Discovering St. Barts with Seabourn

I was excited to visit St. Bartholomew for the first time. I had heard this island was one of the most exclusive and beautiful in the Caribbean, and I was not disappointed.

I had breakfast at the Colonnade Restaurant on the Seabourn Sojourn. The views of the island were beautiful.

Even though I was heading to a French Island, I couldn’t resist an order of the Swedish pancakes with lingonberries (I found out later that there actually is a large Swedish population on St. Barts) and a side of scrambled eggs for protein.

St. Barts does not have a large enough pier so we needed to take a tender from the ship to the island. The ride was a bit choppy and I was glad to arrive in only a few minutes.

I had no doubt when I pulled up to the pier and faced the shops, with the Louis Vuitton sign facing me at first site, that St. Barts was enjoyed by the rich and famous. Since ours was the only ship in town and the island was just opening for the season, things were fairly quiet in town.

The Tourism Board of St. Barts had arranged for Claude to meet me at the pier and take me on a tour of the island. He told me how it was only 25 square kilometers, with 25,000 residents – and no unemployment. The season here is from November to April and most of the hotels and many restaurants close at least for September and October.

St. Barth Isle de France, as it is also known, is a very clean island with daily garbage and recycling. The land looked fairly lush even though it sometimes doesn’t rain here for six months. The beaches all have their own unique looks with some filled with corals and others over steep hills. Marigold Beach is known for its grey sand from volcanic ash and Shell Beach garners its name for the obvious reason.

It was quite a scenic drive up and around the mountain and I wanted to stop and visit as many beaches as possible for those “Kodak moments.” We also stopped along the road to see some see turtles nesting in front of Grand Fond beach.

I was also amazed by the airport runway that looked like it went right into the beach, almost like the experience in St. Maarten.

St. Barts has quite a few hotels and resorts, but house and villa rentals are the accommodation of choice by many, including celebrities like Selma Hayek and Jimmy Buffet, who will often play in a local bar.

Back at the pier I bid farewell to Claude and headed back to the Seabourn Sojourn. It had just started raining and I hoped it didn’t last.

I met Mom in the room and we headed down to lunch at the pool. I was craving a burger and fries and they made one perfectly. We then spent a few hours by the pool reading and resting.

For dinner in Restaurant 1, I enjoyed a Butternut Squash Broth with Sage Dumplings, the flavorful Potato Bonda Yogurt Dumplings and then the Toasted Angel Hair Pasta.

Mom picked the better choice for a main course, a tender and delicious Lamb Shank.

We finished the night with a fun and tasty party put on by the staff at Seabourn. The very talented members of the Seabourn crew (including Cruise Director Heidi, shown here) performed as we enjoyed an array of desserts and cordials.

The Bananas Foster – which was flambéed in front of us – and the fudge brownie were my favorites, and they went quite well with the Bailey’s/Kahlua/ice cream shot.

Even after that sugar, I was exhausted enough to get a good night sleep as the ship sailed its way to Barbuda.