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.