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Welcome to the Saint Barthélemy travel & news blog. On this site you'll find an extensive and up to date guide to the island (links on the left), as well as news from and about St. Barts from Candee Duensing of "St. Barth News Bytes". You can read the articles and leave comments, and you can also ask and answer questions on our St. Bart's forum. Saint Barthélemy is a serene and special island that will remind visitors more of the south of France than the Caribbean. This tiny island has 22 beautiful beaches, as well as some of the finest accommodations (hotels and private villas) and dining in the region. The island is known for the famous faces it attracts every winter as celebrities from around the world flee the cold on this magical tropical paradise.
The Hotel Le Toiny, located on the southeastern coaSt. of St. Barth, is a member of the Relais & Chateaux chain. The hotel's restaurant, Le Gaiac, overlooks the Caribbean and has a beautiful pool that restaurant guests are welcome to use. The restaurant is now offering a special "Discover St. Barth" menu poolside every Friday evening for 58 euros. And, clients of St. Barth Properties can enjoy complimentary cocktails. Among other items, the menu includes such temptations as crawfish wrapped in crispy spaghetti with a guacamole of mango and passion fruit, crab raviolis, and rack of lamb coated with crusty coconut and served with an eggplant chutney and spring vegetables.
Last week, it was reported that Air Caraibes, who provides commercial flights and charters between St. Maarten and St. Barth has ceased all operations of flights and the handling of flights and charters until further notice due to financial losses. Those with confirmed tickets are being accommodated by other airlines, notably Winair. It is expected that in early July the airline will resume operations in conjunction with a third-party, most likely Tropical Airlines, which is also known as Air Antilles Express.
Spirit Airlines recently announced it would close its San Juan hub.
JetBlue Airways Corp. plans to add daily flights to Puerto Rico from New York, Orlando and Boston starting this fall. However, in September, they will cease their daily flights to St. Maarten and offer flights only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In early October, daily flights will resume except for Tuesday and Wednesday. They expect to resume daily flights again on October 30.
Has the Francois Plantation Closed Its Doors for Good?
Word has it that the 4-star Hotel Francois Plantation, located on the northwestern tip of the island, high in the hills of Colombier, has decided to close its doors. Whether this is truly a permanent closing or not remains to be seen. They were closed for renovations when this news arrived. Several sources say they will not re-open. However, their website says "closed until further notice." We'll juSt. have to wait and see what happens. Not only would this be a loss of a lovely hotel, but also of an excellent restaurant.
St. Barth Properties Offers Great Savings on Car Rentals
St. Barth Properties is offering a "Deals on Wheels" special from June 16 to October 31. If you make a reservation during that time at one of the villas or hotels that they represent, you can rent a car for $175 per week, with a $25 rate for each additional day. A normally good rate for this time of year is 25 euros per day, which at current exchange rates is $39.50 per day! These rates are good for a Suzuki Ignis hardtop sedan or a Jimny soft-top convertible Jeep, both with automatic transmission. For further details and to book your reservation, visit their website at www.stbarth.com.
St. Barth Chosen for Pre-Release Preview of Dom Perignon 2000 Vintage
Segeco, the exclusive distributor for Dom Perignon in the Caribbean, organized an event on June 3 at the Manapany Hotel in Anse des Cayes to present the vintage Dom Perignon Millesime 2000, marking the firSt. time that a vintage Dom Perignon has been presented in the Caribbean. This vintage was made from grapes picked at the end of the 20th century and aged for seven years in the champagne cellar. Chief champagne maker Richard Geoffroy describes the aroma as having "notes of poached pears and gardenia" and that "on the palate, notes of anise and dry ginger mix with a hint of ripe fruit (pear and mango)."
As a result of St. Barth becoming an Overseas Collectivity, all newly registered cars will have the new St. Barth license plates, which will include the letters SBH. The standard plate will consiSt. of one to three digits, followed by a space, followed by one to three letters and the letters SBH. Personalized plates are also now allowed and can consiSt. of up to ten letters with no spaces. The standard registration costs 25 euros and personalized plates will coSt. 50 euros. It will be fun to see the personalized plates that appear on the island!
Newport, RI, June 2008 - Wimco and Sibarth have banded together with St. Barts villa owners to create a "Stay 7 Nights/Pay for 6 Nights" offering for nearly 70 villas on the island of St. Barthelemy. The villa rental pioneers are optimistic that by offering a free 7th night, travelers will be more inclined to come experience the beauty of St. Barts during the more affordable low season.
The "Stay 7 Nights/Pay for 6 Nights" special applies for travel during the entire month of July 2008 and October 1-November 15, 2008. Participating villas include the new stunner, SIB DOL in Pointe Milou, fabulous SIB JAY in Mont Jean and crowd favorites SIB SAS in St Jean, SIB OUI in Petit Cul de Sac and SIB TOR in Lorient.
For more information, please contact one of Wimco's St Barts destination specialists at 1-800-932-3222 or visit www.wimco.com.
