Study . Work . Travel . Blog

Taking in the island of Saint Lucia as part of a Caribbean multi-stop trip, I was blown away by the incredible lush greens of the hilly landscape and the mesmerising waters they dipped in to. Basing myself in the north of the island, the views were spectacular and the perfect white sand beaches heaven.

Breath-Taking Views

Full of deep emerald greens and luscious turquoise seas, St. Lucia will capture the hearts of any traveller as soon as they set foot on the island. Take a paddle in the shallows and you will find some of the clearest waters around, just off the beautiful fine white sand beaches. Taking a ‘short cut’ back from an excursion one day, we got to go down some of the more unbeaten paths. Minibus drives in these parts are not for the faint-hearted, with St. Lucia’s trademark hilly inclines making for a slow and unsteady ascent to roads lined with lush greenery and endless banana trees.

The roads take shaky climbs along the edges of steep drops. But don’t close your eyes, as the views are amazing and give you an insider view on how Saint Lucian’s live their daily lives. From uniformed kids gathering around the mango truck outside of school to brightly coloured homes that seem to float above the stilts on which they are built into the hillside. These drives were one of my favourite parts of the trip as the natural landscape is incredibly beautiful with the homes making for a kaleidoscope of colour nestled into the hills.

Island hopping

Travelling on from Antigua, we took a tiny internal flight on Liat airways into St. Lucia’s smaller airport. You can read all about my Antigua airline antics in my upcoming blog but for now, we’ll stick to the dreamy Saint Lucian part of my trip. Using internal flights, the Caribbean islands are incredibly easy to hop between for a multi-stay with our flight only taking around an hour. St. Lucia’s smaller airport was a lovely tiny place with the luggage carousel taking up half of the arrivals corridor. Just bear in mind if you are travelling into St. Lucia from any of the other Caribbean islands, you will still need to fill in an arrivals form and keep a section of it until you leave the country again.

The People

Always ready to get up and dance even when working, the St. Lucian’s are a beautiful bunch of people who make real friendships with those they meet. In the resorts, they really can’t do enough for you in the most genuine way and will always remember a name. During the trip, I fell over a water villa (ever the graceful one) and needed ice for a massive lump. A few days later, one of the restaurant servers saw me around the resort and came over to check how my leg was doing.

A Must-Try

For those looking for something well out of the ordinary, Zip-lining through the rainforest canopy was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Containing 12 incredible zip lines, the Treetop Adventure Park skims the jungled canopy going at up to 30mph at over 800ft high! Watch out for all of the jungle life on your travels, line 6 even has even had a resident boa constrictor on its lines during a few morning inspections.

Great For…

EVERYONE. One lady in our group was a bit unsteady on her feet and a number were terrified of heights. As long as you can manage a flight of steps at your own pace, they will cater for you and will accompany you on the ride if you are feeling a bit anxious.

Tips for visiting…

• Wear slightly longer shorts as the harness tends to pull on shorter ones.
• Just go for it. Once you get going you will LOVE it!
• Wear a sleeved (short sleeved) top if you have sunburn to stop the harness rubbing but remember not to wear anything too heavy as you are in a tropical rainforest.
• Cover yourself in insect repellant before you go. Particularly if you are prone to bites. You are in the middle of nature, nature means bugs!

I’ll be letting you all know about the rest of my trip in the upcoming blogs with a few handy tips from my travels along to the way, so be sure to check back again soon for more Caribbean loveliness!