4242 Miles to St. Lucia – The Boiled Frog Guesthouse

Danielle and Steve Unruh are the owners of the Boiled Frog Guesthouse in St. Lucia. Their story is an unusual and interesting one that takes them more than 4242 miles from Canada (I calculated from Vancouver – so no doubt it’s even more) to the tropical island of St. Lucia and we thought it would make a great post for our “Making Your Tropical Obsession Your Profession” Series. The Boiled Frog is currently #1 on Trip Advisor’s List of Castries BB’s & Inns.

We became FB friends with Danielle and Steve a couple of months ago when we saw a picture of a beautiful rum drink being served at the Boiled Frog Guesthouse. We’re planning a visit St. Lucia for the first time this fall and are hoping to meet them in person and to enjoy a rum drink on the deck with their amazing view. I’m sure you will enjoy Danielle and Steve’s story as much as we did.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Well, we’re a family of five. Myself, my wife Danielle, and our three boys, Alex 17, Sasha 14, and Kieran (aka, The Podamus) 2. Together, we are from north eastern British Columbia, Canada, from the area around Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway.

Danielle and I were both employed in the oil and gas exploration industry. She was originally an environmental consultant and I started out in oil and gas production and later moved into Environment, Health and Safety. We met working on industry projects together. We were both doing very well financially, both earning six figures, plus benefits etc. etc. and both not enjoying what we were doing. In an industry starving for talented, experienced people, we had boundless career possibilities in front of us but no desire to get even deeper entrenched in something that was obviously not what we wanted to be doing.

