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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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(Ed Note: Mike Gary responds to Phil Strum's comments in the Dec. 1999 CTR.)
Phil, Kelly and I were on that last flight that day to St. Barths with you. I am in total agreement with you regarding the weekends events. Unless you were there, you cant describe the magic of the weekend to anyone. We've tried, but people just don't understand! Kinda like running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain...but that's another story. We stayed at the Manapany resort on Anse Des Cays, and spent the weekend with Mr. Buffett and his family, who were staying there as well, on the beach each day. Although we gave them their space, we did meet and talk to them each day, and to say the least, they are great people. You'd never know they are rock stars. People just like you and me.
Trip 11/99 It will help you to better interpret my comments if you understanding a little about who we are before you read my review. We are in our early forties and have been married for 21 years. We have been traveling for the last 10 years. We are not even social drinkers and do not gravitate to the bar scene. We are not gourmet diners and so good simple food really pleases us just fine. We enjoy luxury but are also value conscious. We spent a week on St. John in 1998 renting the same villa we did this year. Our previous visits to St. John were off of cruise ships. We were looking for a relaxing and very private time together. We were not disappointed. I have arranged my comments with the synopsis first for those that want to quickly see if I cover anything of particular interest to them. I then follow with a travelogue for those that want to vicariously visit St. John with us. Synopsis: Airlines: We flew American Airlines out of Chicago with a connecting flight in Miami. All flights had open seats and arrived early. We flew using frequent flyer miles. Cost of each ticket would have been more then $700. Accommodations: The Inn at Tamarind Court P.O. Box 350 St. John, U.S.V.I. 00831 (800)-221-1637 or (340) 776-6378 Email: info@tamarindcourt.com www.tamarindcourt.com/ stayed one night the day of arrival at this simple B&B. The room this year was a little nicer and had a new air conditioner. The continental breakfast was adequate. The staff were very helpful. Cloud Nine Villa (340) 693-8495 www.cloud9villas.com Email: Info@Cloud9villas.com We spent eight nights in this three-bedroom villa. Amenities included pool, Jacuzzi, a/c in bedrooms, fully equipped kitchen, gas grill, laundry facilities, Cable TV VCR, clothing optional privacy, beautiful views of St. Thomas. We were once again very happy with the villa. It was everything we expected. Last year we a little disappointed about the cleanliness of the villa. This year it was spotless!! Car Rental: St. John Car Rental 340/ 776-6103 Phone/Fax PO Box 566 www.stjohnusvi.com/car-rental/ Cruz Bay, St. John, VI 00831 Walk straight off the ferry dock (towards land) take your second left, you can't miss it. Car was clean and pretty new. Side Trips: Book-It V.I. Box 1552 St. John V. I. 00831 (888)819-7283 E-mail bd@bookitvi.com www.bookitvi.com Groceries: Star Fish Market Across the street form the Texaco in Cruz Bay. There were other stores but Star Fish always had what we were looking for so we never tried any other. Restaurants: Best economy meal: Joe's B.B.Q. next to St. John Car Rental in Cruz Bay. Two chicken and rib combo plates, two cokes - $21 including tip Best meal: Fish Trap next to Rain Tree Inn in Cruz Bay Medium rare tuna steak with Wasabee sauce $18.95 Favorite place to eat: The deck of our villa Other restaurants we tried. Woody's Seafood Saloon (twice) Skinny Legs in Coral Bay (four times) Chilly Billy's (twice) Video Rentals Nightlife being what it is catching up on movies you never got to see is a great evening activity. Luv City Videos - just up the street from Chilly Billy's $4 for one night. Kaleidoscope Video - between Cruz Bay and the Westin, next to Pine Peace Liquors $4 for one night on "new" releases $3 for three nights all others Best Radio Station: 104.3 and 104.9 FM Classic rock from the '60's '70's & '80's Beaches snorkeled Waterlemon Salt Pond Bay Pebble Beach(private) Travelogue: Friday 11/26/99 American Airlines flight left Chicago on time and arrived in Miami on time. The flight from Miami to St. Thomas left on time and arrived on time around 2:50. We gathered our luggage and joined a group heading to the ferry dock in Charlotte Amalie. Cost of the taxi was $5 per person and an additional $1 per bag. Total for us came to $14 including tip. We arrived at the dock by 3:15 loaded our bags onto the boat and had a few minutes to check out a couple of shops across the street before the ferry departed at 4:00 p.m. The ferry trip was a rocky 40 minute ride. Once we arrived in Cruz Bay we dragged out luggage the three hot, steep, uphill blocks to the Inn at Tamarind Court. Checking in took less then 60 seconds. The room was clean, freshly painted and had a new a/c unit in the window. We were a little disappointed with