A Caribbean Island Hop: St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Barths

Steve, along with colleagues Ben and Bethany, took a trip through the Caribbean, exploring the islands of St. Martin, Anguilla, and St. Barths. While traveling for business, there were plenty of opportunities to delight in these wonderful islands, most especially in discovering all the exquisite dining the Caribbean has to offer.

"Ben and I arrived on St. Maarten in the evening and our driver Peter took us on the busy winding Dutch side roads past casinos, shops, and hotels to our villa in the tranquil Terres Basses peninsula on the French side. As soon as we arrived at the beautiful villa, the stress of our busy travel day started to evaporate, but we only stayed for two minutes as we hadn't had dinner. We dropped our bags at the villa and Peter took us to Mario's Bistro right on the canal into Simpson Bay. The seafood was wonderful.

The villa, C CLI– Nid d'Amour, was stunning. Great for a romantic getaway for one or two couples with the bedrooms on opposite sides of this roomy villa. There is an air-conditioned gym and a rooftop lookout as well.

The next day our colleague Bethany joined us in the morning and we visited the La Samanna hotel and one of their spectacular new villas. We also saw a number of villas in the Terres Basses area, all of which were handsome and well-appointed. We had lunch at Layla's on the beach in Sandy Ground between Terres Basses and Marigot, where we dined on more delicious seafood.

Our next island stop was Anguilla — this part of the trip was unlike any of the other trips I've made in the past as we were joined by seven travel agents from the US east coast and Toronto, and our stay was hosted wonderfully by the Anguilla Tourist Board. We were all put up at the amazing LHE BLE – Le Bleu – villa in Little Harbour. It has 10 bedrooms, a tennis court, two pools, a hot tub, and two small cove beaches. The staff is wonderful.

We had dinner in the villa on our arrival night and Chef Dale Carty from Tasty's Restaurant prepared a delicious meal – I had pumpkin soup with roasted cinnamon coconut flakes and a grilled fillet of snapper topped with a poached crayfish tail and a lemongrass sauce.

For the next three days, we visited many beautiful villas and also three hotels: Cuisinart, Cap Juluca, and the amazing new Viceroy with a number of room categories and also villas.

Some of my favorite Anguilla villas from this trip are Le Bleu and Indigo (next door to each other with 19 bedrooms), Long Bay Villas (Sand, Sea, and Sky), the Kamique villas (Triton, Anani, and Aquamarie) and Bird of Paradise.

We had two great beach-side lunches – one at Smokey's on the Cove and the other at Jacala. At Smokey's we had coconut shrimp and calamari and I had grilled shrimp salad. The menu at Jacala was more French: I had cold cucumber soup with tomato and then snapper.

Anguilla has some of the most beautiful powder-sand beaches in the Caribbean and is a wonderful destination for couples and families – laid back and safe. The island is 3 miles wide at the most, so even the villas that are not on the water are quite close to one of the beautiful beaches. There are more than 100 restaurants as well as water sports, tennis, and a golf course designed by Greg Norman.

Our last stop on this trip was St. Barths. We stayed in Villa WV KAN– Hurakan, which is simple but has a wonderful view out over the sea and also of Gustavia harbor in the distance.

We had delicious lunches at La Plage on St. Jean beach and at Mango's at the Christopher hotel. We had dinner at Les Bananiers in Colombier where we tried their tasty thin-crust pizza, and also at Bonito on the Gustavia hillside. The ceviche sampler appetizer at Bonito was interesting, and the main course of jumbo sea scallops in a sauce made with curry, creamy endive, lentils, and dried prosciutto was excellent.

Each of the islands we visited on this trip has many beautiful villas and excellent hotels. All three have mid-range properties as well as those on the high end, so there are properties for almost any travel budget."