Cowbright: Gustavia, St. Barts

Today was another one-day stop at what is considered to be one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Gustavia, capital of St. Barts is truly a tropical paradise (emphasis on tropical). Beautiful yes, and hot, yes! Something about being hot and sweaty really doesn't feel like Christmas to me.

We woke this morning and pulled back the curtain to see this - yachts and more yachts! I suppose this is how the rich and famous live. We didn't have an excursion planned but we always feel like if we're only going to visit a place one time, we should at least get off the ship and take a look around. So that's exactly what we did. Unfortunately our ship couldn't dock so we had to tender in. The water was a bit rough so the tender ride to shore was quite pitch-ey.

view from our balcony when we pulled back our curtain

It was probably close to 11 a.m. before we arrived on shore so it was already quite warm. Someone on the tender ride over referred to St. Barts as "the Monte Carlo of the Caribbean" and it was easy to see why it is called that. It is basically home to many famous and wealthy people, yacht after yacht and many internationally known shops and boutiques. We walked a few blocks just so we could say we had seen it, but we obviously didn't buy anything. By the time we walked back to the dock and boarded the tender, we were ready to get back to the ship. Of course I snapped photos as we walked around.

But first a few facts about St. Barts. A small French island, St. Barts enjoys more than 300 sunny days a year. It is 8 square miles of land, beautiful blue water and numerous white sand beaches. Besides its beauty, it is known for its high end shopping and supposedly fantastic restaurants and cafes. One place had a few menu items posted outside offered burgers for "only" $25. Wow, that must have been some burger!

Here's some photos from the day.