St Lucia - Final Thoughts & Resort Contrasts

To conclude the posts on my time in St Lucia I wanted to provide some contrasts between the resorts we stayed at and give a couple of final thoughts. I had a lovely time at all of the resorts, and as an adventurous tourist, these highlights might be of benefit to someone of a similar ethic. These scores are entirely personal and really, just for fun!

Location: Jalousie = 10 / Crystals = 8 / Rendevous = 7
Resort (facilities / rooms / aesthetic): Jalousie = 10 / Rendevous =10 / Crystals = 8
Scuba diving / snorkelling: Jalousie = 10 / Rendevous = 6 / Crystals = NA
Activity programmes: Rendevous = 10 / Jalousie = 9 / Crystals = NA
Range of complimentary facilities: Rendevous = 10 / Jalousie = 7 / Crystals = NA
Food and drink: Jalousie = 10 / Rendevous = 8 / Crystals = 3
Staff: Rendevous = 9 / Crystals = 8 / Jalousie = 8
Cleanliness: Jalousie = 10 / Rendevous = 10 / Crystals = 7
Wifi / internet access: Jalousie = 10 / Rendevous = 3 / Crystals = NA
Value for money: Rendevous = 10 / Crystals = 8 / Jalousie = 8

I would visit all three resorts again and my husband is certain we will be going back to Rendevous again in the next 18 months. The Jalousie has the wow factor and Crystals is a great place for creative people, however, its bohemian flare would be too much for those who prefer perfect surroundings.



I also wanted to mention the islands flora in this final post on St Lucia (for now), if one takes their time and uses an inquisitive eye, a treasure trove of gems lay scattered throughout the island.





All the resorts I stayed at and visited have embraced their botanical opportunities, with some glorious results.







I was gutted to hear how some people and businesses had been affected by the recent Hurricane Tomas, but my contacts at the Tourist Board have told me that they recovered quickly and now it is business as usual. For anyone who wants a magical honeymoon, luxurious adventure holiday or to simply sit in a hammock and admire the scenery, then St Lucia is a must.

Resorts in St Lucia - The Jalousie Plantation

The Jalousie Plantation was the last place we stayed at in St Lucia. A five-star resort, it has been winning many awards this year including the Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards 2010; "Favourite Leisure Hotel, The Americas & the Caribbean."

It is a luxurious resort, spread out over 100 acres of rainforest between the Pitons. We stayed in a new luxury villa and as soon as we stepped in I could see that every last detail was finished to the highest standard; my favourite parts were the fabulous four-poster bed and spacious double shower. Our location presented awesome views of the Petit Piton, which looked great from our private plunge pool.







Eager to explore and check out the sports facilities, we were quick to dump our bags and get down to the beach. I could have cried at the view. For me, this was paradise.



The resort had a lot of activities on offer, although many were not complimentary as at Rendevous. Wakeboarding, tubing, water skiing and scuba away from the beach are all extra; Hobie Cat dinghy’s, snorkels, windsurfing, kayaking, archery, yoga and pedalos were included.



A shuttle bus service is used for guests to move around the resort as it is fairly spread out in the forest, our villa was located at the top of a steep hill. Although all of the drivers were smiley, friendly and courteous; the service itself needs some attention. On a regular basis the shuttles took 30 minutes to pick us up from our villa, which is quite annoying when you have dinner reservations or a water taxi waiting.

The food was great, we mainly ate in the beach-side restuarant, with great views across Anse de Pitons. For one meal we dined in the Great Room, a new restuarant on site with live piano music, soft lighting, impressive chandeliers and a gorgeous dark wood bar. We ate sashimi, Parrotfish and an open seafood lasagne; which were all divine. Only on half board at the time, we had to pay for drinks, and two glasses (of very good) wine cost $23 including two lots of taxes!

Although there are various board options at the Jalousie, one needs to be careful how they plan to stay there. All-inclusive is a simple, if pricey option, coming in at $123 p/person, p/day. Ever the entrepid explorers, we decided to take a mixed approach; booking part all inclusive, part half board and part with no package; choosing instead to visit local restaurants and stock up the fridge in our room with food and drinks. Alcohol is expensive here, but many people use the local shops to buy local Piton beer and rum. Mind you, the resort cocktails are just the best!

