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Frommer's has a new (or maybe updated is the better word) guide out, "Guide to St. Martin, Anguilla, St. Barts" by Jordan Simon. You can find it on Amazon for less than $10.
Frommer's list of best beaches mentions Orient Bay, Baie Longue, Baie de l'Embouchure, Happy Bay, Cupecoy Beach and Dawn Beach for St. Maarten/St. Martin. For Anguilla, Shoal Bay is described as a "near-perfect blend of activity and seclusion," while Captain's Bay is "dramatically situated, truly remote." The best beaches on St. Barts include Anse du Gouverneur, a perfect cove, along with Grande Saline and Flamands.
The best places to get away from it all, according to the book, include Mary's Boon Beach Plantation on Simpson Bay, St. Maarten, and Le Petit Hotel, Grand Case, St. Martin. On St. Barts, Hostellerie des Trois Forces is a New Age kind of place, with everything from regression therapy and astrological signs as decor, to gourmet food.
Best luxury hotels include La Samanna, Baie Longue, St. Martin; Cap Juluca, Maundays Bay, Anguilla, and Eden Rock, Baie de St-Jean, St. Barts.
Best restaurants, according to the book, include Temptation and Rare, in Cupecoy, St. Maarten; Le Gaiac, L'Hibiscus and Spiga in Grand Case, St. Martin; Malliouhana, Anguilla, and Le Sapotillier and Wall House in Gustavia, St. Barts.
"For the past few days, Moss has managed to avoid Britain's cold snap in favour of the sunnier climes of St Barts, the exclusive Caribbean island where she is taking part in a photo shoot for New York based jewellery company, David Yurman"
Browse Wimco.com for Intimate Hotels of Distinction. Wimco is the pioneer in the Caribbean luxury vacation industry. Visit Wimco.com to browse its selection of intimate hotels of distinction in St Barts and the Caribbean. They have 24 years of experience and have been praised by the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes and Fortune. You can trust them to put you in the right hotel or resort for whatever kind of vacation experience you want. The vacation specialists at Wimco will also handle your flight and car reservations. Get started.
We are very happy to welcome Wimco Villas as a sponsor of the St. Barts Travel & News Blog:
Luxury Villa Rentals with Wimco.com, est in 1983. Wimco is the pioneer in the Caribbean luxury villa rental industry. Visit Wimco.com to browse its selection of 1,200 private luxury villas. They have 24 years of experience and have been praised by the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes and Fortune. You can trust them to put you in the right villa for whatever kind of vacation experience you want. The villa specialists at Wimco will also handle your flight and car reservations, and their concierge department will arrange for babysitters, restaurant reservations, and activities. Get started.
US Airways The recent merging of US Airways with America West has created some temporary problems at the airport in St Maarten. As reported by a traveler to St Barth, this past Monday, all technology was shut down. As a result, hundreds of passengers missed flights and waited in lines at the confirmation desk for up to 3 hours. “The airline has adopted the computer system from America West and the ticket agents at SXM have not been properly trained how to use the system. There was frustration all around, with people outraged, screaming, being taken aside, and removed from planes.” If you’re flying US Airways to get to St Barths soon, call ahead and plan for some extra travel time.Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines is scheduled to begin service from their Ft. Lauderdale hub to St Maarten at the end of April.
Depending on when you purchase your ticket, you may be charged for each piece of checked luggage. "For customers who purchased tickets prior to December 15, 2006, for each ticketed passenger, Spirit Airlines will transport two (2) bags as checked luggage free of charge. For customers who purchased tickets between December 15, 2006 and March 6, 2007, Spirit Airlines will transport one (1) piece of luggage at no charge per fare-paying customer. For customers who purchased tickets on or after March 6, 2007 for travel on or after June 20, 2007, charges will apply to each item transported as checked luggage. Spirit Airlines can only guarantee the transportation of one (1) item as checked luggage per fare paying customer. Additional bags can be paid for on a first-served basis; but Spirit cannot guarantee that there will be space for extra bags, and will not be held responsible for any additional items brought to the airport by the customer. Please note that space is extremely limited on certain flights."
Carême is the period from the beginning of Lent (the day after Mardi Gras) to Easter. Consequently, mi-carême marks the middle of this period and is often celebrated with a small Carnaval-like parade. Mi-carêmers will parade through the streets of Gustavia on March 15 dressed in red and black. The custom started during the Middle Ages when the common people in France were permitted a one-day respite from the constraints of Lent to enjoy themselves. They went from house to house disguised from head to toe while their host tried to guess their identity. When the game was over, they removed their masks and were offered treats.
