Carribean Dreamin' - St. Lucia Vacation

tonyb · Thu Nov 29, 07 10:10 am **Carribean Dreamin' - St. Lucia Vacation**

Hey everybody, finally getting a chance to catch up from our trip to St. Lucia over the Thanksgiving holiday and thought I'd throw in a few pictures and give a quick travel report.

Yes, we left wind (SPI) to find wind but it was time to use up some credit card air-miles and the Thanksgiving holiday gave us a break from our clients. We went from Wed 11/21 through Wed. 11/28. Not ideal but it worked. We flew from McAllen (90 minutes from SPI), to Dallas, to Miami, to San Juan, to St. Lucia. Took all freakin' day! We left the house at 3:15 a.m. and arrived in St. Lucia at 11:30 that night. And then had a one hour taxi ride to other end of the island. Going home was a bit easier as we went non-stop from San Juan to Dallas.

St. Lucia is 13 miles wide and 28 miles long with an airport at each end. Of course when we booked the trip using up free miles we had to go to the airport farthest away from where we were staying. But the taxis are nice roomy vans and the road is well lit and in good condition. $65.00 got us and our gear to other side of the island and allowed us a nap at the end of the day.

Jimmi told us to check out The Reef Kite & Surf for lodging so we chose it and stayed in a little guest house about 75 yards from the beach. Nothing fancy (no A/C, no hot water), but the rooms are clean and cozy and this is the only place right at kite beach. The nearest place after The Reef is Coconut Bay and it is about a 20 to 25 minute walk around the bay or a 5 minute Taxi ride away. Coconut Bay is a very fancy all inclusive resort with a great bar and excellent live music in the evenings. I don't know the prices but I'm sure it was a helluva lot more than The Reef. The Reef also has a very nice Bar/Restaurant on site and the staff their took great care of us all week. (Shout out to Andrena, Shelly, Tracy and Miss Leona!) The food is excellent with fruit, eggs and salad for breakfast, fresh fish and salads every night, fruit smoothies and milk shakes during the day. They even made us some stuff that wasn't on the menu!

The bay for kiting in is just below the point at the tip of the airport runway and extends for about 3/4 of mile down to the south. There are two small islands on the outer edge of the bay that have some killer wave break around them but you can't get to it on a kite as the wind shadow shuts you down just as you get to the line. It sounds like you can work the waves a little when the wind blows from due east but even then it's not ideal. When it's really windy the bay gets pretty choppy as the swells come in from the north and bend around the islands from the east.

Most of the time we were there the wind was side to side on, about 20 mph. The lightest day was about 15, the windiest about 28. I rode my 10m most of the time and Carol rode her 7. It sounds like it is usually on the lighter side with the most common kite size being an 11 or 12 through the main part of their season. (winter time). The bay is a good spot for beginners with the side shore wind and then a curving beach to the south that acts as a catchers mitt if anything goes wrong. No coral, no rocks, no jelly fish or stingrays, just lots of blue water and sand.

For 3 out of our 6 days kiting Carol and I were the only ones on the water and had the entire bay to ourselves. On the other 3 days we were joined by a couple of the locals (Frank, Dave, Ollie, & Rachel) and ran into Brad and Pete Coley (and family) from Manhattan. We were able to kite from early morning to after sunset a couple of days and could have done more if work hadn't intruded.

For scenery, laid back atmosphere, warm water and steady winds I'd give it an 8 out of 10. If rating just the kiting conditions I'd go with a 6 or 7. The lack of real waves to play in and choppy water conditions keep me from scoring it higher. SPI isn't nearly as pretty but the choice of butter flat water for working on tricks and killer down wind wave sessions make it hard to beat as a kite destination.

All in all a very quiet, secluded spot to relax at. Not as much night life as Caberete, and no booming kite scene like Maui but the water was warm, the wind was steady, the people were great, and the rum was good.

Tony

Rollo Tomasi · Since 17 Mar 2005 983 Posts Attractive

That looks awesome Tony.
You guys live the good life!

tonyb · Thu Nov 29, 07 10:20 am

One last batch of photo's for now then I'm back to work!

Kataku2k3 · Since 14 Aug 2005 3754 Posts PDX-LA Videographer

Great shots! Looks like fun, Tony! Thumb's Up

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

Looks like a fun trip.

Kraemer · Since 24 Apr 2006 1736 Posts Sky Pilot Unicorn Captain

Nice! Can't wait to get back there. So many places--so little time.

tinyE · Since 21 Jan 2006 2004 Posts not really an XTreme Poster

how do you like the nemi?

tonyb · Thu Nov 29, 07 1:40 pm

overall... Very Happy

really liking them - quick turning, great for jumping, incredible hang time, solid pull unhooked. (says the newbie to unhooking). They really shine at the upper end of their ranges. The biggest endorsement is probably from Carol - she never cared for the Waroo's; always liked her old Nemesis and Fuel C kites better. But she's loving the new Nemi.

Bettyboarder · Thu Nov 29, 07 4:31 pm

Sweet picts - what a awesome trip.

boardrider · Since 05 Apr 2006 1034 Posts Ventura, CA XTreme Poster

Nice pics as always ! Thx for postin - C

shastadogs2 · Since 28 Mar 2005 336 Posts Obsessed

looks like you guys had a good time. did y'all drink a few pitons (local brew.)? st lucia is so untouched as a destination, those reef huts are like 60 bucks a night and right at the lauch-cool!

thanks for the pics tony and C.

tonyb · Sat Dec 01, 07 7:27 pm

Hey Jimmi!

Yeah, drank few Pitons and showed Shelly how to make banana ameretto smoothies. Really nice people there and a very nice vibe to the place. Thanks for the info and suggestion on where to stay. We really enjoyed it.

Tony