Taste of St. Barth’s nightlife

Friday 25 January, St. Barth day 5: Mostly a lazy day, visiting St. Jean, relaxing onboard and a great night out.

Last day of the hire car, and we head off to St. Jean to have a stroll there. The town itself is set up on the hills, and we didn’t venture in the residential area.
Along the main road there is a commercial area, with clusters of very nice shops. More down to earth ones I would be tempted to say, but still quite expensive. And a few bars which we will return to in the evening to check out the Friday night social scene.
We have a short walk to the beach at the end of the runway, which is nicer than the section with Niki Beach. A couple of beach bars here too. We wait for few planes to land and take off, and again we are amazed with the skills of the pilots.

Very hot today and we don’t last very long under the intense sun. So in search for some cooling air con, we head to the bakery which we discovered yesterday to enjoy another one one of their quiche and the coffee.

We really don’t know where else to drive to as we’ve been everywhere around the island already, so by early afternoon we are kind of done with the driving. Glen wants to have one last look at the kite-surfing beach, after which we head back to Cloudy Bay for a relaxing rest of the afternoon onboard.
And in Glen’s case a cool off swimming around the boat and snorkeling near the rocks here in the anchorage where we have seen dive boats. There was some coral and pretty fish but nothing compared to what we saw in St. Eustatius.

We relax on board till mid evening then head off to the town of St. Jean in search of an alternative night life to Gustavia. As we pass the beach area is all quiet, but at the end there are lots of parked cars and we find several restaurant/bars. We choose Le Piment as it seemed to have the best atmosphere and settle at the bar.
We soon realize the staff are very engaging and clearly enjoying the place as much as the clients. It seems every 20-30 minutes they have a round of shots! And, generously pour us some at the same time! As well as super friendly they are also very efficient. The music is also very nice. For once it’s music we like not the local Caribbean music with horrible lyrics! Needless to say I dance a lot and we have a really fun evening which ends at closing time 2am. Again we remark that the French know how to party once they get going! Perfect sample of St. Barth’s nightlife.