Pioneers In The West Indies Skies Born on September 18, 1925 in Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe), José Dormoy was nicknamed Mister Pipe, as he always had a pipe in his mouth. He is credited with opening many new runways including those in Marie Galante, La Désirade, and Guadeloupe. During the ...
A New Film About Saint Barth The director of St. Barthélemy, cap paradis," a documentary made on the island in 1999, Pierre Brouwers started shooting a new film about Saint Barth last summerthis time in high definition video. The theme of this new documentary is the history of aviation on t...
« Capitaine Danet », A New SNSM Rescue Boat for Saint Barth For the past 20 years, Ingenue Magras has been working to establish the SNSM (French National Society For Rescue At Sea) station in Saint Barth. The non-profit association finally saw the light of day in 2005, and has approximately 5...
Fuel Service Now Running At Commercial Dock After a four-year break, the fuel pump at the commercial dock in Public is now back in service and run by the Collectivity. This pump is reserved for use by boats, and machinery used on the dock itself. The price of fuel is the same as at the other sta...
Earthquake Activity On Thursday, November 29 at 3pm, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale (which goes up to 10) was felt on the island for more than 30 seconds. According to the volcanic and seismic observatory in Martinique, where three aftershocks were also felt, the ea...
New Zip Code Since Saint Barth has now evolved into an Overseas Collectivity, the zip code for the island will be modified. In theory, its goodbye to 97133, and hello to 97700, as of January 1, 2008. In reality, there are still a lot of things to be worked out and the post office has not yet a...
New Financial Measures Adopted During its November 13 meeting, the islands territorial council voted 19 to 1 to accept a new financial code; the one negative vote was that of council member Benoît Chauvin. Over 100 people came out to hear the elected officials debate on the subject. Chauvin ...
Christmas Winds Its mid-December and the Christmas winds are kicking up their heels. Even howling occasionally, and its enough to make you crazy. But like Hamlet, I am only mad when the wind blows north-northwest (I havent checked the wind direction yet today so Im feeling pretty sane so...
New Sand For The Beach in St. Jean The bay of St. Jean as viewed from the Eden Rock The beach in St. Jean has never been the same since the last major hurricanes to hit the island (Luis in September 1995 then Georges in 1998, and José and Lenny in 1999), in contrast to the beach in Flamands...
WALL STREET SBH! Everyones love affair with Saint Barth has a beginning. Mine began almost 20 years ago when I first came to the island and was taken by its natural beauty, and the incredible views that cascaded one after the other around every hairpin turn. View of the clear turquoise water...
Turn It Off! If we were at a dinner party and I leaned over very close to you and whispered in your ear that you were causing global warming, and that every day you were making the hole in the ozone layer just a little bit bigger, you would probably turn your back to me, scoot your chair over ...
The COM Launches Its Official Web Site The official web site of the Overseas Collectivity of St Barth (COM) is up and running and includes information about the services at the Hotel de la Collectivité and its activities as well as an area called the official journal which presents the d...
Inauguration of A St Barth House In Sweden Leg photo: Per Tingbrand, Marina Nyman,Fredrik Helander, Fredrik Pettersson and Roger Richter The open-air Skansen Museum in Stockholm includes over 150 houses and farms that represent the kinds of homes Swedish people have lived ...
Inauguration Of The Bronze Statue At The Traffic Circle Near The Airport A freelance graphic designer in Paris for the past four years, 27 year-old Guillaume Blanchard is the creator of Savaku the Arawak spirit representing the forces of nature, including hurricanes. Inaugurated on August ...
SB JAM Music Festival For this years Fete of Gustavia, the non-profit association SB JAM came up with a smart idea: organize a festival of Caribbean music from August 16-19. The result was four outstanding evenings during which a series of bands performed on the stage set up on the main dock ...
Savacou, St. Barths new pirogue In the early 20th century, men navigated aboard small wooden boats, called pirogues, to go fishing, transport merchandise, and compete in local regattas, known as boulines, on special occasions. The construction of a pirogue begins with the trunk of a larg...