We had traveled quite a bit to the Caribbean, to Jamaica and Mexico together and Danielle to many of the windward islands on her own and we LOVED everything about it. Every time we left we were asking ourselves why we kept going back to someplace so cold and to jobs so unfulfilling. We just decided to stop talking about it and to really explore if it would be possible to move permanently. We had no idea where or what we could or would do so we just started exploring and researching, looking at every possibility.
One day, while Danielle was in Calgary at a management training session for Shell, I was working my way through a book that I had bought for Christmas for my staff, called “5”. It was a book I picked up at Starbucks, and it’s intent was to challenge you with the very simple question, what are you going to do with the next five years of your life. (http://www.amazon.com/Where-Will-Five-Years-Today/dp/1932319441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336326158&sr=8-1)
It’s a fun book, I highly recommend it. Anyway, as I said, I was working through it and one of the things it asked you to do was to draw a picture of the house you wanted to live in. So I drew a picture of a house, with pillars on the front, beside the ocean, on a little peninsula, with a couple of palm trees in the front yard. Meanwhile, down in Calgary, Danielle was being asked by the facilitator of her training session to do a similar exercise, so Danielle drew a picture of a two story house, with pillars, on a little point, on the ocean, with palm trees in the yard, but she added two little plastic lounge chairs to her drawing. The funny thing is, she and I had never actually discussed anything about this. Danielle took a picture of her drawing and emailed it to me, just to show me what they had been working on and when she got home later in the week I showed her what I had drawn. It was one of those twilight zone moments. But it gets better.
A couple of weeks later I was getting frustrated with my Caribbean business searching. I wasn’t finding anything on the western side around Mexico or Belize so I thought I’d broaden my search out to the rest of the Caribbean and I started a real estate search in the windward islands and a website for St. Lucia popped up. I started scrolling through the businesses for sale and on the third or fourth click a guesthouse for sale flashed onto the screen, and the picture that came up was identical to the pictures that Danielle and I had drawn, right down to the two plastic lawn chairs. I immediately emailed the link to Danielle and we decided that day that we had to go and check this place out.
Well I’m going to fast forward a little. We did come and visit the place. We loved it. The owners were great and we even came back a second time with the kids to see how they felt about it. They were skeptical but willing to give it a try. However, to make a long story short, we didn’t end up buying that place. Now you might think that it would make a better story if we had because it was a perfect fit for the image we had of the place we wanted to live, so I can assure you that the place we did end up moving into actually looks the same too! Only it’s bigger! It has pillars and palm trees and sits right on the ocean on a little point called Choc Bay and that’s where we set up The Boiled Frog Guesthouse.How we ended up here instead of there is a story in itself and in the end, turned out to be a very fortuitous turn of events for us. We had driven by this place several times during our stays on the island and every time we did we would look and say wow, wouldn’t that be a great place for a guesthouse. We even went so far as to make inquiries about whether it was available for sale or rent but we were never able to get much help from the realtor. When we got back to Canada we called up another realtor that we had taken a realty tour with the second time we were down and asked her if she knew anything about this place. She said that as a matter of fact, she knew the owner personally and she would make inquiries for us. Turns out she was renting her office space from the same guy who owned this house and she convinced him to let us rent the place. So in a matter of weeks she had the lease set up and let us know that if we were still interested, the place was ours. Soooo we decided that night to make the leap and we signed the lease. From that point on we had to sell two houses, two vehicles, a boat, and somehow manage to sell or give away pretty much everything else. We managed pull it off. We sold the house we were living in for about 30% above market value (which was good cuz we knew we needed the money if we were going to survive long enough to figure out how to generate revenue here), we sold the other house for market value, we sold two vehicles and pretty much gave away everything else and what we couldn’t give away we threw away and moved down here with 16 suitcases, two teenagers and a baby.
We had no idea if we were going to be able to set up the guesthouse business. We knew we had six months to get something going. Six months to figure out what was required to stay longer than six months. Six months to develop and launch a business of some sort that would generate enough revenue within a year, to allow us to stay here full time.
In the end we ended up doing a number of different things! It turned out that the gentleman who owns the house is a very successful businessman on the island and he has been instrumental in helping us navigate our way around. By accident Danielle picked up some regular work for one of his many companies, doing sales and marketing (something she had done a little of back in Canada). Together we do quite a bit of on-line health and safety consulting for companies we were involved with back in Canada as well. By accident as well, I do some maintenance on gym equipment at one of the local gyms and I also do a little personal training on the side and on top of all that we run The Boiled Frog Guesthouse which, in the space of less than a year, went from being non-existent to the number one rated guesthouse on Trip Advisor, in the Castries area, and the number two rated guesthouse on Trip Advisor on the whole island. We only have three rooms to rent out, so it’s not enough to make a full living off of but it helps pay the bills and it lets us stay living in this beautiful home, in this beautiful setting on this beautiful island.
SO! that’s the readers digest version of our story (sorry if it was too long!) Now I’ll try and answer the rest of the questions.
2. How did you decide upon St. Lucia? Tell us what is great about St. Lucia.
We decided on St. Lucia for a couple of reasons. It has a friendly outlook on foreign ownership of property at the moment, so if we decided to buy here, it would be relatively easy to do so.
Being a former British colony, it actually has governmental systems that at least feel familiar to us as Canadians. In addition it’s official language is English and pretty much everyone speaks English at some level although the Patois is not easy to understand. Really a different language.
Having two teen age boys, schooling was a big question mark. We were prepared to home-school them as this is a fairly common practice in Canada and the home schooling systems are well developed but in the first year here we found an excellent international school and we enrolled the boys there. It was a very good year for them and they made a lot of social contacts which was also important to us.