La Palace in Gustavia will be closed from June 7 through the end of July.
La Poste in Gustavia is operating under summer hours until September. They are open from 7:30 am until 12:45 pm every day except for Wednesdays and Saturdays, when they close at noon.
The Strand Supper Club in Gustavia is offering free champagne to ladies every Thursday from 11:00 pm until 1:00 am.
La Pomme ("apple" in French), an authorized reseller of Macintosh computers, has opened on Rue Courbet in Gustavia. They are open from 9:30 to 1:00 pm and from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm. For more information, call them at 0690 41 21 30.
Wish you'd written down the phone number for a restaurant, hotel, doctor or a favorite boutique before you left? Now, the St Barth phone book is on-line at www.directory-saintbarth.com. It's easy to use and you can search by profession or name. There's even a tab for an inverse search - you enter the phone number and the business or person's name is returned. This is a real help if you want to make reservations at your favorite restaurants before leaving for the island.
Le Piment in St Jean is now serving tapas starting at 7:00 pm, often accompanied by live music. A few samplings from their menu are: Calamari with tartar sauce, Escargot with Sherry vinegar and parsley, Quesadillas with peppers, chorizo, and guacamole, Cajun chicken, Toasted baguette with herbed goat cheese, and a Sausage plate - all between 3.50 and 4 €.
Wimco is sponsoring a five-night special at the Hotel Guanahani & Spa in Grand Cul de Sac from April 15 through October 31. Three room types are available: Ocean One-bedroom Pool Suite for 6175 €, Ocean One-bedroom Suite for 4925 € or an Ocean Cove Room for 3700 €. The package includes daily Continental breakfast in room or American breakfast in the hotel's Indigo restaurant, a choice of either lunch or dinner for two daily, car rental, round-trip transfers from the airport or harbor, a welcome gift and your choice of two of the following activities: one hour of jet-skiing for two, two one-hour windsurfing lessons, two one-hour tennis lessons, two Clarins Spa treatments (excluding massage) or a beginning scuba diving lesson. Rates do not include the 5% government tax. Visit www.wimco.com for all details.
Working in collaboration with NewTec Assistance, Dufau Establishments is anticipating the arrival of electric scooters very soon. These 3000 and 3500 watt scooters have a range of 100 to 150 km and a speed of 50 to 80 km/hour. The lithium batteries can be discharged and completely recharged 3000 times. They have also been "tropicalized": The scooters are painted with an anti-rust paint, all of their electronic components are sealed and the screws and bolts are made of stainless steel. Visit Dufau's shop near the gas station in St. Jean or call him at 0590 27 54 83. To learn more about these environment-friendly scooters, go to www.newtecassistance.com.
Air Caraïbes Stops All Flights Until Further Notice
Air Caraïbes is one of the small airlines that provides commercial flights and charters between St. Maarten, St. Barth and Guadeloupe. Princess Juliana International Airport in St Maarten was just notified that Air Caraïbes has stopped all operations of flights and charters until further notice due to huge financial losses. They've stated that passengers with confirmed tickets will be accommodated by other airlines, mostly Winair.
The airline hopes that by the end of June or the first week of July they will resume flights in a joint effort with Tropical Airlines (also known as Air Antilles Express), but as of yet, there has been no official confirmation of this partnership.
Due to ever-increasing gas prices, American Airlines has announced that they are ending service between Puerto Rico and St. Maarten in September. They also plan to reduce their daily New York flights to St Maarten to three times a week. For now, daily service between Miami and St Maarten remains intact.
Absolutely Wine in Grand Fond has a large selection of grand crus, Armagnac, cognac, rhum, French vodka, wines and foie gras. They hold a wine-tasting every day at the shop and offer free delivery. The shop is open Monday-Saturday from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:00 pm to 6:30 pm.
Our thanks to the following organizations: The Office Municipal du Tourisme de Saint Barthélemy for supplying some of the information in these pages, and The Association des Hoteliers de Saint Barthélemy for the St. Barts maps which are used with their permission.
Welcome to the Saint Barthélemy travel & news blog. On this site you'll find an extensive and up to date guide to the island (links on the left), as well as 
Word has it that the 4-star Hotel Francois Plantation, located on the northwestern tip of the island, high in the hills of Colombier, has decided to close its doors. Whether this is truly a permanent closing or not remains to be seen. They were closed for renovations when this news arrived. Several sources say they will not re-open. However, their website says "closed until further notice." We'll juSt. have to wait and see what happens. Not only would this be a loss of a lovely hotel, but also of an excellent restaurant.
As a result of St. Barth becoming an Overseas Collectivity, all newly registered cars will have the new St. Barth license plates, which will include the letters SBH. The standard plate will consiSt. of one to three digits, followed by a space, followed by one to three letters and the letters SBH. Personalized plates are also now allowed and can consiSt. of up to ten letters with no spaces. The standard registration costs 25 euros and personalized plates will coSt. 50 euros. It will be fun to see the personalized plates that appear on the island!
