Tavi J. Does Saint Lucia (Bday Style)

Pigeon Island, Saint Lucia

As I get older my priorities change and I long to experience the world. Y’all know I’m a diehard Chicagoan, but for the past few years my goal is to be any place, but Chicago, as I celebrate the end of Leo season.

This year was extra special because my best friend and fellow Leo was ascending to 40 years old. We agreed a trip to Saint Lucia would make this momentous occasion fabulous.

I’ve never been to Saint Lucia before nor have I ever stayed in an airbnb. We decided to do both. Our travel crew started off as a party of five, but ended up being a party of three. You know how it be…. it’s hard as adults getting everyone together. Usually we either stay at hotels or resorts, but this time the airbnb route made sense for several reasons. Number one the resorts were very expensive and number two we could have our own room if we went the airbnb route.

Brise De Mar Villa

Our Island villa, Brise De Mar was gorgeous! It’s situated on top of a hill in Rodney Bay. The villa and the airport are in opposite directions of each other. The distance between the two is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Positives of this location is you can see a lot of the island on the drive from the airport. We arranged transportation with our villa concierge service. The airport is rather small and getting through customs was fast. We only had to show our passport, proof of Covid vaccination, and they took our temperature.

While at the airport we exchanged some of our US currency for EC currency. Do not underestimate how much EC currency you need. Yes credit cards and US currency are excepted. However, we found the locals prefer EC money. Plus who wants to do math all the time converting US to EC. Although credit cards are accepted if you go to local markets some vendors do not have credit card machines and that goes the same for taxi/car services.

Our villa was very well connected and we leaned on them for a lot of services and excursions. Especially, when it came to transportation. Upon arriving at the airport we were easily able to spot our driver holding up a sign. Good start and we were on our way. During our drive he pointed out historical landmarks and we even stopped for a couple of pics.

The roads are not ones I would drive. They whine a lot, there’s huge deep potholes, and barely any street signs or street lights. Leading up to our villa is a steep hill, but once you reach the top the views are amazing. Our villa had four bedrooms and four bathrooms. Three bedrooms are on the top floor with the fourth bedroom being on the ground floor with an additional kitchen and dining area. Our villa was huge! Several seating areas in the living room, dining room, and outside on the veranda. One of the main reasons we chose this villa is because of all the covered outside areas. It’s hot and muggy in Saint Lucia so the covered veranda was a blessing. Dinner was enjoyed outside pretty much every night. We also had an outdoor pool. The views from the pool and balcony were priceless. Check out the link here because my pictures don’t do the magnificent sunsets justice.

Our villa included a housekeeper and concierge. It was nice getting back from our excursions and coming home to a clean house (she even did our laundry and for a fee made us dinner). We also relied heavily on the villa for transportation around the Island. Having a direct number of the same person for pick up and drop off is convenient.

We arrived in Saint Lucia at 2:30pm on a Friday and got to our villa around 6:00pm. It took us a little longer because we had our driver (Victor from Ginger’s Taxi Service) take us to the local grocery store. Once we arrived at the villa our meal was prepared. In all honesty it wasn’t the best meal I ever had (chicken, rice, plantains, fish, and rum punch). The rum punch was delicious, but the other food items could of been seasoned more and were a bit overcooked. For $83 US dollars split between three people wasn’t bad though. We even had leftovers.

During dinner we debated on going to the local Gros Islet block party that occurs only on Friday evenings. I had already heard it was a vibe and our driver concurred it was the place to be Friday night. Various local food would be sold, great music well into 2am, and it’s a spot where locals and tourists merge. We really wanted to go, but we were so tired from traveling. If I had to do it all over I would definitely muster the energy to go. It seems like it would have been a great nightlife experience.

The biggest reason why we didn’t go is because the next day (Saturday) we chartered an all day private luxury yacht and they were picking us up from our villa at 9am. This by far was my favorite part of the trip. It was about a 15 minute ride to the pier and our crew of four were waiting for us when we arrived. We had our own captain, Chef, and two crew members onboard. They had a good breakfast prepared for us and we were off to the town of Soufriere. It was about a 1 1/2 hour boat ride.

Carnival Luxury Sailing

One of the many positives about a private boat ride is being able to create your own itinerary. We had wanted to go to Ladera resort for cocktails in order to take a picture of their beautiful view. However, you had to dine there so that didn’t work out. Our boat crew ended up setting us up with cocktails across from Ladera Resort called Project Chocolat. The view wasn’t as pretty, but it was nice to get off the boat and take in the scenery. We spent 30 minutes at the bar and then headed to the mud baths. Now that was a fun experience! After putting mud everywhere (even your face if you choose) we washed it away in the steaming tub. My skin was glowing and felt so soft.

Next they took us to the waterfall for pics and to completely wash the mud away. I loved that the yacht crew was with us every step of the way and we didn’t need to worry about pics. They were pretty good photographers and even had people move out of the way to get us some good shots.

Mud Bath

As we headed back to our yacht it was pouring rain. We passed another Catamaran boat and everyone was huddled close together like sardines under the covered part. We were so thankful we had our own private yacht. No waiting around to leave, we got to play our own music, and be spread out all over the boat. When we got back onboard the Chef was finishing up preparing our lunch. It was made to order and was delicious. There’s even a grill on the boat. Oh and if I didn’t mention it was all you can drink and they would come over and check on us continuously. I unfortunately can’t afford to do the private experience all the time, but this time I believe it was truly worth it. We had the yacht from 9am – 4pm and they really took care of us. Our total cost was $2200. For the shared catamaran tours I believe the average cost is around $125 a person. We got so many activities in on that luxury catamaran ride.

Other things we did

Dinner at Upperdeck (Windjammer Resort). Food was not anything amazing to write home about. However, beautiful views and the DJ was amazing.

Headed to Pigeon Island for a beach day. This location was not far from our villa. It’s definitely a beach for locals and tourist alike. You can rent beach chairs and umbrellas. There’s also several restaurants to choose from. It poured rain the whole time we were there. When it got too windy we headed to Joe’s Chill & Grill on the beach. Again food was just okay.
Note: People will be coming up to you to try to sell things, which was a little annoying. Also, I was told more beautiful beaches are actually on the private resorts. Some resorts do offer resort passes to spend the day at their beach.

We wanted to see something less touristy and decided to do a food tour at Castries Market. It was definitely another highlight of the trip. The market was actually nominated back in 2011 by National Geographic as one of the top ten food markets in the world. It’s nice we had a local guide because the area wasn’t the best and we screamed American tourists with our portable fans and attire. Our tour included a fresh juice tasting (which I loved and purchased a couple). My favorite juices were the passion fruit and the tamarind. We tried some local fruits and then had an authentic Saint Lucian sit-down meal. One of the fruits I was excited to try for the first time was Soursop. It’s a prickly green fruit with a creamy texture and often associated as an alternative treatment for cancer.

Afterwards we walked through the shopping part of the market (again be prepared to get pulled in all directions). The only thing I ended up buying was some hot sauce. I highly recommend Baron classic pepper sauce. So much spice and flavor!

I truly loved our trip. We purposely only planned one activity a day so we could enjoy our villa. I love Saint Lucia and can’t wait to visit another part of the Caribbean soon. 🙂

Where should I go next?!?!?