Aside from the weather, which is amazing, and the beauty of the place, which is breathtaking, the best thing about St. Lucia has been the people. They have really made us feel welcome and are incredibly friendly. Living some place like this is so different from visiting it at a resort and it has been unquestionably the best experience of our lives to immerse ourselves in a community that is so foreign to what we have always known. The world is both a bigger and smaller place to us and our children because of it.
3. Has it been an easy transition to the islands?
To be honest, I don’t think this is for everybody, but for us it has really been a very easy transition. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been without it’s challenges but we have looked at it from day one as an adventure that we were going to embrace fully and as a result, despite some bumps, it just hasn’t been that difficult.
As an example, we had been here a month when hurricane Tomas hit. I was back in Canada, finishing up my work commitments and was actually en-route back when I got the news that the hurricane had hit the island. I was stranded in Toronto for 4 days while my wife and children rode out a hurricane. Something none of us had ever been through. Once it was all done, Tomas turned out to be the most destructive hurricane in St. Lucia’s history and for the next 6 to 8 months it felt like a real struggle for the local population. We had a few weeks of rationed water but eventually things came back around and now it feels like things are pretty much back to normal.
It has also been a very interesting experience just to live on an island. Canada is the largest independent land mass on the planet and you get very used to big spaces of land and always having everything you could possibly want or need twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. That is just not the case on an island. I remember going into a grocery story, fairly modern by North American standards, and finding that they had no milk. Went to the next grocery store up the road, and they had no milk either. Turned out that no one had milk anymore. That has never happened to me in Canada. I’ve never seen a grocery store without something as basic as milk, but you learn that on an island, sometimes they run out of things and then you just have to wait until the next ship comes in before you get more! Things like that happen frequently but these are things you learn to plan for and you just adjust. If having to switch to UHT milk for a couple of weeks is your biggest hardship…you’re not doing too badly.
4. What do you enjoy the most about your life in the islands?
Oh there are just so many things that I enjoy ‘MOST”! I love NOT having a 9 to 5 job! I love having so much time with my children, priceless! I love love love love love the weather!!!
I was born and raised in a place where 24 deg C is hot whereas here 24 deg C is a cool day. I love living right beside the ocean! I love living on a beach. I love working for myself. I love building something that has been received so well by the people who have stayed with us. I love meeting people from all over the world and having them share in the beauty of this place and sharing themselves with us. It’s been an amazing experience. I love the pace, I love the warmth of the people, I love the cheap and oh soooo good rum!! I love it all.
5. What made you decide to start your own business? Tell us about your business.
Well, a big part of moving here was the desire to find some sort of revenue generating business that would allow me the time to write. I’ve always wanted to write for a living (novels) but there just isn’t the time to do that when you have a full time job. So we needed to find something that would create that kind of income. When we came down and visited the first business we looked at, we saw that they had that kind of lifestyle and so we knew then that it could work.
Originally and hopefully somewhere down the road, we wanted to own a beach bar. The name “the Boiled Frog” actually came from the fact that we thought it would make a great name for a bar. The concept of the boiled frog was something we had heard from a speaker at a health and safety conference in Canada. She had described the idea that if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump out, but if you put it in room temperature water and then slowly over a long period of time, turn up the heat it will eventually boil because it won’t jump out. She equated this to the kind of pressure that middle managers were under and how companies were asking more and more of middle management, turning up the heat so to speak, and this was eventually burning them out. We knew what that felt like, as it was particularly prevalent in under resourced health and safety departments throughout our industry. We wanted to get out of the water ourselves, and we wanted to create a place where others could do the same. The beach bar seemed like the perfect vehicle to do that. We just took the same concept and applied it to the guesthouse and it has taken off. The feedback from guests has been overwhelmingly positive, so we think we’ve hit on something that strikes a chord with people. We’ve had guests tell us that they chose to stay with us, just because of the name. They wanted to see what that was all about.
6. What are the challenges of living in the islands?
Well I’ve touched on some of the physical ones like running out of staples at the grocery store and there are lots of those kinds of things that can be interesting to manage. We get a lot of stuff brought down to us by guests and family. Things we can’t get here. A lot of people will do excursion shopping to places like Miami because the prices are better and there are things there you just can’t find here, but those are really pretty small inconveniences. Not that challenging. In truth the biggest challenges have been related to navigating the governmental requirements for work permits and visa’s that sort of thing. There are professionals, lawyers etc., who can help and for anyone seriously considering doing something like this it would likely be a good idea to contact someone like that. It’s difficult though because it’s hard to know who is reputable and skilled at that sort of work when you don’t already live here.
We got very lucky in making the contacts we made when first got here and in having six months to sort things out. Ex-pats from other countries such as the US and Britain don’t have that much time. Having said that, we know of others who have made the transition as well so it can certainly be done but just know that it will be a lot of bureaucracy that will be very frustrating at times and it will likely cost more than you think it should.
7. What advice would you give to someone who would like to relocate to the islands?
Ha, got ahead of myself there. My advice would be a) do it! b) don’t get discouraged by the things that don’t make sense c) don’t be discouraged by what seem like insurmountable walls, there’s always a way through or around if you want it badly enough, d) do your research, the more you know the more prepared you will be to ask good questions.
8. Is there anything else we should know about you or your business or your life in the islands?
hahahaha…ummm I feel like I’ve bored you enough so I’ll stop now!
Here’s our website and a link to our FB page and our page on Air BnB and on Trip Advisor. Thanks for this opportunity!
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/182331
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boiled-Frog-Guesthouse-St-Lucia-WI
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g147343-d2010731-Reviews-Boiled_Frog_Guesthouse-Castries_St_Lucia.html

