Visitors

It is now nearing the end of October and we have just said goodbye to our first house guest, the unique and adventurous Lucy. Lucy and I have been friends for over 20 years since we met at NCT coffee mornings with our babies, Sam and Fabian. Our 2 weeks together was uplifting girlfriend time of fun, laughter, putting the world to rights and having adventures making special memories.

The airport shuttle bus was due to arrive at the Bay Gardens Hotel around 4 pm so we had arranged to meet in the bar, where else? I had also arranged to meet Coletta from work who was staying there for the night with her daughter, cousin and cousin’s daughter for a birthday treat for the cousin. It was great to meet her outside work, and meet some of her family, and we had time for a very quick catch up before the bus arrived a bit ahead of schedule. Lucy bounced off the bus with the biggest grin, already in love with St Lucia, it’s heat and it’s shacks. ‘Shack heaven’, she called it. For those of you who don’t, sadly, know Lucy, she has a quirky wooden shack on Forelands beach fully fitted with sofa’s, mix and match kitchen, wood-burner, 50s stove and everything you need for beach-life and parties. She has also recently built her own wooden ‘little house’ in her garden, a real gem with stained glass window, Moroccan tiles, shower and eclectic furniture, so she is something of an expert in small wooden homes. The colourful and individual wood-built houses of St Lucia are gorgeous and Lucy loved them every one.

After a quick refresh at our house, we headed down to the beach to show Lucy the lie of the land and ended up in time to watch the sunset at the Yacht Club with a rum punch. I warned her to only have one and told her the tale of my two that almost finished me off shortly after my arrival! Of course, she didn’t listen to me….Half way through her second, she looked at me quizzically and laughed, ‘Its funny, Allie, I can see two of you! ‘Uh, oh!! After a couple more sips she decided it was time to go and I had to gently guide her home, with a lot of girly giggling from us both.

The next morning was a slow start for Lucy…..but I wanted to head to the beach so took myself off to swim and sunbathe before it got too hot (32 degrees). As I was lying there watching the waves, thinking very little, I heard a voice say, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ This is not the local chat up line, but is usually someone trying to sell you some trinket or other because they think you are a tourist with money to spend, so I smiled politely at the cute guy approaching me and prepared my usual retort along the lines of, ‘no thanks, I live here’. He offered me a fist pump, so being a cool dude, I reciprocated as he asked with a flourish, ‘You want any marijuana today?’ I was strangely flattered that he thought I looked like the kind of hippy older bird that might live a little on the reckless side, but I had to disappoint him, as he nodded a goodbye and sashayed down the beach.

A little later, Anthony and Lucy joined me and we had a delicious light lunch in Spinnakers, to properly welcome Lucy to Rodney Bay, then whiled away the afternoon on the beach.

The next day was Monday, so back to work for me and Anthony left for 2 weeks in the UK. Lucy, always intrepid, took to exploring the area each day and generally chilling on the beach. By the end of the week, she had discovered places I still hadn’t been to and was on first name terms with some of the locals. She had climbed the mountain and met the rather gorgeous ‘segway man’ up there. He told her how to get to the top of the mountain, about the buried pirate treasure in the trees behind the next cove, that has still never been found, and about the pond where the hundreds of little fish nibble your feet for free.

The following weekend was to be a long weekend for me, as the Monday was a national holiday, Thanksgiving Day. It was also Lucy’s birthday on 6th so we had booked a car to go to Soufriere and Lucy had found a place to stay on Booking.com. We picked the car up on the Saturday afternoon and had a drive around the area. I had wanted to check out the Naked Fisherman beach bar and restaurant and we set straight off for the north of the island. We found it easily and walked down to Smugglers Cove for an early evening drink. We found a beautiful cove and a charming beach bar, which is now on the agenda for a long lunch before we go. We then drove to Calabash Cove to watch the sunset, but were a tad late, so had a twilight swim there and a pre birthday rum punch, which Lucy and I have decided is the best rum punch of the lot.

