My friend made a comment to me about how beautiful he thought the French women are, and I had to agree.

We were sitting out at the Pink Parrot on the Plage de St. Jean in St. Barths. There wasn’t anything that lacked beauty, but the people were especially pretty. Overhead, planes flew in off the water and landed beyond the beach at the airport, very similar to the way it happens in St. Maarten, except there is no fence on St. Barths (although the one in St. Maarten is much more active, supports larger aircraft, and is more fun for videotaping).

It does not take long to feel the French culture on St. Jean (or any part of St. Barths, really). The people are loose and the wine bottles are in the sand. Tables do not turn over quickly at lunchtime. Afternoons are easy going, cafes are charismatic. I was drinking a rum punch and sitting at a high-top table in the sand, my shirt off but my sunglasses on. Up the beach I could see the villas on the hillside, their doors opening out onto terraces that looked down upon me. It was absolutely beautiful in all regards, from the people to the drink to the view.

You can literally walk right up to the end of the runway, and since they often land over the mountains in addition to the beach, you can sit in the sand and bite your lip as the plane comes toward you and throws on the brakes (they always land on your head in St. Maarten).

I’m told being on the plane is the real treat, though, when you come down over the mountain and make what feels like a vertical landing. The photos do not show it very well, but there is a large hill (mountain) at the opposite end of the runway. I took the boat from St. Maarten, so I unfortunately did not get to experience it. The fifteen-minute flight is typically expensive – a lot of people charter their own flights.

I had to be careful with the camera at the Pink Parrot because of the topless woman (seriously), but I managed to sneak in a shot. The others are of the Plage de St. Jean and the St. Barths’ runway (two from the beach and three from, believe it or not, a moving Jeep).

Not a bad spot to dig in for the day: