Separating Trash For Recycling The Collectivité has distributed letters in French/English to all mailboxes explaining how to separate household trash. In 1998, St Barth was the first French overseas municipality to start a recycling program. But in spite of numerous informational campaigns, ...
New Dock Open in Gustavia The wooden walkway along the waterfront in Gustavia that was destroyed by hurricane Omar was reopened on November 30 by a concrete dock after four months of reconstruction under the supervision of the islandÂ’s technical services office. The new section measures 550Â...
Blue Zone Parking In Gustavia On November 9, after much discussion, the territorial council voted unanimously (less one vote) to enact “blue zone” parking in Gustavia as of December 15, 2009. On the drawing boards since 2006, the idea has had its share of criticism: the main objection is tha...
Holiday Spirit In Gustavia Mega-yachts have been streaming into the port since early December, with the Quai de la République and the Quai General de Gaulle full and the dock by the Wall House almost full as well. Gustavia has taken on a festive spirit with Santa Claus visiting every afterno...
Les Voiles de St Barth During a press conference on November 20, The Collectivity of St Barth, the Tourism Committee of St Barth (CTTSB), and the St Barth Yacht Club announced a new sailing event, Les Voiles de Saint Barth, which is open to all sailboats, from classic and contemporary to super ...
Piteå Day & Gustavia Loppet In commemoration of Sweden’s retrocession of St Barth to France in 1878, and the 31-year twinning of St Barth and Piteå in Sweden, ASBAS and the Collectivity of St Barth organized a weekend of festivities on November 14 and 15. A highlight of the weekend was t...
Happy Holidays! ‘Tis the season for sure, with Christmas lights twinkling and the scent of fir trees in the air. Yep, even here in the tropics, people like to keep these traditions alive, even though we have to assume there weren’t any evergreens in the little town of Bethlehem and the only twi...
THE WEEKEND THAT WAS! Funny how the celebration of a barÂ’s 60th anniversary can take on epic proportions on such a small island. People came from far and wide to celebrate Marius Stakelborough and his bar, Le Select. Or they came simply for the free Jimmy Buffett concert on the dock, which drew ...
Urban Planning Map, Requests To Change Classifications, and Petitions A large crowd attended the territorial council meeting on July 16, 2009 as island residents have a vested interest in the items on the agenda that day; especially the debate about a new urban planning map for Saint Barth—t...
PARROT HEADS FLOCKING TO SAINT BARTH Can it really be 10 years since the last gathering of parrot heads—alias Jimmy Buffett fans—on the island? Yep, it was back in 1999 for the 50th anniversary of Le Select, the oldest bar in Saint Barth, for anyone who might now know. And here we are in 200...
COOL STUFF FOR KIDS This past July, Susanna Freer Passburg of the Swedish Design Centre of St. Barthélemy announced a new initiative that certainly has merit. Susanna—who is English—runs the shop with her husband Nils—who is the Swede in this affair— as a showcase for contemporary Swedish ...
LETÂ’S EAT! IÂ’ve often said that while Saint Barth might not have golf courses or casinos, it does have enough knives and forks for everyone. There is a very lively restaurant scene on the island, and while some places, like MayaÂ’s, Le Repaire, AndyÂ’s, and Le ToinyÂ’s fabulous Sunday brunch ...
New Street Addresses In Gustavia There is a project underway to give a specific street address to every home in Gustavia. The municipal council voted in May 2007 to rename some of the city streets as well, and this has been done. The CollectivityÂ’s cultural affairs commission decided to compl...
Fleur Australe Visits Saint Barth French sailor Philippe Poupon, with his wife Geraldine Danon and their four children, 12 year-old Nina, nine year-old Loup, two year-old Laura, and one year-old Marion, stopped in Saint Barth recently before setting off on a grand adventure: Poupon is going ...
Do You Show Your Face? Dear Readers, how can it be almost the end of June already? Last I looked it was only May! But I must admit I have been so busy on Facebook, I didnÂ’t notice the month fly by. And it is actually very surprising to see how many people and places in St Barth are lurking on ...
Theatre Festival and Poetry Days The eighth annual St Barth Theatre Festival—organized by the local troupe, SB Artists, and their director, Nadège Emmanuelian—took place May 6-16. An eclectic program was rich in comedy, with hilarious performances alternating with more serious subjects. ClÃ...
Sailing in Saint-Barths The first weekend in May, the island’s attention turned to sailing. In the Bay of St. Jean, the St Barth Nautical Center (CNSB) organized “Tour 2009,” the sixth annual around-the-island competition for windsurfing and sports catamarans, with small sailboats from the...
POLITICAL PULSE- THE CODE OF CLARIFICATION OF THE ISSUE OF RESIDENCY AND THE NEW RULES RELATIVE TO THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF PROPERTY
(The author, Chantal Decombe-Greaux is an active American Attorney admitted before all Courts of the State of California, the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Fed...
