St Lucia, West Indies

Our trip to St Lucia was a good one...

The airport sits on the far end of the island from where many of the resorts lie. It's about an hour ride via shuttle, but if you get queasy from car rides, this is not the place for you. They were hit pretty hard by a hurricane last fall, and as a result, many of the roads have crumbled down the cliffs in to the jungle. There were some points that I thought we were going off the side.

The island is stricken with poverty. Even my kids noticed how many of the people live in shacks. This is common with Caribbean islands, but I don't really like to be reminded that others live this way when I'm on vacation. It sounds callous and selfish, but it makes it really hard to enjoy yourself, knowing the staff are probably underpaid and will never know what it's like to enjoy a trip like you are on.

The Atlantic side of the island is beautiful, but not really a great place to vacation if you enjoy the beach. It reminds me of the coastline of California..beautiful mountains but not beach-worthy. The Caribbean side of the island is where the majority of the people live and the resort are.

The island operates with the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, which is roughly $1 US Dollar to $2.70 ECs. The drinks are reasonable...about $6/drink...but the food is RIDICULOUSLY priced, and at the Windjammer Landing, where we stayed, it was just so-so. The resort is beautiful, but I was not a fan of the beach. The sand is rocky and dirty. The staff was very warm and welcoming...most of the veteran staff remembered my MIL from her 11 years going there. Its a timeshare resort, which is a nice option. We own the Disney Vacation Club, and personally, I think its a better option for timeshare, but everyone has their own opinions of what they like. I am by no means putting the place down...we had a great time.

The villa was very nice and relaxing. We spent most of our time there. I like the option in having your private pool.

All in all, I would go back to St Lucia, but it's not somewhere I would go on a cruise ship stop. I would be more inclined to try some different islands, rather than rush back there right away. I loved Costa Maya, Mexico...but with the violence in Mexico, I would be worried about traveling there right now. If you are looking for a relaxing place to lounge, St Lucia was lovely...if you like to be more active, I would go somewhere else.

The view from our villa.

Our glorious porch, where I could happily live forever.

The view off the side of our pool.

My handsome son Gavin.

The debonair Taylor.

The open-air lobby.

The pool.

This ship was AMAZING.

How could anyone not like this?

Greetings from St Lucia!!

Well, we got in to St Lucia around 2:30pm local time here, which is an hour ahead of eastern time, but then we had a hellish almost 2 hour drive from one side of the mountain to the other. Then when we finally got here, they had given away the villa to someone else!!! So, we inhaled several complimentary rum punches, as they straightened out the mess. We finally got up to the villa, got stuff settled and then went to eat dinner. When we got back, it was like 10pm, so we took showers and went to bed. We were exhausted from getting up at 3am Sunday morning to leave.

The island is pretty ghetto, and I was getting kind of worried about our accomodations, but the resort sits in a bay, and I guess most of the big resorts are all at the north end of the island. When you drive in to the resort, its like a whole different world. Really lush and green, our villa sits up on a mountain. We are REALLY high up. So high, we can't hear the ocean. But we have a pretty awesome view, and can even see the Grenadines in the distance. The whole island is mountainous, and volcanic.

The villa is open air during the day, and the breezes are WONDERFUL! No humidity at all. Its a white stucco villa with spanish red tile roof, and tiled floors. We have little birds flying in, and Gavin hand fed a little finch this morning. I woke up before anyone else and stepped out on our balcony. Then I decided to go downstairs and out on the private porch and lay there on the couch, just looking at the ocean and feeling the breeze. We have a pool too...which the kids have enjoyed.

I really had to motivate myself to turn on the computer, but I will try to be good about communicating this week, although maybe not as good as I thought!!! We are relaxed and enjoying life (and the frozen concoctions, such as the Mango Crush I've been enjoying.)Now if this place came with a mute button for my kids, I would never leave!!!

I will try to get some pictures out after I take more. Today, we've just been lazy as hell and loving EVERY minute.



Keri