our room last year so had planned to try the Rain Tree Inn next door to the Fish Trap restaurant. When I e-mailed them about getting a room I was informed that the hotel had been converted to retail shops. After getting our core temperature down by standing in front of the a/c in our room we went out to the Fish Trap for Dinner. We both ordered the Tuna in Wasabi sauce and it was as good as I remembered it to be. We retired early to recover from the day's travels. The mattress was very firm but I slept pretty well. Saturday 11/27/99 I woke around 7:30 a.m. and tried to get Deb to hike Caneel Hill with me but she opted for staying in bed. The Caneel Hill trail is within walking distance of the hotel. It took me about 10 minutes to get to the trailhead. The .9 mile trail (one way) gains 719 feet of altitude. I encountered several wild donkeys on the trail very near the top. I returned to the Inn by around 9:00 a.m. I grabbed my wallet and walked down to St. John Car Rental to pick up our Suzuki Side Kick. I called The Cloud Nine office to get instructions about taking possession of our little piece of paradise. Since we knew how to get to the villa Linda told us that the cleaning would be done by 3:00 p.m. We drove up to the villa to drop off our luggage and then headed over to Water Lemon Cay to snorkel. It is a bout a 20-minute (flat) hike to get to the Water Lemon Beach. You can either enter the water from the beach and swim out the Cay or walk around to the far side of the beach and enter from the rocks closest to the Cay. The water was a little murky from Hurricane Lenny. In the sand before getting our to the reefs on the Cay we found a large starfish. It was about 8 inches across. I dove down to get it and brought it to the surface to verify its size. It was a beautiful specimen. The current was pretty strong here, as we had experienced on previous visits. You just want to be aware of it. We always try to swim against the current to begin with so when we are tired we are swimming with it. We spotted a turtle and a squid also. Again the water was cloudy so visibility was limited. After snorkeling for an hour or so we hiked back to the car and drove to Coral Bay to get a Cheese Dog at Skinny Legs. This is the cheapest lunch on the island. Cheese Dogs are $3 with chips; Ice tea (all you can drink) is $1. So for $10 including tip you can clog your arteries, replenish your fluids, leave a 25% tip and soak up the funky, quirky atmosphere at Skinny Legs. Our late lunch consumed we drove back to the Cloud Nine to get settled in. When we arrived the cleaning lady was still puttering around and the owner Linda was also there. We chatted for a while and got some instructions on controlling the temperature on the hot tub. Finally everyone left and we had the place to ourselves. The late afternoon sun was warm so Deb grabbed her book and settled into her chaise lounge. I on the other hand had to run back into Cruz bay to purchase supplies for dinner. I stopped at Kaleidoscope Video to get a couple movies and shopped the Star Fish Market for groceries. I fixed butterfly pork chops on the grill, sauted fresh veggies and red potatoes. We ate watching the sun settle into the sea just south of St. Thomas. The night sky was very clear so we slid into the hot tub for some star gazing before retiring to bed to watch a forgettable movie. Sunday 11/28/99 We didn't get going any too early today. Around 9:00 we had muffins and coffee on the deck. It was a beautiful sunny day. We packed snorkeling gear and water. The plan was to visit another villa (Sundance) and then hike the trail that goers from Cinnamon Bay up to Center Line Road. We drove back towards Cruz Bay on Route 104 and turned left into East Chocolate Hole and then left again onto Tamarind. We found Sundance easily enough. Linda and her husband Allen have been expanding Sundance and the first guests to use it since the renovations were arriving today. They had added another master bedroom, a pool and expanded the existing master bedroom. Sundance is right next door to another of their properties called Moonsong. Sundance is very nice but we still liked Cloud Nine better. After checking out Sundance we drove through Cruz Bay and then out of town on the North Shore Road. I love this drive and we stopped along the road several times to absorb the beautiful vistas or to let other cars pass. We parked the car and crossed the North Shore Road to the trailhead. The trail at the beginning is very steep but soon gains altitude at a more gradual rate. The trail is 1.2 miles long and gains about 700 feet of vertical. It is a completely shaded hike so a good one to do on hotter days. