This past Thanksgiving, we decided to do something different in that spectacular manner of changing your attitude by changing your latitude, and headed down to St. Lucia for some R&R, good food, great weather, and scuba certification! It's truly amazing what great weather can do to lift your spirits, and don't even get me started on the demon rum....
Jules had kept a picture for the last several years of an inspirational goal to work hard towards achieving. With a little bit of interweb magic, I was able to find the exact location that picture was taken at, which is where she stands... holding that very picture in her hand.
This was a surprise trip of all things. We stayed in Marigot Bay on the West side of the island, which was home to some of the best restaurants the island had to offer. The first night was a cocktail and a beautiful sunset followed by some local mussels at Doolittle's Irish Pub, next to our resort, the Marigot Beach Club, which is only accessible by boat.
Interesting to note, this beach is where the original Dr. Doolittle, starring Rex Harrison was filmed in 1947. Afterwards, we were told we could walk to the Rainforest Hideaway down a secret path through the mangroves. This place was rated the most romantic restaurant on all of St. Lucia. We had some great appetizers, nice drinks, and watched the juvenile tarpon dart to and fro around the lighted area where boats moor... chasing bait fish while we relaxed and indulged.
The next morning was Thanksgiving Day. We began our scuba certification at the dive shop on-site, Dive Fair Helen. Our instructor was an energetic fellow named, Ponti. We were picked up by the owner, taken via boat to the other side of the bay, and driven up and down the mountain to a resort across the bay to work in our pool skills. At one point in time, a party catamaran had landed nearby and unloaded some rowdies who were getting lit on rum punch. This was a regular occurrence throughout our time there.
Feeling accomplished, we meandered away from the crowd over to the restaurant that was recommended as having the best seafood in the area, called Pirate's bay. We were the only two people there... and it was glorious.... Instead of turkey and stuffing, we had whole Caribbean spiny lobster, served in the shell. Watching the chef prepare our meal through the kitchen window was wonderful as we soaked in the sun, amazing views... and drank rum from skulls.
Aside from the three spots we hit on the first day, we ended up having some light appetizers at Masala Bay, not only the best Indian restaurant on the island, also rated THE BEST restaurant on the island. With how much Jules likes spicy food... we were in heaven. The following night we hit Chateau Mygo, which is kind of a shack over water for of course... more lobster. It wasn't nearly as good as Pirate Bay though. As we sat with our Piton Beer, more or less the local version of Corona, a dingy overloaded with some drunken Icelanders who were trying to figure out how to dock and kept doing donuts as their boat was taking on water arrived and seriously upped the laugh factor the rest of the night.
Aside from the local bay cuisine, we were able to find some wonderful street food. I know how it sounds, and yes it was scary... but damn... does it hit the spot. We stopped at the local jump up, which is a long standing party Friday nights in Gros Islet. It was $100 for a private driver to take us there, and wait for us to get tired of it and head back. Also notable was the local knock off brands of things like pringles, and typical local food, which we found in Soufriere, which was were the pic of Jules was taken. It took $180 to hire a private boat driver for the day back and forth, more on that later.
The last spot we stopped was the resort at Anse Chastenet, walked up to the bar and had what they called the stairway to heaven. It was just that, watching the sun set with sailboats rolling by, and the waves crashing, as a server kept your drinks full... straight from your hammock.
We will be back.