What can I say about St. Lucia other than it is an absolutely stunning island. There is probably no other island in the Caribbean that has the same combination of lush foliage and picturesque beaches that St. Lucia offers. In the past I’ve been all over the island in the rain forests, the drive in volcano and a local fishing village or two but keeping with the theme of this cruise Reduit beach is where I would spend the day.
Reduit beach doesn’t have the turquoise blue waters we all love to see, the water isn’t teaming with thousands of brightly colored fish, the sand isn’t snow white or soft as talcum powder, but who cares Reduit beach just feels right. The combination of aesthetic beauty and local flavor for some reason makes me feel extremely comfortable here. In fact if I were to make a top 10 list of my favorite beaches Reduit would most certainly find a home there.
Maybe I’m just lucky but in my opinion St. Lucia has the most polite vendors I have ever met. Over the course of five or six hours I was approached probably a dozen times but every single vendor immediately took no as an answer, thanked me for my time and went on their way. The only vendors who repeatedly solicited us were those selling cold beers for two dollars a bottle, a service that was greatly appreciated.
For lunch we went over to Spinnaker’s Beach bar which lies at one end of the beach. Just like many other Caribbean beach restaurants this is an open air establishment. What this usually means is occasionally you have visitors. This time I had the pleasure of having lunch with a stray kitty cat that happened to be sleeping underneath a table. Normally something like this would probably freak me out but in the Caribbean it is just par for the course, not to mention pretty darn cute.
Another custom in the Caribbean is slow service, and Spinnaker’s was definitely on island time. I ordered the stuffed sole and she ordered fried shrimp. Both of our meals tasted great but the time between us ordering and receiving our food was a bit too much for my liking. However, I will say the taste of the dishes made me not mind the slow service, it was very good. After we ate I quickly asked for the bill because the place was filling up fast and I didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle. I don’t remember the exact total we spent but I can say that the most expensive thing on the lunch menu was about 16 dollars (45 EC dollars) and mixed drinks were about 7 dollars each (18 EC dollars).
Back down at the beach I talked to some local kids who were selling coconuts and sugarcane down on the beach. I didn’t buy any but I did give them a couple of dollars just because the conversation was good and I liked them. A little bit later while I was down in the water a guy pulled up in a small paddle boat selling fresh fruit. It was there that I had the best banana the world has ever known. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to enjoy store-bought fruit again. While I was eating that banana I had visions of various based mixed drinks running through my head, no wonder all of the drinks are so tasty in the Caribbean.
Although my time at Reduit beach lasted from roughly 9 o’clock in the morning until nearly 4 in the afternoon it really did seem far too short. There was absolutely nothing exciting about this day but as I mentioned before, it just felt right. If I could bottle that feeling to sell I’d have enough money to own a cruise ship of my own.