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that there were very few good spots for picture taking along the trail. The round trip took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The steep section coming down was for me the most difficult because the trail is mostly loose gravel here. That made for pretty sketchy footing as your shoes had a hard time getting a grip. Once we got back to the car we grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed to the beach. We were pretty amazed when we got there that there really was no beach. I'm not sure if it was high tide or Lenny or what but the waves were crashing against the rocks right against the little water sports shop there. Because of the surf we decided to just head back to the villa so Deb could get her daily allotment of radiation poisoning for the day. I fixed bratwurst on the grill and we lounged around the pool and deck all afternoon. As the sun got low in the sky we hopped into the Jacuzzi to watch the sunset. The first couple of sunsets were the best as it turned out. After sun down we drove into Cruz Bay and for some reason ended up at the Dockside Caf‚ and had burgers for dinner. Monday 11/29/99 Breakfast was again coffee and Muffins on the villa deck which became our pattern for most of the week. Today we planned to visit another villa offered by Linda and Allen called Pebble Beach. We also planned to do some snorkeling form the villas private beach. Pebble beach is way out on the east end of the island about 10 minutes past Coral Bay and within a mile of the end of the pavement. It took us a good 35 minutes to get to Pebble Beach using Centerline Road. Pebble Beach is set on a cliff just east of Haulover Bay. It has three bedrooms, two queens and a smaller bedroom below the main house that has two twin beds. The Master bedroom is quite large and has a/c. The living area is very open with sliding glass doors on three sides. There is a hot tub on the large deck and a series of steps lead down to your own private pebble beach. Both Deb and I were impressed with this villa and will consider it for a return trip. If you do stay here you are really out in the boonies. For many that is a plus but for those that need easy access the "excitement" of Cruz Bay it might not suit them. Linda was kind enough to let us use the beach as they prepared the villa for guests that were arriving that day. The beach is coral rubble and smooth pebbles but I would still recommend water shoes if you stayed here. There were lounge chairs on the beach as well as two floats and two sea kayaks. The snorkeling was pretty good. Again the water was a little stirred up from Lenny but we did sea a turtle as well as a good selection of coral and other sea life. After snorkeling we met a couple from the Chicago area that were also checking out Pebble Beach. We then drove the short distance to the end of the pavement on the east end and then headed back into Coral Bay for a Cheese Dog at Skinny Legs. While Deb went to the bar to order I ducked into Connections (kind of a Post Office Etc and Cyber Caf‚ place) to send an e-mail to the kids. This is the first time we have ever tried to e-mail while on a trip but it won't be the last. It was great to stay in touch with the folks back home and kind of flaunt the fact that we were on vacation and they weren't. I suppressed the desire to open any work related e-mails all week. Some how our order was confused and I ended up with a Chili Cheese Dog. Not a problem...it was great! After lunch it was back to the villa for the rest of the day. I fixed rib eye steaks, baked potatoes and a frozen veggie mix. Tuesday 11/30/99 We had booked a trip to the British Virgin Islands for today. We used Book-it VI to make the reservation and were again impressed by the knowledge and caring of Bill Dove the owner of this booking company and the restaurant Chilly Billy's. We were booked on the Stormy Petrel and were to be picked up at the Park Service pier at 8:15. This meant I had to set an alarm. Not something I like doing on vacation. We had planned on eating breakfast at Chilly Billy's but when we got into town around 7:15 it was not open. We opted for a cup of coffee and a donut at the little bakery next door to Cruz Bay Water Sports. The Stormy Petrel was right on time. The boat was very clean and professionally run. It would hold 12 but we only had 10 people on board. This trip is a very long day. We started with an hour and a half run up the north coast of Tortola, through the narrows over to Virgin Gorda. Here the crew cleared us through customs while we shopped for souvenirs. Back on the boat we cruised down the coast about 10 minutes till we reached the world famous Baths. After we dropped anchor we swam to shore. The crew then led us on a tour of the Baths. This pile of rocks was very interesting. We scrambled over these rocks, swam in the romantic coves and finally were able to jump from a perch about 12 feet above the water. We then swam back to the boat and motored over for lunch at the Cooper Island Beach Club on, where else, Cooper Island. This very small resort is the only one on this small island. I ordered conch fritters and Deb ordered fish and chips that we shared. I had a Coke and Deb had nothing to drink and the tab came to $25 including tip. After lunch we re-boarded the Stormy Petrel and cruised over to Norman Island for some snorkeling. The snorkeling here was pretty good. We saw a very large barracuda. We snorkeled for a good hour and then it was back to the boat for our return trip to St. John Once we arrived back in Cruz Bay we stopped to pick up a Pizza at Star Fish Market and headed back to Cloud Nine to watch the