Other posts on Making Your Tropical Obsession Your Profession:

Tears of a Mermaid – Elizabeth Ivy, Glass Jewelry

Searching for Pieces of Eight – Thomas Gidus

Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge, Kailua Kona, Hawaii – Brice Ginardi

Vessels of Freedom – Captain Darrel Hearne

Through the Eyes of a Tropical Soul – William Anthony Torrillo, Photographer

A Pirate Looks at 10 – Fletcher Morton, Trop Rock Musician

I’m Gonna Live My Life Like a Jimmy Buffet Song by Anthony Bjorklund (book review)

Railean Distillers – San Leon, Texas, Kelly Railean

Zesty Orange Mojito

We’re always on the look out for tasty new mojito recipes and ran across this one recently. The orange mixes very nicely with the lime and mint. A delicious taste of tropical citrus goodness –  good even in the winter when oranges are in high season. Almost like a little sunshine in your glass!

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Zesty Orange Mojito

A delicious taste of tropical citrus goodness, especially good in the winter when oranges are in high season.
Course: Drinks
Servings: 1

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Orange
  • 1/2 Lime
  • 2 tsp. Sugar
  • 8 leaves Fresh Mint
  • 2 1/2 oz. White Rum
  • 1 C. Crushed Ice

Instructions

  • Slice the oranges and limes.
  • Place the oranges, limes, sugar, and mint in a tall glass.
  • Muddle the leaves, orange wedges and lime wedges until juicy and fragrant.
  • Add rum and ice. Shake vigorously, strain over ice in a smaller glass. 
  • Garnish with mint and a slice of orange. Enjoy!!

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Frozen Berry Mojito

Nothing can beat the taste of a well made Classic Mojito, but during our recent trip to St. Maarten, we enjoyed a Wild Berry Mojito at Mary’s Boon that was totally different and really, really good! Turns out the bartender at Mary’s Boon won an award for the beverage but wouldn’t divulge the complete recipe. It was berrylicious and we could certainly taste a bit of lime and mint, but it was frozen – more like a daiquiri. When we returned home, we thought we would try to capture the flavors present in that scrumptious Wild Berry Mojito.

We tweaked some ingredients to our liking and ended up with the following recipe, and although not quite as amazing as the one we had in St. Maarten, it’s pretty tasty! Perhaps the incredible view of Simpson Bay at Mary’s Boon had something to do with it?

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Frozen Berry Mojito

Servings: 1

Ingredients

  • 1 c Fresh Berries of Choice (we used blueberries and blackberries for this batch)
  • 1/2 Lime (juiced)
  • 1 tbsp Mint Infused Simple Syrup (see recipe below)
  • 2 oz White Rum
  • 1 c Ice (if using frozen berries, you can either omit the ice or use less than a cup)
  • Sprig of Mint

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients in a blender with the ice.
  • Blend until smooth and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Notes

Mint Infused Simple Syrup
Mix 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Then let it steep with a handful of mint leaves for an hour or so. Strain out the leaves and store in the fridge till you’re ready to use it.