Bonobo Sculpture Sells for 30,000 Euros at Auction
March 8 was the final day of the silent auction hosted by the Hotel François Plantation of the bronze sculpture of a Bonobo monkey. Bids began at 20,000 €, or $25,000, and the sculpture was sold to a German industrialist for 30,000 euros. 16,000 euros will go to the Jane Goodall Institute to aid in its mission of saving large primates from extinction. The remaining amount will be given to the sculptor, Florence Jacqueson.
The Evan Goodrow Band is playing at Bêtes de L’Azailes, a bar and restaurant on the harbor in Gustavia, from March 5 through March 31. The music starts at 9:00 pm and there is no cover charge. The band features Evan Goodrow, whose formal training was as a jazz guitarist; Rick Oneal, on bass guitar, vocals and cowbell, who has opened for such bands as Kansas, Jefferson Starship, B.B. King, Etta James, George Thorogood, Little Feat and Bonnie Raitt; Carl Benevides on saxophone, vocals and percussion, who directs jazz ensembles, concert and marching bands and serves as a Director on the Executive Board of the New Hampshire Music Educator’s Association when not touring with the band; and Phil Antoniades on drums and percussion. They describe their music as “funked-up street jazz and blues-tinged soul.” Listen to some sound clips on their web site at www.evangoodrow.com.
St Barth seems to attract artists and art lovers. With at least 13 art galleries on the island, art appreciation rivals gastronomy. Below is a sampling of the many exhibitions:
From March 9 to March 15, Porta 34 in Gustavia displayed the work of the renowned marquetry expert Jean-Pierre Straub who creates beautiful scenes form exotic hardwoods and Douglas Hazelton the gifted copper sculptor who creates lifelike sculptures of fish, turtles and seabirds.
Jean-Pierre Straub spent his apprenticeship in his family’s workshop and has perfected his art over 30 years. Using over 50 different types of wood, his intricate scenes offer a broad spectrum of colors and contrasting grains.
Colin Douglas Hazelton, a Canadian who came to the Caribbean in 1967, is a sailor who creates stunning copper sculptures using copper mostly salvaged from old wrecks. His workshop and gallery is aboard his 75-year-old sailboat “Sinbad.” He recently returned to the Caribbean from a 9-year circumnavigation with his family.
The contemporary art gallery B.art at Le Carre d’Or in Gustavia is hosting the work of the renowned artist Raimundo Figueroa from March 8 through March 26. Figueroa is presenting “Meeting on the Red Circle,” a collection of 27 recent works that he created between St Barth, New York and his native Puerto Rico. Figueroa’s works are displayed in several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City and Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paolo. His work is also displayed in art collections of sevearl corporations, including Paine Webber, Bacardi Corporation, Equitable Corporation, Xerox Corporation, Prudential Securities, the Baltimore Opera House and Shearson American Express in Chicago.
Nikki Beach is displaying the abstract foil-on-plexiglass art of Denis Perrollaz from March 9 through March 18.
The gallery Me.di.um in Gustavia will be displaying the drawings of Andy Warhol March 28 – April 20.
Pearls have a long history of folklore from the Greek belief that wearing pearls promotes marital bliss to the Hindu belief that they increase memory and help control anger. But, on a more scientific note, recent research has shown that mother-of-pearl has regenerative properties for human skin and bone tissue. As such, the product is in demand by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.
Pierre Lietard began farming the Pearl Oyster in the Caribbean in 2003 for the Science and Sea laboratory in Brest, France. Today, his company, Nacre Carïbe, has an oyster farming business off the coast of Guadeloupe. Lietard recently received permission from the municipality of St Barth to create oyster beds off the northwest side of the bay of Corossol that will span a radius of 50 meters with a depth of eight meters. The regenerative properties of mother-of-pearl are due to the calcium ions found in the Pearl Oyster, and Lietard has invented a process to extract these ions. The extracted calcium ions will be used in medications to treat osteoporosis and in cosmetic and therapeutic bath products as an anti-wrinkle agent and to promote elasticity in the skin. In addition to use of the mother-of-pearl, Lietard’s goal is that each oyster will also produce a pearl that can be sold to jewelers. Estimates for the first harvest are at least three years away, but a pearl is in the making.