SCRATCH SCRATCH The first time I came to Saint-Barth I thought it was pretty funny to see a jeep with the words "Dead Mosquito" painted on its sides. What I didn't realize at the time, is that the driver's sole mission in life is to eradicate the island's most tenacious social climbers: the mo...
Parallel Worlds This past weekend was a perfect example of the parallel worlds that often operate in Saint Barth. First there is the world of the locals, by which I mean the descendents of the original French settlers who clung to a nearly naked rock from the 17th to the 20th century, in the b...
Bruno Magras Elected President of the COM A large number of Saint Barth residents were on hand July 15 at the Hotel de la Collectivité for the first meeting of the islands new territorial council. The first order of the day was the election of the councils president and members of the ex...
POLITICAL PULSE XI: SAINT BARTHELEMY - THE NEW COLLECTIVITY, TAXES RESIDENCY AND GENERAL FRAMEWORK On July 1, 2007, the local elections for the President of the Collectivity of Saint Barthelemy (together with his list) took place and the then-presiding Mayor, Bruno Magras was elected with what ...
Hail To The Chief Just as the 2008 presidential campaign is heating up in the United States, and a mere month after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as the new president of France, the little island of Saint Barth is poised to have a president of its own. A president? Here in little old Saint Barth...
Results of Territorial Elections: Victory for St. Barth dAbord Only one round of voting was needed in the election for the first territorial council of the new Overseas Collectivity of Saint Barth. With voter participation at 70.56%, the population once again displayed its confidenc...
Election For The COMs First Territorial Council Sunday, July 1 marked a historic step for Saint Barth as the population voted in the first round of elections for the territorial council that will govern the new Overseas Collectivity of Saint Barth. Nineteen men and women will be elected for ...
36 HOURS IN SAINT BARTH Every once in a while the Sunday New York Times travel section has an article entitled 36 Hours In one destination or another. Venice. Barcelona. Philadelphia. Ive often thought about writing one about Saint Barth. The things a first-time tourist might do in a 36-ho...
Bruno Magras Throws Hat In The Ring The islands voters will be called to the polls on July 1 and 8 to cast their ballots for the first territorial council that will govern the new Overseas Collectivity of Saint Barth. On Saturday, June 2, mayor Bruno Magras announced his candidature in thes...
Guanahani Hotel & Spa Literary Prize From May 30 to June 3, the Guanahani Hotel & Spa hosted the jury of the first literary prize named for the hotel. The idea was initiated by the director of the hotel, Marc Thézé, along with three women: Sophie Douzal-Sarkozy, the Paris public rela...
Theatre Festival In spite of the ongoing difficulties in organizing such an event on the island, the annual theatre festival ran from May 4-13, closing the cultural season. For this sixth edition of the festival, Martine Simon, Corinne Duval, Nadège Emmanuellian, and all the actors of the loc...
Nicolas Sarkozy Elected As French President A day before the elections in continental France, voters in Saint Barth turned out in large numbers at the polls to show their support for Nicolas Sarkozy in the recent French presidential elections. Mayor Bruno Magras, official representative of ...
Marius Stackelborough Foundation Competition Bertil Larsson, president and founder of the Marius Stackelborough Foundation in 1997, envisioned a competition for students on the theme of the Swedish era in St. Barth. A Swede who is enthralled by the islands Swedish history, his idea was to ...
Memories Of Our Past Tells The History of Saint Barth Memories Of Our Past, a 52-minute documentary includes the stories of about fifteen old-timers of Saint Barth who describe life on the island before the advent of tourism. Lucina Lédée, Valentine and Jeanne Laplace, Sully Magras...
The Times They Are A Changin' Nicholas Sarkozy may not be a household name in your household but he may be sometime soon. This 52 year-old right-wing politico is the president-elect in France, and will take over the running of the country from Jacques Chirac as of this month. He won in the nat...
ALL ABOARD I hate to admit it but sailing has never been one of my favorite pastimes. I love looking at sailboats out on the water, and walking along the docks and admiring their craftsmanship, especially the fabulous classics like Ticonderoga, which spends much of the winter in Saint Barth, ...
