities at Grand Cul-De-Sac, and St. Jean, but there are no
water parks, and this is probably not the place that serious scuba divers would
choose to visit.
Lodging:
The island offers extraordinary
luxurious hotel accommodations such as the Carl Gustov with private rooms with
private pools, private villas (homes for rent), and ordinary hotels that are
priced like they are the Ritz Carlton, though they are not.
We stayed
at the least expensive (at that time) hotel on St. Barth Hotel at Grand
Cul-De-Sac in 1998, but have rented villas the next three visits. The tradeoff:
a hotel provides services, but lacks privacy. Some villas provide total
privacy, but most services are limited to maid service. We prefer the Villas,
and specifically seek those with extreme privacy and amazing views. There are
no major chain hotels like Best Western, Hilton, etc. There are no hotels that
cater to the au natural crowd.
Getting there:
Getting to
St. Barth is the best part of the adventure. We've never taken the boat, but
for those squeamish of flying in small planes it is the way to go. We love the
small propeller planes so via the air is the way we go. Normally, regardless of
what flight you book from SXM to SBH, you will simply get on the next available
plane, and you might need to sort of nudge to the front of the line. Beware
number 1: the pilots are jokesters. On our first flight, flying though a
thunderstorm, the pilot handled us a manual and asked us to figure out what the
red light on the dash was all about. Ha, ha, ha. Beware number 2: when landing
you will pass through a valley seeing trees out both sides, and the ground
through the cockpit window during a steep decent. It's a little scary if you
don't know to expect this. He'll pull up at the last minute, hopefully. Once on
the ground, you'll quickly pass through customs and you'll claim your checked
luggage. Proceed outside, turn right, and up the little ramp to the rental car
companies and the villa rental companies. Or, proceed outside, turn left, and
there are restrooms should the landing have proved too frightful.
When you return, you'll check in an hour before your flight. Ask them to check
your luggage to your final destination home so you don't have to claim them in
SXM. Then, we normally run across the road and go to the courtyard restaurant
in the shopping area, I don't recall the name, for a quick drink and bite to
eat, then return to the airport and hop on the plane, and back to SXM you go.
Most flights will connect through St. Martin (St. Maarten). If your layover is
more than two hours, grab a cab to the Sunset Beach Bar at the end of the
runway where topless women drink for free and have your final fun in the sun.
They will call a cab to get you back to the airport. Figure about $5 going, and
$8 coming back. Don't count on the driver having change, so carry plenty of
singles. US dollars are okay.
Driving:
You need a car to get
around the island. I recommend a SUV type vehicle, but avoid full sized
vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler. Go with a Suzuki Samurai sized vehicle because
the roads are very narrow. Mini Coopers seem to just be appearing on the
island, but I don't recommend one. First, if you get off the road, you need
some ground clearance, second, when it gets wet, the roads get slippery. 4
wheel drive is very helpful. The island is VERY hilly. We always rent through
Gumbs Car Rental. Email your reservation request to
gumbs.car.rental@wanadoo.fr, or telephone 05 90 27 75 32. English communication
is possible, but quality varies depending on who answers the phone. Get a road
map, though even without one, you cannot get lost. It's a small island of eight
square miles. There are only two gas stations, and neither is always open, so
plan on filling up before you run out of gas. The one in St Jean is automated
out of hours, but I've never been able to get my credit card to function
outside of hours. I usually ask a nice local also getting gas to fill my tank
for me, and I pay them excess Euros for their trouble. Scooters dominate the
island, and if you choose to rent one, heed the warning about hilly and
slippery roads. We've seen several instances of scooter on top of driver rather
than driver on top of scooter.
The Beaches:
All beaches
are topless, Saline and Gouverneur are the two defacto nude beaches, though
Columbier gets some nude use, but wouldn't be my pick due to the "crowds".
There are abundant beaches on the island facing North, South, East, or West to
your liking. St Jean is one of the most developed with plenty to do and great
bars and restaurants. Sunday morning/afternoon at Nikki Beach Club is the hot
spot in my opinion. Conditions range from rugged rocks with huge waves at Grand
Fond (do not attempt to swim, just enjoy the beauty), to calm water with
thousands of tiny seashells at Shell Beach.
We've never spent much
time on any beach other Saline and Gouverneur, and I think I'm an expert on
these two, so here are the details. Both beaches face south, so you enjoy
looking towards the ocean while you tan. Both beaches are void any facilities,
restaurants, restrooms. So bring what you need, and take it with you when you
leave. We have a soft cooler backpack that handles our food and drink needs for
the day, a couple towels, and a knapsack with iPod, camera, etc. Both beaches
are pristine. Gouverneur is probably about 1/3 the size of Saline. It tends to
have rougher surf. Upon entering from the only entrance at the East, you'll
find it's predominately textile. Heading to the West side of the beach, more
clothes are shed. Depending upon the wave action and the tides, you may find
there is very little dry sand. Beware of rocks in the water. Some are large,
others are just big enough to break a toe and ruin your vacation. If the water
is calm, you will see everything below the surface. The area at the entrance of
the beach tends to have the smallest waves due to the cliffs breaking the every
present breeze/wind coming from the East, and the ocean floor is very sandy. To
the West, the waves are bigger and more rocks lurk below. However, we've only
once ever had to walk to the East side to swim because of the waves blocking
what lurks below. Families, and couples can be found on the beach. There are
rarely singles, and no one will bother you. This is a very safe beach in that
sense.
