1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living
Here’s How You You Can Travel Back to St. Barts A er Hurricane Irma
The renowned escape for the well-heeled has come back in inimitable style— with extraordinary villas, chic beach hotels, and fantastic food.
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By Sid Evans
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 1/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living
St. Barts's rugged terrain and pristine white beaches JULIEN CAPMEIL The typical ight into St. Barts ends with a heart-stopping drop over a hillside tra c circle, the plane's wheels almost scraping the tops of cars, onto one of the shortest runways in the Caribbean. It's a tting welcome to this little island of extremes, just scary enough to summon a jolt of adrenaline—and possibly a small gasp.
That feeling tends to stay with you as you travel the island's winding, narrow roads that hug cliffs with little or no shoulder. Everything about St. Barts is dramatic, from the sleek superyachts bobbing in Gustavia harbor to the expansive (and expensive) white villas with red roofs and open porches perched on the hillsides.
The prices for just about everything can be shocking, too, as well as the celebrities who are likely to show up at the next table. (Wait, is that Beyoncé?) But what makes this island so unique is its geography. Its 14 white-sand beaches, most of which have little to no development and very few people, are https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 2/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living tucked into a rugged volcanic landscape. It's tough to grow anything here and tough to get to—a combination that historically made the island unattractive to colonists and developers
This may also be why the people of St. Barts are so resilient, not unlike the coconut palms and amboyant trees that thrive in the rocky soil. When the eyewall of Hurricane Irma slammed into the island on September 6 with sustained winds of 200 miles per hour, most of the hotels, rental properties, and restaurants were badly damaged, not to mention hundreds of homes.
Miraculously, no one was killed, but there was so much debris in the streets that lifelong residents didn't even recognize their own neighborhoods. In most parts of the island there was no water or electricity for 18 days, but the resourceful islanders were undeterred. "The winds ended about 8:15 in the morning," says David Thyssen, a property manager for WIMCO Villas. "By 8:30 everyone was out trying to get debris off the road."
Marina Morel, who runs the Shellona Beach Club on the edge of Gustavia, lost not only the front half of her restaurant but also most of the beach, which had to be rebuilt using imported sand. With no one available to do the renovations, her crew of cooks, bartenders, and waiters did much of it themselves. "Sanding tables, varnishing chairs, putting up walls, doing electrical work—we did everything," Morel says.
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Now Shellona is back to being one of the hottest lunch spots on St. Barts, serving up an inventive Greek menu while a DJ plays techno music under a canopy of white umbrellas.
As dozens of restaurants have reopened, St. Barts has quickly reclaimed its status as one of the best dining destinations in the Caribbean. Eating is sport here; hot spots like Bonito, L'Esprit, and Orega up the ante with adventurous, modern takes on French Caribbean cuisine.
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 3/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living Meanwhile, local favorites like Le Grain de Sel (near Saline Beach) and Eddy's serve delicious Creole food at reasonable prices. There's also Le Select, the legendary dive bar in Gustavia that Jimmy Buffett called his "o ce" for years, where you can order a pair of margaritas for $10. The bar's credo, painted on a sign above the door: "Avoiding progress since 1949."
"To really get a feel for the island, you must go to Le Select and have a beer," says David Sierra, the general manager of Hôtel Manapany in the village of Anse de Caye. "This is the real St. Barts."
The Manapany was more than halfway through a major renovation when Irma hit, breaking the pool in half and destroying the beachside spa. Sierra spent a terrifying night during the storm with his family. "All the roof from my neighbor came onto my roof," says the French native, "so it was very loud—pow, pow, pow, pow. I will never forget this noise."
Sierra has operated ve-star properties all over the world, from Tunisia to St. Tropez, but says he's never seen a stronger, more resourceful community than the people of St. Barts. "It is a small island, so everyone was very motivated to help." The Manapany reopened this spring, after seven months of renovations. Its colorful, modern rooms are nestled into a rocky hillside facing the ocean. You have to drive down a steep, narrow road with a few crazy turns to get there, but it's worth it.
