TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) Trip Report and Photo Archives Days 18 - 21 St. Lucia

Sorry this is late but we're in JFK waiting for our connection to Grenada, so I figured I better finish this one before I start the next.
1 Jan. 2012
Today was definitely going to be a maximum chill day and I was looking forward to that. I went to the Starfish Grille for breakfast, service was slow and confused, understandable due to the celebrating the staff must have done the night before. When my breakfast sandwich arrived it proved to be worth the wait.

Enjoying a champagne cocktail and a cigar by the pool

The other crew members arrived after I finished my meal and I warned them that things were running a little slow. They must not have believed me as they all ordered, then later canceled their orders when after 10 minutes they still hadn’t gotten their drinks. After Tony found some breakfast we headed to the Bay Garden Beach Resort for the day. Tony watched football at the bar, while I split my time between the bar and the pool. Mike and Trendy joined us later in the day for a few drinks. Tony went back to the boat, which was now at anchor off Pigeon Island, to cook dinner. He made the last of the venison roast he had brought. Mike, Trendy and I went to Rituals for cappuccino and to people watch. Dan picked Mike and I up at the dingy dock at happy Day bar, which is closed again, and we headed to the boat for dinner. The roast came out great this time. A lot better than when we tried to make steaks out of the last one. We had an after dinner nightcap and then Dan dropped Mike off on shore and we called it a night.

Mike and I enjoying our venison stew onboard Skyelark
2 Jan. 2012
Dan gave Tony and I a ride to the dingy dock near the mall and we walked to the Bay Garden Inn, where we will be staying for the rest of our trip. It was to early to check in, so we left our bags in the store room and went to Rituals for breakfast. Tony decided to hang out at the pool for the day. I met up with Mike, Nadine and Trendy and we grabbed a taxi to Pigeon Island. We spent the day on the little beach between the park and the Sandels dock. There is a rum shack there, run by Agnes from Rwanda. The beers and drinks are very reasonable and there was a good mix of locals, tourists, ex-pats and travelers. It is a very laid back atmosphere.

Mike and I at Agnes'

I also noticed that a dingy could be landed easily on the baech, so it may be a future option when we are anchored out. After heading back to the hotel, we went to the Triangle Pub for dinner. The remainder of the evening was spent on the Rodney Bay strip.
2 Jan. 2012
Today we were going to do a tour of the island, Nadine borrowed a car from a friend of hers and we were off. We drove down the coast to Veiux Fort to spend some time on the beach.

The beach at Vieux Fort
A new restaurant has opened up there, Island Breeze, and I can highly recommend it. We opted for the fish burger and onion rings. The fish was a mahi-mahi fillet and the onion rings were definitely homemade. The combo, ordered ala carte’ was 20 EC (less than $8 US). The food was all of high quality.

A great lunch

After some time at the beach we drove up the coast to Soufriere. We stopped in the see Nadines “St. Lucia Granny”, Marie who runs the Home Hotel in the center of town. I had originally met her last year when Mike, Nick and I spent a few days in Soufriere. Marie is over 90 years old, but she still gets around pretty well and was happy to see Mike and Nadine again. We then headed up to the mineral falls and soaked in the waters for an hour or so. The water wasn’t as warm as I remembered from last year, but it was still relaxing. From the we continued up the coast to Anse La Rey and took some pictures of the mural of the Belums, mountain spirits, on the wall in town.

The Belum

As it was getting late we headed back to the hotel and then down to the strip for some jerk chicken off the food truck next to Rehab.
4 Jan. 2012
Trendy came by in the morning with some fresh mangos he had picked, and soon after Mike and Nadine came. Nadine dropped us off at Cotton Bay where we planned to spend some time sunning and swimming. Shortly after noon we started on the walk up the hill and over to the Caribbean side of the island. We were getting hungry so we took the bus to Gros Islet and looked for a place to eat. Trendy suggested Golden Taste, and what a good choice that was. The meals were very reasonably priced and the portions were more than enough. Tony had the baked chicken meal (20 EC0), Mike had the lamb bouillon (15 EC) and I had the fish meal (25 EC). My fish was two nice kingfish steaks, with provisions, rice and peas, lo-mien, plantains, and salad. We went back to the hotel, where Tony decided to stay in for the night, while Mike, Trendy and I closed down the bars on the strip. In all a great last day of vacation.
5 Jan. 2012
Today was just a travel day as Tony returned home to Buffalo, while I flew to Miami to spend a couple days with my family before returning home.