St. Lucia (Part One)
We flew out in Premium Economy, very comfortable. The plane we were on had just returned from its refurbishment and we were the first people on this aircraft. This was a blessing in disguise, as our flight had been delayed by 24 hours and we would have been on a different plane. Never the less we were very well looked after, the airline provided us with an extra night at our Gatwick hotel, gave us vouchers for two breakfasts and a lunch, plus they did provided us with an evening meal in our hotel. We took advantage of this delay to go to London’s West End for the afternoon.
On arriving at Castries Airport the heat hit you as you stepped off the plane into the welcome sunshine of St. Lucia. Going through passport control and customs took a while, as another flight had landed about the same time. Some people had to queue outside, but the staff did their best to bring people in from the heat as quickly as possible.
As we were a day late we were a little concerned that our transfer may not have been there, but we didn’t need to have worried. We had a very comfortable drive of about one and half hours in an air conditioned vehicle with a very informative friendly driver. We saw plenty of tropical forest along the route to the resort.
On arrival at we were met by a member of staff who escorted us to the lounge where we were handed a very colourful cocktail. He explained about the property, when meals were served and about the special restaurant. When we had got our breath back and finished our cocktails he showed us to our Veranda room. It was a large room with a large four poster bed and plenty room for the two-seater red settee. The shower was unusual, having three spouts, two at waist level. They have been building some new rooms with baths rather than showers which, although smaller looked lovely.
The hotel was on Malabar Beach. It isn’t a private beach but nice to sit with a cocktail (my favourite cocktail was non-alcoholic but there were alcoholic ones as well) and watch the world go by. Several people walked along the beach each day, occasionally walking with horses, which I imagine they were training to cope with the sea, as they didn’t ride them. If there was an influx of seaweed on the beach this was cleared away each morning.
We watched people swimming, playing beach games, trying the wind surfers and water skiing. We also saw boats and ships of various sizes sailing by. We did see a couple of cruise ships making their way into the port of Castries, before they were hidden by the headland. Occasionally passengers from the cruise lines would find their way to the beach with the sea and the golden sands to tempt and who’s to blame them!
The hotel is surrounded by beautiful well-kept gardens. There were lights spread amongst the very tall trees especially near the reception area. This looks very pretty in the evening. The meals were served in an outside covered restaurant, the Terrace Restaurant, overlooking the sea and the beach. This was buffet style. There was a good choice every day at all three meals. If you didn’t have enough to eat at the meals times they also served afternoon tea. Plus the bar was constantly busy with every sort of drink from coffee to wine and cocktails, whisky and beer.
There was also another restaurant which needed to be booked in advance. This was waiter service and it was air conditioned and peaceful. Once we had discovered this, we booked every night for the rest of our stay.
There were themed evenings, one was a Caribbean evening which was good fun, which the staff seemed to enjoy just as well as the quests did. There were also Italian and Mexican evenings amongst the others they organised each week.