Sip of the bubbly between beaches

Yes, my dinner companion was Cooky the cat - in her finest rhinestone-studded, mustard-yellow vinyl collar. Cooky lives at the hotel where I dined and was the ideal companion for the night. She was quiet, charming, and her calming presence only added to the tranquil nature of the evening.

St. Barts may enjoy a reputation as a pricey, celebrity-friendly party destination chockablock with yachts in season, which starts in November and winds down by April. But summer is a different story. The tourists retreat, prices drop, and the pace on this Leeward Island in the northeastern Caribbean is subdued.

Summer in St. Barts is the antithesis of summer in New England. On the Cape, chairs clog the beach and the ocean water still chills to the bone. But on my St. Barts beach days, there were just a handful of fellow sunbathers. Often, I was the only one floating in the balmy, clear aquamarine water.

Before my trip, I quizzed friends on hot spots and restaurants. I dutifully studied guidebooks, and researched websites. But as I lay poolside with planter’s punch in hand at Le Sereno, my indulgent hotel home for the week, I realized that I didn’t want the same vacation my friends or other tourists had had.

Instead, I spent a week driving around the 8-square-mile island beach hopping, getting lost on precariously steep roads, and discovering tucked away restaurants.

I quizzed the locals on their favorite beaches, and the clear winner was Gouverneur, on the south side of the island. All of the beaches are free, but it’s essential to rent a car to get around. The nearby Grand Saline Beach is ideal for snorkeling, which I bravely attempted for the first time. I also tried St. Jean Beach and Colombier, but found myself returning for long days at Gouverneur.