A Tropical Anniversary

by Sally Branston

Unfortunately, due unavoidable circumstances, we didn't discover that our holiday had been cancelled until after our return to the UK right at the end of July. So, what to do? We'd already ruled out half the world as being too hot; too wet; too unstable; too familiar or not special enough for celebrating our Silver Wedding anniversary, and the combination of a week's sightseeing in Sri Lanka, followed by a week's swimming and sunbathing in the Maldives had seemed perfect. There was also the added complication of wanting to be in our chosen resort on the day of our anniversary, September 4, but needing to be back in time for my husband to take up a new post on September 10.

View from the hotel

So, not an easy problem to resolve at short notice in August and in the end, we settled for a week in St Lucia, at the Rendezvous Hotel on the outskirts of Castries, arriving home at 0630 on the very morning of the new job - not ideal and a long way to go for just a week. However, beggars can't be choosers and in fact, after our arrival, we discovered we'd really fallen on our feet. If there's anyone out there looking for a hotel in which to get married or celebrate a landmark anniversary, we can really recommend this one.

This was the first time we'd been on an all inclusive package holiday and we were a bit wary, being sure that a lot of "extras" would appear on the final bill. But there were no rip-offs on this trip. The only things we paid for at the end of the week were a bottle of wine we'd had from the wine list rather than the free wines on offer at every meal, and a substantial packed lunch (with wine) we'd ordered to take out one day. And we didn't really need to have spent on these two items as the free table wine was excellent (and there was a choice) and there was always food on offer at all hours of the day, so we could have skipped lunch altogether and come back and scoffed sandwiches and cake at teatime.

Included in the holiday were the services of the registrar and a very nice hotel employee who took photographs of us renewing our vows on the beach under a hibiscus archway; champagne after the ceremony; more champagne in our room later; a fruit basket; flower arrangement; cocktails with the assistant manager and two other couples who'd just got married; manager's cocktail party and a special celebration dinner in the hotel's a la carte restaurant. Food was plentiful and generally very good, and there was plenty to drink (free) at all hours of the day, including a swim-up bar in one of the pools. Interestingly enough, with all this alcohol on sale, the mostly British clientele was very well behaved, perhaps because it was a "couples only" hotel, the average age of the guests being late twenties.

There were also lots of activities on offer, rather in the manner of a traditional holiday camp, so we could have tried our hand at beach volleyball, archery, aerobics, sub aqua, water-skiing, taken swimming lessons or joined in the competition to mix the cocktail of the week. Only being there for a week, though, and wanting to spend most of our time on the beach or in the pool, we didn't have time to try any of these out and being hit quite hard by jet lag in the first few days, nor did we test the claim that the piano bar "only closes when the last guest leaves".

The Pitons

We took one excursion to go whale watching and had a hire car for two days. The boat trip was quite pleasant, but we only saw a few dolphins and some pilot whales who popped up very briefly and disappeared as soon as they saw us. The hire car was quite useful, as there are only two main roads down the length of St Lucia and the coastal route, which gives good views, including the island's landmark Pitons, is very twisty. So, for those of us prone to motion sickness, it was much better to have the freedom to stop frequently than to be on an excursion bus. However, being unaccompanied, you are much more at the mercy of unscrupulous locals, although I gather it's not as bad as Jamaica.

If you're not involved in some official capacity in tourism or agriculture on St Lucia, I don't suppose there's much to do, but some of the local young men can be quite aggressive in demanding money to give you directions, whether you want them or not, or to act as your guide or sell you a necklace you don't want, to the extent that it makes us Brits feel very uncomfortable. We got stuck with one such guide at the Diamond Botanical Gardens and yet if we hadn't accepted his services, we'd have had to leave our car at the mercy of him and his friends in an unattended car park, so it was a difficult dilemma. The gardens were very beautiful and a photographer's dream, but we were rushed round by our "guide" and then he demanded quite a lot of money "with menaces" as a tip afterwards. I could see why some people take these all-inclusive holidays and never bother to venture outside their hotel, and I think you need longer than a week to get a feel for these situations and how best to handle them.

Torch Ginger

But the true beauty of St Lucia, particularly for gardening enthusiasts, lies in its vegetation. Much of the island is covered with banana plantations and you can see mangoes, coconuts, gourds and cocoa pods growing. Every tropical houseplant you've ever seen in a garden centre grows outside there and if you look closely, you'll see them being visited by hummingbirds. Amongst others, we saw dracaena, crotons, bougainvillea, strelitzia, dicksonia, hibiscus, bromeiads, chenille plant, anthurium, ornamental bananas and ginger, many of which were growing in the hotel gardens. One word of warning, though, you should keep a look out for the highly poisonous manchineel trees. There were some of these in the hotel grounds as well and they are so poisonous that you can't even touch any part of the tree. Apparently it's so dangerous that you shouldn't shelter under one if it rains, as the water running off can cause burns. It did rain, too, whilst we were there - great torrential downpours, lasting a few minutes and no real inconvenience at all.

But I think one of the strongest memories I retain of St Lucia is the great night-time cacophony of the tree frogs. These tiny creatures make an enormous noise in inverse proportion to their size. I couldn't believe how small they were. And where do they go in the daytime? The noise is terrific and makes the warm, dark nights seem very tropical.

We barely had time to scratch the surface of St Lucia on this brief visit, but I can highly recommend it to anyone in search of a tropical paradise. And our experience of an all-inclusive package holiday was highly favourable as well. Full marks to St Lucia.

First published in VISA issue 45 (spring 2002)