Get Here
Tradewind Aviation, known for its excellent pilots and comfortable, eight-seater prop planes, connects daily to the Gustav III Airport from Antigua and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Winair and St. Barth Commuter connect daily from St. Martin; Air Antilles connects daily from Guadaloupe and Martinique.
Stay Here
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 4/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living Just ve minutes from the airport and near the glitz and bustle of Gustavia, Hôtel Manapany hides away on Anse de Cayes bay with a charming bohemian elegance. Its 43 rooms and suites have ocean views, wide porches, and colorful, sophisticated interiors. Rates start at $508.
On a verdant ridge overlooking Flamands Beach, Villa Marie Saint-Barth has 18 bungalows and villas done in impeccably chic West Indian style. Rates start at $499.
If you're traveling with family, honeymooning, or just want more space and privacy, the villas on St. Barts are extraordinary. Most have private pools, ocean views, and open-air living spaces with amenities like outdoor showers and satellite TV (if you must). More than 80 percent of the island's approximately 800 villas have reopened; the remaining 20 percent is projected to open by December. WIMCO Villas provides personalized concierge services for its portfolio of 360 villas (including preferential restaurant reservations and beach service).
The island's famed resorts, among the most severely damaged properties, return in force for high season (the two weeks of Christmas and New Year's) and beyond. Hotel Le Toiny has added villas to its mix, and reopens in October. Le Sereno and Le Barthélemy plan to reopen in November. While Eden Rock-St. Barth rental villas are already welcoming guests, the resort property will reopen on December 22, the same day as Cheval Blanc St. Barth Isle de France. Le Guanahani will reopen in 2019.
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 5/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living
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Here’s How You Can Travel Back to Anguilla A er Hurricane Irma
Supported by a quartet of luxury hotels, a cadre of volunteers is leading a recovery effort as expansive and beautiful as the island’s legendary beaches.
By Tracey Minkin October 04, 2018
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 6/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla JULIEN CAPMEIL The swells are big today; the winds, bigger. But on May 30—Anguilla Day—locals still take to the ocean for their annual around-the-island sailing race that celebrates their homeland’s independence from St. Kitts in 1967.
In rustic, shallow-draft schooners with oversize sails (the traditional, hand-built watercraft Anguillans have used for centuries in trade and sometimes smuggling), crews of as many as 25 work in the tightest quarters to keep their boats upright and tacking. All around them bobs a wild barge-and-boat party of locals who’ve come out to watch the action and cheer on their friends. On shore, hundreds more islanders cluster in spots to picnic and watch, many spending the whole day mirroring the route from land.
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It’s a really rough day on the water this year, and one boat—a favorite to win— capsizes. But after the crew swims quickly to safety, the post-race party at the https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 7/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living funky outpost of Sandy Ground feels like the best night ever.
That’s because this is the rst Anguilla Day since the northern eye wall of Hurricane Irma passed over the low-lying, 35-square-mile island, destroying most of its homes and schools, uprooting trees and power poles, making 90 percent of its roads impassable, leaving damages exceeding $190 million, and killing one resident.
But what Irma took away, this feisty, warm-hearted island took back—and fast. Ringed by 33 beaches of ne white sand, Anguilla has attracted a community of high-end resorts and real estate owners who dug deep and fast to move the tourism base back into action. Starwood Capital Group, the vast hotel holding company, formed Anguilla Stronger, a consortium of real estate owners and four of the island’s largest hotels. Their combined purchasing power and infrastructure brought in food and supplies for islanders, procured rebuilding materials for homes, and supported organizations involved in human services on the island.
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The base camp for Anguilla Stronger—a trailer o ce and a trio of refashioned shipping containers on the property of the Starwood’s Four Seasons Resort—is a model of e ciency and goodwill; employees and volunteers wear matching T- shirts while they sort products, pack up bags of necessities for weekly distribution, and make deliveries to islanders. They help load new doors and windows into a truck for a couple rebuilding their house. They hit the road for the afternoon, checking in on elderly islanders living in damaged homes, popping by a day care center, and delivering tote bags full of new books to an after-school program and then hanging around to listen to the kids read some of them aloud.
