Well the holidays are well behind us, and the January blues have been put to bed, so what’s new on island these days? We thought we’d keep you in the loop until your next visit!

It’s all change on the restaurant front: Jean Claude Dufour, of Eden Rock fame, has taken over the Esprit de Saline, whilst Le Pacri has relocated from Saline to the Manapany Hotel at Anse de Cayes. The previous location of Le Pacri has since opened as a new venture, Meat & Potatoes, which is already affectionately known as M&P by the locals.

In Gustavia, the old Bistrot has become Le Bagatelle and Francis Delage has handed over La Route des Boucaniers to Xavier and his wife – proprietors of Do Brazil. Oh, and Le Kafe Massai has had a complete makeover. Following so far?

Also brand new and closer to home is The Bistroy, here in St Jean. The owner, Jean Baptiste Barre, was previously sommelier at the Toiny Hotel and Absolutely Wine – no wonder then that the wine menu is excellent, as well as great tapas, appetizers, salads and snacks. Definitely worth checking out next time you’re in town.

In other news, the Les Ilets team are all still on a high after the St Barths Music Festival, which closed recently. It was an incredible fortnight with world famous artists visiting our island and performing for our pleasure. Thankfully we have the Saint Barths’ Bucket, les Voiles de Saint Barth, the Theatre Festival and many other events still to look forward to.

On your next trip you may notice the improvements to many of the roads and sidewalks. The commune has invested large amounts of time and money to make our roads safer, and there’s also a new roundabout in St Jean, located at the Saline exit. Let’s hope it causes less confusion than the last one!

Getting to Les Ilets has never been easier: we were delighted to discover in November that Jet Blue is now running a daily flight between Puerto Rico and St Martin, whilst those on the port may spot the Voyager 3 Dreamliner – a luxury 28-metre catamaran which now offers daily rotations between St Martin and St Barths. There’s even a business class, should you so desire.

The island is now busy preparing for the elections in March. President Bruno Magras is not standing for re-election, so the position is up for grabs. Watch this space!

Les Nouvelles de Fevrier!

Les fêtes de fin d’année sont bien loin déjà et les bulles de Janvier sont oubliées,alors quoi de neuf sur le rocher en ce moment?  Nous vous tenons au courant des dernières infos croustillantes….
Les Restaurants….alors dans ce domaine et comme chaque année ça bouge, Jean-Claude Dufour a repris l’Esprit de Saline pour en faire l’esprit de Jean Claude, à Salines – Le Pacri et Pascal sont partis occuper le restaurant de l’hôtel Manapany à l’Anse des Cayes, et Jean Christophe a repris l’ancien Pacri. Vous n’avez pas tout compris? Nous non plus à vrai dire …. Alors on reprend– méli mélo – Jean Christophe a appelé son restaurant Meat and Potatoes, surprenant nous direz vous – mais le nom devient de plus en plus M & P – à Gustavia c’est l’ancien Bistrot qui est maintenant Le Bagatelle qui dispose de quelques enseignes aux Etats Unis. Francis DELAGE à laissé les commandes de la Route des Boucaniers à Xavier et son épouse qui possèdent  déjà le Do Brazil.
Le Kafé Massai a subi un relooking extrême avec toujours à la barre Mike et sa gentillesse.

Egalement et pas très loin de nous a St Jean, Le Bistroy a ouvert  ses portes. Le patron Jean Baptiste BARRE, ancien sommelier de l’hôtel Le Toiny, puis Absolutely Wine, à la Villa Créole – mettant en valeur les vins fins, mais aussi des tapas, des fromages affinés, recréant une vraie ambiance de Bistrot Parisien.

Toute l’équipe des Ilets à encore la tête dans les étoiles (de l’opéra de Paris) avec la clôture du Festival de Musique qui, une fois de plus a été un vivier des plus grands artistes du moment. Enfin, nous attendons la Saint Barth’s Bucket, les Voiles de Saint Barth, Le Festival de Théatre pour les semaines à venir.

Côté vie pratique, de nombreux travaux d’aménagements routiers ont été faits, un nouveau rond point pour aller au Hideaway, espérons qu’il n’y aura pas de confusion, comme pour le tout premier mis en place à la Tourmente, et que tout le monde prendra la route “dans le bon sens”!

Et puis de nouvelles liaisons aériennes de Porto Rico à Saint Martin avec un vol quotidien de Jet Blue et un nouveau ferry qui assure la liaison Saint Martin Saint Barth avec un flambant neuf catamaran;

Les élections approchent également et en Mars nous devrions élire notre futur président de la collectivité de Saint Barthélemy. Le président sortant Bruno Magras a annoncé qu’il ne se représenterait pas…. Alors les vocations (tardives) se révèlent – ça bouge!

1. Canoeing across St Jean Bay on my own (well, my Mum watches me and my Dad follows me… but I do all the paddling!)
2. Finding the iguanas that live at Les Ilets and feeding them the hibiscus flowers. The red ones are their favourites.
3. Watching the huge fat snails that come out when it rains.
4. Watching the pelicans that dive for fish in St Jean Bay. They look like torpedoes and they dive so fast in the shallow water. I don’t know how they don’t bang their heads on the bottom!
5. Feeding the fish. If you keep really still sometimes the fish will even suck your fingers! We always seem to end up attracting a flock of seagulls that tries to steal the fish food.
6. Hermit crabs are brilliant fun to watch and they’ll even race! They love the steps under the beach villas.
7. Trying new fruits from the lovely ladies in Gustavia. My favourite is a custard apple – it looks weird, but it tastes amazing.
8. Pizza at Andy’s Hideaway. It’s the best!!
9. Driving around in Uncle David’s mini-moke.
10. Choosing the fish from the market in Gustavia, even if it does mean getting up really early to choose the best ones. My dad throws then on the BBQ and they’re just delicious… and I won’t even eat fish at home!
11. The pain au chocolat which I get to eat on the beach watching the sunrise.
12. Wearing hardly any clothes. I live in shorts and flip-flops, which beats school uniform any day!
13. Swimming when it rains – the sea always feels so warm.
14. Watching the planes taking off and landing, especially when they land right next to the beach – they come in so low, it’s brilliant.
15. Sitting next to the pilot on the small plane– they even let me touch the controls sometimes, even though my mum has kittens!
16. Hamburger in paradise… a Big Mac it ain’t!
17. Showering outside.
18. Walking along the beach.
19. Body boarding – although I need loads more practice…
20. Collecting coconuts when they fall.
21. Collecting shells from Shell Beach for my little sister (she likes to make bracelets).
22. Making the biggest sandcastles on the beach with my sister.
23. Swimming all day long: beach, pool, beach, pool, beach, pool…
24. Snoozing in the hammock.
25. Snorkelling around the rocks in the corner of St Jean Bay.

Any you think Ollie has missed? Let us know in the comments below.

Don’t worry, folks; we know what we do well, and we intend to keep those things the same. The sun is still shining here in the Caribbean, the beaches are still sandy, and the food is still great. But now we want Les Ilets’ presence on the web to compliment that. Take a quick cruise around the new site and you’ll find that the main difference is that there’s a lot of useful information available. And we’re just getting started.

From now on, we’ll be using this blog and our newsletter to provide you with the kind of crib sheets that will improve your next stay in St Barths. That means recommendations on where to eat, what to do and where to visit. Insider information of the kind only islanders like us know about. And maybe we’ll send the odd beautiful photo and funny story your way, too.

We’d also like to hear from you, so if you have any St Barths stories or tips that you’d like to contribute, please send us an email, tweet, or Facebook message.

What kinds of things would you like to see us give advice on? Let us know by leaving a comment below.