Arrived at airport in Vieux Fort. We rented a jeep, and looking back, it is the best decision we made to truly enjoy the island. The roads aren't bad at all, not anything like what has been posted. Driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car is a challenge at first, but well worth the adjustment for the freedom it provides to have your own car. We arrived at Stonefield at 4:00 and were met by Daniella. Dave looked at oleander and wanted an upgrade. He looked at Flambouyant and “negotiated” a deal. It has a huge deck, and fantastic LARGE plunge pool.. we wouldn’t even call it a plunge pool really.. it is as big as summer winds (our rental on St. John.) However, as nice as it is, contrary to trip reports, it does need air conditioning. It is hot and humid there… sticky. The breeze isn’t as constant as on St. John.

Soon after arrival, we left for Anse La Raye for the fish fry everyone talks about on trip advisor. The roads are very windy but well paved and fairly easy to travel if you don’t go to fast. We had no trouble getting to the fish fry. When we arrived, the town has very VERY narrow streets, barely room for one car.. All parking is on the streets.. they don’t have parking lots here. Naturally we went down a wrong street looking for parking and ended up on the street where the fish fry was. We were immediately met with several people telling us where to park, one in particular who we nicknamed the “Mayor” because he seemed to know everything. He directed us to a corner where Dave commenced to park. This caused quite a stir as everyone within shouting distance had something to say about this particular parking spot. We sat in the car not knowing quite what to do when another fellow came up who we nicknamed the “governor” and he directed us to a more satisfactory spot to park. He was very nice and showed us around the fish fry. We were expecting a large crowd but hardly anyone was there.. Booths were set up with mostly fish wrapped in foil setting on a homemade grill.. We met another man named Shadrach who introduced us to spiced rum. It was in a huge old Sangria bottle and it was pink.. it was cinnamon bark steeped in rum. Dave liked it and got another glass.. later he told me that Shadrach told him it would make a man “strong in the night” I guess that’s the reason for the second glass. Ha. We got the seafood sampler from Shadrach’s mother’s booth. It had mahi mahi and shrimp which were the only fish I recognized;.. there was other stuff on the plate that we didn’t know what it was.. some kind of potato and Dave thinks breadfruit. The experience was great going there, the people were terrific, friendly and happy and glad to see us, but the food was lets just say “interesting.” A note on the drive.. It took every bit of an hour to get to Anse la Raye from Soufriere. A couple that we met there said they came by boat from Soufriere and it took them 15 minutes. They paid 70$ round trip. If we had it to do again, I would go that route because of the time aspect.

The next morning we enjoyed a dip in the extra large plunge pool… the villas with a pool are a MUST at Stonefield.. it helped to keep us cool.. Stonefield is a beautiful place.. lots of tropical flowers and plants, very clean and well maintained.. it is quiet and you never know anyone else is around. We had no bugs or mosquitoes, even without a breeze. However, if you dislike cats or birds, you may have an issue. The birds are quiet fearless here and are very patient in there request for a handout. It’s kind of like really really really fancy camping. It is as if you are outdoors all the time yet with couches and beds. Taking a shower is outside too.. very private yet surrounded by tropical plants.

We went snorkeling at Jalouise beach. The snorkeling was pretty drab but the beach was very nice. We had read that you had to pay to use their beach, but no one said a thing when we sat down. There are a few really large trees that provide excellent shade along with several tiki hut type umbrellas. The water was a emerald green color very pretty but not to clear. We left there to check out the view at Ladera.. it is all they say it is, quite spectacular. We had a drink in their lounge and ate Sunday brunch there. Their buffet was delicious with many selections of fish, chicken, lamb and ribs. It was priced well at 25$ per person. Make sure to get table 2 as a few others have said on Tripadvisor. It is worth waiting for. An interesting note about the restaurants here, most of them have squirt guns on the table to shoot the birds when they come to close. If you have a husband like mine, it is best to hide the squirt gun when you get to the table.

