Sunny Saint Lucia
Our first impressions were of a very green, mountainous, lush island. The transfer was quite lengthy due to the mountains and this is something you should bear in mind when choosing your resort or accommodation. On saying this we arrived at our first hotel just outside of Rodney Bay on the North West of the island, and all thoughts of the transfer were forgotten when we arrived at our first hotel and were greeted by wonderful hotel staff, a cold scented towel and a refreshing rum punch!
Our home for the next 3 nights was a stunning 2 bedroomed, 2 bathroomed enormous villa, with 2 full length balconies either side, one side with resort views, the other with marina views and we were blown away with the service received here, the beautiful beach just 1 minutes walk from the villa, and the excellent restaurants serving delicious food, breakfast through to dinner. We had bed and breakfast as part of our hotel stay, and this was served on a delightful patio with views across the beach and towards the mountains. During our stay we ventured into Rodney Bay to a restaurant we`d had recommended for dinner, and the seafood and fish were outstanding, slightly expensive but a lovely ambiance and well worth it.
We were able to walk out quite easily from the resort hotel, and a 15/20 minutes walk took us towards Pigeon Island, where there were a scattering of local beach bars/restaurants, our favourite being "The Thirsty Parrot" which became our "go to place" for a lunch time snack and a cold Piton beer.
On Day 4 the hotel arranged a transfer to our second hotel on the same coastline but further south. This hotel was booked on an all inclusive basis, which was perhaps as well given it`s slightly out of the way location. We found the all inclusive to be excellent, being able to choose from a menu rather than buffet style for every meal. A good choice of restaurants was helpful too as this gave variety during the stay. Michael quickly found that Sushi was his lunch time favourite! One of my main positives about this hotel were its staff, so friendly, professional and hard working, they quickly picked up on guests names, remembered them and constantly addressed guests by their name, I found this a very good touch, especially when they also remembered your favourite tipple! Our room lady also left some lovely quotes on our pillow every day, which I also found to be a nice touch too.
During our stay here it was Thanksgiving Day, and the hotel arranged a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner with some excellent entertainment in the restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
The hotels small beach was reached by a short "ferry" ride, and was famous for the filming of the original Dr Doolittle film back in the 60`s, in fact there is still a bar/restaurant there called Doolittle`s. The beach area always provided some form of "entertainment" usually in the form of the "canoe sailing banana man dressed as Santa" arguing over his beach patch with the "Coconut man", their lively spats were always very amusing!
Our trip to Saint Lucia soon came to an end but I find the Caribbean in November is a lovely time to visit, quieter than January/Feb/March, and offering great rates, mainly good hot sunny days, but you may get a quick drop of warm rain in the late afternoon or overnight, but this should not put you off!
