Saint Barth. Day 5. I'm On a Boat.
We woke up early, too early, on Tuesday morning for our last full day.
Since we’d moved the boat to today, we had to be at the port (about 20 minutes away) by 9am. This meant being at breakfast before 8am if we wanted to have time for a full breakfast. It was rough, but we did it. Breakfast was delicious as usual. Today we decided to try the waffle, so we asked for one waffle. They brought us four. We told them that was too much, though we still ate three of them. Mendy asked for two eggs, and they brought four plates of two eggs. Maybe it was too early for them too.
We made it to Masterski Pilou, the boat company, by 9am but couldn’t find anywhere to park. The people there were so nice, they took our car and parked for us. We boarded our boat and we were off. The boat is a 35 foot speedboat. Our captain was named Marion. The minute Hindel walked on the boat she was nauseous, but we knew that was coming. The rest of the trip was spent wavering between laughing at her and sympathizing with her.
We started by sailing up to Colombier Beach, which is reachable only by boat or by a 30 minute hike, and after everyone almost died on the 5 minute hike on Sunday, we were definitely not going to attempt that. The beach was beautiful and very secluded. Most of the land around the beach was originally owned by David Rockefeller (grandson of John Rockefeller), who purchased it in the 1950s for $32,500. In 2023 a commodities trader from Texas bought the property for $136 million. Marion stopped the boat a little way from the shore and we all jumped off into the ocean. She gave us flippers and snorkel masks, but we didn’t really see any sea life.
We swam ashore and then walked along the beach for a few minutes before swimming back to the boat. It was really nice. Back on the boat we opened a bottle of wine that Tzvi had brought. It was just really nice to sail and sip cold wine. They also had a speaker so we played a nice mix of Taylor Swift and Eyal Golan. It was hot and there was no respite from the sun, but it was still really relaxing and pleasant.
From there we sailed around the island to Shell Beach. We hopped off the boat and snorkeled a bit and this time we actually saw some fish and a sea turtle. We made it to shore, which is entirely covered in shells. It was beautiful, but we didn’t really want to walk on it, so once we had enough energy we swam back to the boat.
From there we sailed around a bit more to Gouverneur beach, another beautiful beach. The swim was a bit tougher and we were all exhausted by the time we got to the shore. We laid there for a few minutes, but then it was time to go. Tzvi was so tired swimming back that he just held onto my leg and had me pull him in.
We sailed back to the port and said goodbye to Marion. It was a really phenomenal experience and I would definitely do it again.
We were all starving so we had lunch in town at a little café called Café Arawak. Of course it was outdoors, but at least it was in the shade. I had an Impossible Burger and Tzvi had a tuna poke bowl. We also had iced coffees that were delicious. After lunch we walked around a bit, but most of the stores were closed for siesta. We did end up buying a poster from a store that we had seen yesterday. While we were in the store we saw a “teen tour” travel camp. I want to know what teen tour travels to St. Barths. One of the kids was trying to return an explicit t-shirt because his counselor wouldn’t let him wear it, but the store clerk wasn’t letting him.
After that we drove back to the hotel and went straight to the beach. We were all so exhausted, except for Tzvi who decided this was the perfect time to hike up to the top of the hill that sits between our hotel’s two beaches. Basically it was now or never and he said he’d regret not doing the climb. [Tzvi: It was actually pretty easy and only took about five minutes to get up there. I did it in flip flops. The view was incredible at the top and I’m very glad I didn’t miss it.]
We decided to go for one last swim in the ocean (except for Hindel, who passed out at the beach from a mixture of heat exhaustion and nausea). The water was just so warm, and once we got far enough out it was even clear and blue. We must have seen two or three different sea turtles. We were kind of chasing them and trying to get close to them, and at once point Tzvi basically stepped on one (don’t worry, it wasn’t hard and he didn’t hurt it… we don’t think). It was just incredible to basically be swimming with the turtles and to be so close to them. They’re huge and incredible. (TWSS)
After the beach we decided to swim in the pool, which we hadn’t done yet on this trip. We discovered that the pool has this separate area, that looks like it should be a hot tub, but isn’t hot, and has the most powerful jets I’ve ever seen in a pool. They felt really nice on our bug bites.
By this time Hindel woke up and thought we’d either abandoned her or died in the ocean. Then we all went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner and do some packing.
Tzvi and I were ready early so we headed back down to the beach around 730 and took seats at the bar for a pre-dinner drink. The bartender looked like he was 12, but was actually 20 (which is still very young). He was clearly still training and said he’d only been on the island for two months. He was very good though. Tzvi had a mai tai and I had a mojito. Both were delicious. They also gave us delicious roasted cashews and the biggest olives you’ve ever seen. Then at some point they brought us a little plate with mini sun dried tomato sandwiches and little burrata cups. Tzvi ate all of it and said it was very good.
For dinner we went to Sella, which I think was in Gustavia but wasn’t in the main part of town. It felt like we were behind the very tiny industrial area, right on the water. Of course there was no AC, but don’t worry, there were ceiling fans and a light breeze coming off the water into the open walls of the restaurant.
Sella is a restaurant of Israeli chef Asaf Granit. He has restaurants all over the world and several in Israel (including Machne Yehuda which for a while was known as being the best restaurant in Israel but isn’t kosher so we’ve never been there). He also has a restaurant in Paris, which was the first Israeli restaurant in France to receive a Michelin star.
The restaurant wasn’t too crowded, I guess because it was a Tuesday night. As we walked in we passed a table of four young girls all speaking Hebrew. They were right next to the DJ and kept asking him to play Israeli music.
We started with cocktails, which were pretty good and most of them came on dishes shaped like hands. To start we shared challah with matbucha, focaccia with creme fraiche and schug, and something called the “Plate for the Brave” which was a bunch of spicy things including habanero butter, green chili slices, pickled chili and fried chilies. We also had a Fattoush salad with arugula, tomatoes, pink radish, cucumber, labneh, feta and these incredible giant croutons. The others also shared a tuna sashimi and a “polenta machneyehuda” with mushrooms, asparagus and parmesan cheese. For mains we got the Persian fish, which I think was wahoo, and a very creamy “risotto ptitim.” I basically just ate a bunch of vegetables. We got sides of grilled zucchini, mixed vegetables and roasted cauliflower.
Basically I just ate a lot of vegetables, but really the atmosphere was what made the meal great. At one point the Israeli table requested Am Yisrael Chai, so we had a nice little dance party. Then I asked them to play some Omer Adam. The other tables in the restaurant were a little confused, but I think they enjoyed the vibes. We couldn’t figure out if there were any actual Israelis or Jews working in the restaurant. Everyone seemed French, but that doenst mean they weren’t Israelis. One of the guys seemed to be clapping and singing during Am Yisrael Chai, so I’m assuming he was at least Jewish.
For dessert we had the “sa’ida sultana” which was a Turkish style tiramisu with black coffee-tonka ice cream, and fistuk with chocolate grenache, pistachio, raspberry confit, sumac ice cream and kadaïf tuile.
It was a really fun night, and we were all so exhausted by the end. Tomorrow we need to wake up early to go to the airport.