The Jalousie is currently undergoing a huge revamp, with the all older villas being replaced with the new luxury ones like we stayed in. The new villas have all the modern technologies and luxuries one would need. However, the revamp means there is constantly work taking place and the main areas are a buzz of builders, vehicles and materials. Not really what is needed when trying to make the most of paradise!

For us, the best part to the Jalousie is the snorkeling and scuba (although such fine accommodation did make it very difficult to leave!). This will be covered further in a separate post, comparing sites visited here with others on the island.


(Essential island kit)

Apart from making the most of the sports facilities, my favourite way of enjoying The Jalousie Plantation was from a sun lounger, on the beach, watching the sunset with a Pina Colada and loved one to hand; life can be beautiful.





For more information on The Jalousie Plantation please go to: http://www.jalousieplantation.com

Resorts in St Lucia - Crystals

Located a mere 10 miles away from Rendevous, it took us over an hour to drive to Crystals! The road snakes through rainforest and hills, and in some places is in awful condition. However, in my mind this adds to the adventure and the views along the way were stunning.

The sun set around 18.30 and it was quick to get very dark (no lighting along the roads), we found the track that led us to Crystals, and were extremely surprised by its awful condition. It is not a good introduction.

Crystals has a bohemian-chic feel to it; a small number of quirky cottages make up the development, all of which have fantastic views of the Pitons. Artistically decorated inside and out, it is a colourful, interesting and stimulating, yet a relaxing place to rest your head. The owner Monica is a mine of information and so very helpful, an eccentric lady who makes a mean rum punch!



There is no activity programme at Crystals, however, we hired a 4x4 (essential for getting about in St Lucia) from Benny at Red Tiger and explored! The town of Soufrière lies at the bottom of the valley between Crystals and the glorious Pitons, and visiting it was our first excursion out.





Soufrière is a small coastal town; as with many other urban centres on the island, it is poor and most of the people live a simple life. As with many other urban centres across the globe, they have their fair share of problems with drugs. Upon my first visit in to town, it was visible straight away, we came across quite a few hustlers and were frequently approached in the car. I'm not going to lie, it was scary to begin with. But as we needed to get supplies (breakfast only at Crystals,but every cottage has full kitchen facilities), we had to go in nearly every day. By the end of our stay on the island the apprehension had gone and we were fine about going in to town.

The first breakfast we had a Crystals was devine! A mix of sweet breads with cinnamon and coconut, locally grown, fresh papaya, banana, banana bread and omelette. Pity there was no coffee to wash it down with because although we had a machine in our cottage, it had small bugs in it - so we never used it. Unfortunatley after the first breakfast, standards slipped, as did the time it was served, so each day there was a little disappointment.

One thing that never disapointed was Monica's artistic flair, I loved the way she had adorned the property with aesthetic delights. No corner left untouched and I was especially keen on the tree house bar....



Crystals was a great platform from which to reach Anse Chastanet beach, well-known for it's amazing snorkelling and scuba diving opportunities. More on that later.

I enjoyed Crystals, and chatting away in the tree house with Monica; the location is amazing and it's decoration appealed to the hippy in me.

For more information on Crystals check out: http://www.stluciacrystals.com/

To hire a car through Red Tiger check out: http://www.stluciajeeprentals.com/

Resorts in St Lucia - Rendevous

As previously mentioned, I stayed at three places while in St Lucia. The main reason behind this was because my husband is easily bored, and I thought this would be a good way to keep him occupied so I could rest a bit more - how wrong could I have been!

Upon landing on the island we jumped in a taxi arranged by the ladies at Barefoot Holidays and a lovely gent called Sammy drove us to our first resort - Renedevous. This couples-only, five-star, boutique resort is located in the north of the island. It took us about an hour to get there, along the way I extracted as much information from Sammy as possible. Happy to oblige, smiley and polite, Sammy was a great introduction to St Lucia. He even stopped half way to show us a fishing town called Dennery, which faces on to the Atlantic Ocean.



