Everyone asks why we picked St Barths...Ray has a customer that goes every year and he has been telling me how much they like it and how he wanted to go for years...I just wanted to go somewhere in the Caribbean and I had read this island was unlike the others as there are no big resorts, no people trying to hassle you on the beach to braid your hair and no poverty stricken areas, plus it is French! We both agree that it lived up to our expectation plus some!
Every direction you looked was beautiful, the water was crystal clear, the food was delicious, their wifi was spotless (which is important when you work from home) and the people are some of the nicest you will meet. The only thing is the roads are narrow and hilly, so driving can be intimidating at first. However after a day you get the hang of it. People also make comments about how pricy this island is...it can be pricy, but it can also be reasonable. We were pleasantly surprised at how reasonable most everything was...of course there are some restaurants and hotels that are crazy expensive, but that isn't what we like anyway. We like to live like a local on vacation and that is what we strive to do.
We flew into St Maartin and took The Voyager ferry to St Barth from Oyster Pond. We had the best food and conversations at this little bar while we waited for our Ferry! You can jump a commuter flight, but we booked so late they were all full. It is the shortest runway and I hear quite an experience that we must do next time! I however loved the 30 minute ferry ride.
All of the beaches are public. Only 3 of the 14 beaches have any buildings on them...all the rest are just natural and amazingly beautiful! At the entrance of each beach you will see a tile sign that is significant to the area. St Jean is built up in that it has a few very small hotels and some restaurants which have beach chairs their customers can use...it is adjacent to the famous Nikki Beach.
Yes, the runway is right next to St Jean. It was so cool to watch the planes land.
Several of the beaches you must hike too...this was along the way to Colombia which is about a 45 minute hike.
And worth every minute of it!
Lunch at Cul de Sac Beach was so peaceful.
This is Ray pondering the hike to Washing Machine Beach from Grand Fond. For some reason this hike did not scare me, but Ray says it should have!
The natural pools when you got to Washing Machine Beach (which is named for the way the waves hit) were amazing.
Always remember to stay grounded...this was one huge anchor!
The smaller the car the better...this little Jimney served us well!
We visited all of the beaches and I loved every single one of them, but I think Gouverneur is my very favorite (Ray's favorite was Saline). Ray isn't much into swimming in the ocean for extended periods of time, but we swam at this beach for hours. The water was amazing and the view breathtaking.
On the last night we watched the sun set at Shell Beach...look at all those tiny shells.
This was our hotel...it was an 8 room bed and breakfast. Perfect location in the middle of the island and right near Lorient beach.
These are the hotel managers and they were so pleasant and gave us great tips.
Waiting for the ferry on the morning we departed. I'm counting down the days till we can go back!
For my own records, I'm going to update this with the restaurants we liked and other tidbits when I'm not so tired.
