St. Lucia honeymoon pix!!

[ephemery1]

Soooo..... despite all the perfection of Anse Chastanet/Jade Mountain, we had originally reserved 5 days there, then 7 at Ti Kaye (a resort a bit further up the coast of St. Lucia).... so we sadly packed everything up and prepared ourselves to be a BIT disappointed, since certainly nothing could compare to our first 5 days! This was waiting for the cab to take us to Ti Kaye.....

 

[ephemery1]

(OK JCrow, this is the part you''ll appreciate!)

So we got to Ti Kaye, and tried our best to be positive (it had gotten AMAZING reviews on TripAdvisor so we were really hoping for the best!) Everyone was REALLY nice, the bar and restaurant area was very tropical and cute... the room was clean and quaint (albeit a bit rustic)..... but it just wasn''t Anse Chastanet. There were LOUD boats full of people (all St. Lucia beaches are public) zooming around outside, yelling back and forth to each other and revving their motors and tipping people overboard. The beach was small and not overly clean, and every morning you had to drag the beaten-up lounge chairs out yourself, then hope they didn''t run out of umbrellas, which were too small to do much good anyway. Everything was a lot less lush and natural, and a little more broken-down and dried-out... it just seemed like there was zero effort put in. Even the garbage cans were just big metal graffiti-ed tins plopped into the sand, where at Anse Chastanet they were carefully covered in wooden panels and set back so they were almost invisible.

And we were paying $300 a night for our oceanview room w/plunge pool there, which was a decent price for St. Lucia... but Anse Chastanet had standard rooms available for $300 too! So it wasn''t just a "you get what you pay for" thing.

 

[ephemery1]

After 2 days, we decided we really didn''t want to waste the rest of our honeymoon in a place where we weren''t totally happy... so we called Anse Chastanet to see if they had any rooms available (they had been full when we left). She said they could put us in a Hillside Deluxe room, which was where we''d originally planned to stay before getting upgraded... and when I told her we were a bit worried about the money, she gave it to us for $300 a night... half-price!

So the very next day... we headed right back down the coast, and this was our new room...

 

[ephemery1]

We actually had a tree growing right out of the middle of our room! And when we opened all the doors, it was entirely open-air again, which was nice since there''s not much air-conditioning in St. Lucia...

 

[ephemery1]

This was the view from our new room.... not quite as spectacular as Jade Mountain, but we were MORE than happy at that point.

 

[ephemery1]

Mostly happy because.... I had my beloved cous-cous hut back again!!

 

[ephemery1]

So we spent another blissful 5 days in the sun, eating yummy meals each night (they had a really good Indian restaurant in addition to their main one.... plus we went up to the famed Dasheene restaurant at Ladera twice... SOOOO good!!! DH wants to go back JUST because of Dasheene... haha)

This was me pouting about having to say goodbye to my hut... and the beautiful island itself..... but 11 days away from home (and my kitty cat) can be exhausting even when you''re in the most relaxing place in the world, so I was happy to be heading back home to settle into our new married life!!

 

[jcrow]

intersting! very.
i hadn''t thought of calling ladera to make a switch, but we only stayed at ti kaye a couple of nights. most of our time was at ladera. thank goodness. you were spot on about my feelings about ti kaye. and i couldn''t believe it after all the research and good reviews and happy knotties and all.

that''s really good to hear about A.Chast. i couldn''t believe anything could beat ladera, but it sounds like AChast is outstanding as well.

how was your cab ride to the two resorts? how did yall get to dasheene? cab ride? we thought the food was yummy there too!

 

[AmantdeChat]

Good lord! That island is gorgeous!!! The perfect place for an anniversary trip. (Must start plotting ways to get hubby to agree) Actually, that won''t be hard at all. He keeps working to make our new house feel like Antigua (where we got married) so it shouldn''t be too hard to talk him into St Lucia!!!

Great pics ephemery1! The first resort looks perfect and you two definitely look happier at it!

Congrats on your wedding, by the way!

 

[lovelylulu]

ephermery

your pictures are incredible! it takes me right back to my own honeymoon. the sunrises, sunsets, delightful drinks

. it sounds like you and your hubby had a sublime vacation. best luck on settling into married life!!

hee hee, i''m totally writing down the name to that place.

 

[sumbride]

Those are amazing! Wow, what a special honeymoon!!! Now I''m kind of wishing I could have talked FI into staying in the south part of St. Lucia. His heart is stuck on Sandals, so Sandals we will go, but... whine....

 

[KimberlyH]

Wow, eph, absolutely fabulous...thanks for sharing!

 

[Skippy123]

oh my goodness, that looks like heaven!!! I wanna go now.

 

[Harriet]

Wow! I''m guessing that you''d unequivocally recommend Jade Mountain then?

 

[Gypsy]

Heaven must look like that. WOW. What an amazing honeymoon treat!! YAY for you guys! That''s great!

 

[Fancy605]

Oh, ephemery, everything looks, so beautiful! I bet it was just lovely. St. Lucia was one of my top choices for where to go, and I looked into Jade Mt, but it seemed to be out of my budget (maybe someday!) Thank you for sharing your gorgeous photos!

 

[Blenheim]

Oh, it looks so amazingly beautiful! Hubby and I are going on a belated honeymoon to Anse Chastanet, so I was especially interested in hearing your reviews. I can''t wait, and I hope that we get upgraded too! Heehee.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Absolutely FABULOUS- what great scenery!
Now that''s my kind of honeymoon- relaxing on the beach under your own hut and enjoying yummy drinks.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[gailrmv]

wow, thanks so much for sharing your pix. It looks like an amazing place and I''m so glad you enjoyed your honeymoon!

 

[fabcrab]

Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful pics. You guys make such a good looking couple!!! Congratulations!!

 

[dani13]

WOW, Eph, how cute are you guys????? I am so glad you enjoyed your hm- looks like it is an amazing place! Congrats again!!!

 

[TravelingGal]

Eph, I peeked at these a few days ago and have been meaning to say thanks for posting them! (I''ve been kind of lazy with my PS posting lately). You guys are so cute and the honeymoon looked fab!

But did I miss something? Where are the wedding photos? (I''m greedy, I know...)

Congrats Ephemery!!!!