A Perfect Little Caribbean Beach on the French Side of St Martin
People often ask me about the best rums in the Caribbean. Which island makes the best one? What’s your favorite? I like to give the same refrain: “The best rum in the world is the one in your glass right now.”
The same is true of beaches. The Caribbean does not lack for spectacular, unforgettable stretches of sand. Should you find yourself at a given moment in any of them, chances are you’ve done something right.
There are, of course, those other beaches. The ones that pull you in a little closer, that sing their siren song a little louder. The moment your feet hit their turquoise you feel something more.
And this petite beach at the Grand Case Beach Club in St Martin is one of them, for me. It’s one of two beaches at this lovely 72-room resort a short stroll away from the culinary paradise that is Grand Case Boulevard.
This is not a surfing beach. It is not a party beach. It is a place for serenity, for tranquility, for gently bobbing in the water as you scan the green mountains around you and lose track of the hour.
It’s a place to listen to the sound of the lapping waves, to peer out at the colorful, diverse buildings that dot the crescent-shaped shoreline of this funky, friendly, marvelous little French Caribbean town.
It’s a beach for a ti’ punch in your cup, for a late-afternoon swim by the buoys; for a long-awaited family reunion in the water.
Here at the Grand Case Beach Club, this beach Is just a few steps outside of your room, a rare privilege that’s something of a lost art in the age of large, sprawling resorts that practically require a shuttle to get from your front door to the sand.
And it calls you. Hour after hour, day after day. It just begs you to jump in, to turn off the world and become one with the sea, for 15 minutes or a whole afternoon.
You walk in the water and look back at St Martin’s glorious, pristine green mountains, towering above the town with a warm, comforting energy.
This is just a small stretch of the beach on the outer edge of Grand Case, one of those great little towns where world-class restaurants hobnob with half-shuttered shacks and beautiful boutique hotels and steaming food stalls.
It’s one of those beaches that whispers to you as you consider going back to your room, that makes you think about what could possibly be any better out there back on the land.
It convinces you with its spell, even just for a moment.
“This must be the best beach in the world.”
Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of CJ, is one of the world’s leading experts on Caribbean travel. (And rum, too).
