According to the last official count, in 1990, the resident population was a little over five thousand people, but, in recent years, there has been a sudden influx of newcomers, and, today, the number is closer to seven thousand.

     More than two hundred thousand visitors came to St. Barths last year, and although a substantial percentage of these were day-tripping cruise ship passengers, this remains an impressive number for a community of less than seven thousand inhabitants.

     Moreover, most of these people arrive between Christmas and Easter, a period locally referred to as "The Season". The phrase is used elsewhere to describe annual periods of legal hunting and fishing. Its use here, for the busiest time of the year, is not entirely coincidental.