I found St.Lucia to be one of the most beautiful islands I've ever visited in the Caribbean. It's got pretty much everything to make it a great destination but unfortunately there are way too many all-inclusive resorts already.
The food is delicious, the people are nice, and the views are simply beautiful. Actually "beautiful" is just the right word to describe St.Lucia. It's unfortunate that most of the visitors get wisked away into the many all-inclusive resorts around the island, missing out on a real unique experience. As a result of these resorts (my guess here), the prices on the island are extremely high, unless you really try to get off the beaten path.
That's the one thing that kinda put a hole in this vacation... the high prices. I don't care where I am, or how good the food is but $20 or $30 for a plate of food is just ludicrous. So we looked for the street stalls and hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurants. There are a few where you can eat a good meal for about $10, but they are hard to find.
We stayed in what it is probably the most touristy part of the island, near Rodney Bay, on the North side of the island. Unlike other Caribbean islands that I've been too, here you don't feel so much like you've been "separated" from the rest of the island. Our small, family owned hotel (Harmony Marina Suites), faced the Rodney Bay marina where yatchs from all over the world can be seen. It was kind of off season so the people at the hotel upgraded us to a fully furnished apartment at no extra charge. This really made us feel at home and there's nothing like sipping your morning coffee and freshly baked french bread while watching the boats sail off, right from the comfort of your balcony.
One of the nicest beaches on the island (Reduit Beach) was right down the street and many over priced restaurants can also be found in this area. We often loaded the fridge with fresh fruit and cheese for lunchtime or mid afternoon snacks though. We were also invited to the managers weekly sunset cruise out on Rodney Bay. It was very considerate of them to offer us that and we enjoyed it quite a lot. On the cruise they served the ever present complementary all-your- can-dring Rum punch, and some delicious local snacks.
Contrary to what most people think St.Lucia does not only have black sand beaches, but it also has white sand beaches. In fact, the best beaches on the island are white sand beaches. The rugged mountains draped with lush tropical vegetation, including countless palm trees make the beaches of St.Lucia some of the best in the Caribbean. You see, to me it's not just the actual beach (as in water and sand), that counts when rating a particular beach. It's the whole atmosphere that surounds it, and St.Lucia has it all. Well... almost all. Again, you won't find a nice beach in St.Lucia that doesn't have one of those "all-intrusive" resorts. At least the beaches are public and coincidently, the most famous resorts are located on the worst beaches.
But if it's black sand beaches you're looking for... don't worry. There are plenty of them too. The beach at Anse Chastanet in the south side of the island near the "Pitons" is considered to be the best. This is also the most picturesque part of the island and the snorkling off of Anse Chastanet is said to be spectacular. Even if you're staying somewhere else on the island, a day trip down to this region is an absolute must. If nothing else at least just so you can point at the postcards and say "I've been there", and make all your friends jealous, because most postcards sold in St.Lucia have either pictures of the Pitons or of Marigot Bay.
Soufriere is a really nice little town - a fishing village is more likely. From here you can visit the Sulfur Springs, the Botanical gardens or the Morne Coubaril Estate Plantation. We didn't visit the plantation but did go to the other two. The Sulfur Springs are nothing but a big sticking hole but the Botanical gardens are definately worth a visit. It's very well taken care of and the variety of tropical plants and colortful flowers is simply amazing.
Continuing on up the cost, we came up to Anse Couchon. I don't think this little beach is accessible other than by boat but if you manage to get there, the snorkling is pretty good. Unfortunatelly, every other person on the island thinks so too so you might end up seeing more snorklers than fish.
Marigot Bay is another picturesque little cove. It's enchanting really but don't even consider staying there unless a) you don't like beaches; b) you want total seclusion; c) you're willing to rent a car; or d) all of the above. The right answer would be d). Take the picture, buy the postcard, get the T-shirt, whatever you want but staying there would be a waste.
Then we have Castries, the capital and the center of all madness. Nothing interesting here except the oportunity to see the hustle and bustle of a busy caribbean city. They have a couple of markets but I believe they are there for the thousands of day trippers from the cruise ships. Nevertheless, you can find really good fruit and spices here.
From Castries to Gros Islet there are a bunch of little beaches but they are mostly accupied by some of those "all-intrusive" resorts. Skip them. This is also the busiest part of the island I though. The good thing about this is that it is really easy to catch the buses going up and down between Gros Islet and Castries.
How I traveled around? Cars are expensive to rent. For tours you pay through your eyes. But buses are cheap, reliable, and pretty comfy. They're not really buses, they're little mini-vans that go from point A to point B. They are well marked and you basically just walk up to the road and signal them to stop. When you're inside and want to get off you just tell the driver "STOP!", and that's it. Simple enough? I thought so.
But we were short on time and wanted to see more of the island so we signed up for the all day tour by boat. We thought sailing along the rugged coast would be a nice way to see the island. It would be different. It would be fun. Besides, it included lunch and all you can drink rum punch, snorkling and sightseeing to the Sulfur Springs and Botanical Gardens. In the end... it was too friggin expensive and above all, overated. It was so expensive I had a hard time swallowing the creole chicken they gave us for lunch. For the price of this thing we could have rented a car for 3 full days and seen a lot more of the island. And the cars in St.Lucia aren't cheap either. Then on the way back I made the foolish mistake of wanting to get my money's worth by filling up on Rum punch... lets' just say that alchool, sun, and sea do not make a good mix.
In the end, I wished I would have stayed longer - isn't that how it always feels? :-) I wish I would have rented a car instead of the Catamaran trip. Driving around the island would have been the smartest thing to do and I should have known better.
One fun thing I did was to take advantage of the free kayaks at the hotel and paddle through the marina and out into the bay.
All in all is was a good vacation. As you might have noticed there was a lot of the island left to explore. I would have loved to do some hiking but even that costs a butt load of money and there really aren't marked trails or maps so I could go on my own. I wonder why? I would have liked to have visited a plantation but after the tour experience on that boat I wanted nothing to do with tourist traps. In general I would have liked to explore more of the island at a more relaxed pace.
I don't like to jump to conclusions in such short stays but St.Lucia is definatelly a place I want to return to. If nothing else, at least to take a few more pictures. You see, yours truly here forgot to load film into one of the cameras. I almost had a cow when I realized my butt-headed mistake!