Just returned from Guadeloupe, a fairly big island in the French West Indies. It is between Dominica to the south and Antigua to the north. We flew from JFK on Norwegian Air. http://www.norwegian.com/us Norwegian Air is a low cost airline that is actually quite a large airline with around 100 planes. A few months ago they started nonstop service from JFK, BWI and Boston to Guadeloupe and Martinique. The fares are very reasonable; they vary by day but you can easily get a $300 round trip fare.
The plane was a new 737 -900. All seats are the same, no first class or premium economy. The flights were on time and service was good. You pay for everything including water, which I think is over the top), but prices are not too bad.
JFK was easier to use than expected. We used long term parking which was easy to get to off the Belt Parkway. We parked about 100 yards from the train station for the train to the terminal. The train is free and runs frequently. It was about a 15 minuter ride to the terminal. The train stops at all terminals. It is also possible to use the train to go to the NYC subway or the LIRR. The terminal was new and modern and check in was easy. Norwegian Air also flies to Europe from JFK and the fares are good.
Guadeloupe is a great island. There are several smaller islands nearby Les Saintes and Marie Galante It is basically unknown to Americans because historically it has been hard to get there. In addition there are no chain hotels there. We stayed at a Club Med. The island has about a half million people and is in the shape of a butterfly. One side is called Basse Terre and the other Grande Terre. The capital is Pointe a Pitre. There is not very much good and updated info on the island.There is a pretty good website http://www.guadeloupe-islands.com/guadeloupe-islands-2/
Grande Terre is flat and has most of the hotels. BasseTerre has a volcano, rain forest, big waterfalls (Carbet) and the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve. They grow lots of food on the island so the food is quite interesting with a strong Creole/ French flavor. Lots of fruits including passionfruit, my fav.
I had been to Guadeloupe 3 previous times. We had stayed at the Club Med with our kids about 15 years ago and we had enjoyed our stay. We subsequently tried the Club Med in the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and hated it.We had been all over the island on previous trips. When I read about the new flights I looked into going again. Club Med had a good deal so we booked a 5 night trip.
The Club Med from the water.
The bar.
Food at the small reservation only restaurant at Club Med. We had the lobster dinner for 2 for 99 Euros. It included a glass of Champagne each. The lobster was very good.
I played tennis with one of the members of the band. They had a great beat.
The market in St Anne the town near the Club Med. We walked to the town.
The dining room.
We took a catamaran trip to Marie Gallante. It was about a 2 hour ride. We then took a bus around the island. We visited the Pere Labat distillery where they make Rhum Agricole. Rhum Agricole is made from sugar. Apparently most rum is made from molasses.
The food at the Club Med was good. Buffet dining with something for everyone. The wine choices of a red (cote du rhone) rose (cote du rhone) and white (who knows) were weak They did have an overpriced wine list. They had a young Somm. He was a nice guy but it views on wine were so classic old French.I asked about Beaujolais and he scoffed, saying that no one considers Beaujolais a respectable wine so he would never offer one on his wine list. Ironically at the manager's cocktail party he served a Cava??
They had good tennis and ping pong at the Club Med. I won the ping pong tourney, a quest that started 15 years ago.
The Club Med is very French, very few Americans go there. Most of the staff was very nice and tried to speak English. Some including the manager of the hotel, could care less about Americans. We enjoyed our stay.
Chalone Vineyards RIP?? An economic lesson.
As you might have deduced over time, I like Chalone wines. http://www.chalonevineyard.com/our-wines/collections/estate-wines I found out about Chalone about 20 years ago. They were one of the oldest wineries in California and they were made famous in one of the taste-offs against French wines. It is located in the Soledad Mountains about 1 hour from Carmel. They were a public company and I bought 100 shares. this entitled me to obtain their wine at a discount. The stock moved between $6 and $12 for years. They also had a relationship with Chateau Lafite Rothchild which was a great bonus. We could buy Lafite wines at a discount.
Things were good and then about 10 years ago Chalone decided to sell itself to Lafite. The offer was about $12 which was a premium for the stock at that time. However some of the shareholders did not like the offer so they attempted to find other parties to buy the company. Diageo became interested and finally bought the company for around $14 a share.
Chalone has suffered since the purchase and I have noticed that their wine is not the same and it has become scarce. Anyway several months ago Diageo announced that it had sold most of its wineries to another company but that no one wanted Chalone. Apparently Chalone is now up for sale and I am not sure if they are even open anymore. The website does not seem to function.
The deal with Lafite would have been great. Lafite cares about wine. Diageo was a hard liquor company dabbling in wine. The dabbling is now over and they are dumping all the wineries that they bought over the years. They could care less about Chalone. Now Chalone is looking at an uncertain future. Greed on the part of the original shareholders led to a sale to the wrong party. This could be a Harvard Business School case study. Oh well.
Super Bowl time. Nachos and Wings.
Enjoy.
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