Saint Lucia

Jan 16-18
AC1878 YYZ-UVF, BW235 SLU-BGI, AC963 BGI-YUL, AC481 YUL-YYZ

With US travel off the table and a need to escape from winter, it made sense to continue to try out new Caribbean islands. I’d heard good things about Saint Lucia, so although the flights were not cheap, the original flight times worked well for a long weekend. As there was a Hyatt all-inclusive on the island, we ended up with another all-inclusive weekend. This also represented country #118 as we continue to slowly increase our country count.

Jan 17

When we planned the trip, I didn’t expect that we’d be escaping an upcoming blizzard, but when we flew out we knew that Toronto would be hit with a giant snowfall. Luckily, we were able to get out ahead of the the storm with only a short delay for de-icing, but left knowing that we might have some fun getting back. Unfortunately, the main international airport is on the other side of the island from the resort, so after landing we had to navigate through the winding roads, arriving in Marigot Bay just after dark. We settled into the resort for al Fresco dinner and drinks, and after enjoying some time on our patio, made it an early night.

Jan 18

Although we were enjoying the warm weather, we were mindful of the massive snow storm headed to Toronto. We had been confident that with the worst starting on Sunday afternoon, that our plane could get out of Toronto. However, what we didn’t account for was that Air Canada would prefer to leave the plane overnight in Saint Lucia than to take it back to the storm. We were therefore welcomed with an early-morning message that our flights had been cancelled. As is often the case, the default rescheduling options weren’t good, but with a bit of research I got them to reroute us through Barbados and Montreal from the smaller airport on our side of the island. We lost a large portion of our Sunday at the resort, but at least had a better chance of avoiding the worst impacts from the storm.

With our plans adjusted after breakfast, we braved the roads again and headed north towards Castries. Unfortunately, Saturday traffic made it difficult for us to explore the city too much, so we admired the giant cruise ships and accompanying crowds from our car, and continued onto Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island, our furthest destination.

The resort had a number of small bungalows climbing the hillside out of the harbour. Our room was on the lower level of the building on the left.

The harbour was available for anyone to moor and had an impressive variety of vessels

The full property including the higher level bungalows

After climbing the road out of the resort, we can looking back down on Marigot Bay

Rodney Bay, lousy with cruise ships towering over Castries’s downtown

Looking out at Signal Hill on Pigeon Island from the wide causeway that now connects the island

Aptly-named Pigeon Island Causeway Beach, popular with some of the cruise passengers

Inside the national landmark, looking up to Signal Hill

Pavilion structure on the north side of the islands

British Soldier’ Barracks, originally from 1808 and rebuilt in 1824 after a hurricane

Exploring more of the extensive fortification

More of the barracks ruins

Climbing our way to the lookout

Higher fortification on the north side of the island

Looking across Rodney Bay and the lush, hilly terrain

Dense vegetation on the hillside leading up to the fort

Looking across the wide causeway including the Sandals Resort complex

Looking up towards Fort Rodney at the entrance to Rodney Bay

Remains of a US Signal Station from WWII

Well-decorated sign

Another view of Rodney Bay

From the fort looking north towards Signal Hill

More of the lush, rolling mountains across the bay

Causeway Beach bleeding into the Sandals Resort

As we make our way towards the beach, looking back at the south coast of Pigeon Island

Back at Marigot Bay with a little more cloud cover

Back at the resort, we had a late lunch, and then relaxed in our patio next to our plunge pool. After another lovely dinner on the property, we enjoyed the warm evening temperatures from our patio.

Jan 25

With our earlier departure and truncated itinerary, we didn’t have much time on Sunday morning, so stuck close to the property, and after breakfast, headed to the nearby airport at Castries for our flight to Barbados.

Exploring the bay at dawn

After a brief light morning shower, we were rewarded with a rainbow over the bay

Climbing out on our way to Barbados and closer to home

Unfortunately, we could not get Air Canada boarding passes to Montreal when we checked in with Caribbean Airlines, so after landing in Barbados, we had to wait for the Air Canada check in desk to open. Our flight to Montreal left more or less on schedule, and we landed into a snowy and cold Montreal airport, which was operating efficiently — much better than Toronto. We caught our shuttle to the hotel, grabbed a few hours of sleep, and were back at the airport at 4:30 for our 6:00am flight home. Thankfully, Toronto had dug out a little by then, and we were able to navigate home in time for work, as well as to find about 40cm of new snow at our house.