Saint Barth – Part I

First news from St Barth!

The travel…

…was quite long this time ;-) We first took a flight from the EuroAirport to Paris-Orly, then from Paris to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe (about 7.5 hours and 6’800 km). Flight on time, quite good, only about 1/3 of the plane was full, as there are some heavy strikes in Guadeloupe since weeks now. When we arrived in Guadeloupe, we were “informed” (in the French West Indies, the proactive information has another definition as in the rest of the world, i.e. you *have* to get information by yourself, customer or not, it doesn’t matter!) that our direct flight from Pointe-à-Pitre to Saint Barth was canceled and that we have to take a flight to Saint Martin and then, from there, to take a boat to Saint Barth. This cancelation was clearly due to the strikes.

Actually, it was funny because we had flight-tickets with Air Caraibes, which has delegated our “canceled” flight to Air Antilles Express. After a while, Air Antilles didn’t have any plane left, so they had to delegate themselves to … Air Guyane Express! The flight was very nice (some pictures below), the landing extremely tough (lots of wind and turbulences). On the other side, we have discovered the second (super small) airport of Saint Martin, Grand-Case

After that, we had to take the so-called Voyageur (high-speed boat) to Saint Barth. The trip takes about 1.5 hours, but this time, the sea was really awful, with a very strong lateral swell. A nightmare, specially for my wife and my son, who were both sick during the whole trip.

All in all, and as usual, I must say that the service and the people from Air Caraibes were just *extremely* bad. And I am not talking about customer-orientation, just about the minimum level of politeness we should all have among human-beings… These Air Caraibes employees just deserve … nothing! On the other side, the Air Antilles Express people were informative, polite and have really tried to find a solution for everybody. Our detour through Saint Martin was properly organized, we had to pay nothing, and we had also the full excuses from the company. Well done!

Anyway, we arrived at St Barth “by night”, in the harbor instead the airport, with about 4 hours delay, which is definitely not catastrophic ;-) We had also the chance to see some great sailboats before entering the harbor, illuminating in a fantastic way! Great experience.

 

The flight between Guadeloupe and Saint Martin

We had the chance to have a marvelous sunset before landing at Saint Martin.

 

 

And a good view on Saint Martin before landing.

 

The villa…

…is really cool, with a nice swimming-pool and fantastic views on the ocean!

The back-side of the villa, which is called “L’Abricotier”:

 

And the main terrace with the “infinity” swimming-pool, and the view on the Lorient beach, Saint Jean Bay and the airport, plus the Anse des Cayes in the background:

 

Gouverneur beach today

This morning, we were at the Gouverneur beach, one of our preferred. Fantastic colors, and the ocean and its waves were quite … interesting for having fun with my son ;-)

The weather is typical for Saint Barth at this time: 28°C during the day with a very strong sun, 23°C during the night, 26°C in the ocean. Some sudden rains this afternoon, but during perhaps 10 minutes.

Click on the different pictures to see the full-sized versions!

More to come when I will have time again!

4th HD video from Saint Barth – Some sunsets

Some of the fantastic sunsets we have seen last year, from the villa Ella.

In about 10 days, we will there again, so I don’t know if I will publish new ones or not till then ;-)

Let’s see!

As usual, you should have a look at the high-res version here.

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf

3rd HD video from Saint Barth – Colombier beach

After the short presentation of the the villa Ella, a third HD video about Saint Barth, this time concerning one of our preferred beach, Colombier. One of the must of the island and a marvelous location for snorkeling!

As usual, you should also have a look at the high-res version here.

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf

And still not the last video.

The next one will be for Laurent.

2nd HD video from Saint Barth – Villa Ella

As mentioned in this post, I am publishing some HD video (720p, i.e. a 1280×720 resolution) on SmugMug.

Below, the second one (embedded in DVD quality). Topic is still Saint Barth, this time, with some views of the villa we were in, and the fantastic panoramic views on the Saint Barth airport and the Saint Jean Bay.

You should also have a look at the high-res version here.

http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf

Some other new HD videos to be published in the coming days!

In Strasbourg on last Saturday

Strasbourg, about 1h by car from my home, is a very nice city. I had the chance to study there during two years at Le Lycée Kléber. My wife was studying there during more than 8 years (…) at the Louis Pasteur University (doctor of medicine).

We are always going there with pleasure, specially to visit the “Petite France”, part of the “Grande Ile”, one of the most beautiful area of Strasbourg, and registered at the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1988.

Surrounded by two arms of the River Ill, the Grande Ile (Big Island) is the historic centre of the Alsatian capital. It has an outstanding complex of monuments within a fairly small area. The cathedral, the four ancient churches and the Palais Rohan – former residence of the prince-bishops – far from appearing as isolated monuments, form a district that is characteristic of a medieval town and illustrates Strasbourg’s evolution from the 15th to the 18th century.

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The Strasbourg Cathedral

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Access to the whole pictures-set here.

Back from St Barth

So, we are back since last Friday. As usual, the “landing” is quite difficult after 2 weeks on this incredible island. And not just because of the jet lag…

I would like to share with you 8 pictures from our trip. And no, I don’t know why 8, but it sounds good ;-)

 

From Guadeloupe to Saint Barth, beautiful lights

 

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Saint Jean Bay, the west part

 

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Petite Anse, from the beach

 

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Petite Anse, from the top

 

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Colombier Bay

 

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Grand Cul de Sac

 

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Petit Cul de Sac

 

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From the Gustavia lighthouse

 

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