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Winter in the Windies

By Tracey Davies

Is the renowned Caribbean honeymoon destination of St Lucia only good for romantic strolls along moon-drenched beaches, insipid handholding while gazing into sunsets and lingering sun-lotion massages in seas of white sand? On a quest to discover what St Lucia can offer the non loved-up, starry-eyed newlywed, I set off to find out what this island has for the rest of us: the singleton, the family, and the couple long past the honeymoon-phase.

Touching down at Hewannora Airport late on a Friday afternoon, we take the scenic route through the rainforest to Labrelotte Bay on the north-west coast. Arriving at the Five Star Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort & Spa, to me it has a slight air of ‘Kellermans’, the resort in ‘Dirty Dancing’, about it. This place is splendid, dozens of Andalucian white villas dapple an emerald hillside where it’s almost impossible not to have a view of the Caribbean Sea. The distant bass of the ‘Pachanga’ accompanied by the resident cicadas scratching their jumped up tune, only enhances the ‘Dirty Dancing’ vibe.

My home for the week is a villa larger than the average London two-up, two-down and comes with three (3) terraces, private plunge pool, fully-equipped kitchen, walk-in wardrobe, TV and video player, music system, the personal touch of fresh flowers, and iced water in the fridge. Windjammer’s accommodation ranges from luxurious island rooms to even more sumptuous 4400 sq ft estate villas which wouldn’t look out of place in the Hollywood Hills. It’s no wonder that celebrities from both sides of the pond enjoy trips to the resort, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown are rumoured to have just celebrated Christmas here, and don’t be surprised if the odd sporting hero ends up playing an impromptu game of cricket or football on the beach with the kids.

January is St Lucia’s mid-high season so Windjammer’s 219 villas are almost filled to capacity; however it’s lively but in no way overcrowded. My fear of ‘newlyweds’ is unnecessary, the clientele is quite varied with but a sprinkle of starry-eyed lovers. Many couples with babies are in residence, perhaps the next step for ‘newlyweds’? Windjammer enables all to holiday in harmony, as the resort is very family-friendly, with kids’ clubs and nannies for hire.

To relax my body into the Caribbean way of life, I head to the Serenity Spa where serene is the theme. Opting for an Island Embrace Fruit Wrap, I’m cocooned in a compote of exotic fruits and honey. Smelling like my favourite morning smoothie, I lie wrapped as soft new-age chimes wash over me and lull me into a light sleep. It’s a delightful way to spend an hour with the added bonus of my emerging looking younger and healthier.

Small, though this mango-shaped isle is, there is plenty for the more adventurous to do, from biking through the rainforest to wreck-diving in the shadow of the Pitons. This newly awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Piton’s, comprising of Gros Piton and Petit Piton are neck-achingly beautiful. These angular plugs of volcanic magma rise 786 metres and 738 metres, respectively, above sea level, surprisingly Petit Piton is the harder of the two to climb, but Gros Piton is often climbed taking around four and half hours for the round trip. The views are said to be ‘simply spectacular’, but I will have to take the word of the brave for it, as climbing is not recommended if you have any fear of heights, as the sheer drops down to the Caribbean Sea or into the volcano, are not for the faint-hearted.

A slightly less daunting, but no less thrilling trip is a day sail on the Brig Unicorn, the original pirate ship used in Disney’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ which was filmed in the waters around St Lucia and The Grenadines. We set sail at 8.30am with an ‘ooh-argh’ and rum punches to hand, while the familiar crew, who, incidentally, were extras in the film, fly over the rigging as if spinning a web. As we sail around from Rodney Bay in the north, views of the coast unfold before us and we start to see and get a feel for the shape and size of this island. Gliding past slivers of white sandy coves at the foot of dense, verdant rainforest we spot palm-laden beaches with discreet resorts curling around the hillside, dipping their toes into the shallow clear waters. Sailing under the shadow of the Pitons, we arrive at Soufriere, St Lucia’s second capital, a pretty French port with its banana coloured buildings and white picket fences, a sign on the dock reads, ‘No Idlers’ but all I can think is, where better place to idle than here?