Weather patterns are strange. I've seen the ocean as smooth as
glass with only gentle 8" waves lapping at the shore, and I've seen terrifying
bone crushing 8' waves the next day. Saline is our favorite beach. There are
two entrances to the beach. One route enters the middle, and is reached by
following the path along the fence. The other enters to the West and is reached
by passing though the chain link fence and following the somewhat muddy path.
My impression is that the West end gets some gay use, but in general, the
majority of the couples are heterosexual, and there doesn't seem to be a strong
gay presence anywhere on the island, say, like what we experience in Mykonos
Greece. We prefer the East end of the beach, so we enter the middle, and walk,
and walk, and walk. All along the beach you'll find combined textile and nude
use. Beyond the rocks to the East, you will see another smaller beach. We climb
the rocks to that beach. The rocks are not slippery, quite the contrary, they
are sharp and grip well. There's no need to go high up the hillside, stay kind
of close to the water, maybe five feet above see level, and you'll find your
way around. Foot protection of some type such as cheap flip flops are
sufficient, just be careful, the rocks are jagged and scraping a heal will ruin
your Saline adventure. On the rare occasion that the ocean is ultra calm you
can walk in the ocean ahead of the rock outcropping to get to the little beach.
This little beach holds about five couples, spaced 50 feet apart, all working
on their all over tans. Of all our visits, and we spend from noon to four on
the beach, we've only had it completely to ourselves for about 30 minutes -
which resulting in some great fun-in-the-sun photos. We've only once been on
this little beach with someone wearing a bathing suit, and once there were, God
forbid, children; yikes. The ocean floor just East of the rock outcropping is
always very sandy. To the far East of the little beach, it gets a little rocky.
The water at the little beach is calmer due to the cliffs creating a windbreak
from the ever-present Easterly breeze/wind.
Both Gouverneur and
Saline are popular boat destination, though not as popular as Columbier, which
is why I say Columbier is not a good destination…just too much traffic and
children swimming from boat to shore. On a calm day, there will be five boats
anchored off shore of Saline, and maybe two at Gouverneur. Like Gouverneur, if
the winds are wrong, and the waves are big, finding dry sand may be a
challenge. There are no beaches you can have all to yourself. There are no
beaches where public sexual behavior is appropriate or welcome. Both Gouverneur
and Saline have goats in the hills, and you'll hear and see them occasionally.
Both beaches may draw some cruise ship gawkers, but the black socks rarely
venture as far down the beach as I've recommended. The gawkers are barely
existent, and nothing like the opposite end of the spectrum of places like
Orient Beach St. Martin or Haulover Beach Miami Florida where they swarm like
flies.
Restaurants:
There are many great choices. You'll
love them all, of this I am sure. Here are a few tips:
Le Select for
a hamburger and fries
Andy's Hideaway for pizza or their hot stone
grill
Le Ti St Barth for dinner and dancing on the tables - check, but I
think Saturday night only for dancing
Santa Fe for football watching and
great sunsets. Emanuel is proud of his new restaurant, stop in and wish him
well
Do Brazil for sunsets
Le Gaïac or Carl Gustof for dinner or
appetizers in an exclusive expensive setting
Le Mandela for Asian and great
city light views
The Wall House for their grilled fish
BAZ Bar for
entertainment and sushi
Nikki Beach club for Sunday brunch
Eden Rock
for great food in an amazing setting.
And the list goes on and
on… great restaurants abound on this tiny island. We never get bored, or
run out of places to eat. Linger longer… don't rush. At the better
restaurants they will likely serve a vanilla rum with your check. Hang out and
enjoy.
Money Matters:
Damn this island is expensive! But,
that's what makes it great and why there are not transients roaming the
beaches, nor people pan handling money, and why it is very safe. Our normal two
week trip costs $18,000 (US dollars) for a top notch villa, first class air,
the short flight from SXM to SBH, rental car, and dining. Going off season and
flying coach will probably cut that nearly in half. The island uses the Euro,
so the exchange rate, currently, is quite poor due to the weak US dollar. US
dollars and Euros are accepted everywhere, but the conversion rate is rarely
favorable to the US dollar with a beer costing, for example, €3.50 versus
$5.00. We always use our credit card, but most cards charge a currency
conversion fee of about 3%. We racked up about $2,000 in food, gas, and drinks
over two weeks, so about $60 went to the credit card company for their
conversion fee. There are money machines, and most limit the amount of Euro you
can retrieve per day or transaction. We normally grab about €70.00 a few
times during the trip and that works out fine for incidentals like drinks from
a bar while waiting for tables. We spend our final remaining Euros at the
Sunset Beach Bar or the SXM airport bar while waiting for our return flight
back to the United States.
EDITOR NOTE: We have replaced all our older photos in
the photo album with Bill and Cathy's... Thanks
guys |