Possible Variations
Change up the type of berries (strawberry, raspberry) to change the taste
Use frozen berries and slightly decrease the ice
Add more simple syrup if you like a sweeter drink or when using berries that are not as sweet

Recipe by Rum Therapy

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Mount Gay Rum Bajan Cooler

 Mount Gay Eclipse is almost always one of the selections in our rum cabinet. If not, it’s because we’ve just enjoyed the last of it and haven’t had a chance to get more. As a matter of fact, that’s how we found the following recipe, it was attached to a brand new bottle of Mount Gay Eclipse that we picked up this week.

The recipe is called Bajan Cooler. We put it together last night and I must say it was cool and refreshing – just perfect as the days get longer and warmer.

Jump to Recipe

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Bajan Cooler

Cool and refreshing – just perfect as the days get longer and warmer.
Course: Drinks

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients over ice and pour into a tall glass.
  • Garnish with fresh mint.

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Piña Colada Cupcakes

One of our favorite tropical drinks is the frosty Piña Colada. The taste simply transports us back to the islands. So, when I ran across a recipe for Piña Colada Cupcakes I thought, why not! Mind you, with only 1/4 c. rum, these don’t pack quite as much punch as the actual cocktail, but that means you can probably enjoy them anytime!

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Piña Colada Cupcake

Piña Colada Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)

1/4 c. coconut rum (we used Cruzan Coconut)
1/2 c. cream of coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1  3/4 c. flour
2  1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350`F. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the rum, coconut cream, pineapple with its juice, and vanilla.

In another small mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a medium mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating as you go.

While you’re mixing slowly add the rum mixture to the butter and sugar mixture.

Then add the flour mixture slowly until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Fill cupcake wrappers 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until tops are starting to turn lightly golden brown.

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Freshly Baked Piña Colada Cupcake

Let the cupcakes cool then ice them with the Coconut Cream Frosting below.

 

Coconut Cream Frosting

16 oz cream cheese
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
4 tbs cream of coconut
(optional) shredded coconut for garnish, pineapple chunks, cherries

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and coconut cream with a mixer.

Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until it is completely incorporated.

Ice cooled cupcakes and garnish with shredded coconut, pineapple chunks and cherries, if desired.

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Finished Piña Colada Cupcake

Next step – unwrap one of those puppies and ENJOY! Cheers!

Modified from a recipe found on Restless Chipotle

 

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Bar Hopping on Jost Van Dyke

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White Bay

Find an “after Irma” update here: Barhopping on Jost Van Dyke, Part 2 (after Irma)

For an island with only a few hundred full time inhabitants and nicknamed The Barefoot Island for it’s laid back attitude, Jost Van Dyke has some of the best beach bars in the Caribbean and it would be a shame to miss any of them. While staying on Jost for a week last fall, we attempted to visit them all – some of them more than once! Here’s a listing of the ones we found. We’ve listed them starting at the west end of  White Bay and working our way across the island.

One Love Bar and Grill – try the Lobster Quesadilla’s and a Bushwacker. Check out Seddy’s magic tricks.

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One Love Bar and Grill

Jewel’s Snack Shack – stop by Jewel’s for a tasty hamburger, fries and rum punch before heading down the beach!

Gertrude’s – gotta try a BBC (Bailey’s Banana Colada). It’s rumored to be the best BBC on the island.

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A BBC at Gertrude’s

Soggy Dollar Bar – if you haven’t heard of the Soggy Dollar Bar yet, well…really??? Jump off of your boat and swim in, using your soggy dollars to buy their signature drink “The Painkiller”. Can be a huge party in the afternoon with scores of thirsty partiers coming over on day trips from neighboring islands. Try your luck at the Ring on the Hook game. If staying on island, be sure to stop by the Soggy early in the morning or later in the evening to swing in the hammocks and enjoy a quiet tropical paradise. Call for reservations for dinner – beautiful setting and very good food.

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Painkillers at Soggy Dollar Bar

Hendo’s Hideout – during our last visit to JVD we noticed a new building going up next to Soggy Dollar. This has since opened to good reviews as a new bar called Hendo’s Hideout. We haven’t had a chance to visit yet, but hope to soon.

