The Macon Moon – Part I

I’m finally back! They don’t tell you how long it takes to recover from having such a spectacular vacation. Going back to work literally hurt for an entire week. Anyways, enough of my wining and onto the good stuff. I had to split our trip into three blogs due to the amount of information and pictures we had. It still doesn’t cover everything but we shared some of our favorites. We had way to much fun to pay attention to menu items so I posted pictures but no further details.

We honeymooned in Saint Lucia which is a part of the West Indies. Our home away from home was at the beautiful Sandals Regency La Toc Resort. If you are not aware, Sandals are all-inclusive resorts. We had the luxury of having three on the island so we had access to all of them which meant three beaches, twenty seven restaurants, and more. We were told by a few of the employees this one was the best of the three. They proceeded to brag about it’s scenery, larger beach areas, and that it was the largest Sandals on the island. Which explains why we didn’t cover the entire grounds during our stay. We confirmed this information later when we visited the Sandals Grand for the day. The Sandals Halcyon was the smallest of the three but still beautiful. We didn’t make it to that one this go round.

We departed on our shuttle at 3:30am on Friday, July 7th for our 6:00am connecting flight to Atlanta.  We flew Delta in which we were both pleased. The flights were comfortable and the staff was great. We met some really nice people. Total our flight was about 6 hours. I can’t speak for anyone else, but anything past 3-4 hours is a long flight. I just continued to find little things to do here and there (watch movies, eat, read books, have conversation with the nice people next to us). If I wanted to get to Saint Lucia I had to figure something out. Upon arrival we went through security, customs, and all that fun stuff. We were then escorted to a room where we were offered drinks and snacks which was nice after a long flight. We had a private driver for our ride to the resort which was an hour long. It was a good hour though. He was very informative of the island and the scenery spoke for itself. Though we had an hour drive I was itching to get out and photograph everything we passed. I guess he could sense that as I kept yelling “let me out , let me out”…Lol! We passed an abundance of banana and mango trees, cows, dogs, etc.

Once we arrived, they greeted us with these heavenly clothes filled with scents of lemon grass and other soothing scents. We checked in, they took our bags to the room and we met them there.  The lushness and colors were something you couldn’t help but to admire. We are always so appreciative of greenery and land more so because if there is any land back home, they build something on it. It was a refreshing change. One we were excited to look at for the next six days.

We wanted to give credit to some of the people who made sure we were taken care of every day from the lobby. McKere and Kerry…just awesome!

Friday, July 7th

One thing we noticed immediately were the wild exotic cats laying around or passing by. That orange one you see did nothing but lay around the entire time. It was evident by his size that he didn’t care to run around with the others. Our room was in the Sunset Bluff Village (Pitons Oceanview with Private Sundeck ). The journey to get to it each day ensured we lost whatever calories we put on while out and about. The room was adorable, small, but more importantly, clean, comfortable, cute…and that view!!! It was such a blessing to open our eyes to that glorious view in the mornings.  I have to give credit to whoever took the room pictures because we completely forgot to take any. The pictures are straight from the website but we can confirm it looked identical to what you see here. After we got ourselves situated, off we went to explore. We were definitely in a prime location. There were two restaurants within walking distance, we could see those, the beach, and the pool from our deck and the main lobby wasn’t much of a walk either. How much more spoiled could we have been?

On our first night we got word there was a street party at 6:30 that we didn’t’ need to miss. Unfortunately, it rained, nothing major, but enough to have to move the event inside to the Pavilion that overlooks the pool/beach area. I know, terrible right? The buffet was filled with yummy goodness. There was a stage for the reggae artists who performed…..they were wonderful! There was a fire performance directly following dinner with crowd participation of course. It was hilarious! We had such a good time on our first day here.

Saturday, July 8th – The next morning we wanted to take advantage of the beach. It was never crowded and the color of the water was mesmerizing. It was the perfect temperature and the cool breeze and softness of the sand was captivating. Neither of us went to far in as we noticed how intense the waves were. Even standing up to our knees they had potential to somewhat knock us over. On the other side of the beach in front of the Pavillion the water was calmer…but I liked out side better. There were these trees that we thought were growing baby mango’s. We found out later from one of the locals that they were almonds. Ernest was his name. We saw him sitting under one of the trees with two of his beautiful kids. We introduced ourselves. He told us a little about himself and the island and how it functions and what the people who live there on a daily basis go through. He told us he had 7 kids and did everything he had to do to support his family every day. With that we purchased a couple items from him. After explaining to us about the almond trees, he picked one up and cracked it open with ease for us to eat. Super fresh of course! He told us that he would make us a treat if we would be there long enough called almond brittle. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience that but we said we would try to make some back home. We knew it wouldn’t be the same but it sounded oh so good! We thanked Ernest for being so real and giving us the 101 on St. Lucia.

Another something we saw everywhere we went were lizards. They were  lurking everywhere. They were kind of cute as long as they didn’t touch me! What’s nice about the Sandals resorts is they have photographers who photograph you on the grounds and during your excursions. I think that’s a great something to offer for those who are unable to do so. To purchase your photos is kind of pricey but might be worth it if you can’t get pictures otherwise. Meaning, we purchased 6 pictures total for $100. They provide you with a disk and all the rights for editing purposes.

After our mini photo session and soaking up all that sun, we needed to eat. Neptunes was a few steps away so we ate there. We both ordered pina colada’s. They were some of the best I had ever had. This is when you know your on a good vacation because I can’t remember what that is we ordered, but there is a picture of both dishes below. We were lucky to know what day it was most of the time. The two cats you see laying under our chairs were our lunch guests. I must say they were pretty smart as they following the servers around with the trays of food. Once they see them serve someone they know that’s their meal ticket. We gave them a fry or two. One of them clearly lost a fight along with his poor ear.  They don’t bother you otherwise and I’m sure they help keep other pesky insects and other things away. Time for a nice nap…

St. Lucia Lover’s Rock Sunset Cruise  – We wanted a day or two to lounge around and just be before we started our excursions. After a nice nap, we signed up for the sunset cruise which began at 5pm. They offered a couple different sunset cruise options, but we were glad we chose this one. We road from the resort to the Castries area to board our Catamaran. Drinks and appetizers were provided. It was more food than expected. Off to our first destination…Marigot Bay. It was Beautiful! The tone of this cruise is very romantic. They even had a saxophonist who played any song upon request. The music played was perfect the entire time as we sailed off into the sunset. Gotta love the pic below or Brandon A.K.A…..Michael Jackson. Lol!

After the boat ride we completed our night with dinner at Armando’s. We had breakfast here this morning. We appreciated the fact that they offered an appetizer buffet while you waited for your food. It was larger than what you see in pic, but they have some tasty options. Pay no mind to me and my faces. I can’t always control them…it’s what happens when I get hungry. Lol! For dessert we had a pear, almond, chocolate dessert. Delightful!

The Macon Moon – Part II, Part III

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