Week in the West Indies

Here we are, at the other end of Spring Break. Our vacation this year was the stuff legends are made of, literally. Where do I begin. Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, as Fraulein Maria would say...

Arriving in St. Lucia's smaller airport was akin to dive bombing a small volcanic island in the South Pacific, or so it felt. Volcanic island true enough, and steep decline as well, but we landed at the near-end of the West Indies, between Martinique and St. Vincent. Pirates. Gold-laden Spanish, French and British vessels used to duke it out here, and the island flip flopped hands some fourteen times before gaining independence in the late 1970s.

Don't go to St. Lucia if you need pristine luxury ambience. You won't likely find it. Showers may be hot, maybe not. Bananas? Oh, you're in luck; this island has amazing ripe tasty bananas for miles, remnants of the once-thriving plantations now defunct by and large do to being outpriced by larger operations on the continents. Sugar cane, cocao, coffee and other manual labor crops have all had their day on St. Lucia, now replaced by crude oil storage and tourism. Certainly infrastructure has not kept up with hotel growth. The roads are long, winding and full of pot-holes. You can either view them romantically as the obscure path less traveled or pessimistically as a pain in the, well, a long bumpy trail to paradise.

Cotton Bay Village is located on the far north tip of the island. It isn't along the marina side as many other resorts, instead, it is located on its own, sandy beached enclave on the northwest tip. Unprotected from the blasting wind that prevails at night, the western side of the island must have welcomed many sea-worn ships over the centuries. Our own little villa was very nicely appointed with its own small pool, hot tub, veranda for dining, and lovely bedrooms with en suite baths. We had a great kitchen, and the hotel staff delivered meals if we preferred dining in to dining on the beachfront lounge next door. No bad options there!

Adventures or days wasted away fiddling through the tide pools, both await you on St. Lucia. We had a good mixture of experiences. Our outings included: sunset cruise on the boat used as the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean, an all-day excursion aboard a large catamaran called Mango Tango, a day at Marigot Bay, twice to the serene and secluded Pigeon Island, and once to Rodney Bay (this not highly recommended, too much peddling). Days and nights back home included spa treatments, simple pasta dinners and "movie nights" eating in forts made from bedding, dancing at sunset and beach combing.

A picture perfect week-long adventure. Ah, but the pictures are yet to come.