Hendo's Hideout - copyright Rum TherapyHendo’s Hideout before it opened

Ivan’s Stress Free Bar – take a short hike over a rocky outcropping and make your way over to Ivan’s. Stress Free for sure, enjoy a cold beer, or whatever…anything tastes great here. Check out the barbecue on Thursday nights (seasonal) and live music. Celebs have been known to drop by and jam with owner/musician Ivan Chinnery.

Ivan's Stress Free Bar - copyright Rum Therapy
Ivan’s Stress Free Bar

Corsair’s  – head on over the hill from Ivan’s (or better yet, call Bunn’s Taxi) and stop at Corsair’s for Wench Juice or a Pirate Punch. Order pizza to be delivered and if you’re brave, try the Pirate Sandwich for breakfast (toast, peanut butter, cheese, onion and fried egg with a shot of flavored rum)

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Corsair’s

Ali Baba’s – Great place to hang out in the morning enjoying a cup of coffee. Come back later in the afternoon for a refreshing rum drink and a 2 hole chip and putt golf course on the beach…

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“Golf Course” by Ali Baba’s

Foxy’s Tamarind Bar –  at the far end of Great Harbour sits Foxy’s.

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Foxy is a fixture in his own bar and can frequently be found serenading and weaving a tale for his patrons. In addition to some very delicious signature rum drinks, Foxy sells bottles of his own rum – Foxy’s Firewater Rum in his gift shop – the Foxhole. We especially enjoyed the “Dread Fox” – made with his own rum and “Foxy’s Punch” which includes a mango float. On Friday and Saturday night, Foxy’s has a BBQ and live music.

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Foxy’s Dread Fox

Sydney’s Peace and Love – Make your way up and over the hill to Little Harbour and pull in to Sydney’s Peace and Love. Help yourself to a beer or mixed drink at the honor bar and be sure to sign the wall.

Harris’s Place – stop by Harris’s place and have Cynthia, the owner, make you one of her fabulous Bushwacker’s. Tasty and potent and Cynthia is a a ton of fun to visit. Come back later for a sumptuous Caribbean Lobster Dinner next to the water.

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Cynthia with a tasty Bushwhacker

Abe’s by the Sea – good West Indian cuisine and a pig roast on Wednesday’s. Quiet place to sit and enjoy a beverage.

Foxy’s Taboo – To get to the last stop on our Jost Van Dyke Bar Crawl, head over the hill past East End Harbour and pull in to Foxy’s Taboo.

Foxy’s Taboo is also owned by Foxy Callwood and is said to be named after his dog, Taboo. Great covered patio overlooking Diamond Cay. Try the Taboo Burger and an ice cold beer or enjoy a beverage sitting on the dock and watching the fish and stingrays swim by.

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Foxy’s Taboo

So now that we’ve made our way across the entire Barefoot Island, pull up a chair, grab a beer here at Foxy’s Taboo and tell us – which bars have you had a chance to enjoy on Jost Van Dyke?

 

To see more posts on Jost Van Dyke 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.  All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.

Tropical Sunsets

 There’s just something special about a tropical sunset. Looking at the brilliant hues of orange and pink shimmering off of the ocean makes us sigh and long for more island time. The following are our favorites from the Rum Therapy Tropical Sunset folder and each one brings back memories of warm breezes, soft sand and most likely, a rum drink in hand as the sun sinks below the watery horizon.

We’ve yet to capture the elusive “green flash”, but you never know, if we keep taking sunset pictures, we might get lucky someday! Which one is your favorite?

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Playa del Carmen, Mexico

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Oahu, Hawaii

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Mayreau, The Grenadines

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Oahu, Hawaii

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Another sunset in Oahu, Hawaii

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St. Croix, USVI

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Anguilla Sunset

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Hanalei Bay, Kauai

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Young Island Cut, St. Vincent

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At sea near Carriacou

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White Bay Overlook, Jost Van Dyke

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Isle Pinel, St. Martin

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Union Island, The Grenadines

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White Bay, Jost Van Dyke in front of Ivan’s

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And last, but certainly not least,
Anse du Grande Columbier, St. Barths

To see more island posts, check out our Island Blog Directory

 

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Have You Taken the Plunge at the Willy T?