sun set. I will have to admit that we had fun but it was an expensive day. The trip was $95 p.p. plus $15 p.p. customs fees plus $25 for lunch making the day cost $245. In retrospect I would maybe opt to take a water taxi to Virgin Gorda ($45 p.p. plus customs fees $15 p.p.) then take a taxi to the Baths ($10 each way). The cost would have been less and we could have spent more time at the Baths. Wednesday 12/1/99 We started the day with coffee and muffins at Cloud Nine once again. I finally convinced Deb to try and tackle Caneel Hill with me so off we went. We parked down by Mongoose Junction. The trailhead is just east of Mongoose Junction just before the North Shore Road starts to climb out of town. This trail is in great shape but it is steep. Be sure to take your time. Before we were half way up Deb began to whine a little. By the time we reached the top after 40 minutes of huffing and puffing she had completely lost her sense of humor. After a drink and a chance to cool off in the great breezes up there she began to see the reason I like this hike. The vistas are great to the north, south and west. We took some pictures and video and then started our descent. I took a couple of minutes to check our e- mail at Connections in Cruz Bay and then the rest of this day was spent lounging by our pool. I grilled chicken for lunch. On Wednesdays The Lime Inn has an all you can peel and eat shrimp feed. We arrived around 6:00 and were seated right away. The shrimp was very good but not great. We both did manage to down two plates full though. The tab for dinner was less then $50 including tip. Thursday 12/2/99 Today we planned to head out to the salt pond area. After our usual breakfast we piled into the sidekick and drove down Centerline Road towards Coral Bay. We decided to take a drive up Bordeaux Mountain road on the way. If you are considering renting a villa up here you will need four wheel drive. Bordeaux Mountain Road is only paved for a very short distance then it becomes a pothole. I mean the whole road is a pothole. It is dirt and very rough. We took this road over the top and found some great views of Lamshire Bay and Rams Head. I was able to spot a villa I had seen on the internet (Orchid Knoll). After we got off the mountain and back on Centerline Road we once again headed for Coral Bay. Just past where the North Shore Road connects up to Centerline is a steep road that juts off Centerline and up Ajax Mountain. We had friends that rented a villa up there so we drove up to see if we could find it. We never did but we did get a chance to view Coral Bay from a slightly different vantage point. Back on Centerline again we continued into Coral Bay and then out towards Salt Pond. We left the snorkeling gear in the car because our first task was to hike Rams Head. It took us a while to find the trailhead. You have to walk to the far end of the beach and eventually you will pick up the trail. The trail starts in a relatively lush environment and then end in the moonscape of Rams Head. There are several gorges to peer down into at the crashing surf. It took us about 40 minutes or so to get out to this southern most point on St. John. After a few minutes of picture taking we headed back to the beach. Deb waited as I trekked back to the car for our snorkeling gear. We snorkeled both sides of the bay. We found a very dossal sea turtle that we swam with for quite a while. Lenny was still making it tough to see much unless the sun was really bright. It had clouded over so we headed, you guessed it, to Skinny Legs for lunch. We ordered the usual and then headed back towards the villa. On a whim we stopped at the shops at the Bordeaux Mountain Look-out. I enjoyed the view as Deb engaged in some retail therapy. I watched as a weather system came over Ajax Mountain to the north. Soon clouds obscured the view and then it began to pour. We retreated to the car and headed "home". By the time we reached the villa it had let up but was cloudy and remarkably cool. We decided to get cleaned up and do a little shopping in town. We milled around and I ended up buying a Sting Ray skinned wallet. It was getting late and we had our hearts set on BBQ. So we headed for Uncle Joe's. It began to rain again so we opted to take the food back to Cloud Nine. I ran across the street to buy some produce at a stand there and then we ran between the rain drops back to the car. We got soaked. Back at the villa we chowed down on ribs and chicken in bed (sorry about the BBQ sauce stains on the sheets Linda) watching another forgettable movie. Tonight we did something I never though I could do here and that was we opened the windows in the bedroom and slept with out a/c. It rained most the night. Friday 12/3/99 We slept late and woke to cloudy skies and cool temperatures. We drove into town and ate breakfast at Chilly Billy's. We both ordered the early bird special (which is good till 11:00 a.m.). It included two eggs, toast, hash browns and coffee for $3.50. After a leisurely breakfast we drove the north shore road to snorkel at one of our favorite beaches, Jumbi. The strong wind out of the north made snorkeling impossible at all the north shore