Resort for a Day

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

According to Wikipedia, Saint Lucia is one of two sovereign states in the world named after a female. The island was first inhabited by the Arawaks. After the arrival of Europeans, control of the island went back and forth between the French and the British around 14 times. Saint Lucia, with a population of around 180,000, is now an independent state and a Commonwealth realm. The residents of the island speak English.

We docked in the capital, Castries. We have been here several times, so we decided to try something different - we got day passes to a resort through an outfit called “Resort for a Day.”

The package included pick-up at the cruise dock (and return), admission to the resort (Bay Gardens Beach Resort), chairs and towels, lunch, 4 drinks, and a choice of either a 20-minute massage or admission to the “water park.” It was all quite nice, and I would go again. The downside was that the resort sold too many day passes. When we arrived, there was a long line checking in and it took us 35 minutes. By the time we got in, all the chairs and all the shade were taken. I believe the majority of the people had booked their passes through some other company. They did not seem to be able to eat in the resort’s restaurant, which was fine with me.

We eventually got two chairs on the beach with a bit of shade. The beach was nice - it was not too crowded, there was a roped off area for wading and swimming, and there was a soft, sandy bottom.

The water park

I chose the massage over the water park. It was good, and I had an interesting conversation with the masseuse about life in Saint Lucia. We talked about schools and jobs. She said a lot of people from Saint Lucia have moved to New York City. 

When I was done with the massage, I found out that a water aerobics class had just started at the pool. I ran over to see what it was like. It seemed very doable, and there were only about five or 6 women in the pool participating, so I quickly entered the pool and had a very enjoyable experience. The instructor was outside the pool, and this made it easy to follow the class.

For our lunch, there was a buffet in a little restaurant by the pool. There were a lot of local foods, and it was fun to try them. The staff was very helpful. We had the first (and only) of our four drinks. They were very strong. There was another couple from our ship there, and the woman passed out from her drink and spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping.

On the way back to the ship I think I left my hat in the taxi. I hate when that happens.

Saint Lucia has two iconic mountains called the Pitons, visible from Soufriere Bay. We were promised a scenic sail-away past the Pitons, but our ship’s departure was delayed. By the time we reached Soufriere Bay, the sun was starting to set.

Right before we re-boarded the ship, I bought a bright blue hat with the Pitons on it to replace the one left in the taxi, so I will be bringing a bit of the Pitons home with me. Look for the new hat in future photos of me. 

One of the Pitons

Back on the ship we had dinner and went to see a comedian by the name of Simon Cotter. We thought we had seen him before, but he had a lot of new jokes and his show was very entertaining.

We forgot to take a photo of tonights towel animal. :(

Today’s fabric is St Lucia, from Fryett’s Fabrics in the UK.