The Lions Club of St Barth organized a night of bingo on Saturday, March 10 on the quay in Gustavia to benefit its international campaign SightFirst II. The goal of SightFirst II is to raise $150 million by June 2008 to eliminate avoidable and reversible blindness. Due to the success of SightFirst I, a similar campaign launched in 1990, close to 100 million people received improved eye care, blindness was prevented in almost 24 million people, 250 eye-care centers were created worldwide, and more than 68,000 people received training focusing on care of the eyes. Despite this impressive accomplishment, the World Health Organization estimates that the number of people affected by blindness could increase from 37 million to 74 million by 2020. The St Barth’s Lions Club exceeded their goal of $5000 Saturday night when they collected $8963 from all those bingo fanatics!
"The road that winds around St. Barthélemy offers some of the most spectacular vistas in the Caribbean as it curves up and down steep hills, snakes along windswept beaches and crosses coconut groves and salt marshes.
Too often, though, as the road bobs and weaves through the tiny island, the landscape is pocked with construction sites — building machinery, like colossal historic beasts, devouring the vegetation.
And on the decks of multimillion-euro villas, which rent for $5,000 to $50,000 a week during high season, jetsetters down their Negronis and cover their ears to muffle the sound of jackhammers."
There is more and it is actually quite good - there are several quotes from people on St. Barts and their take on the development of the island.
Just recently the French Parliament voted to declare St Barth an Overseas Collectivity rather than being considered a town of Guadeloupe and, hence, under the administrative control of Guadeloupe. For weeks, the island has been abuzz with talk about what changes this new political status will bring to residents and non-residents, especially as concerns taxes. St Barth has been given broad fiscal and legislative control over many areas, including:
regulation of prices
zoning, construction and management of public property
roads, transportation, maritime affairs, and management of sea ports
Taxes on gas and alcohol, property taxes, income taxes and a wealth tax are all under review. The Port Duty will be increased from 4% to 5%, and a Tourist Tax of 5% has already been approved. No details are yet available on exactly how this Tourist Tax will be applied. Lodging is an obvious target, but will there also be a departure tax? To prevent St Barth from becoming a tax haven, those who have resided here for more than five years will be considered as having their "tax home" on St Barth. There is talk that non-residents will be subject to French taxation: that they will need to file income tax returns, pay income taxes and, possibly, pay a wealth tax. The Tax Treaty is currently in draft form and many changes could occur before its final form is released.
Friday night, February 23, the Association Escapade presented a night of flamenco on the quay in Gustavia. The dancers in their simple, but elegant, dresses evoked images of the gypsies of southern Spain dancing flamenco around the campfire in the dark of the night. There were no taps on the shoes, no elaborate dresses, no fans and no castanets as is usually found in many professional flamenco dance troupes. But the traditional drama and sensuality of the dance and the music were in full force.
Municipal officials have decided to acquire a glass-crushing machine for 75,000 euros to deal with the 800 tons of glass collected each year. Originally, recycled glass was shipped to France twice a year. Last year, St Martin purchased a glass-crushing machine, which St Barth made use of. Shortly, however, the glass will be crushed directly on the island, and much of the resulting product will be used as filler in certain construction projects.
Construction of four tennis courts is underway in the sports complex in St. Jean. The tennis courts are being built adjacent to the archery range and are projected to be completed by the end of June.
Public access to several beaches will be improved. Among these is the path from Flamands to Colombier as rain has eroded several parts of the narrow trail, making hiking a bit hazardous.
The streets and bars overflowed with people eagerly awaiting to see what surprises Carnaval would bring this year. Costumed revelers and music at Le Select kept the crowd entertained until the first Carnaval group arrived. And, as usual, no one was disappointed, despite a good, hard rain that soon arrived. This year, 17 groups paraded through the streets of Gustavia, including the Ranch of Flamands, Rhum Gingembre, Les Cassiopées, Cajun Connexion, Pirates, Pharaon du Nil, The Hideaway, Non Merci!!, the Guanahani and a first-time appearance by a group representing Portugal.
Pre-Carnaval festivities have taken place every Sunday evening for the past month, culminating in Children's Carnaval on Friday, February 16, as groups of children paraded through Gustavia accompanied by a marching tambour band. The official end of Carnaval came on Wednesday night, February 21, as the funeral procession carrying Vaval throughout Gustavia made its way to Shell Beach, where the burning of Vaval marks the end of Carnaval. Once again, the skies opened just as they approached the beach, adding to the eeriness of the haunting beating of drums and blowing of conch shells.
