Bottom Line: St. Lucia?

[peterjmaerz]

Really good advice. I second the recommendations above,

Hey Tim and Pilot Fish,

Have to express a friendly disagreement: I thoroughly enjoyed driving in St. Lucia. I'd say if you're not in a hurry, rent a jeep and are prepared for, yes, some less than smooth roads, the drive along the west coast of the Island on a non-stop series of hairpin turns above the sea and in and out of little towns is super scenic. Especially approaching (or leaving) the southern part of the island where the famous Pitons are, there are some scenic overlooks that'll bake your brain!

I've driven in Dominica, Guadeloupe, St Lucia, Bonaire and St Vincent and found it really fun and I'm no daring adventurer! I'd just suggest taking it easy and being sensible about bringing basic supplies and not displaying obvious valuables in the vehicle.


ps...I stayed and dove with Anse Chastanet. Very much enjoyed the op and the diving.

Best Regards,

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

The reason I didn't enjoy the drive was that it was done in the dark after a long day of travelling after our plane was delayed six hours. It was tough on the family.

 

[MikeJacobs]

Great advice so far from all over scubaboard... I feel very confident now with all this information and local contacts!

The following are sites visited by the "all inclusive" we're staying with... i.e. paid for already. Any more advice about the Sandals routine or these sites?
http://www.sandals.com/general/scuba-locations.cfm?divearea=lu

 

[badassbill]

I'll be there May 10 - 17!!! I can't wait. I'll also be staying at the Sandals Grande. Those that have been there, would you rent a jeep at the airport and take it to the Grande?
I'm so excited...it's been a year since diving.

 

[DeWDiver]

My wife and our friends, 8 couples, will be at the Grande April 24 - 30. We may be the only couple diveing. Maybe we will see some of you there

 

[Scubagal]

We stayed at Sandals Grande shortly after it opened, in January 2003. If you're interested, below are links to my trip report and pictures. We loved St. Lucia and hope to go back someday. Probably wouldn't dive with Sandals again, however the resort and staff were terrific. Excellent choice for a honeymoon!
St. Lucia Scuba Trip Report
Sandals Grande Pictures

 

[MikeJacobs]

Whew. One thing for sure is that you should NOT expect to run around much on the first days of your honeymoon after throwing a rehersal dinner for 80 and then wedding for 140... ALL FAMILY. What a blast.

BUT, this is about scuba... we chose great resorts (Ti Kaye http://www.tikaye.com/) and Sandals Regency. Ti Kaye was private and quiet. We slept and snorkled for three days. Sandals Regency (we also visited the Grande) was more active and of course populated. As soon as we switched gears from "Ti Kaye Honeymoon" to "Sandals Spring Break" speed, the Sandals resorts were fun.

While snorkling at Ti Kaye I found that the experience wasn't much different from our home beaches in Lauderdale by the Sea. The Sandals cattle-boats dropped their resort divers and snorklers in our cove twice a day, so I got a look at their ops from the land and water first - turned me off to THOSE experiences, so we didn't dive at all. It just didn't look like something I needed to do, since nothing on the extensive snorkling trips I took was enough of a wow... compared to the honeymoon, of course.

Repeat: I would **NEVER** book a dive or snorkle trip through Sandals.

Transportation on the island is expensive and time consuming although I'm sure that off-resort dive ops would have been worth the trip, especially if you don't get to dive the southeast US/Caribbean much... we just didn't try.

Sorry I don't have any success stories or must-do's but - REPEAT - if you dive at all in SE Florida, you can pass on the Sandals dive experience. There... at least I saved somebody $70/dive and most of a day.

Summary: St. Lucia is awesome and the people are great with a low crime rate. Everything is so clean, even though its a poor island. Cabs are very expensive and there are no direct roads... everything winds around volcanic terrain. If we go back, we'll do a non-resort trip, but Ti Kaye is perfect for the first few days of a honeymoon. I don't regard St. Lucia as a primary dive destination, however, since islands like Grand Cayman and Cozumel are soooo much better. Just my $0.02!