Book festival in Saint barth Held April 23-26, 2009 the second annual Book Festival included workshops based on the theme “Why do I write?” as well as a book exchange in front of the Wall House. Invited authors Inès Bouchaut-Choisy, who presented “The Adventures of Monbarsgold,” the first ...
Film Festival As Saint BarthÂ’s cultural calendar developed over the years, April and May became the big months for local festivals. From April 25 through May 16, a film festival, book festival, and theatre festival follow on each otherÂ’s heels in a span of less than one month. ...
ADIEU LU I hope by friend Lu doesnÂ’t mind, as this little musing is about her, while at the same time about life on an island. The truth of the matter is that on an island, someone is always arriving or leaving, but in the case of most of our friends, they will soon be backÂ… and its always a ...
St. Barth Bucket The Caribbean version of the Newport Bucket (originally the Nantucket Bucket), which takes place every summer in Newport, RI, the St Barth Bucket brings some of the world Â’s most spectacular sailboats to the island the last weekend of March for three days of regattas aroun...
Overseas Secretary Yves Jégo Visits Saint Barth On Saturday morning, March 21, the president of the Collectivity of St Barthélemy and members of the UMP political party were at the airport to meet the French Overseas Secretary of State when he arrived from St Martin with his wife. During his ...
LetÂ’s Go To The Beach! ThereÂ’s no doubt about itÂ… one of the best attributes of Saint Barth is its beaches. After all, the island is virtually swimming in them! And over the recent Easter holiday, many of the beaches were home not only to the usual swimmers and body surfers, but also to a fl...
News From The Marine Park Since June 2008, the staff of Saint BarthÂ’s Marine Park has posted a monthly report of its activities on the Internet. More the 200 people also receive this monthly report via a newsletter sent by email. The most recent report, ...
Chorale Aux Bons Chœurs The local choir, La Chorale Aux Bons Chœurs, held two special concerts on February 27 and 28 at the Anglican Church, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of “Ounalao,” the non-official hymn of Saint Barthélemy, which is ofte...
Carnival In Saint Barth Carnival festivities began in mid-January with weekly parades organized on Sunday afternoons in Gustavia by the group, La Pointe en Mouvement, and continued on February 20—the last day of school before vacation—with a ...
Ship Ahoy ItÂ’s springtime, which means that the mega-motor-yachts, which grace Saint Barth for the end-of-the-year festivities, have headed off to their summer ports of call, allowing the Port of Gustavia to focus its attention on sailing races, such as the St Barth Bucket, which takes place o...
Plans To Build A Retirement Home Financed by the Collectivity of Saint Barthélemy, which is also the construction/project manager (a responsibility taken on since the island became a COM and not part of a department), the building of an assisted living retirement home (EPAD) was recently vote...
Don Comb, founder of New England Biolabs  Don Comb is an American biochemist and founder of New England Biolabs, a unique scientific research and biotechnology company he started in 1973. He has been coming to Saint Barth for over 30 years, and has a lab set up at his home in Lorient, allowi...
Exhibit: Birds Of The Island Since last December, there has been an ongoing series of art exhibits in the island’s galleries. One of the most anticipated exhibits for February is that which has been organized by artist Jennifer May in her studio in Gustavia, across from the Crédit Agricole ba...
The Mediator For The Collectivity  During its meeting held on April 3, 2008, the executive council of the island’s territorial council designated Jean Belotti as the official mediator of the Collectivity, a direct, free means of legal recourse. Appointed for a period of five years, the medi...
OUT ON THE TOWN I defy anyone to tell me there is nothing to do in Saint Barth. There may not be a golf course but who needs one? It’s much too hot here to play golf anyway. Better to spend the day on the beach, by the pool, or relaxing in a hammock, thinking about dinner. Ah, yes, dinner—the...
People in St-Barth Numerous celebrities rented yachts as well as villas to celebrate the New Year in Saint Barth. Beyoncé and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, were installed aboard the yacht Galaxy, while actor Eddy Murphy opted for the luxurious Sherakan. Mariah Carey and her husband, Nick Cannon, ...
Tourism Committee Created: Christmas Trees Their First Project The new Territorial Tourism Committee of Saint Barthélemy (CTTSB) is a non-profit association created after a decision made by the island’s Territorial Council on March 13, 2008. The CTTSB replaces the island’s municipal tourist ...
End-Of-The-Year Festivities The month of December began with the arrival of the sailboats participating in the Lagassé Classic Transat. For many years, the owners of these classic yachts dreamed of a transatlantic challenge, and Loïc Blanken organized this first edition of the event for tra...
ART IN SAINT BARTH It may not be obvious to the casual visitor, but St Barth is a beehive of artistic activity. In addition to the local painters who immortalize the little Saint BarthÂ’s houses or perhaps the yachts in the harbor, there also seems to be a steady stream of visiting artists who ...