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Lonely Planet - Destination: St. Lucia - Lonely Planet - Destination: St. Lucia -
Official Guide to St. Lucia - Official Guide to St. Lucia - Information on hotels, dining, and activities in the area.
Saint Lucia: A Guided Tour - Saint Lucia: A Guided Tour - Maps, a guided tour, history, culture, flora and fauna, facts and links. In French and English.
St. Lucia One Stop - St. Lucia One Stop- Featuring information on St. Lucia government, business, national statistics, tourism, jobs, newspapers, etc.
St. Lucia Online - St. Lucia Online - Includes business directory, calendar, classifieds, and more.
St. Lucia Online Tourist Guide - St. Lucia Online Tourist Guide - up-to-date tourist information on this beautiful Caribbean island, including hotel listings, maps, photos and much more
“Paradise between the Pitons. Pictures do not look as good as it felt”
St. Lucia is a lush, tropical Mountainous Volcanic Island. The Island is only 27 miles long, but because of all the hair pin turns. It takes several hours to get from one end to the other. We chose St Lucia as we had been there for one day on a cruise and fell in love with the beauty and the Pitons. The Pitons are Volcanic Domes located in Soufriere.
We stayed at the Jalousie Plantation (JP) in Soufriere (South) for seven nights and then The Sandals Grande for 3 nights in Gros Inlet (North). The two resorts were very different experiences. The North is more commercialized with larger hotels and party atmosphere while the south has the true Island feel and the hotels are very isolated. You can not leave without a taxi. The south of the Island is more picturesque that the North. Of the two resorts, we enjoyed our stay at the JP more but I am very glad we split the vacation.
We arrived in St Lucia and were warmly greeted at the JP with Rum punches that went right to our heads. Our Villa was number 314. Villa 314 has no trees in front of the private plunge pool and the view of the bay is totally unobstructed. The Villa is situated perfect. It sticks out on the mountain so if you are out in the water 314 is one of the only villas you can see on the mountain. Because 314 is mid mountain the views are spectacular. I loved waking up every morning and drinking a pot of tea while I sat by the plunge pool and watched the boats come into the bay and waited for Dave to get up. At the JP you have to take a shuttle to get back to the room. Our little pool was very warm as it got the full afternoon sun, but it was shaded in the morning.
The main reason we choose the JP was the snorkeling right off the beach in the marine preserve and the location. The JP is situated right between the Pitons. The JP really does have the very best location on the Island. It is absolute paradise between the Pitons. The pictures do not look as good as it felt to be there.
The snorkeling was everything we had hoped for. To quote Dr Seuss we saw red fish, blue fish green fish and yes lots and lots of yellow fish. Part of our routine was to take Creole bread from the breakfast buffet and head into the water. The Sergeant Majors would eat it outta your hand when you first entered the water and when you were coming back they would come towards you looking for more. We saw a sea turtle one day while snorkeling out past the marine preserve. We saw a lobster and a medium size octopus (the day I did not have my camera in the water with me). We saw cuddle fish. Lots of blue tangs, flounders, sergeant majors, grunts beautiful parrot fish and many many other fish. You really could not go in the water in the preserve and not see a fish every where you looked.
The JP has 2 main restaurants the Pier and the Plantation House and one breakfast/Lunch area on the beach. We did not have a bad meal at the JP. The St Lucia Bananas are worlds better then US bananas and I LOVE bananas.
On Sunday afternoon we toured Soufriere. We arranged a private tour with a local Taxi driver named Super Dave. (Dave’s Sister works in the gift shop and she can contact Dave for you). We went to the Islands active Volcano and Sulfur springs, the Touraille Falls, took a tour of the town of Soufriere, went to the Botanical Gardens and Diamond Falls and then to the Pitons Falls located by the JP. Super Dave then dropped us off at the JP so we could shower and change and picked us up 45 minutes later and drove us to the Mango Tree for dinner. This was my favorite dinner of the whole trip. The views from the top of the mountain at sunset are spectacular. We had thought about renting a car and doing this on our own, but the car rental would have been about the same as Dave charged. It was a magical day and evening.
Our days at the JP were get up have tea by our pool, go down to breakfast with our snorkeling gear. Have a lovely breakfast by the beach. Snorkel away the morning, have a light lunch. Snorkel again in the afternoon. Go relax and socialize by the pool. Then headed up to the room to watch the sunset and get ready for dinner. What more do want for an absolutely fabulous vacation?