From our arrival, to departure, throughout the duration of our stay in St Lucia and even when we got home, we were so happy with our choice in Rendevous. It is a small and perfectly formed resort with courteous and friendly staff, in a quiet location. A short beach walk from Castries, Rendevous sits between two long stretches of golden coloured sand, palm trees hanging lazily over the beach at points, helping to create a picture perfect view.



We had a homely room with wooden four-poster bed, large double-shower and private balcony with views over sculpted gardens to the Caribbean Sea. The pristine and spacious beach-side restuarant was a pleasure to dine in, the adjoining open bar, a pleasure to drink in.



The resort had everything we needed and more, we couldn't have done all of the complimentary activities even if we'd dosed up on Red Bull every day. During our stay we frequently used the Hobie Cat dinghy's to whizz over to Rat Island and back, although the area we were permitted to sail in was quite small.



Other sports we participated in were archery, yoga, scuba diving (more about this later) and tubing, the latter of which saw us wedged into two inflatable, hollow rings and dragged around the bay by a speeding power boat. A couple were getting married on the beach at the time, I wonder if they could hear me screaming before I was unwillingly ejected from my tube?! I had been caught off guard after being catapulted off a wave and into my husband's tube, laughing hysterically I had loosened my vice-like grip for a nano-second.

The yoga was good, at the time, because for three days after the session I couldn't walk properly. Pauline the instructor is fond of Sun Salutations and practices Ashtanga yoga. I had a great session with her, but was surprised by her preaching to me about self-control at the end, she seemed to assume that she knew me. However, I really enjoyed the experience apart from that one issue.



My husband was so enthralled by Rendevous that we tried to book extra nights; but they were fully booked! We packed and left begrudgingly, on to our next resort - Crystals in Soufrière.

To see my overall comparisons with the other places we stayed, check out the 'Resort Comparisons' Blog coming shortly.

For more information about Rendevous, go to: http://www.theromanticholiday.com/16/home.htm

Taking a look at what St Lucia has on offer - overview

I recently spent two weeks in St Lucia (in October)and for the first time, I could truly understand what the term 'tropical paradise' really meant. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; but what I plan to do is to share an objective, but constructive look at what St Lucia had on offer.

Located in the south of the Antilles chain in the Caribben, St Lucia is a small, volcanic island, just 27 miles long and 14 miles wide. It is primarily made up of golden, sandy beaches and lush green rainforest. To the north there is Castries, the capital and to the south, the two Pitons, an iconic and famous UNESCO World Heritage site.



Temperatures range from 26c - 32c and the seasons on this tropical island shift between wet and dry. When I was there in October the weather was mainly sunny, with blue skies; sometimes a little humid and it rained on the odd occassion for a couple of hours. It was moving in to the dry season which will run from December to April.

Looking at the 2010 statistics released from the Tourist Board, I can see that primarily, tourists are honeymooners, the majority of which come from the US and UK. The amount of people getting married on the island are decreasing, but honeymoon numbers are looking healthy; up 31% from 2008 to 2009. Every month of 2010 has seen higher number than the same period in 2009.

Hewanorra International Airport is located in the south of the island; from here there is one main road which circles the island - but I'll come back to roads later! Accommodation in St Lucia ranges from apartments and small guest houses to all inclusive, five-star, fantasy-like resorts. During my time there I stayed in two resorts (Rendevous and The Jalousie Plantation) and one private estate with villas (Crystals). They varied widely and I'll be giving you the low-down on all of them in a separate post.

(Rendevous)

So, 'what about adventure sports?' I hear you cry! There was more than enough to stimulate my senses, every day. Infact, it took some time to get my energy levels back to normal upon my return home! St Lucia has loads on offer; scuba diving, brilliant snorkelling, rainforest hikes, dinghy sailing, kayaking, nature tours plus comprehensive activity programmes at the resorts. I'll be posting another blog about the sporting adventures I had on the island shortly.