St. Barth’s

By Bill Bisanz | St. Bart’s During a recent trip to St. Barth’s, the French jewel of the Caribbean, we encountered at least two fellows that could have been the French incarnate version of the great American actor. The first, named Gael was reminiscent of Depp in Chocolat while Jacques was the spitting image of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, right down to the swashbuckling regalia. Ladies- beware, as either of these French look-alikes could steal your heart while on this romantic and beautiful island. Historically, St. Barth’s has had an eclectic history including acting as a staging base for pirates and as a trading port. It was too rocky and small to cultivate for agricultural exploitation, so it was never as highly contested as some Caribbean islands. It has been under the jurisdiction of Britain, Sweden, Knights of Malta and  most currently, France. It makes sense as you hear French spoken on the street, spend Euros, enjoy delicious pastries while admiring pretty women and paying entirely too much for drinks! Planes are not allowed to land after dark on St. Barth’s, as it has one of the world’s shortest commercial airstrips-tucked in between a hillside on [...]

By Bill Bisanz | St. Barts If I could do anything in life, I would sail around the world with my family and dog, experiencing the far-flung lands and cultures of the globe. Exploring the world with my kids and learning about foreign peoples, languages, history and food while travelling along in a floating house, inspires my imagination. While having young children has considerably slowed my sailing adventures, I’ve been fortunate to get a taste of this seafaring life during my travels where some French friends  and I rented sailboats and set out exploring the Mediterranean. A younger man at the time, I often found myself wondering, “how did I get here?” like the time we sailed into the Grand Canal of Venice at sunset. In just a few weeks we would visit small seaside villages, uninhabited rock-lets, inhabited volcanic islands and iconic destinations like Capri. Simply amazing! It was this sort of curiosity and sense of exploration that was at the heart of my desire to start Elite. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to explore new places with the help of others who had travelled there before. This is a big part of what we are up to [...]