Laborie, St. Lucia

We were picked up at the resort by Tony, our host at Mango Splash (our next destination).  He got through the security gate and into the resort with only minor difficulty.  He kindly stopped at the supermarket on our way to the apartment so we could get some cash and buy some groceries.  I think it surprised him how much food we thought we needed to buy!  Rick does most of our cooking when we rent vacation homes, so that was our plan here too.  Little did we know how much fun food would be available in our little village.

We drove through the part of town we'd already seen.  As in other towns, the road we'd been on previously, going down to the dock, wasn't the most scenic, thank goodness.  We turned onto the actual Main Street, and headed to our apartment, with Tony pointing out some of the good, local restaurants, bakeries and bars.  Since this had been a British colony, cars drive on the left-hand side of the road.  We decided not to rent a car, and when we saw the traffic, we were glad we didn't.

Downtown Laborie

Downtown Laborie

Our apartment is a small studio on the ground floor of our hosts' home, and right on the beach.  The kitchen is tiny, but has everything we need.  We dumped our luggage, put away the groceries, and took some lounge chairs down to the beach.

Looking south from our spot on the beach

Looking north from our spot on the beach

We understand that all of the beaches on St. Lucia are public.  That's a great advantage for locals and visitors alike, and we had a few other folks hanging out near us in front of our place.  We arrived on a Saturday, so there were lots of families and kids swimming, playing ball, and generally enjoying themselves outside.  The water is warm, and the sandy bottom makes for nice wading.  There doesn't seem to be an undertow, but there are currents as you get out further.  It's a pretty safe place to swim, for young and old.

I know the pictures make this place look like paradise, and it is, but it's also hot and humid, and there are lots of mosquitoes and sand fleas.  There is no truck fogging the neighborhoods for mosquitoes where the regular people live.  And I think we have just joined the ranks of the regular people!

Our hosts, Tony and Jan, transplants from England, are friendly and knowledgeable about the village and the island.  Everyone in the village seems to know them, and they have a steady stream of villagers visiting, or stopping by to borrow snorkel gear and other various and sundry stuff. They said we could expect the local people to be very friendly, and that Laborie is a safe place to walk at any time of the day or night.  Our place is just a block or two from the center of town, so we were in and out many times during our visit here.

Rick cooked a simple supper on our first night in the apartment, but on our second night in town we decided to visit Mama Tilly's place for dinner.  Tony called and made a reservation for us.  Tilly likes to make sure her meals are really special for visitors, so usually requests some advance notice.  Plus, she'll give some menu options, which allowed us to put in an order for lobster for our dinner at her place.

Mama Tilly's is the best restaurant in town.

There are only a few tables in the place, and on this Sunday night we were the only customers.  We had Tilly's undivided attention, and she wanted to make sure we were enjoying the meal.  

We each had half of a lobster, potato salad, fried plantains, rice, and a few other salads.

Dinner was great, and not expensive.  The food, along with a few beers and a Coke, came to EC$90, or about $36 U.S. 

Tilly told us about the big celebration happening on Sunday, October 25. The whole town would be busy this week preparing special food, drinks, crafts and entertainment to mark Jounen Kweyol.  To be ready for the celebration, she sold us straw hats and a cup made from a small coconut shell.  We're ready! 

  

St. Lucia, Eastern Caribbean

It was over a year ago that we got the invitation to a wedding on the island of St. Lucia.  Actually, it was a renewal of vows, 2 years after the actual wedding, of a young couple we absolutely adored, Michael and Chrystal.  How could we say no?  How could we miss what was sure to be a fun party? BUT, for heaven's sake, this was a place very far from us.  The flight time would be the equivalent of going to London!

Well, we managed to book it, and here we are on the beautiful island of St. Lucia, and not regretting one little bit the long flight to get here.

We've been here almost two weeks now, but I'll backtrack to describe the trip from the beginning.

We didn't want to take a "red eye" flight from Seattle, to connect with the one daily flight from either Atlanta or Miami.  Our experience is that it wipes us out for at least a day of our vacation..  So, we flew during the day, and I booked a hotel near the airport in Atlanta so we could get some sleep before catching our flight to the island the next day.  It didn't really work out that well.  We got in about midnight (EDT - 3 hours ahead for us), got to the hotel about 1, probably got about 2 hours of sleep before getting up at 4:30 to catch the 5:15 shuttle to the airport for our 9:50 a.m. flight to the island.  It was a waste of $100.  We might have gotten 2 hours of sleep on the overnight flight for nothing.

We arrived at the little airport on St. Lucia and caught the shuttle to the Coconut Bay resort.  And with our first step out of the shuttle, we had entered the magic of an "all inclusive" resort.  It was truly wonderful.  The resort was beautiful.  Our room was beautiful and cool.  We were never hungry or thirsty.

Our room at Coconut Bay.  Each day the housekeeper would do a cute arrangement of towels and flowers on the bed.

There were several swimming pools, as well as a nice little beach.  Entertainment every day.
Food available all day and night.  Bartenders and wait staff that remembered what we liked and made sure we had more of it. Activities and excursions for anyone wanting more adventure.

One of the "adults only" pools.  Quiet, and a bar nearby, of course! (Photo courtesy of Roni Cowell)

Rick, in front of our beach at Coconut Bay

Lounge chairs facing the beach.  They also had "sun following" beds, which I imagine swiveled to catch rays from any direction.  As if you could lay in the intense sun all day here!

The beautifully manicured grounds were fogged every evening at 6 to keep the mosquitoes down. The beach was dragged and raked every day to keep the intrusive grass and seaweed at bay.  There were cats constantly on patrol, keeping any pests under control.

A view of the grounds from our balcony

We laughed about the showers in our rooms alternating between scalding hot and freezing cold all through our shower.  Everyone seemed to have the same experience.  It was probably the only inconvenience we suffered at the resort!

Honestly, every staff member was friendly and sincere in hoping that we were having a good time.

The wedding group numbered slightly over 30 people, and it was fun being able to spend time with everyone over the course of our 5-day stay.  The bride and groom spent lots of time with all of us, in spite of the fact that this was their special event!  They wanted to be sure everyone was enjoying themselves, and we were!

Bride and groom with a local officiant performing the ceremony.

The wedding was held in a picturesque spot, the bride and groom backed by the ocean surf.  The weather was warm, but nice and clear for the wedding.  We had drinks, hors d'oeuvres and dinner. Cake and dancing.  It was a wonderful celebration, but a fun part was that after the wonderful party, we all got out of our fancy clothes, put our swim suits on, and spent the next few hours swimming, or just sitting around the pool, with a cool drink.

Some of the group rented cars and did some sightseeing on the island.  They raved about the botanical gardens, the snorkeling, the hikes and the amazing food they were finding.  We planned to do some of that once everyone else was gone.  We did take a sunset cruise with a majority of the wedding group, on a catamaran, on the last day before the wedding guests started heading home.

We were taken to the boat dock in the small fishing village of Laborie to catch the catamaran for the sunset cruise.  Rick and I would be moving to Laborie and staying on the island for another week or so.  I was anxious to see what the town was like. What I saw was worrisome.  Ramshackle houses and businesses lined the main street down to the dock.  Corrugated metal seemed to be one of the main building supplies used in constructing everything.  Rotting wood, overgrown weeds, skinny dogs wandering around.

Oh my.  What will we find there?  Stay tuned.