Saint Lucia - Heaven in Earth!
The first post could not be another, after all, it was on this trip that we became engaged. Firstly, there is no direct flight from Brazil to the island,you have to go to United States for a connection. We went from Atlanta to Saint Lucia. It was about 3,5 hours of flight. The cool thing is that we did not find any Brazilians there, and when they asked where we were from, they were surprised to hear that we came from Brazil.
For those who know the Caribbean, they know that it is a poor region and Saint Lucia is no different. The Island is great if you compare with others, mainly comparing with Fernando de Noronha. The local language is patois, but they all speak English. We paid everything in dollar, and all places accepted credit card. Although the yellow fever vaccine is mandatory in most countries in the world, we were not asked for anything.
As we already booked a car, we picked it up as soon as we arrived at the airport (hewanorra International Airport UVF) and headed to our hotel. The cars on the island are all left hand. We paid around $ 55.00 per day (without insurance). It is required to have a local license to drive for the amount of US $ 30.00 dollars. Just like in the United States, they require the driver to be over 25 years of age and over 5 years of experience. The fuel on the island is also very cheap.
From the airport to our hotel it takes around 40 minutes by car, a short trip on a narrow and curvy road. Even though the island is not very rich, it is a luxury destination. One of the best hotels in the world is in the island. We stayed at the Ladera Resort, which is on the top of the island and among Piton hills, postcard of Saint Lucia. The daily rate is around US $ 650.00.
About the hotel: IT IS WONDERFUL. Surrounded by nature, quiet and very romantic. I recommend this destination for honeymoon. In this resort children are not allowed, only couples. The rooms have no walls, and this is the biggest differential, it's unique. We woke up every day with the noise of the birds and with an incredible view. It was even better when it rained in the middle of the night with the wind and the sound of falling water. Also you're not allowed to make much noise, the night of our engagement we put some music and soon the reception called asking to lower it down. When I arrived and saw that room all open I imagined the amount of insects that would appear when it was dark, but no, there were only a few little bugs of light. The bed is protected with a mosquito net and on top a fan which repeals most of the mosquitoes and leaves the mood more romantic. There is no tv and the bathroom is dimly lit (but very beautiful, new and clean). The night is pretty cool, so if in case you are addicted to air conditioning (just like me) it will not be a problem. If you like nature you will fall in love with this resort. Breakfast is a la carte, but we got a "package" wit our reservation where we got to choose a few items, the SAME things every day, I confess that I find it a bit boring because who does not love hotel breakfast?
View from our room
On the first day we booked a boat trip, we chose to do it on the first day because if got any bad weather we could reschedule. On the island it suddenly rains, but it does not exceed 5 minutes and soon the sun opens again. Before the boat ride, we had lunch at the Bayside bar and restaurant on Sugar beach itself. I'm not a seafood fan so I recommend their pizza. We rented a Monohull Sailing but got an upgrade and were presented with a Catamaran just for the two of us. The price of the rental is $ 450.00 dollars for half the day (from 2pm to sunset, 6pm) including snacks, white wine, beer, sparkling wine and snorkel. Two very nice sailors at our disposal, playing a playlist of our choice. I highly recommend this tour because we could get to know the whole area of the island. Usually they schedule the pickup on another beach, but we asked to be picked up at Sugar Bay and they were very kind.
In my opinion, Sugar beach is the most beautiful beach on the island. It really is what we expect from the Caribbean = transparent water, white sand etc. Not all the beaches of Saint Lucia are turquoise and transparent, but this one is particularly beautiful, surrounded by the mountains (Piton), and full of green. The rent of two loungers with towels was $ 60.00 dollars each, in addition to what we consume. For this amount, it is worth arriving early and enjoying the day. If you are staying in the Ladera, they offer a transfer to this beach, and it does not take more than 10 minutes to get there.
Sugar Bay beach
There is another very famous resort on the island called Jade Mountain, I particularly did not find the view of it as amazing as the one of the Ladera, but the two have the same concept of open rooms. Not to mention that he is very far away, and the road to it is terrible, it is not asphalted. The difference is that Jade is all inclusive. Close to this hotel is Anse Chastanet beach, where you have another luxury resort. This is a very private beach, unlike Sugar beach which is busier (though both belong to private areas). At Anse Chastanet you rent your sun lounger and umbrella. They are $ 137.00 dollars per person and besides the very cozy chair, with towels and pillow, it is all inclusive. An open bar with a lot of different drinks, bucket of local beer (Piton, very good), vodka, tequila, etc. Not to mention the food (also included) with several options from seafood to sandwiches, they had plenty of variety. In addition they include: snorkel, stand up board, a small sailboat, kayaks, etc. Best of all was our waiter, you just raised a flag and the attendant came to you. This beach was much quieter. Another detail is that it is worth doing diving (even with snorkeling) on this beach, as it is very beautiful and has a great diversity of fish.
Snorkel at Anse Chastanet
Anse Chastanet beach
Banana drink!
Banana is the main fruit of the island, they have banana drinks, jellies and the muffins as well. At Anse Chastanet you have an AMAZING banana drink. The island is also recognized by chocolate but I confess we did not taste it. The best known local food is the Roti (stuffed wrap) which we made a point of tasting and it was nothing to rave about. We did not leave much the hotel for dinner, we spent the day outside and at night we enjoyed the room. One night we chose to dine at the restaurant of our hotel (Dasheene) and it was very empty but had a nice band and the food was very good. On the other days we chose to order food in the room, and enjoy it there. Do not forget to turn off all the lights in the room and admire the stars, it is unique, I have never seen such a sky with that many stars. Finally, on the island there is also an active volcano, which you can get in by car. It is very interesting but very stinky, it smells like sulfur. Since it is a tourist spot it's very crowded, we didn't consider taking mud bath because the waiting was huge. The island is famous for its cocoa, there are some cacao farms there that you can visit, and Diamond Falls, a waterfall that is also a botanical garden. We stayed 3 days in Saint Lucia. I found it enough because we went to relax, we had just came from Disney so we did not want to make anything exhausting like hiking.
Saint Lucia - Viagem Romantica from Gate 23 on Vimeo.
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Thiessa & Philippe.