beaches. Instead of snorkeling we decided to explore the Fish bay road area. We drove up Hill Top road to the three villas there. This is a very secluded area with great views. We stopped along the way and peered up at the many villas that dot the hillsides. We found the trailhead that leads to Reef Bay from Fish Bay. We also drove into Klein Bay and saw several villas I have reviewed on the internet (Oleander, Orchid, Monte Bay and Belle Mar). The sun started to show a little so Deb coaxed me back to the villa so she could work on her tan. Lunch was leftovers at the villa. I served crackers and cheese in the hot tub at sunset and then we headed into Cruz Bay for dinner. We ended up at Woody's Sea Food Saloon. This is a hole in the wall really. Deb ordered a fish sandwich and I ordered a seafood platter that had tuna, shrimp and scallops. The food was under-whelming. The tuna was well done and there were, count them, three shrimp and two scallops. The scallops were the best item on the plate. The burgers, curly fries and onion rings here looked great though. Our tab came to around $30 with tip. Saturday 12/4/99 We enjoyed a breakfast of fruit juice, coffee and muffins in the hot tub. We should have done this earlier in the week. It was a sunny morning but a little cool. After breakfast we drove down Fish Bay Road to the trailhead to Ditliff Point. This is not a National Park Service trail. In fact this is actually private land. The trail is pretty easy to follow until you get to the saddle that allows access to two beaches, one on each side of the peninsula. From there the trail is harder to recognized and we ended up kind of bush whacking our way to the tip of the point. The views from here are spectacular. The breeze was strong too. We spent some time using binoculars to peer up at some villas in the Klein, Rendezvous and Fish Bay hillside. We then hiked back to the car and headed back to the villa to spend our last day on Cloud Nine's deck. I ran into town to get a few item to complete my dinner plans and also picked up burgers from Woody's to eat back at the villa. I fixed Chicken on the grill and we watched our last sunset of the week. It looked like we might have a clear night for star gazing from the hot tub but decided to do that later after watching a video. That proved to be a mistake as it clouded over and began to rain by the time the movie was over. It rained hard all night. Sunday 12/5/99 It was still raining when we awoke. So we just began the dismal task of packing. The rain did make it easier to get ready to leave but packing to go home is always a solemn job. I dropped Deb at the ferry dock with the luggage. I then returned the pool float and the rental car, and then sprinted through the raindrops and just missed the 9:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie. That meant we could wait 45 minutes for the ferry to Red hook then cab to town or we could wait 2 hrs for the next ferry that went all the way to Charlotte Amalie. We opted for the two-hour wait to minimize the hassles and keep our island vacation mojo going as long as we could. I wandered over to the Dockside Caf‚ to check out the Weather Channel. It said it was snowing in Chicago. Oh Boy! The ferry ride was uneventful and we gave our luggage to a taxi driver and arranged to meet him after a couple of hours of shopping. We wandered around some stores for a while and then ended up in The Greenhouse Restaurant on the waterfront for lunch. The food was fine and not too expensive. Frommers recommended the place. We then met our taxi driver and he took us to the airport. It only took a couple of minutes to check in. Clearing customs was different from what I remembered from last year. There seemed to be more steps to the process. It still only took about 10 to 15 minutes for this. Our flight to Miami boarded on time and between rain showers. We easily made our connection in Miami. The flight to Chicago boarded on time but was delayed on the ground first because of weather in Chicago and then because of a broken seatbelt. The captain did a good job of keeping everyone informed so it didn't seem too bad. The maintenance man who fixed the seatbelt was greeted with fond applause when he arrived. We pushed back from the gate about an hour late but arrive in Chicago only 30 minutes late. Conclusion: I learned a couple of things on this trip. It actually can get cool in St. John. In the winter I actually might be able to rent a villa without a/c. In the winter having a hot tub is more important than a pool. In the summer having a pool is more important than having a hot tub. The BVI's have nothing on St. John. The shrimp feed at Lime Inn is good but not "to die for". St. John is a more then worthy destination for anyone who seeks beautiful beaches excellent snorkeling and a relaxed atmosphere. Staying in a villa is, in my view, the only way to stay on this island. We will be back again and again and again.
