A Week in St. Lucia
We had a really great week with friends at the Grande Sandals Resort on the island of St. Lucia. It was beautiful, tropical, warm and the perfect place to be at the end of January. Our friends flew to Atlanta and stayed the night at a hotel and then headed back to the airport early in the morning to catch their second flight. Chris and I had a flight change to a red-eye and so we slept on the floor of the Atlanta airport for an hour trying to add to our hours on the flight. Once we landed in St. Lucia we got ushered to a bus that drove us an hour north to the resort.
Lunch at the restaurant right by the ocean with Brian and Terri while everyone else certified for Scuba Diving.
We spent the afternoon with the Breinholts on beach chairs right by the ocean… and then Chris took a 10 minute course on sailing and the four of us went out for a half hour, which was so fun!
Jared, Geneva, Doug and Missy off to Scuba Dive for the afternoon.
It was so fun to have a room that went straight into our pool.
Love the view of the resort from this end. This was one of my favorite areas - a beautiful pathway leading to all the bungalows right over the water. We enjoyed sitting in one of the lounge areas and taking in the view and then walking to the cute white building at the end of the pathway, used for sea view weddings.
Love the white rocks, green leaves, colorful flowers and turquoise water.
A few of my favorite pictures of the trip. Love this beautiful walkway with colorful flowers, tall palm trees and white rocks.
And then the cutest hanging swings - four for the four of us. Loved that area of the resort!
Our favorite drink of the trip happened on our first night at the Asian Restaurant. We found a drink that sounded good and ordered the virgin counterpart. A Mango smoothie with grenadine - which is a red pomegranate flavored syrup. So delicious! We had it over and over again!
The boys taking over our table after a round of golf.
We signed up with a free afternoon of snorkeling through the resort and spent an hour checking out the local fish.
I didn’t think it would be quite so hard just taking a picture in the hammock but trying to sit down at the same time made us tip backwards and we couldn’t stop laughing.
It was a beautiful resort! A few last pictures as we ended our beach day and headed back to get ready for dinner.
We made friends with one of the cute St. Lucian servers and she suggested we order a few appetizers and enjoy them out on the gazebo over the water. We picked up drinks from the pool bar, the boys grabbed some pizza and then had the gazebo all to ourselves.
The water was so clear and we could see hundreds of fish swimming everywhere. We used the leftover pizza crusts to feed them and keep them swarming around as Doug, Terri and Chris snorkeled around. It was really fun!
We enjoyed the hot tub and then got dressed for dinner and met up at the outside bar right near our rooms while we waited for our table inside.
One morning the Chuggs and Whites headed off on a scuba adventure and Brian, Terri, Chris and I decided to take a taxi into town and walk around. We love walking around food markets and especially fell in love with the adorable toddler hanging out by her mom’s fruit booth. Some of the fruit looked familiar but most of it was just a little bit different. It would have been fun to try some.
This orange alleyway was set up with small kitchens along both sides. Each kitchen housed a busy mama cooking meals for a foodcourt-like set up.
In a nearby clothing market, Star got our attention and started showing us her bracelets. Terri and I decided to get matching ones but when we noted that they were a little too loose, Star just made us new ones right there on the spot. It was fun to talk to her about where she lived and how long she’d worked in the city. So interesting to connect and watch her do her thing!
Castries, St. Lucia’s capital, is a bustling small town filled with independent shops, peaceful and quaint town squares, outdoor markets, and this old Cathedral. It was so fun to walk around and see how people live here in St. Lucia.
Gorgeous view of the Castries Harbor.
After our quick walk around the city we headed to another Sandals resort nearby. Always fun to check out another beautiful shoreline and resort. We sat in lounge chairs facing the ocean, got some drinks, and then wandered out into the surf where I got toppled over and lost my sunglasses because of the strong current.
It was fun to explore a new resort. The white trimmed gazebos overlooking the ocean were beautiful and I especially liked the white gate to the cliff-side condos. St. Lucia is beautiful.
The Grande St. Lucian at sunset.
Our last day we enjoyed the pool right outside our doors, ordered delicious room service and started planning some excursions for our girls cruise in March.
So fun to enjoy the Hobie cats together. We went out with Jared and Geneva and Whites and Breinholts took another one.
We settled in over by the volleyball court and Terri and and Mis sat on the bed hanging under the tree while the guys played volleyball. Then pictures on these cute water swings.
Out to our favorite flower lined pathway for pictures before dinner.
So many favorite pictures. Terri as the photo-bomber… yes. Now it’s one of my screensavers.
Our last dinner was at Gordon’s Steakhouse. The setting was beautiful and we had our own table at the end of the pier. Because of a few thing that happened earlier in the week (not a big deal but something that Brian had talked to the management about) they pulled out all the stops and make our last evening magical. They met us midway down the pier with non alcoholic drinks (they knew that about us by this time of the week) and ushered us straight to our table. The food and service was outstanding. What a great night!
Packed and up early to enjoy our last few minutes on the beach before heading to breakfast and then hiking to Fort Rodney.
On our last morning, Chris and I and Brian and Terri decided to walk over to the Pigeon Island National Park and hike up to Fort Rodney. The hike was great and the views were stunning. So glad we made for this. You can see our Grande St. Lucian Resort in a few of these pictures with the white buildings and Red roofs.
The pathway down from Fort Rodney and Chris will views of the Grande St. Lucian and Rodney Bay in the distance. In the following picture you can see Fort Rodney at the top of the distant hill. Beautiful views in all directions.
The most beautiful viewpoint looking at the north tip of the island and then straight down into the turquoise waters below.
Straight into the pool for one last Mango Grenadine Drink and then back to the room to change and finish packing up.
It was a great week! Lots of relaxing in the sun, swimming out to the floating disks, drinking delicious drinks, gazing at beautiful views, sitting in charming gazebos and swings, playing volleyball, enjoying great food, laughing about a waiter calling us by number instead of name and lots more group jokes, taking pictures of tropical flowers, snorkeling, hiking, exploring the city, diving into deep conversations, eating lunch with cute St. Lucian workers, and above all - making more memories than we can count with good friends and my man - Thanks for making it happen over and over again, Chris.
Love you.
