Travel

Arriving in St.Lucia

May 22, 2015

From Bequia, we had a bit of a journey on our hands… We were bound for St.Lucia and given the lack of direct flights from just about anywhere on the day we left, we resorted to one boat, 2 planes and 4 taxi rides to get us to our next stop. On the plus side my passport is looking better than ever with…

From Bequia, we took the ferry to St.Vincent where we spent the day waiting for our flight at Young Island, a tiny island resort that lies about 500m from the shores of St.Vincent. The lovely team at Sugar Reef put us in touch and while I wouldn’t choose to stay there (bit too resort-y for me), it proved the perfect base to while away the day. The waters were some of the nicest I’ve ever been lucky enough to prune in and they had a Coconut cabana floating just off the beach…. Hours of fun for the instagrammer in us all.

From St.Vincent we flew to Barbados, and after a 2 hour wait, we flew to St.Lucia and begun our long, windy journey to Anse Chastanet... (worth noting that if you fly into the international airport it’s about half the time).

We arrived at Anse Chastanet in the dead of night, wolfed down some dinner and hit the hay, eager to see the jungle and waves we could hear from inside our mosquito net the next morning. And the morning didn’t disappoint… The hotel’s star attraction is its incredible setting overlooking those insanely beautiful and iconic Pitons, mountainous peaks formed from the island’s now dormant volcano, and our room was in a prime spot for soaking up all that lush, green goodness as far as the eye can see. If you like white, clean minimalism a la Amanwella, this is not the place. Anse Chastanet is all about supporting local craft, artisans and artists so expect lots of colourful murals, woven lampshades and bright textiles. And that’s just the way it should be if you ask me – this is the Caribbean people.

And the icing on the cake? The private pool right outside our room…

I’m not normally into any kind of ‘organised fun’, the word ‘excursion’ making my blood run cold, but Anse’s array of stuff to get you off the sun lounger really surprised me… Unlike lots of other Caribbean islands, St.Lucia has so much more to offer than diving and tanning, and we found ourselves falling into a routine of exploring, visiting and doing in the mornings before succumbing to total slothdom in the afternoons.

Our favourite outing of the trip was to the hotel’s beautiful organic farm (as a farmer’s daughter it had to be done), where we were treated to all kinds of edible treasures I’ve never heard of let alone put in my mouth before. From ‘jungle M&Ms’ (pulp-covered cocoa beans) to purple star apples (galactic-looking and delicious), we were so glad we got out of bed for it. On top of our farm outing, we wandered round botanical gardens, visited waterfalls, walked around the nearby town Soufriere, snorkelled and contorted ourselves into downward dog at the yoga studio. Turns out we might be ‘doers’ after all…

Come lunchtime, we were ready to wallow, read and snooze in that order.

If you’re a beach snob like me, Anse Chastanet‘s black sand beauty won’t disappoint… It’s like icing sugar to touch and isn’t really black at all. After experiencing the insane turquoise of Bequia, I actually loved the contrast of St Lucia’s more earthy, rugged shores. Just take a pair of flip flops to get from the bed to the water. That volcanic sand is like walking on lava in the hot sun… And who isn’t a sucker for those palm-covered parasols and hammocks strung between the trees?

Walk round from the main beach and you’ll discover a tiny, private beach called Anse Mamin. Whenever we ambled round there we were the only people in sight aside from the waiters and chefs cooking up homemade burgers with banana ketchup if you get hungry…

Travel

Arriving in St.Lucia

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