About 10 years ago, I remember someone telling me about St. Lucia and how wonderful it was. After being there myself just about a week ago, I can honestly say, that is a great place to visit. My wife, 8 month old and myself were looking for somewhere where we could unwind, but if we wanted to, would be able to find some things to do. We have been to the Americanized Caribbean (St. Thomas and Nassau for example) and didn't want that. St. Lucia today may be what the those too-traveled islands used to be like 20-30 years ago. We had 12 days and weren't too sure where to stay, it seems the North side of the Island (Casties area) is less hilly and has more hotels than the South (Soufriere area), but the South has the Pitons, Botanical gardens, volcano etc. I decided that it would be fun to stay at 3 different places in different parts of the Island, the Wyndham Morgan Bay hotel, the Hummingbird beach Resort, and the Anse Chastenet hotel. Here is our story. First, most flights from the US will arrive at the airport in Castries, flights from other countries seem to land at Hewanorra in the south. It is important to know this because if you plan to stay in the North, you may not like the hour and a half cab ride to your hotel. Our first hotel was the all-inclusive Wyndham Morgan bay. We paid about $380 per night and although this may sound like a lot, we thought it was reasonable for all the wonderful food and activities. We had a great time here, the rooms were nice and well appointed, TV, phone, marble bath, balcony, coffee maker, shampoo, body lotion etc. There are 5 or 6 individual buildings around the grounds that you can stay in. If you want to be by the beach or pool, request it or you may be a bit of a walk away. Because we have a child, they put us close to the children's area which would be fine if our child used playground equipment, but at 8 months it made no sense and in my opinion, too far from the beach, pool, restaurants etc., so were requested a different room and were immediately accommodated. The grounds are very nice. Very well manicured lawns, beautiful flowering trees everywhere and a nice beach. We stayed here for 6 days and really enjoyed the all-inclusive aspect of it. All the meals were good. You have a choice of places to eat for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is always in the same place. The restaurants are open air, just having a roof over your head. I love that, and so did the birds which fly in and out and to some might be an annoyance, but I thought was fun and part of the experience of being in the islands. I was not thrilled about the dress code for dinner at one of the restaurants, they require long pants and a shirt with a collar. I don't like dress codes when I am on vacation, but I took a pair of khakis with me and was happy I did. The menu was really good, I loved the seafood ravioli appetizer and the steak with garlic shrimp for the main course was terrific. During the day, we did some water skiing, sea kayaking and hobie cat sailing, although there was much more to do than just that. The staff was amazingly nice, friendly and responsive. After dinner we sat by the pool and watched the nightly shows of local talent. If you are looking for a Vegas type show, go to St. Thomas. These shows were fun, light hearted and featured some local children and bands. It was a great way to finish off the day. The ocean was not as clear and blue and the beach not as big as I had hoped for, I asked some of the staff about it and they said that a large portion of the beach had been washed away due to Hurricane Lenny and the bay was mixed up due to recent rains. I did see a mountain of sand that the hotel had purchased that they were going to use it to build the beach back up. If you decide to stay only at this hotel, you can easily tour other parts of the island. At the watersports hut by the beach (where you sign up for sailing etc) there is a guy named Joy who does day trips to Soufriere on his own boat. He lives in Soufriere and is a real nice guy. I would suggest his day trip to Soufriere, which he shows the famous Marigot bay, then drops you off in Soufriere and his buddy Roy will pick you up for the trip to the botanical gardens and volcano and a bit of sight seeing, he also includes lunch and some snorkeling at the Anse Chastenet reef. It really is nice to see the island from the ocean. We left the Wyndham and had Joy give us and all our luggage a ride (US$100) to Soufriere where we stayed for 3 days and the Hummingbird hotel. I thought this place was great as well. Only 10 rooms, right on the beach, a fantastic view of Gros Piton, pool and a good restaurant. It is very different from the Wyndham, not better or worse, just different, it felt much more "island-like". The rooms were clean, just the right size and we had a balcony draped with ivy and flowers. This place was $75 a night although it does go to $150ish in peak season. The beach was nice and you could walk for about a mile past the town of Soufriere. The snorkeling off the beach on the right hand side was wonderful. I have never seen so much life so close to shore. Bunches of sea fans, schools of tangs, grunts, sergeant majors, trumpetfish, box fish, damsels, blennies, sea sponges etc. I thought this was a great surprise seeing as no one had told us that there was good snorkeling here. In some areas underwater, there are bubbles rising to the surface and