The south side of St. Lucia is very picturesque. It has stunning views similar to Hawaii.. But it is HOT. I am from Tennessee, and I am familiar with heat and humidity but when the hotels say no air conditioning needed, think twice. We were on St. John last year during July and we needed no air conditioning. Maui and Kauai also you need no air conditioning. I thought St. Lucia would be the same. The absolute very best thing about Stonefield was the plunge pool. Without that, we would have melted. Consider that our trip was in July so it may be different during other seasons but when we asked the locals if it was unusually hot, they said it was about normal. We so enjoyed Stonefield and our room was wonderful. At night there are no lights so the stars just pop out. The grounds are beautifully kept with all sorts of fruit and flowers. The restaurant was good, the Stonefield special at breakfast was memorable, a kind of jazzed up BLT. Everyone was very nice to us and seemed glad we were there. I would certainly recommend staying there, but a plunge pool is a must.

We drove from Soufriere through some amazing views to Ti Kaye where we are staying for 4 days. This place has a little more pizzazz than Stonefield but it is not as private or intimate. There are bright lights at night, the staff seems a little more intrusive and the plunge pools are a little bigger than my garden tub at home. We rented an ocean front villa (Nich) and the view was nice of a little cove with waves crashing against the rocks. Ti Kaye also has AIR CONDITIONING. It is a challenge though keeping the cool air in with only wooden slats on the many windows. It did stay cool though and it was very comfortable. We wanted to book a trip to the Grenadines and we had difficulty finding a tour company. The concierge was very patient with us and worked with us for about an hour to find the right tour. The breakfast that comes with the room rate was pretty good.. you don’t need to have lunch afterward. Also the drinks are very reasonable bordering on cheap (3$) by St. Lucia standards. This was nice as a pina colada is about 7$ everywhere else. The dinners were relatively reasonably priced as well and the presentation and atmosphere was wonderful. The flowing curtains in the restaurant were a soft welcome site. It was though you were sailing though still on dry land. The snorkeling is much better than Jalouise but not anything close to St. John or Maui or Kauai standards. The beach is nice with gray sand. There are lounges and beach umbrellas available and further back there are shade trees. The beach restaurant had a delicious fish sandwich, but they are a little particular about you sitting in their chairs if you are wet which I thought was very odd for a beach restaurant.. The steps to the beach are a hike but it is not too bad. Tuesday, July 17 after spending over an hour working on our grenadines trip, Dave went to the beach to snorkel in a marine reserve. Many different colored fish.

Ahhh a Swedish massage and the oil…. Dave loved his 1st message at LeSport in the uppermost portion of St. Lucia. We had to travel thru Castries, thru Rodney Bay all the way to the top of the Island. Today is Tuesday and we plan to really relax. The message was great and he was asleep next to a pool while waiting for Katie to finish her body scrub. Due to her sunburned face she had to cancel the facial. We put on our robes and enjoyed our downtime at LeSport. After this we had a nice fish dinner at Red Snapper next to Rodney Bay. Katie had the seafood medley and Dave had Red Snapper. The real nice thing was the bottle of cold Pino Grigio.. I think we liked the cool taste on a humid night… after dinner we drove back to Tikaye and enjoyed our comfortable night together… a very laid back and nice day for Tuesday.

The next day Thursday began with pouring down rain which had us thinking of another gulley washer, all the power was off, no phone service to call Lionel with the Grenadines trip, so we had to chance it and drive to the airport at Castries… we were happy to see Lionel and the trip was on… The beach was nice at the airport.. we boarded a J8-VAM Briton Norman twin engine wing on top of fuselage with a total of 8 people the Pilot and co-pilot… We looked at each other numerous times as this plane taxied on the runway. Dave will remember Katie clinching his left arm…. We got off the ground and it was a great plane ride. We sat right behind the Pilot and copilot… Dave was amazed at reading all the flight instrumentation.. Altitude was 6500 feet at 110 miles an hour… we loved seeing the West coast of St Lucia and seeing all the places we had visited.. Marigot Bay, Anse LaRaye, Tikaye, Petit Piton and Gros Piton… we remembered our great stay at Flamboyant at Stonefield, we loved our villa there and our own pool. We had a great time together at Stonefield, we had great privacy.. it was just us and the rainforest frogs, occasional fire flies and our own villa birds along with our personal hummingbird.