We disembark the ‘Brig’, and take the 10 minute drive to the volcano. As we drive into the Sulphur Springs ‘the Worlds only drive-in volcano’, the rotten egg sulphur ‘fragrance’ envelopes us. Our guide, Thomas, entertains us with the history while the steaming, boiling mud pops and spatters behind him, a pungent reminder of how the earth works. On the way back to the ‘Brig’ we stop off for a shower under the Toraille Waterfall, a welcoming refresh from the steamy heat of the day. Lunch is included in the US$90 charge, and is a hearty pirate’s fare of fried plantain, fish, chicken, rice and salad washed down with more rum punch and then off we go to set sail on the high seas once more.

Today brings an early morning visit to the capital Castries’ market with Windjammer’s ‘Caribbean Chef of the Year’ Bobo Bergstrom. If ever Bobo, an enchanting man who used to cook for the Swedish Royal family, left these glorious shores, he would certainly be snapped up for ‘Ready Steady Cook’. Bobo’s tour opens my senses to the colour and fragrance of the Caribbean as fruit & veg trader, Claudia, garbed in the red and green of St Lucia’s national dress, walks us by the essential and indigenous ingredients of Caribbean cooking: yams, sweet potatoes, plantain, breadfruit, and St Lucia’s main export, bananas. As we explore the taste and texture of ‘banana figs’, fat sweet pink bananas, the viscous young jelly coconut, and the sweet and refreshing syrup of a freshly cut sugar cane, Claudia informs us that ‘…years ago, we suck the cane dry and use the fibrous brush to clean our teeth’. While this practice is possibly not endorsed by dentists, who can deny that St Lucian’s appear to have the whitest, brightest smiles in the west. Thirty degree temperatures demand a serious thirst-quencher, and a soursop does the job. With its lemony-lime tang this masquerading mango has a delicious sharpness that makes us wink.

Unaccustomed to Caribbean cuisine, I am delightfully surprised by the ingenuity and calibre of St Lucian food. At Windjammer, Chef Bobo and his team, create some amazing dishes, these are Caribbean at the heart with coconut, coriander, yams and fresh seafood, but occasionally with a European twist, and sometimes a hint of South American flavours. From chocolate & chilli seasoned pork tenderloin, seared scallops with puy lentils to layered parcels of kingfish & lobster, the food is exceptional. The desserts go one step further, as award winning Pastry Chef Gilry Samuel reinvents the pineapple by spicing it up and poaching it with peppercorns, serving it with, an almost addictive, Zabricot (also known as a mammy apple) ice-cream with fresh chilli, the soft, fruity ice lends a delicious buzz which is only slightly reminiscent of licking a battery and is completely unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before.

From Mediterranean-Italian at Papa Don’s with it’s sparkling views of the island of Martinique just 25 miles away, to world fusion cuisine at the Chef’s signature restaurant, Dragonfly, one of the top restaurants on the island. Windjammer caters for all tastes and occasions providing little incentive to leave the resort. If you do wish to take a trip out one evening, I recommend the Coal Pot restaurant to the north of Castries. Their char-grilled lobster drenched in lemon and garlic butter rendered me speechless. This, with a glass of chilled Sancerre, is complemented perfectly by a view of the twinkling bay and the gentle lap of the Caribbean Sea against the deck.

As I am packing to leave, an enormous bumble bee on the terrace catches my eye, I look closer and realise that it’s a hummingbird, barely three inches high with spiky black hair and a fluorescent petrol-blue face, zealously hoovering up blossom like a famished punk Tinkerbell. For me this sums up St Lucia perfectly, a charming, constantly surprising island, with its listerine blue seas, lush green interiors, hand-painted billboards and cheery, kind people. For all that the Caribbean and St Lucia offers to starry-eyed newly-weds, for non-honeymooners, it does not disappoint. As I discovered at the market in Castries, there are no gooseberries on this island.

Information:

The Basics: Tracey Davies stayed courtesy of the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort & Spa, www.windjammer-landing.com. Virgin Holidays offer a week's holiday to the property from £889 per adult and £339 per child (2-11 yrs). Price includes scheduled economy flights with Virgin Atlantic from London Gatwick to St Lucia, 7 nights accommodation in an ocean view room on a room only basis and transfers (based on two sharing.) For details on this holiday please contact Virgin Holidays' reservations department on 0871 2220304 or visit www.virgin.com/holidays.

Coal Pot Restaurant – Vigie Marina 452 5566 www.coalpotrestaurant.com

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