We set off early on Lucy’s birthday after a quick breakfast and headed to the mud baths first. We had a relaxing soak, a few laughs and, obviously, looked 10 years younger afterwards. We then decided to head for the Fond Doux Estate. What a beautiful place and wonderful time we had there. It is a cocoa plantation with a rich history, and we did the full guided tour with the buffet lunch, an incredible spread of local dishes made with veg and fruit which they grow on the estate. We had 45 minutes to wait for our tour, so we walked up a little used path to the top of a ridge overlooking Petit Piton where the Brigands had a lookout. The Brigands were a band of escaped slaves and deserted French soldiers who fought off the British army for quite a while, living rough in the mountains. (They sound a rather rough but romantically gallant bunch).  The lookout was a brilliant vantage point, with a real atmosphere, and we were treated to the company of 2 hummingbirds for a few minutes. They were only a few feet above us and flew around our heads as if posing or wishing Lucy ‘Happy Birthday’. In the photos below you can see the blur of their wings ‘humming’ and just catch the curve of a long beak.

The tour of the estate showed us the old plantation house complete with a row of old rocking chairs on the veranda, the cocoa trees and many other fruits and spices, including a cinnamon tree we had some fresh bark cut from for us, the aroma was incredible! We saw the raised veg beds made of bamboo, we found fresh nutmeg from the nutmeg tree, picked and ate a Indian almonds and picked and ate a starfruit. We picked a fresh cocoa pod and tasted it’s fruit. The beans are within a soft fruity pulp that you can suck and chew off the beans, quite tasty and who would have ever known?! We saw how the beans are dried on racks for 3 weeks and then mixed with a sticky ‘glue’ made from the pulp of the pods. They are then put in a large metal bin and a man mixes them with the glue with his feet doing a strange dance! This, we were told, was the traditional method. They are then dried for another 2 weeks before being ground into cocoa powder that we would recognise. The dried beans, which of course we got to sample, really taste of dark chocolate, quite yummy!

Our lunch consisted of so many different dishes that I find it hard to describe the range of tastes and colour, fragrances and delights, let alone the names of them all, but to name a few: breadfruit croquettes (incredible), cristophine au gratin (google it! I had no idea either till I had seen it in the supermarket), plantain, green figs, breadfruit salad, saltfish, pumpkin in a simply gorgeous sauce, rice and beans and many, many more. Of course, we only had a little of each, a rum punch and a beautiful desert of local carrot cake fragranced with spices (more of a delicate sponge pudding than our British carrot cake) and home made berry ice cream. We then decided to drive to find our BnB, and here the next adventure begins!

We found Villas des Pitons quite easily, parked and went in to investigate. An obvious reception office was shut with a chain and padlock….hmmm….a bit strange, we thought! We headed upstairs to the restaurant area which very odd. A weird model/statue of the top half of a man stood(sat? who can tell?) on an old sideboard, old tables with chairs upturned on top, a low pond-like pool, only a few inches deep with a few exotic pot plants around it and a serving area all grubby and dusty. We called out and went up a few staircases, finding a small plunge pool (not too bad), some loos, and stairs to the rooms, not very smart. Not a soul in sight, a strange vibe and all dirty and dusty with dust-balls blowing around like the Marie Celeste. Neither of us felt as if we wanted to stay there, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt, that they were out buying our breakfast provisions and were about to do a full spruce up, after all we were nearly an hour earlier than we had said. The only cool thing was a Harley Davidson parked near the entrance, framed perfectly with Petit Piton behind it, as if staged for a photo shoot.

So, we drove to beautiful Anse Chastanet beach, for an hour or two, a 2k drive up a largely unmade road over the mountain to the north of Soufriere. It did not disappoint! Not only was it a beautiful beach, in another magical setting, the snorkeling was amazing. Lucy has been lucky enough to snorkel in the Red Sea and reckons this tops it. We saw squid, gorgeous large blue fish with carp-like scales and goofy teeth, 3ft long thin silvery fish, we swam through shoals of silver fish, saw angle fish, neons and more colourful fish than we could imagine, around huge fan corals. All this within a short swim from the beach.

On our return to Villas des Pitons, nothing had changed…..still not a soul in sight, so, not without a little relief, we decided we were not going to be staying there. I had been to the beautiful Stonefield Estate with Anthony on our previous visit and told Lucy that, as it was her birthday, we should just blow the budget and go there. She didn’t take much persuading. Now one thing I have not mentioned yet is that by now 3 people had asked us if we were sisters, so I suggested that I tell them it was my sister’s birthday and we had found the Villas derelict and needed a bed for the night, to get a good rate. It worked and we got an upgrade and the locals’ rate!! We couldn’t believe our luck when we saw out suite and spent the rest of the evening laughing with delight as we used our private pool, swanned about in our white robes with a glass of wine and nibbles we had brought with us, showered in the his & hers….or hers & hers….showers. It was a tad expensive for us both but we are so worth it. We both work bloody hard, manage our money carefully to make ends meet most of the time and don’t spoil ourselves nearly enough, so now we did… and did not feel a blind bit of guilt! See how gorgeous it was for yourselves….

