Our Irish experience and recommendations for a holiday visit in St Lucia, a Caribbean Island paradise during COVID19.
Link to still image montage of our St Lucia (October - November 2020) visit during COVID19:-
Link to still image montage of our St Lucia (March 2020) visit prior to COVID19:-
Link to a short video of our St Lucia (November 2020) visit (Sights & Sounds of the Caribbean):-
Link to a short video of our St Lucia (November 2020) visit (Duck hunting, Caribbean style):-
Link to a short video of our St Lucia (November 2020) visit (Roti Friday):-
Link to a short video of our St Lucia (November 2020) visit
(Sailing at Sandals Grande, St Lucia, Caribbean):-
Link to a short video of our St Lucia (November 2020) visit
(Entertainment at Sandals Grande, St Lucia, Caribbean):-
Link to our How to Sail for beginners video, made in Rodney Bay, St Lucia.
Our suggestions about how to fill a typical day in any all-inclusive resort during your
stay in the Caribbean Islands.
A typical 'Leisure Day' for a beach lover staying at Sandals Grande, Rodney Bay St Lucia.
These new COVID19 travel administrative requirements need to be complied with, when visiting the island of St Lucia
We visited the St Lucia and stayed at the Sandals Resort for a 21 day period situated on the north west coast of St Lucia, north of Castries. At the time of writing these were the government requirements for any traveller intending to travel to St Lucia.:-
Link to our Hotels in a COVID-19 World article.
Link to our Travelling in a COVID-19 World article.
Link to our Lessons learned in 2020 from COVID-19 article.
Link to our Irish Government framework for living with COVID-19 article.
The island of St Lucia
We visited St Lucia and stayed at the Sandals Resort for a 21 day period situated on the north west coast of St Lucia, north of Castries. St Lucia is a Sovereign Island group situated in close proximity to Martinique in the eastern Caribbean.
St Lucia, is an island state in the Caribbean Sea. It is the second largest of the Windward group in the Lesser Antilles and is located about 24 miles south of Martinique and some 21 miles northeast of St Vincent.
The island is generally volcanic in origin and is dominated by dense jungle and a central ridge of forested mountains. It is known around the world for the striking twin peaks of Gros Piton and Petit Piton on its southwestern coast. The island of St Lucia is 27miles long and 13 miles wide.
St Lucia has a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of the Commonwealth of St Lucia. The current monarch and head of state is Queen Elizabeth II of England. She has reigned since the country became independent on 22nd February 1979.
St Lucia like many other Caribbean islands is a very popular wedding destination for American and British couples alike.
The climate is subtropical and ideal for open air trips and excursions as it is surrounded by turquoise seas (When visiting during COVID19, trips outside of the hotel are only permitted on hotel organised and approved excursions). With its tropical sea and transparent water it is both a perfect sailing and diving location. Temperatures in the main linger between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to the constant gentle trade winds.
Sense of St Lucia
The official currency of St Lucia is the East Caribbean Dollar. The US dollar is accepted at a one to three ratio.
In our experience, based on our seventeen visits to various Caribbean islands, staying at the all-inclusive Sandals Resort hotels is the most comfortable and enjoyable way to experience the Caribbean Islands. Sandals have sixteen adult only resorts and three Beaches (Family) resorts dotted all over the Caribbean. We have visited a variety of Sandals resorts in the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua, Granada but our favourite is the Sandals Grande, St Lucia.
In St Lucia, Sandals have three resorts, the Grande, Halcyon and La Toc. There are shuttle buses between all three, allowing guests to experience a flavour of the other resorts and restaurants (When visiting during COVID19, shuttle buses and visits to other Sandals properties have been suspended). Our standout favourite is the Grande, however for the more price sensitive the La Toc and the Halcyon (Now closed during COVID19) are also very nice.
The journey by hotel shuttle from the airport in the south east to the hotels to the north west is really the only bug bear of the trip as it takes in excess of an hour. All onsite facilities are free for use by guests and these include all water sports, sailing, diving (if qualified), snorkelling, water-skiing, paddle-boarding, golf (18 and 9 hole courses) gymnasium, snooker and pool and of course tennis.
Under normal situations, there are a myriad of tours and excursions organised by both the Sandals Resort Tour Advisors as well as private operators who typically approach guests on the beach. Such tours include Rodney Bay Marina and Gros Islet for the Friday night street party, guided tours by land and sea, passing fishing villages, banana plantations and the majestic Pitons. Guided tours to Soufriere to explore the Diamond Botanical Gardens and a drive-in volcano. Numerous catamaran excursions out of Rodney Bay, stopping in a protected bay for swimming and snorkelling. For the silver surfer adrenalin junkies, you can do Rainforest zip-lining, Segway tours, Island buggies or climb Gros Piton. However, when visiting during COVID19, most privately organised excursion trips have been suspended.
If you do as we did and stay all-inclusive at Sandals resorts, you will be currency free as all of on-site facilities are free, along with a no tipping policy.
Most of all, it is the people of St Lucia that make any vacation there memorable.
St Lucians are proud of their distinctive Caribbean culture, good fun and friendly.
Our general experience of the St Lucian people is that they are extremely tactile in their friendliness (when visiting during COVID19, all tactile interaction between staff and guests has been limited to elbow touching only). They are non formal and are very warm and welcoming. During our travels we saw a variety of tourist sights. The existence of these islands depend heavily on tourism. The islands are very British due to their United Kingdom status, while at the same time they are very American in outlook due to their close geographic proximity to the US.
Vacation prices are slightly cheaper during their wet season (June - November) and you can be lucky and not experience any interruptions due to bad weather. For those not feeling lucky or those seeking more certainty, then we recommend visiting between December - May.
Recommendations for St Lucia
There is no language barrier, if you speak only English. All St Lucians can converse quite happily in English. So it lends itself to undertaking trips that can be self-guided tours.
In each of the locations around St Lucia we visited the local tourist trails and highlights on offer.
In St Lucia, the tourist season extends year around. Some of the best things to do in St Lucia are:-
1 St Lucia Beaches. free. …..
2 St Lucia Boat Tours or sailing….
3 Diving & Snorkelling….
4. A visit to the Pitons…..
5 Pigeon Island National Park……
6 Friday night Gros Islet street party.…..
7 A visit to Rodney Bay…..
8 Spot the sailing boats over a cocktail in Marigot Bay……
9 Get married….or renew your marital vows…..
10 Chill out and relax……..
Our must see recommendation for a trip to St Lucia:-
(1) Our beach experience was the highlight of our entire St Lucia trip.
(2) Our second choice would be a visit to any of the great diving sites.
(3) Our third choice would be the sailing experience offshore St Lucia.
“You should travel away from home, to really appreciate the value of what you have at home, on your return.”
“Happiness is found in the journey and rarely in the destination, alone.”
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