Let’s talk sunshine and paradise! I have traveled down to St. Lucia twice now (Once in 2014, and the other time in 2019). We started our trip flying from Newark, NJ and landing in the BEAUTIFUL St. Lucia. Once we landed we drove from Hewanorra International Airport to Windjammer Landings. Windjammer Landings has been where my family has stayed both times.
Once we arrived at our resort we were HAPPILY greeted with our Welcome Punch, aka. “Rum Punch.” Oh! And I can’t leave out the warm refreshing towel after a long flight. At Windjammer there are a ton of activities for all ages. My top two are: sipping drinks at the Gazebo and snorkeling with the crew. It is so easy to spend a whole week just at the resort. However, why not explore the beautiful country as a whole? That is exactly what my family loves to do. Below I will go over MY top 5 excursions. Note, all excursions can be booked from your resort, or through Adventure Tours St. Lucia.
5. Tree Top Canopy Adventure
First I want to say, do not look at my face(in the back) and think “oh, she had a terrible time!” That is not that case! I love zip-lining and this time was in a legit Rain Forest! We got to fly all over and even got to see what cocoa beans and cashews look like before they’re cracked open. After every trip we stop at a delicious restaurant and experience different types of food.
4. Exploring Castries, St Lucia
Some of you may know that Castries is the capital of St. Lucia. It is also one of the popular cruise ships ports in the Caribbean. Cruise ships come in and out of the ports daily. All the tourist hop right of the boats and are greeted by the largest market on the island. These markets include: fish, produce and all sorts of gadgets. My first experience at the market included a ton of negotiating, just for a set of tea cups! Luckily, my parents new what they were doing and got the job done. This was definitely a culture shock to me, but its a great city to walk around. There is so much to do in this city but the highlight was finding a hidden brewery called Antillia Brewing Company, right off the main drag. It had a water front view and you could hear the planes taking off and landing at the smaller airport, George F. L. Charles.
3. Snorkeling at Windjammer
Like I had mentioned above, Windjammer offers so much to do just at the resort. So our first trip down we opted to go snorkeling on a whim. It was super nice, we pretty much had our own private boat! It was a very simple trip to plan, we went over to the activities hut and hopped on a boat, and off we went. The boat took us about 20 minutes away from the resort to go snorkeling. If you’re like me, I just love being on the water itself. We still had to wear those god awful flippers to help us swim, in my mind they drag me down! We enjoyed our full hour of snorkeling and headed back. Come to find out our father had actually officially purchased a time share with Windjammer, just shows you how much fun you can really have here! Not only is the resort amazing but so is the restaurants on the resort, I will save that for another blog(my mouth is drooling already)!
2. Hiking the Gros Piton
LET me just start out with saying, this was one hell of a hike. I must admit I am very out of shape, but I pushed myself to hike this mountain. If you have sisters like mine, one of them said I could never do it. Well I did and boy was it rough! Amazing for my dad, shown below in the pictures. This was his third time hiking the mountains! Note, I drank all the water we had on the trip. The climb took us about 2 hours up, then 2 hours down, going down was the worst part. Of course we had a large feast when this was all over, again it was amazing. Plus I even swim right off the restaurant, trust me. You need it.
Like I had mentioned above, Windjammer offers so much to do just at the resort. So our first trip down we opted to go snorkeling on a whim. It was super nice, we pretty much had our own private boat! It was a very simple trip to plan, we went over to the activities hut and hopped on a boat, and off we went. The boat took us about 20 minutes away from the resort to go snorkeling. If you’re like me, I just love being on the water itself. We still had to wear those god awful flippers to help us swim, in my mind they drag me down! We enjoyed our full hour of snorkeling and headed back. Come to find out our father had actually officially purchased a time share with Windjammer, just shows you how much fun you can really have here! Not only is the resort amazing but so is the restaurants on the resort, I will save that for another blog(my mouth is drooling already)!
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Piton Sunset Cruis
Okay, this may have to be the best excursions I have had on the island. You start out leaving from Castries and sailing out to sea. Of course, there are drinks involved during the whole trip. Especially Rum Punch, this lovely drink is always involved. We start sailing all throughout the west side of the island up until you reach both the Pitons. This is where you start snorkeling again right by the Pitons, it is a beautiful view. Crystal clear water that you can see the bottom of the ocean floor. We all love being in the water, but what is better is the party back to the dock! That’s when the drinks get stronger and the music gets louder! It is a whole dance party until the boat is docked. Both times that I have been to St. Lucia this is a must do. It’s a long day out on the water and its just amazing and relaxing!
Thank you for reading my blog about my trips to St. Lucia! I hope everyone gets the opportunity to explore this island. Look out for my Windjammer blog — food addition!