When the main rounds are done for the day, Four Seasons employee and Anguilla Stronger organizer Travis Simpson heads to the beach to check in on his friend Garvey Lake. The young men grew up together; Simpson went to work in hotels, and Lake opened the SunShine Shack, one of a cluster of beloved https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 8/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living beach bars and restaurants on Rendezvous Bay. Irma wiped the whole beach clean, taking away Lake’s livelihood as well as the Dune Preserve Beach Bar, the renowned hangout of Anguilla’s best-known musician, Bankie Banx.
When Lake returned to a completely destroyed building the day after the storm, he put off repairs for two weeks to help a neighbor get his business rebuilt rst. Now back in its opulent yellow glory, the reborn SunShine Shack sports Lake’s mantra of “Live Up, Love Up, Live On” right above the bar. “Hang out! It’s a beautiful day!” he hollers at Simpson, calling for a round of beach drinks and settling in at one of his picnic tables in the sand. And Lake is right: The wild seas of Anguilla Day have subsided, and Rendezvous Bay is a tranquil shimmer of turquoise. It’s a day for talk, and laughter, and plans for the future. It’s an Anguilla kind of day.
WATCH: The Best Caribbean Hotels Reopening With Major Upgrades in 2018
Get Here
Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport is easily accessible by air through Puerto Rico, St. Martin, Antigua, and St. Kitts, as well as by ferry from St. Martin.
Stay Here
Perched on a bluff between Barnes and Meads bays, the bone-white, dramatic Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla possesses ample gifts: spacious rooms (80 percent of which have ocean views), beautifully appointed villas (some of which are beachfront), three pools, tennis courts, and an elegant spa. The open-air Sunset Lounge more than lives up to its name, and Cobà, the most upscale of the three restaurants, may be one of the most romantic spots in the Caribbean. Rates start at $650.
Up the beach on Meads Bay, the beloved and ever-chic Malliouhana, an Auberge Resort will reopen its doors on December 15th with its 46 oceanfront rooms and https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 9/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living suites restored with design updates from Todd Avery Lenahan of TAL Studio, new cabanas poolside, and reimagined looks and offerings at The Restaurant at Malliouhana and Sunset Bar. (Look for more reveals in early 2019, including a new beachfront two-bedroom villa and Auberge Spa expansions.)
On Shoal Bay East, Zemi Beach House Hotel & Spa is a luxuriously bohemian boutique hotel with a spectacular spa that inhabits an 18th-century Thai estate imported to the property. There’s beachfront and fancier dining on-site, plus the enduring pleasures of the Rhum Room, with a roster of more than 100 small- batch, single-estate rums. Rates start at $358.
The Reef by CuisinArt, a sleek, modern resort on Merrywing Bay, reopened this spring with myriad updates, including a top-to-bottom interior refurbishment, new restaurant and bar concepts, and a refocus of its spa on whole-body wellness. Rates start at $475.
Just up the beach, the CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa reopens in November with redesigned rooms, new restaurants, golf programs, and a spa. Rates start at $550.
WIMCO Villas provides top-shelf concierge services for 55 luxury properties— from delightfully personal to expansively modern—across the island. Inquire about the select villas in the collection that are participating in a “free night” promotion this fall.
Already reopened late in 2017 with improvements including new windows and doors that opened up bigger Caribbean Sea views, the pale pink Frangipani Beach Resort on Meads Bay will debut a new rooftop lounge and Balinese spa in November. Rates start at $500.
Under new ownership and reopening in November, Belmond Cap Juluca has emerged from a $121 million refresh. The result—improving its haute-romantic strand of beachfront guest rooms on Maundays Bay, reimagining its stunning open-air restaurant, and adding a new sea-edge in nity pool and spa complex—
https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/things-to-do-anguilla 10/11 1/10/2019 Travel Back to St. Barts After Hurricane Irma - Coastal Living is breathtaking evidence of Anguilla’s return as a Caribbean getaway of the highest order. Rates start at $904.
Help Right Now
Anguilla Stronger provides assistance and building supplies for permanent residents, as well as helping rebuild hospitals, schools, and charitable organizations committed to improving the lives of residents. Contribute at pledgeling.com/anguilla-stronger.
Follow #AnguillaStronger
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