We were surprised to find that flying to Martinique from St Lucia was actually cheaper than taking the boat. We’re not sure why – but we heard that the boat is an all-inclusive drink all you want party boat, which would explain it. The flight was a short island hop that left from the local airport in Castries, George F L Charles.

We flew LIAT air. They were 3 hours late leaving for a 20 minute leave (which is pretty average for them), but at least the airport has free wi-fi.

Despite our wonderful guesthouse, overall, we weren’t that impressed with St Lucia. The Pitons are beautiful, but the hassle of the high prices, rough roads, average beaches, questionable cleanliness levels outside tourist areas, and the local’s indifference to tourists do not make it one of our favorite holiday destinations

After a bout of food poisoning, perhaps brought on by chicken from a local stand in Gros Islet or perhaps by homemade ice cream, the only other trip we managed during our St Lucia vacation was to Pigeon Island National Park. It was about a 40 minute walk from our guesthouse. There’s a couple of sites of dubious historical importance, but there’s also a couple of very nice (though small) beaches. They were much cleaner than the other beaches we saw directly around our hotel. There’s a little restaurant inside the park (Jambe de Bois) but it was closed Christmas Day, the day we were there. The view from Pigeon Island was towards the Sandals resort and Rodney Bay.

The beach has showers and restrooms. There is an admission cost to the park, but it wasn’t very expensive.

We also wandered over to the other side of the Pacific side of the island, where the waves were much rougher.

We stopped at the Hummingbird Resort in Soufriere for a quick bite, and to relax for a couple of hours.  Lunch was delicious – although a little expensive, at $20 US per person.  The property seemed a little cramped, but the view of the pitons was beautiful.  The swimming pool wasn’t that big, but had some nice shade.  The hotel is very conveniently located just outside Soufriere.

From Soufriere, we tried to drive to Anse Chastenet, as we had heard that this was the location of some of the best off-shore snorkeling in St Lucia.  However, it was not meant to be.  The road started out pretty rough, and the non-existent shocks on our car were taking a heavy beating.   What stopped us, however, was when we hit an incline that was steep enough that even flooring it, we weren’t able to drive up the hill.  We finally killed the air conditioning and were able to inch our way to the top. Shortly after we u-turned back to the main road.

We would not recommend trying this drive unless you have a real car, maybe a 4×4  – and perhaps one not rented from St Lucia National Car Rental.   If you do go, leave us a comment and let us know what we missed!

We had read that the most spectacular scenery would be seen driving to Soufriere, so this is where we headed. The road was good for the most part, although there was enough potholes that it made for very tiring driving. The Pitons are spectacular, although we’d been spoiled by seeing Moorea (Tahiti) the year before.   There was lots of places to pull over (lookouts and scenic views).   We passed on some of the more popular sights like the drive-in volcano and the gardens – nothing we read about them impressed us and we didn’t have that much time with the rental car.  We passed Rodney Bay, Canaries, and other fishing villages on our way south.

Driving through some of the towns got a little difficult – there wasn’t always a clear route through the town, and at one point we ended up doing a 28 point turn on a narrow street that had dead ended.  The local drunk was more than happy to help us out, however.

We had tried to arrange a car rental from home before we left, but at Christmas time cars were hard to come by – at least at the major car rental companies. The best we could find was a Subaru Forester for $150US a day. Ouch. We held on to that reservation, but once there we asked our guesthouse owners if we would be able to do better anywhere else and they set us up at National St Lucia Car Rental. It was only $50 a day, but you definitely get what you pay for. The car had no shocks (every time we tried to turn a corner going downhill it would grind the tire against the underside of the car). It was a class “A” car, (a for Awful?) so maybe we would have had more luck if we’d spent a little more money. We would recommend a better car with more clearance – if you want to go anywhere off the main road – for example, Anse Chastenet, which has supposedly the best snorkeling of the island.

We found the Bay Guesthouse in the Lonely Planet. The guesthouse is located a short walk from the main part of the village, but in some respects is a world away. The bright orange two story building faces the ocean, and once you step inside the gate to the property, it doesn’t take long for you to relax and realize this is great value for the money (we paid $30US a night). The property is very clean, and the rooms, while basic, are immaculate. There is no hot water, but in the afternoon the water (or air) seemed to get warm enough that it didn’t matter. There is free wifi, and our room had a kitchenette, with dishes, a counter with bar stools, and a stove.

There are two rooms in the back, with no view, and two ocean facing rooms in front. All rooms are on the ground floor, as the owners occupy the top floor. There is a couple of picnic tables, a hammock, and some loungers – lots of seating to enjoy the sunset every evening, play cards, or eat some basic food picked up in town.

The owners were very helpful setting us up with all the information we needed, and really took the time to make sure we were comfortable and well settled in. It was the best checkin desk we’d ever seen – at a picnic table under a palm tree, as the sun set on the ocean in front of us. In addition, the owners arranged a car rental for us, and a transfer to the airport.

There is no beach as such at the Bay Guesthouse, and while the local beach, just a couple feet away in Gros Islet, looked good from far, it was actually far from good, with a pipe leading directly into the ocean dumping something into the ocean. However, if you walk the other direction, away from the village, you get to Pigeon Beach – the same beach that Sandals is on. It’s about a 5 minute walk away from the hotel. At the end of the beach closest to Bay Guesthouse, the sand is a little rough – lots of coral – we always wore water sandals. In addition we saw quite a bit of broken glass in the water. There’s a couple of picnic tables. The beach, for the most part, is empty. Yes, it would have been nice if there was a beach directly in front of our hotel, or even a safe way in to the water (not on slippery boulders) but the 5 minute walk really wasn’t so bad.

This is where we parted ways with most of the tourists of St Lucia, as we were staying in the small fishing village of Gros Islet, sandwiched in between the Marina, Rodney Bay, and the Sandals and the Landings condo development. Although staying in a small fishing village sounded quaint, the village itself was pretty rough. We were the only tourists – which didn’t bother us – but the complete lack of restaurants, the locals smoking pot on every corner, open sewers running through the streets – well let’s just say it took away considerably from the charm of the fishing village. There is what could be a nice stretch of beach in front of it, but the water didn’t look overly clean, and there was a lot of junk around the area. There are no tourist facilities – no ‘real’ restaurants – mainly street food and bars selling barbecue chicken. We did end up eating at Somewhere Special with some friends we met, and we all had good meals, although despite the name, it was nothing that special.

There is no real grocery store in Gros Islet- there’s a very basic bakery, and a small convenience store – but nowhere to buy basics like cheese, eggs, fresh fruits, or vegetables. For that, you need to drive 15 minutes to the large supermarket in Rodney Bay.

After picking up some cash from the ATM in the airport (no problem) we dodged the unofficial taxi drivers offering us “great deals” and headed to the official stand. It cost us $60 USD for the taxi to Rodney Bay. It was an interesting drive, and we’re glad we made it during the day, but we would not have been happy if we’d had to drive it ourselves after a long flight in.  Our taxi driver gave us a good introduction to the island, and even stopped to let us take some photos.