I was able to get a better night’s sleep and work up a bit later, about 8a. Showered and ready to eat by 9a at which time I got Michelle and Addison up. Breakfast was at 9:30a and consisted of fruit, muffins, pancakes with syrup, three sausage links, and some unknown juice. Excellent, as always.
Beautiful flower at Caille Blanc
Lush hillside foliage
One last view of the Pitons from Caille Blanc (I promise!)
Poolside area at Caille Blanc
We enjoyed the view a bit then very reluctantly packed. I checked out with Jeremy at 10:45a and we left with James at 11:15a on to our second destination, Windjammer Landing. We were really sad to go — Caille Blanc far exceeded my lofty expectations. I hope to get back there someday for sure. So beautiful and relaxing! On the way north along the Caribbean coast of St. Lucia we saw some great things. First up was a very nice view of Soufriere and its valley from the road, followed by seeing a handful of tiny villages like Canaries as we traced the winding route.
Soufriere’s gorgeous valley location can’t be beat!
A small seaside village (Canaries) in St. Lucia
Planters doing double duty as road markings
Glimpse of a St. Lucia beach
We saw a number of banana plants, many on farms developed with assistance from Taiwan. Blue plastic bags protected the bunches of bananas from insects and other pests. We talked about hurricanes, a fairly frequent occurrence in St. Lucia but mostly affecting the Atlantic coast. James and I also talked about their government which, like many nations in the British Commonwealth, is parliamentary with elections every five years. Also discussed the school system on St. Lucia, which sounded pretty much Commonwealth standard, again. There aren’t many colleges on St. Lucia, however, with many students going to other islands to continue their education.
Another small village
Banana farm, note the blue plastic bags protecting the bananas
James went a small distance out of the way to take us to an overlook of Marigot Bay, a gorgeous deep water harbor (very rare in the Caribbean) frequented by pirates in the 1700s. A guy there walked up to me and tried to sell a fish sculpture made from a coconut palm leaf. It was impressive but James warned me against purchasing it since it would not be allowed back in the United States due to rules against bringing in plant life.
Marigot Bay, deep water harbor and former pirate haven
In short order we made it to Castries, the capital of St. Lucia. There was pretty heavy traffic, especially since it was mid-afternoon on a Tuesday. We also saw our first stop light but it was turned off. Traffic still managed regardless, albeit a bit slowly. James pointed out a rum distillery (made with molasses from Barbados and Guyana since sugar isn’t grown much on the island) as well as the harbor. Be-suited professionals milled about among office buildings and parks, some with walls painted with the state colors — blue, yellow, and black. Castries also had a number of familiar names — Payless, Home Depot, Radio Shack, and similar car dealers to home. On the far side of the airport’s runway we saw a cemetery similar to those in New Orleans with above ground white stone crypts.
Castries harbor with rocks painted in St. Lucia’s colors
We missed the turn into Windjammer Landing due to a lack of decent signage (an epidemic on the island, it seemed) but he handled it like a champ and dropped us off at Windjammer around 1:30p. The northern part of the island and the resort itself had a very Mediterranean feel — steep hillsides dotted with smaller trees than farther south and the buildings themselves were white washed with red tile roofs. A bit of a pity, in my mind, to go for a Mediterranean feel when the local buildings had so much flavor. As we couldn’t check in yet we went to one of the resort’s restaurants, Jammers, for a late lunch. Michelle had a BLT and fries, Addison and I had sirloin paninis with cheese and fries. It was OK but a bit pricey.
After lunch we sat in the lobby and waited on check-in from 2:30p to just shy of 4p. Michelle and I took the time to do a little shopping and got some magnets, duty free. Finally checked in and took a shuttle to our room, way up the hill. Nice enough, I guess, but honestly so soon after Caille Blanc it couldn’t compare. Two stories, Addison taking the lower for some privacy and Michelle and I the upper. Above and outside was a sun deck with a couple of recliners. On the plus side, it did have air conditioning! Our view looked to the north where we could see a couple of small bays and even Martinique several miles away.
View from our villa towards the north
Another view, a bit more west from the previous one
While not as luxurious as Caille Blanc the upper room was nice enough
Small road with the entrance to our villa to the left
A small pool near Papa Don’s, the restaurant near our villa
While they relaxed I went down hill back to the lobby to sign up for tours. Addison wanted to do some zip lining in the rain forest and, despite a bit of fear on my part, we decided to do that for Wednesday. I had wanted to do the day trip to Martinique on Thursday but the tour wasn’t on because the boat was still in for its yearly maintenance. Bummer, missed it by just a week! Went back up to the room whereupon (whenupon?) I realized I forgot to ask about whether shorts or long pants were recommended for the zip line. So I headed back down. After that I stayed to watch the sunset from the beach. Gorgeous! The beach was nice and clean, a long sweeping stretch of sand with an area for swimming including a platform and a pier for boating beyond. There was a small rock breakwater protecting the beach from the wave action from the Caribbean. A party boat in the form of a faux pirate ship sailed by playing the ubiquitous island music — a poppy reggae, often covers of other pop songs. I also spotted a cat slinking about the chairs and stools scattered about the dunes.
The beach at Windjammer Landing
Looking across to the far side of the small bay
Another view of the beach
Photo courtesy of the letter S — sunset, sailboat, and sea spray
Hillside villas bathed in the setting sunlight
Sunset, at last!
Yet another view of the beach
Hillside villas illuminated at night
The beach was quite peaceful — and deserted — at night
I walked back up to the unit about 7p and woke up Michelle and Addison. At 8p we walked the very short distance to Papa Don’s, Windjammer’s Italian restaurant. Michelle had a veggie pizza; Addison a meat lover’s pizza; myself spaghetti and meatballs. Bread and olive oil was ehhh but the dessert — chocolate cake for Michelle and three (!) scoops of coffee ice cream with a cinnamon stick for me — was fantastic.
Headed back to the room, talked with Genetta a bit on the phone, fought the computer for awhile, offloaded and uploaded photos, and hit the sack at 1:30a — way later than intended.
Route for April 3rd, 2018