The next day, we had coffee overlooking the Caribbean sea and Petit Piton as we relished our surroundings. We had until midday and intended to savour every moment. We went to the Mango Tree restaurant for a perfect breakfast of local fruit, followed by a choice of eggs with a choice of accompaniments, then a selection of local breads and jams all washed down with tea or coffee and local freshly squeezed juice. Then back to sunbathe and swim before our departure. We found out that as guests of Stonefield Estate, we had access to Sugar Beach, the beautiful bay between the Pitons, so when we checked out we headed down there. We were sad to leave paradise but so thrilled that we had stayed there, it was worth every hard earned penny!

Sugar Bay was beautiful but was more touristy and flashy than other bays we had visited, however, the snorkeling turned out to be every bit as good as Anse Chastanet the day before. It was designated as a Marine Reserve and a reef follows the contours of Petit Piton on the north, and underwater, to the south, you can see the reef and rocks drop away into an inky jade blackness as it plunges to a depth greater than the height of the pitons above water. It did look tempting and made me wish I could hold my breath and just swim on down to see what mysteries lie beneath…treasure….skeletons of Brigands….rare sea-life…….? In the shallower waters, unusual corals formed tall Grecian like pots that colourful, and often large, fish swam. The pirate ship in the photo is The Pearl, not from the film, but a local tourist vessel, pumping out loud calypso and soul beats as it ferries hoards around the seas. It still looks quite atmospheric from a distance though!

We soon had to head homeward after the most magical and memorable couple of days. I think Lucy enjoyed her birthday. It wasn’t over yet, though. On the following Saturday, Lucy joined me on a ladies’ walk. We got a lift at 6.15am as usual and met up at the Sandals golf club in Cap Estate on the northern hills. We then walked up over a hill to an Atlantic beach. In the photo below you can just make out Martinique in the distance. The path down to the sea was too overgrown for us to attempt it, so we headed back up the hill and around the hills, along roads and tracks, until we returned to the cars. Sue had kindly offered an easy breakfast back at hers, so a short drive took us to her beautiful maison with the most stunning views south over St Lucia. From her living rooms you can see both pitons in the distance and have the best view of Rodney Bay you could imagine. And the breakfast was not at all simple! We had smoked salmon and anchovies, eggs, banana bread, fruit, cheeses, rolls, jams, juices, coffee and, as it happens, birthday cake and prosecco! It was Dagmar’s birthday on 4th, Lucy’s on 6th and Jo’s on 7th so a triple celebration. Of course, they hadn’t known in advance that it was Lucy’s birthday but we all sang her ‘Happy Birthday’ too, and she got to cut the cake.

And that still isn’t the end of our adventures! The following day, Lucy’s last, we headed to Pigeon Island, a first for us both. Owned by the St Lucia National Trust, I have now joined as a member. It has a chequered history of Arawak Indians, pirates, British and, briefly, French Army occupation and was rented for 40 years by the indomitable Josset Leigh. This legendary British lady rented it from the British Government, built a house and a beach restaurant, Jambe de Bois (Wooden Leg) after the pirate who lived on the island. Apparently she was renowned not only on St Lucia and across the Caribbean, but worldwide for her hospitality and the welcome in her establishment. She came there at 49 and left, after a brief interval, 40 years later at 89 to return to the UK where she died aged 90 the following year. The year after that her house was destroyed in the 1980 hurricane. What a gal she must have been and I want to find out more about her story, but that will be another tale to tell…. Jambe de Bois is still there and was a great find. It houses local art, which is beautiful, has a great range of furniture made from drift wood and reclaimed ships timbers, some, I am sure that used to belong to Josset, and a delicious menu. After Lucy and I had walked through Gros Islet, along the beaches to the island, then up to the fort and along the ridge to the highest point overlooking Martinique, we were very happy to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach, swimming and lunching at Jambe. We finished the trip with a tour of the old army buildings and found a police phone box that we fully expected Dr Who to spring from. What a fortnight us girls had!! Sadly, Lucy had to leave the next day, vowing to return soon, or maybe move here herself? I will miss her and her vibrancy but that day my beloved returned to St Lucia, so I wasn’t lonely for long.