New Prefect Named For The Northern Islands A month full of political change was capped by the visit of Dominique Lacroix (shown here with mayor Bruno Magras), named the new prefect for the Northern Islands on March 7. He began his post on March 21 in St. Martin and the next day in St. Barth w...
CLE Organizes Informational Meetings On March 3 and 10, members of the Economic Liaison Committee (CLE) organized discussions to share information about the application of the new laws. The first was led by Serge Sur, professor of international law, Daniel Guttman professor of international an...
St-Barth Becomes An Overseas Collectivity After the French Constitutional Council approved laws n°2007-223 and n°2007-224 concerning the new political status of France's overseas territories, the laws very signed on February 21, 2007 by president Jacques Chirac, and several officials at tha...
POLITICAL PULSE X: EMANCIPATION- THE NEW OVERSEAS COLLECTIVITY- WHAT IS IT? On February 7, 2007, all the necessary administrative approvals necessary were finally obtained and the island of Saint Barthelemy, to date a Commune of the island of Guadeloupe, which in turn is a Departm...
Its A Dogs Life My dear friend Peter OKeefefounder of this illustrious website and one of the funniest men I knowhas been in the doghouse lately. Literally. First theres Tommy, the alpha male dog, a quite handsome yellow Labrador Retriever who was shipped from the US to St Barth as...
Measuring The Air Quality GwadAir, one of the French associations recognized by the Minister of Ecology to test the air that the French breathe all across the country, installed a measurement trailer on the plaza in front of City Hall, along the waterfront. For three weeks, every ten seconds...
Census From late January through mid-February, census takers visited every house in Saint Barth in order to count the number of residents on the island. The number of dwellings counted last November was almost 4,400, representing an increase of slightly more than 25% compared to the last censu...
A Week of Caribbean Cuisine From February 19-26, the islands restaurant association organized a special weeklong event in which the chefs in various 15 restaurants added a special dish to their usual menu, creating a new recipe using a selection of products from the Caribbean region: an appe...
Carnival Parades In keeping with the islands Carnival traditions, the group la Pointe en Mouvement paraded through the streets of Gustavia in pajamas on the Monday evening before Mardi Gras. The next day, the big Fat Tuesday parade took place under cloudy skies where periods of sun ...
A MONTH TO REMEMBER January 2007 will go down in the history books of Saint Barth as one of the most important month's in the island's history. After many years of political wrangling and wangling, the French government has finally voted to allow Saint Barth to get out from under the yoke conn...
St-Barth To Become An Overseas Collectivity After the bills concerning the creation of Overseas Collectivities in Saint Barth and Saint Martin were passed in the French Senate on October 31 2006 and by those present at the National Assembly on January 24, 2007, the texts of the law were appr...
Music Festival No dance concerts for the 23rd edition of the St. Barth Music Festival, but for the first time, there was a rock concert on the two-week program, featuring NYCO, a band from Chicago formed by Ted Atkatz, one of the musicians who has performed in the festival regularly for years...
Dancing In The Streets With "La Pointe en Mouvement" About 20 years ago a group of young adults from the neighborhood called "The Point" in Gustavia (on the far side of the harbor near City Hall) started a non-profit association called SB Jam. The Saint Barth reggae band, Irie Bean, was born a...
A Painting by Antoine Heckly To Be Reproduced On Pre-Stamped Postal Envelopes Twenty-five of the island's 64 painters participated in this year's art competition and the winning painting will be reproduced on 10,000 pre-stamped envelopes sold at the post office. The association, St. BArt...
No More Plastic Bags At ASB Markets The ASB supermarkets in Saint Barth are the first to stop using plastic bags for groceries in according with a law passed by the French National Assembly in December 2005 that sets a deadline of 2010, after which time non-biodegradable plastic bags will ...
POLITICAL PULSE VII PART I. THE PLACE OF NON-FRENCH RESIDENT IN THE NEW OVERSEAS COLLECTIVITY STATUTE OF SAINT BARTHELEMY A. THE TREATY PROTOCOL AND HOW IT IMPACTS AMERICANS As we all know, the relationship between the United States and France (includes here and hereinafter Metropol...
