Family fun in sunny St Lucia

Janine Hay on 14 August 2011
After a busy school year it was finally time for our August family holiday, and the destination was St Lucia. We chose the fabulous Windjammer Landing resort in the north of the island as we felt it ticked all the boxes for a fun filled family holiday.

After a nine hour flight from Gatwick and a further road transfer of just over an hour, we finally arrived. A warm welcome from the staff, a nice cold towel and refreshing rum punch was waiting for us; a nice touch after a long journey, before we were quickly whisked to our three bedroom estate villa. If you fancy taking to the air, the transfer can also be done by helicopter!

The resort is made up of a variety of accommodations and has something to suit everyone from couples, families and groups. These include romantic suites for two, one and two bedroom hibiscus suites with jacuzzi's on the balcony and two, three and four bedroom villas with pools - all on the hillside overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Our estate villa was very nice indeed; it had three bedrooms each with their own bathroom, a fully equipped kitchen with every mod con including a washing machine and dryer, cable TV and DVD player and best of all - its own pool. The good thing about Windjammer too is that you can choose to come self catering, bed and breakfast or all inclusive.

Cases unpacked it was time to get the shuttle to the beach from our villa and go and find out what activities were on offer for the next couple of days. After looking at the list we knew we wouldn't get bored if we didn't want to just lie in the sun. The Jacquot fun club is the free onsite kids club for ages 4 - 12, younger children can participate if accompanied by a babysitter for a fee. The club provided excellent activities including Tie-dye, talent shows, treasure hunts and much more, loads to keep our seven year old happy.

Watersports including Hobie cats, Banana Boat rides, Tubing, Kayaking and Wind surfing were also complimentary no matter what board basis you were staying on, which I found excellent as normally with other properties this is only offered when on all inclusive. Most nights there was some type of entertainment from steel bands, live music and even a Caribbean night with Fire Eaters!

So after a few busy days and nights enjoying the activities and fabulous food in the evenings we decided it was time to go and explore more of what the island had to offer outside of the hotel, so we hired a private yacht for the day and sailed down to the south of the Island to take in some the islands spectacular scenery. We sailed to the Pitons and Marigot Bay where the British won the battle against the French for control of the island. The scenes here where truly breathtaking, then we had some time for snorkelling in the clear waters.

Even though the resort had everything for our family it was really nice to get out and see the locals and learn more about the island. There are various activities available in St Lucia if you want to explore more such as zip lining in the rainforest, deep sea fishing, jeep safaris to the island volcano and much more, you definitely couldn't get bored.

The people of St Lucia are amongst the friendliest in the Caribbean; they are always smiling and are so happy that you are coming to explore their island, truly proud to show it off. We felt very safe at all times. I can't wait to get back, and especially to Windjammer as everyone treated you as if you were part of the family, it will be just like coming home.