Page 105 - Travel Leisure - USA (February 2020)

I ordered a watermelon salad studded built in 1855, with its louvered it appeared to those early settlers:
with cloudlike chèvre. The Sand windows and pink limestone walls. roughly gorgeous, splendidly isolated,
Bar is on heavy rotation for most I could pick up a pain au chocolat a blank slate upon which to project
St. Bart’s visitors, no matter where at La Petite Colombe in Lorient and dreams and ambitions.
they are staying—a tradition I expect eat it on the white sandy beach at On my last afternoon, I walked to
will continue. Gouverneur—to my eyes the most the island’s most mythologized beach,
Indeed, although my visit coincided picturesque strand on the island, its Colombier, a secluded cove that was
with the very beginning of the season, azure water perfectly framed by once part of the Rockefeller estate.
Eden Rock seems destined to reclaim green-carpeted hills. (Les Salines was It can be reached only by boat or on
its status as the island’s social a close second.) I could chug foot—either a steep descent via stairs
epicenter. The beach has a frosé trolley overpriced rosé at Nikki Beach or eat leading down from Route de
and a floating dive platform, but the cheap burgers at Le Select. There’s Colombier, or a gentler hike that
primary activity seems to be watching plenty of bling on St. Bart’s, but begins just beyond Flamands Beach,
people as they parade up and down dressing up is not required. where the Cheval Blanc hotel has also
the sand. Rooms are cleverly shielded One morning I took a step even just reopened.
to ensure privacy, but once you step further from civilization, going for a I took the latter route, which hugs
outside, you’re in the mix. You come hike on the so-called Côte Sauvage, the coves and outcrops of the rocky
here to be both ogler and oglee. the wild southeastern coast. My guide coastline, stopping frequently to take
Socializing is the whole point. was Aminata Clason-Diop, whose in the vistas of waves crashing beneath
Of course, my experience was not namesake wellness company also offers me, and the towering islets dotting
limited to Eden Rock. Moizan yoga and meditation classes, nutritional the horizon. Finally, after crossing a
encouraged me to think of St. Bart’s as guidance, and homeopathic flower meadow grazed by baby goats, I
a single resort, his property being only remedies. Starting just beyond the reached Colombier.
one element. Guests bounce around, entrance of the Hôtel Le Toiny, we This wide arc of sand is set
visiting other hotels for lunch or descended first to the nearby beach, dramatically at the base of a green
drinks, sampling the 22 beaches, and Toiny, then clambered up and down the gully and embraced by two headlands.
going out for dinner. Because of the rocky slope. One summit looked toward The only visible human encroachment
island’s small size, everything felt at my the rugged Grands Fonds, another on the landscape was the Modernist
fingertips, the roads vertiginous but afforded a view of nothing but ocean. roof of the now-abandoned
well paved, the beaches open to all, the Rocky, windy, and altogether beautiful, Rockefeller villa peeking through
villages studded with colorful houses, the walk provided a welcome moment the treetops. A few clusters of
boulangeries, and a very French sense of absolute quiet and recovery. sunbathers sat on blankets; two yachts
of order. Remarkably, Irma’s scars were Of Swedish-Malian parentage, bobbed in the bay. I took a dip in
barely noticeable—a boarded-up villa Clason-Diop was raised in Stockholm the water—clear, barely touched with
here, a bare patch of garden there. and educated in New York City. salt, colored the gentlest blue—and
It was easy for me to hop in my She started spending summers in watched a regatta in the far distance,
rental car and drive five minutes over St. Bart’s at the age of 16. Easily as the sailboats silhouetted against the
the mountain to the capital of Gustavia worldly as any of the visitors she distant backdrop of St. Martin. No
for a bite of tuna tartare at Fish Corner, guides, she knows that for many of champagne buckets. No speakers
followed by a beer at the Mykonos- them, wellness and engagement blasting house music. No looks from
style beach bar Shellona. I could with the natural landscape of a place the 2020 Resort season. Just peace,
window-shop the Hermès and Prada have become as critical as food or quiet, nature, and the lightest, most
boutiques on Rue de la République, furnishings. Even as we eyed the rarefied footprints of civilization.
then duck in to the humble extravagant villas dotting the cliffs, Then I headed back to the hotel
Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, it was easy to imagine St. Bart’s as for a glass of rosé.

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