The Elements of Bliss

After I got off the plane at Princess Juliana International Airport, the friendly guy at the rental-car office said, No problem, mon, it was just a 10-minute drive to La Samanna. Three hours later I was still cruising around the island of St. Martin looking for the resort where I was to spend the next four nights.

Sure, I could have stopped to ask directions, but I was having such a good time just

driving around being lost that I almost hated to get where I was going. It happens when-ever I arrive on a Caribbean island. One look at the water and I'm in La-La Land. So I just kept driving and looking out at the water, content to know that sooner or later I'd find La Samanna.

A big part of the attraction to St. Martin is that it is really two islands in one. Half of the island belongs to France and the other half to the Netherlands. In fact, it's the smallest landmass in the world to be divided between two sovereign nations. Going back and forth between the two sides is even easier than driving between Lee and Collier counties, since I-75 is not involved. There are, however, lots of goats grazing along the side of the road, and they bear careful watching, especially if one has not taken out extra insurance coverage on the rental car.

There are two stories about how they decided where to draw the border between the two sides of St. Martin. The colorful one holds that a pair of surveying teams-one French and one Dutch-set out from a point on the east coast, each heading in opposite directions. They agreed that when they met on the west coast they would mark a line from there back to the starting point and that would be the border. The French drank wine as they walked. The Dutch drank gin. The French got an early start each morning. The Dutch had vicious hangovers and slept in. Consequently, the French covered more territory.

The more likely story: Back in the 18th century, France had a much larger military presence on the island, including a sizable navy. They used this leverage to grab 21 square miles of St. Martin, while the Dutch wound up with just 16.

In the years since, the Dutch have more than compensated for having received the smaller portion. Not only does the Dutch side boast the international airport and the cruise-ship port at Phillipsburg, it's home to the glitziest casinos and the biggest duty-free shops.

The French side has an absolutely phenomenal concentration of really good little French restaurants and, at gorgeous Orient Beach, one of the most popular places in the world for nude sunbathing. Eat, shop, gamble, toast your buns, eat some more-that's the essence of a St. Martin vacation.

Driving on the west end of the island, past the French capital of Marigot, a cozy little town chock full of boulangeries, pâtisseries, chocolatières and all other sorts of Gallic temptations, I finally asked a guy walking along the side of the road how to get to La Samanna.

"Down there, behind the trees, by the water," he said, pointing to a narrow road that cuts toward the sea. "They hide it so no one can find it."

There was a tiny, tiny sign, which I'd twice driven by and hadn't spotted. But that's exactly the sort of well-hidden refuge Americans James and Nicole Frankel had in mind back in 1970 when they bought 55 acres of beachfront property overlooking Long Bay.

Inspired by the architecture of Greece, with its whitewashed sunny villas, the couple first set out to build a romantic, private retreat for themselves, but soon expanded upon their original plans. They created the exclusive hideaway that came to be known as La Samanna, taken from the letters of their daughters' names-Samantha, Anouk and Nathalie.

While La Samanna has grown in the years since-it now has 81 guestrooms, suites and villas, all with a view of the Caribbean-the resort still has the feel of an intimate private retreat.

The grounds are a wonderment of tropical foliage, and winding stone paths cut through one of the largest private collections of plants in the Caribbean-bougainvillea, plumbago, allamandas, orchids and more than 60 types of palm trees. They are under the loving supervision of Shirley Eastwood, a botanist whose husband, James, is chairman of Orient-Express Hotels, which manages La Samanna.

I was lucky enough to arrive at La Samanna in June, when the flamboyant trees-also known as royal poinciana-were in full, fiery-orange bloom. It's a favorite time of year for La Samanna's acclaimed resident artist, Roland Richardson. A white-bearded, straw-hat wearing native of St. Martin, Richardson belongs to the en plein air school of painting, setting up his easel at various locations around the property to fully capture the resplendent play of light and sky and sea.

His favorite subject is the flamboyant tree, and he has completed hundreds and hundreds of paintings of them that hang in galleries and private collections all over the world.

"As a boy, I remember one of my first sensations of color was from the orange of a flamboyant tree," said Richardson when I chanced upon him one day. "People ask me: 'How can you keep painting the same trees over and over again?' But for me, seeing the tree, seeing the color, seeing the sea beyond, it always puts me in a dream."

Yes, it's a dreamy, dreamy place. And my days at La Samanna soon settled into a routine of elemental bliss: Up early to catch the sunrise as it peeked over the craggy limestone bluff at the east end of La Samanna's beach. A morning walk along the bay as far as Plum Beach to the west, then rinsing off the sand in the giant abalone shells that serve as footbaths outside each villa.

A swim in the infinity pool, a yoga class, then a meal of fresh papaya, mango, warm croissants and fine cheese. Afternoons, it was sailing

and windsurfing and another long walk on the beach-plenty of exercise to justify more overindulgence come dinner.

Every now and then I ventured out, but I was always anxious to return, down here behind the trees, by the water, where no one could find me.

FINDING LA SaMANNA

Direct flights into St. Martin use Princess Juliana International Airport; La Samanna is 10 minutes away; call (800) 237-1236 or visit www.lasamanna.com.