if you swim down to the point the bubbles come out of the ground, you can feel the hot water from the volcanic activity underground. I had never felt that before. By the way, I saw in some magazine, I think it was Travel and Leisure, that had the Hummingbird listed as one of the best bargains in the Caribbean for under $200 per night. I agree. We did the tour to the Botanical gardens and waterfall as well as the volcano from here. It took about 2 hours and US$20 per person. The gardens were really pretty and there is some history there. Napoleons wife, Josephine used to bathe in the natural pools. It costs about US$2 to get in. The volcano thing was sort of cool, although very quick. Essentially you pay about a buck to get in, a guide walks you over to an area so you can see the activity, talks about the history and you are outta there. 15 minutes tops. There are 24 pools of bubbling mud that can be seen and the smell of Sulfur (where Soufriere got its name) is very strong. I thought both things were worth the effort. The town of Soufriere is not very interesting or very nice. We tried to have dinner at a few places but I always get bad vibes if I am the only one in the place at 8:00pm, so we ate at the Hummingbird which was good. >From here we went by taxi to our 3rd hotel, the Anse Chastenet, which was about 2 miles away by either boat or taxi. We decided to take the taxi and this is a windy, steep, bumpy ride. Don't take a beer for the ride, you will be wearing it by the time the trip is over. The Anse Chastenet does not allow children under 4 years old. We were very lucky to get an exception, but you will not find many children of any age here. The hotel is all its written up to be. Amazing. In November's Caribbean magazine, the cover has a picture of the Anse Chastenet on it and a feature article on the hotel and St. Lucia. A and E television did a ranking of the 10 most romantic hotels in the world and Anse Chastenet placed at number 4. Pretty respectable seeing as I think #3 was in Tuscany and #1 was in Bora Bora. We were lucky to be upgraded to an ocean level room just off the beach. It was a BIG room. Maybe 800-1000 square feet and a BIG bath area and a wonderful balcony. These rooms lack the views of the Pitons that you might be able to get from the higher levels but considering the amount of stairs you need to climb to get to them, beach level was perfect. The staff was incredibly friendly and so pleasant to talk to. They seemed to know our names and our room number without us telling them. The room had a king sized bed and the part that I loved the most was the "open" feeling of the room. One wall was nothing but large wooden louvers that let the wonderful moist air breeze through, the other walls had large sections of these wooden louvers and it really made you feel like you were part of the jungle that surrounded us. Small finches and other small birds seemed to have no problem coming into our room and flying out the other side. It was an incredible experience. Nights were amazing. It was so quiet except for a chorus of crickets and tree frogs and who knows what else sang us to sleep. There was a large mosquito net over the bed. We used it but didn't really see many mosquitoes. We decided to get the meal plan which included breakfast. afternoon tea and dinner. Breakfast was tons of fruit, breads and juices as well as menu items such as scrambled eggs and salmon, omelets etc. all from the restaurant perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Lunch was not part of the meal plan, but that was easy enough to get at the beach from Jay, the beach waiter. Dinner was a 5 course meal, appetizer, salad, daily sorbet, entree and desert. I thought the food to be excellent and fresh. The meal plan was US$60 per person. If you paid separately breakfast was between $15 and $18 depending on what you got, tea cookies and cake about $10 per person and dinner was fixed at $45 per person. Obviously the meal plan was a better deal. I did some scuba diving with Scuba St. Lucia based at the Anse Chastenet and thought the people there to be friendly and knowledgeable. All divers are required to do a dive from the beach as there first "checkout"dive. I wondered, like so many others, how good can the diving be off the beach and surprisingly it was pretty good. In shallow water the dive master will require you to kneel on the sandy ocean floor and flood and clear you mask as well as remove and clear your regulator. My second dive was much better, just around the corner to the "Pinnacles", 4 volcanic plumes or spikes, that start on the ocean floor in about 80 feet of water and rise very steeply to just below the surface. The amount of sea life was amazing. I thought this was an excellent dive. We then took Joy's water taxi to Castries (about a 45 minute trip versus an hour and a half in a car) and a 5 minute cab ride from Castries to the airport. Allow extra time for checking in. This is a tiny airport and it took almost an hour by the time we were done. Overall, we loved St. Lucia. It is a very pretty, unspoiled island and the 3 hotels we stayed at were wonderful.
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