The flight veered southward to St. Vincent which looks like a great place to visit.. nice buildings on that Island.. doesn’t look like a lot of poverty like many places in St. Lucia… from Vincent to other islands , approximately 14 more… then we saw Tobago Cays which took our breath away with the clear turquoise waters and coral / reef areas… The plane lowered to 2000 feet as we turned to land on Union Island. Dave will never forget how the plane landed… we hopped over a mid mountain ridge to quickly descend to land on a very short airstrip. We clapped when the plane landed… we loaded onto a 12 seater electric golf cart which took us about 400 yards right on the dock as we loaded onto a dingy boat with 20 hp motor… the dingy took us about 150 yards to the ScarMouchie, an all wooden boat, probably 70 foot long… we were greated by Capt. Dan, Zooki and another mate aboard… we had some great cheese sandwiches which was the same type cheese we had on the Stonefield breakfast sandwich. Katie loved the cheese so much that she bought 3 blocks of this special cheese ( 2 blocks that we flew back with us ). Our first boat destination was Meringue beach… wow !!!! we took the dingy to the beach and we were the only ones on this tropical, tan sanded beach… there were 2 others way down on the other end , but this beach along with fruitful coconut trees and swaying palm trees were like heaven on earth. Dave absolutely loved cooling off in 5 feet of water right off the beach… what a great 1st stop.

Off we went to Tobago Cays… we were greeted by a roped off area for turtle feeding… just 600 yards away was the famous island that was used by none other than Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean… we got on the dingy and went 100 yards to the barrier reef and enjoyed some great snorkeling in 5-8 feet of crystal clear water. Katie loved it when she pointed out a tail that was sticking out of a rock. Back on the dingy for another drop off right into the turtle feeding grounds. Dave saw and swam with several turtles. When Dave got back on the ship it was time for lunch… baked chicken, rice with a special captains stew .. yummy… for desert we had rum and coffee along with cookies, muffins and a pumpkin type bread.

Off to Palm Island… a very rich and ritzy island for the rich and famous.. Palm Island is a small island with only 1 resort on the island… We walked a little, Dave swam and we returned to the ScarMouchie ready to head back.. The boat was really a neat thing with all wood… below deck had some huge beams in a “C” shape as side supports….

We headed back to Union Island and talked about maybe our next trip should be to the Grenadines… We loved this trip , it was well worth the money… lots of sun, beautiful beaches a great crew and excellent snorkeling all made for a wonderful day… we also sailed on this boat quite a bit with 3 huge sails and masts… we loaded back onto the Briton Norman for our return flight. Dave was tired… back we landed at Castries and headed back to Tikaye for dinner. Dave had mahi mahi, can’t remember what Katie had… we always enjoyed the island bread at each dinner. We were tired and off to bed in Nich, the name of our cottage… we slept well with good air conditioning and a netting all around our bed… the outdoor shower was great throughout our stays at Stonefield and TiKaye… what a day we had…

Next day was Friday.. we finished breakfast, it rained then sun, rain, then sun, rain then sun… we decided to check out and make our way across the island to the east side , the Atlantic side. We went to Dennery for a fantastic view of the waves crashing onto the rocks, we noted that the Atlantic side had much more waves than the calm waters on the Caribbean side. We saw 2 developments at Praslin Bay, one was a Westin to open Sept. 2008 and can’t remember the name of the second…. Went to buy 2 blocks of cheese in Vieux Fort and then lunch on the beach at a small restaurant called Reefside Restaurant… we had 2 fish burgers and headed to Hewanorra Airport to head home… Dave is writing this on the plane ride back and can say we had a great vacation… very relaxing, no hassles, not busy and just a great time with my lovely wife Katie, whom I very much love… the only negative comment is so many people in poverty… an island you definitely want to be staying at a nice resort. Well this is some of the version from Katie and then Dave to this great vacation… we miss our kids and are looking to take them next year back to the Carribean… oh where will it be…. Thanks to God for this beautiful time together…. What a wonderful creator HE is and what beauty HE has bestowed on this earth…. God Bless….