Have you heard of The Willy T? Accessible only by boat in The Bight at Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands, the infamous Willy T is short for William Thornton and is a bar and restaurant located in an anchored hull of a ship. Depending on the time and day you motor or dinghy up, you could encounter anything from a quiet lunch crowd to an all out party!

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Willie-T-12 -(600) O copyright Rum Therapy
When we first visited the Willy T in 2006, it was widely known that women could score a free Willy T’s T-shirt by removing their shirt and walking the plank (jumping off the top deck). When we returned in 2010, there was a sign posted on the top deck prohibiting  jumping and diving from the ship.

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Although T-shirts are no longer awarded to topless women hurtling themselves over the top the jumping continues. We saw numerous people – male and female – jump & some took the plunge totally naked!

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We enjoyed several tasty rum punches and downed a round at the Shotski.

Willie-T-11-O
The later it got – the rowdier the crowd got and in addition to body shots on the bar, both women and men were getting temporary Willy T tattoos from the bartenders – some in places, well, where the sun don’t shine!

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We had a great time – made a lot of new friends that probably didn’t remember us the next day…

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and the only problem we had was finding our dinghy after an evening of revelry! Thank goodness for our captain, the designated dinghy driver…

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Ready to head on over to Norman Island for a tasty lunch or a Willy T’s tatoo, a drink from the Shotski and maybe take the plunge? Check out their website to find out more: The Willy-T

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Have you taken the plunge at Willy T’s? Tell us about it!

Find Willy T’s on our Norman Island Map

To see more posts on the British Virgin Islands 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

Sunset Bar and Grill, St. Maarten

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Ahhh…Sunset Bar and Grill in St. Maarten. Where else can you enjoy a delicious rum punch on a beautiful beach while a 747 roars over your head?

Doesn’t sound that good to you? Well, when researching places to check out on our recent trip to St. Maarten, a good friend mentioned that we really ought to check this place out. We thought it would be a novelty and that we’d stop by just for a quick beverage, but we ended up having a blast!

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The day we got there by mid-afternoon the bar was already hopping! There were plenty of people on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine and we noticed a surfboard acting as a sort of sign with a flight schedule written on it.

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We ordered several Rum Punches and Mojitos along with a few appetizers.

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Sunset 8 (600)

Just as our first round was being served, we saw people clamoring towards the beach. Within seconds, a huge US Airways jet blasted right past us, over the fence and landed on the runway just feet from the bar. Wow – talk about close! I grabbed my camera and headed to the sand to see if I could capture the next landing.

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Sunset 6 (600)

In addition to great drinks and the jet entertainment, Sunset Bar and Grill frequently has live music and even crab races. And if you’re short on cash, women can drink free – if you’re willing to go topless.

Sunset 13 (600)

After all the airplanes have landed for the day, Sunset offers a quiet waterfront dining under the stars. So really – Sunset Bar and Grill should be on your list of beach bars to check out next time you’re in St. Maarten. Just don’t stand in the middle of the beach when a 747 takes off….

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To find out more about Sunset Bar and Grill in St. Maarten, check out their website here: http://sunsetsxm.com/

Find Sunset Bar & Grill on our St. Maarten/St. Martin Map
Press the  Sunset Bar & Grill bar underneath the map

Other Posts on St. Maarten/St. Martin that you might enjoy:

Sint Maarten Yacht Club Bar & Restaurant

Calmos Cafe, St. Martin

Sarafina’s Bakery, Marigot St. Martin

Le Galion Beach, St. Martin

Karakter Beach Bar, St. Maarten

Guy’s Driftwood Boat Bar, St. Maarten

Orient Bay Beach, St. Martin

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

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

 

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