Paradise: Take One

Chris and I decided a few months back we wanted to take a bigger vacation without the kids. We really wanted to visit somewhere a little more exotic than our usual places too. After much time browsing the internet and the resort websites, we chose St. Lucia. The pictures just don't do it justice. The water, the colors and the vastness just can't really be captured by a camera.

We stayed the first night at the villa above and were planning on staying there for our entire trip. However, we moved to Sandals the next day. The villa had gorgeous views just like pictured on the website. The thing is, the internet doesn't show you just how secluded this place actually is...in fact, our driver got lost on the way to this house. The island is only 27 miles long and 14 miles wide and like half of that is rain forest, so you do the math. This place was up in the hills! 

Sidenote: If you ever visit St. Lucia, do not rent a car. You will get lost. There are no street signs!! Plus people drive like they are playing a PlayStation game and they drive on the opposite side of the road. Also, I can't stand shuttle buses, so we used company called St. Lucia Executive Transfers. I highly recommend them. Their drivers were awesome and so friendly. 

Anyway, to go to any restaurants it cost $40 to get down the hill and back up (which was just a few 100 ft.) The taxi drivers never had change (yeah, right). Plus, then you had to wait and pay for a water taxi to take you across the bay to the entertainment, restaurants, beaches etc. I think you get the point. : / 

Ok, the other deal with the house is that it was open air. One side of the house wouldn't close off...as in no doors or walls. That means no AC, bugs, birds, random cats, hermit crabs the size of softballs are all up in your house all hours of the night. Honestly though, I could have dealt with that had it not been such a pain to get to civilization. 

Here is my little cat at the villa...

That first night, Chris and I just kinda looked at each other and knew we had to do something. We had no tv or internet, so we had to call and ask Derek and Nicole to get us the number for the closest Sandals. We got reservations to check in the next day at Sandals La Toc. We called CJ's and told them to be at our villa at 10:00 am to pick us up. That was kind of a crazy morning because we didn't get any money back for all the nights we had reserved at the villa (which was fine, we didn't ask to because nothing was wrong with the house itself) and then on top of that we had to pay for a vacation at Sandals. We felt it was worth it though, I mean, we really didn't have a choice. We wouldn't have been able to enjoy ourselves. I know it seems nuts looking at these pics, but the manager told us we were not the first people to move from it (and that made me feel a little less crazy).

But seriously, there is no denying this place had AMAZING views. It's actually called one of the million dollar view homes on the island. An American lady owns the home and a book was written about the house too!

We eat at the restaurant below...It's called Doolittles. Chris and I weren't impressed. Chris eat like two bites of his food. 

 

One thing I loved though is that the birds would just eat out of your hand! One of the birds had a thing for Pringles.

Looking back the time that we spent here at this house, I'm glad we had it. I mean we swam in a private pool overlooking the Caribbean Sea. That is something I'll never forget. Plus, life lesson learned...always stay at a big resort! haha 

I'll post part two which starts our time at Sandals later! :)