5 Favorite Scenic Overlooks in the Caribbean

It was a challenge to select just 5 of our favorite Scenic Overlooks in the Caribbean – even after narrowing the criteria to those that included water views, but these are 5 of our favorites from our travels to date. Feel free to add some of your favorites in the comments below!


View of Magens Bay, St. Thomas from Drakes Seat.
Legend has it that Sir Francis Drake used this vantage point to keep an eye out for enemy ships.

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Gustavia, St Barts copyright Rum Therapy
Overlook of Gustavia, St. Barts – one of the most colorful overlooks in the Caribbean. It’s well worth a short hike on a nice path to enjoy this view.


From this perch high atop Virgin Gorda at Hog Heaven, you can see the entire North Sound including Leverick Bay, Saba Rock, Bitter End Yacht Club, Prickly Pear Island, Necker Island and on a clear day, a very faint sliver of Anegada.

Trunk Bay, St John - copyright Rum Therapy
Overlook of Trunk Bay, St. John.
One of the most photographed overlooks in the Caribbean; the sight of Trunk Bay from this spot nearly takes your breath away and gives you a taste of the beauty that lies ahead.

White-Bay JVD, copyright Rum Therapy
The overlook of White Bay, Jost Van Dyke is absolutely picture perfect. It’s really rather hard to take a bad picture of this beautiful bay!

What are your favorite Caribbean scenic overlooks? Tell us about them!

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC. All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.

Colombier Beach, St. Barths

We haven’t gotten to visit all of the beaches on St. Barts…yet, but we were certainly impressed with a beautiful, hard to get to beach on the islands northwest tip called Colombier Beach. Accessible only by boat or by one of two challenging trails, this gorgeous beach is well worth the effort to get there.

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Known by boaters for its calm anchorage and beautiful blue water, you may encounter a few boats (and yachts) at anchor, but probably very few people on the beach.

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Colombier Beach is still called Rockefeller Beach by some because the land around it was for many years owned by David Rockefeller.

Besides the challenge of getting to Colombier Beach, one of the things that makes it different from the other beautiful St. Barts beaches is the unusual rock formations found on either end of the beach. Although rocky on either end, the middle of the beach is excellent for swimming with a nice bottom.

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The way the water weaves in and around the rocks makes for some beautiful pictures. Snorkeling in the water around these rocks can be very good when the surf is calm.

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We arrived by boat, so we thought we’d take the path partway to Flamands Beach to see what it was like.

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The path was rugged and hugged the coast overlooking the north side of St. Barths. You can see Flamands in the picture below in the distance.

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We turned around when the path got too steep and rocky to be crossed with our flip flops and headed back to Colombier Beach for more of this….

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Colombier Beach has no amenities and very little shade (unless you find a pocket of shade among the rocks), so be sure to bring some food, drink (plenty of water) and sunscreen.

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As the sun wore one, the color of the sand seemed to turn a beautiful gold color which was breathtaking against the vibrant blue water.

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We left just a few more footprints in the sand, then dinghied back to the boat having enjoyed our day of seclusion and beauty on Colombier Beach.

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Find Colombier Beach on our St. Barths Map


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Finding the Rhum on St. Barths – Part 2

After an enjoyable time at R. St. Barths, we continued down Rue du General de Gaulle looking for a shop that I had read about in one of our travel books. This shop was supposed to have a wide variety of infused rums in handcrafted bottles. In reading about St. Barts, we learned that many restaurants serve an infused rum after a delicious meal – particularly vanilla. Wanting to know more about this tradition, we sought out a shop called M’Bolo – known for their infused rums or “rhum” as it is spelled here.

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A short stroll down Rue du General de Gaulle, we saw the sign for M’Bolo. The shop was tiny and tucked in back of another shop but looked quite inviting. Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by one of the shop owners, Sandy.

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We asked about M’Bolo’s infused rhums and Sandy generously allowed us to try many of them, explaining that her husband Christian infused the rhums mainly with ingredients grown in his garden on St. Barts. Each one was better than the next and by the end we wanted to take one of each home!

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Sandy said vanilla is a favorite on St. Barts and it was delicious. After sampling many of them, I decided to to purchase the chocolate, but unfortunately she’d run out – must have been another popular one! We instead purchased a bottle of Srub which is a wonderful combination of ingredients including cinnamon. Excellent to sip as an after dinner drink and we hope to at some point drizzle a little over some vanilla Blue Bell ice cream.

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The bottles are handmade and great to bring home as a gift or to add to your own collection. As we gathered our purchases to leave, we asked Sandy if she drank rhum every day. Her response was “No, I don’t drink rhum every day, unless I can!” Gotta love that.

M’Bolo is well worth a visit when in St. Barts. Taste their wonderful infused rhums and enjoy visiting with Sandy!

Find the location of M’Bolo on our St. Barths Map under Attractions

To see more posts on St. Barths and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

 

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

Finding the Rhum on St. Barths – Part 1

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Shopping in Gustavia, St. Barts is quite the adventure. Boutiques, high end shops, bars and restaurants line the streets around the beautiful harbor and the town is quaint and clean. You won’t find a lot of t-shirt and souvenir shops but you will find plenty of places to buy expensive watches, perfumes and other high end ticket items.

Although we brought our credit cards, we intended more to explore and experience Gustavia but found two shops that really caught our attention.

Several streets back from the harbor on Rue du General de Gaulle, we stumbled across R. St. Barths. It looked like a rum shop , but we had not heard of R. St. Barths before. Very intrigued, we walked in.

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Walking into this shop was a visual pleasure. Rows of the R. St. Barth Blanc, R. St. Barth Ambré and R. St. Barth  Hors d’Age lined one full wall.

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Frederic was there to greet us and told us a little about R. St. Barth. We asked if we could first like to sample their infused rums that were on display. They were delicious – especially the vanilla…

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We then moved to the chic tasting room with leather chairs and rum barrels and sampled the R. St. Barth Ambré. 

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The rhum is an authentic rhum agricole and the creation of French International footballer, Mikael Silvestre and his wife, Severine and they opened this store in March 2011.

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From what we could find out, R. St. Barths is actually made and bottled in Guadeloupe, then shipped to St. Barths. Each beautiful bottle is finished with a hand-made wax seal.

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We still don’t know a lot about this rum, but we certainly enjoyed the experience – be sure to stop in for a sample when you get to St. Barts!

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Find the R. St. Barts Tasting Room on our St. Barths Map under Attractions

To see more posts on St. Barths and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

 

Copyright©Rum Therapy Beaches, Bars & More, Tropical Travel Guide, 2013
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC