The always gorgeous Ivanka Trump has also been seen with her friends here….and she is looking svelte and beautiful as always!  I love the outfit she has on in these pictures.

Let’s see, who else has been around? Ah yes! Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista hit the beach with her 14-month-old son, Augustin  on New Year’s and Billy Joel and his wife were seen crusing the waters aboard a gorgeous yacht.  All three attended the big bash aboard Paul Allen’s yacht as well.

Other visitors over the Christmas/New Year holiday included funny-man Steve Martin, and actress Nicolette Sheridan with fiance Michael Bolton.

So, what is it about St Barts that the celebrities love so much? Besides the beautiful scenery, the warm beaches, and the friendly people?  The fact that they can relax here with little intrusion from the paparazzi.  It’s hard to relax when you’ve got cameras in your face all the time.  As the weather remains cool stateside, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more visitors here to the island! Stay tuned for updates!

Karolina started her career and the tender age of 15 and has worked with other high fashion companies like Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel, just to name a few.  Her face has graced the covers of Vogue and Vanity Fair on more than one ocassion. 

One of the highest paid models in the world, she came home with 3.5 million dollars this year.  Not bad for being beautiful.

You can see more photos of the shoot, and Karolina’s time on the island here.

St Barts Island :: Karolina Kurkova ~ Photo credit www.thesuperficial.com

On Monday, December 17th, I got the strangest phone call from a friend – he said that there was a blockade enforced on St Barts Island. What?!?  It appears that local fisherman were more than a little upset over the news of the new fuel tax and they were protesting by using their tiny little fishing boats to block the mega yachts from coming in to port.  The blockade even made it to the New York Post Page Six because it had the potential to disrupt the honeymoon of Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman; can you even imagine?!

I really just have three things to say about this: First, St Barts is almost independent and the people voted for this! It’s no wonder that the "Collectivité" (the legal body) has to find the financial resources to finance the island budget; I mean, it’s not like money is falling out of the sky to pay for everything that runs this island. Being tax-free is an illusion, and the tourists cannot finance our entire yearly operating budget. Someone has to pay for our expenses.

Second, the fact that this made the New York Post Page Six is borderline ridiculous – the only thing more so is the quote in the article that talks about GQ models having to be smuggled on and off the island in the "cover of darkness" before the fisherman’s "stranglehold" was complete. It sounds so dramatic, doesn’t it?  Which brings me to my third,and final, point. French fishermen are very prone to this behavior, they block ports every year in continental France.

LaLangosta creates high-end, one-of-a-kind swimwear that is intended for a discerning audience.  Each suit is hand-beaded, and therefore, it can be said that "no two are alike."

It was by chance that the CEO and founder ran in to Zeta-Jones’ publicist in 2006 and, much to her delight, found herself sending a few of the suits over for Zeta-Jones’ to try out.  Catherine loved them and soon she was walking around St Barts in them.  Next thing you know, she in every tabloid, and so are these beautiful suits; talk about a great way to increase your visibility!

Okay, okay….yes, I’m still surfing around Amazon!  But I couldn’t go before I recommended this book about St Barts; "Paradise Found: The people, restaurants and recipes of St. Barthélemy" by Robert Brooks.

Ranking 8th in books about travel to the French West Indies, this book has consistently been rated 5 starts by those that have purchased it. A book that is jam packed with recipes straight from the island, and beautiful photographs to boot, this is a must have for anyone that has ever been to St Barts, or is dreaming of someday going.

In its 250+ pages, it completely encapsulates the island, its culture, the locals, and the tourists.  Everyone and anyone has a place between these to covers. It especially pays homage to the restaurants, their owners, and the sweat equity that they’ve put in to their world-class eateries.  As one reader so aptly put it, "International movies stars and high profile musicians and artists are perennially drawn to St Barts during the holiday season for a number of reasons." Read this book and you’ll see why.

If you’ve ever been to the island, this book will serve as a wonderful reminder of your trip; if you are planning a trip, or know someone who is, grab a sneak peek at what’s in store during the vacation.  This book is well worth the investment.

This site is devoted to those who travel, and want to share their experiences.  It’s really pretty cool.  So, I was really excited when I found this travel diary, posted by user "Liward."  These people seem to travel all the time, and indeed, I am jealous!

On their trip to St Barts, they were lucky enough to walk in to a bar on December 29th of last year, just in time to catch Jon Bon Jovi playing.  And I quote, "When you walk in to a restaurant in St Barths you never know who might be playing. Here’s Jon Bon Jovi playing a few tunes."

The very next day, they caught Catherine Zeta-Jones singing "No Woman, No Cry" while Jimmy Buffet played the guitar!

"And yes this is Catherine Zeta Jones singing reggae, "No Woman, No Cry" And look who’s playing the guitar! We caught Jimmy playing twice."

Amazing, isn’t it?  But, truly, this is really what St Barts is all about, especially in late December.  Just a small and simple French village full of celebrities enjoying life without a fuss.

Some of these pictures have been around the world, yet most people do not know that they were taken in St Barts.  I have chosen my three favorites to share with you; please keep in mind that these have all been shot in public places, so as not to invade anyone’s privacy.

Picture 1 :: Gisele Bundchen :: taken during a shooting for Victoria’s Secret on Gouverneur Beach.

Photo courtesy of Modelsblog.info

Picture 2 :: Penelope Cruz :: showing her style on Saline Beach.

Photo courtesy of Daily Mail

Picture 3 :: Ricky Martin :: walking on Saline Beach

Photo courtesy of Beautiful Mag

And last but not least, a bonus picture :: Tara Reid :: Looking not so hot on St Barts Island

Photo courtesy of Hollywood Backwash

As with any celebrity vacation sighting, there has been no shortage of press coverage about Mr. Letterman’s vacation to the island.  In fact, this article, which is actually about Usher enjoying Saline Beach with a female companion, mentions him.  David’s name, along with Harrison Ford’s, is dropped to drive home the point that this is a hot spot for the rich-and-famous. 

St Barts Island :: David Letterman and son Harry
Both locals and tourists enjoy David Letterman while he is on the island – he is very well liked. Because he does not make a fuss about his social status, he seem approachable, just like any other guy on vacation.  It may also help that in terms of French culture, his name is not  famous. This means that salespeople in shops do not gawk at him when he is on the island, as they do not know him as anyone other than a regular guest to the island. I’m sure this makes a very relaxing vacation for him as well. This picture of he and his son is pretty indicative of his typical days on the island.

Lucky for him, he has recently acquired a highly demanded land property in St Barts on which he is planning on building a villa. The original plan was to build a house for him and a few villas for guests, but the municiplty wants to protect this piece of land, so they only gave a permit to erect one villa.

This particular piece of land is on a hill that seperates two bays: St Jean Bay and Lorient Bay. With high cliffs above the sea, it is famous among the St Barts crowd because once upon a time, the most famous St Barts club was located here.

Called "Autour du Rocher" (Around the Rock), it was so special that Jimmy Buffet actually wrote a song about it, aptly called Autour du Rocher.

This a a little tale about a hotel in the Caribbean.
Well it wasn’t really a hotel, it was a patio
bar with funky rooms and an outdoor disco
with bad wiring. Some people said if you looked                        Future Building Site
between the cracks of the floorboards of our dance floor you would see Hell. If you ever went there, you would know what I’m talking about. If you never had, then we thought we’d send you a little musical souvenir.

Some say it was a planet
Some say it was a rock
For five wild years in L"Orient.
The party never stopped

There were pirates from the Indies
There were models from Paris
There were locals and New Yorkers
And the Brazilian Navy

By mini-moke and scooters
In cabs and stolen cars

Came the creatures of the evening
From St. Martin and from Mars

The place closed down in the late 80′s and no one really seems to know why. Rumors abound. Was it arson? Murder? There is a lot of mystery, which makes it that much more interesting. And because of it (maybe) it has stayed untouched for the last 15 years. Personally, I heard there were legal fights over the land.  There’s even been a spook story of a curse on the place.  Either way, Letterman didn’t buy in to any of the hype as he has bought it, and plans to build on it.

Mariah Carey recently spoke about her body and how she keeps in shape.

"I don’t feel like you have to be a size zero. We should all just embrace who we are physically," the singer was quoted as saying by People magazine.

"I’m not supposed to be a stick figure girl. It’s just not me."

And how does she maintain her hot bod?

"My secret is bleak diets," she said. But that’s not all: "I have a wonderful trainer whose name is Patricia, she lives in St Barts, poor girl. People say, ‘Only you would fly someone from St Barts to New York to workout.‘ "

Just in case you wonder, St Barts has several beautiful gyms, as well as qualified personal trainers. They are used at working with all types of clienteles. I will make sure to comment on St Barts gyms later in my entries. (We have a nice private gym in our St Barts villa, so I am quite interested in this topic).