St. Lucia - Day 3

Day 3 of our trip - Sunday, August 19 2012  

We started the day with our usual delicious island breakfast: cocoa tea, coffee, eggs, fresh fruit, and guava juice.   I also tried some type of fried bread which was very good.  And of course we had toast with butter and their homemade mango banana jam.  Seriously, I need to learn how to make this jam!  It can't be too hard, and it is so so good.

Starfruit tree

After breakfast we hopped on the free shuttle from the plantation to Jalousie beach.   Jalousie beach is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.  It is nestled in between the two Piton mountains.  We were told that the resort at Jalousie beach used to be a Hilton, but now it's just called Jalousie Plantation. We met a couple from DC on the shuttle, Jeff and Lara.  They have been on their honeymoon for a little over a week and are leaving in a few days.  They had already visited Jalousie beach so they were giving us pointers on where to sit and where to order drinks and food.  

As the shuttle made its way down the hilly roads, we caught glimpses of the beach and blue waters.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The resort property is very well maintained.  Everything about this beach was amazing.  There was a small area to the side where we could use the beach chairs for free, so we dropped off our stuff and relaxed.  It was already very hot, so we got in the water right away to cool down.  

visitor area

View of the Grand Piton from Jalousie Beach

soaking up the view

Brian sunbathing

Jalousie Beach

The right side of the Petit Piton

Beach Area

Panoramic of Jalousie Beach

Brian ventured off into the resort to find a gift shop to buy some cheap sunglasses.  When he got back, he brought two Caipirinhas down from the bar to the beach.  We love Caipirinhas because they are delicious and my dad makes them all the time.  It is a Brazilian drink made out of rum, sugar and limes.  The pink Caipirinha was flavored with rosemary and hibiscus.  Both versions were very refreshing.

cheers!

enjoying a Caipirinha

perfect day

After soaking up some sun, we decided to head over to the resort's outdoor restaurant to grab some lunch.  We ordered a cheeseburger and some fish tacos.  It was pretty expensive, but the food was very good and fresh.  Also, with a location like this, you can pretty much charge whatever you want and people will pay.  It felt like paradise just relaxing on a chair, looking out onto the beach, and enjoying good food.  

Lunch menu

view from lunch

After lunch, we both headed into the resort to buy an underwater camera at the gift shop.  The resort is ridiculously nice.  Here are some pictures from us just walking around:

Inside of the resort

lounge area

view from upstairs

gorgeous view

panoramic

pool area

After walking around and taking pictures, we went back to the beach and cooled off in the water.  Jeff and Lara mentioned to us that a water taxi guy offered to take them snorkeling tomorrow for a total of $60, and if we were interested in coming, it would only be $50 a couple.  Since we enjoyed snorkeling so much on our first day, we said sure.  We headed to the bar for a margarita and a Piton beer.  The shuttle picked us up at 4 PM to take us back to Fond Doux. 

When we got back to the plantation, we headed to the bar to get some drinks to take up to the pool.  We ended up talking with Johnson, the bartender for a while.  He's a really nice, young guy.  He was telling us the sports and TV shows he likes from the US.  I had a couple glasses of their rum punch and brian tried a popular island drink, Campari and orange juice.  Campari is a bitter italian liquer and the islanders love it. 

We finally made our way up to the pool and met up with Aidin and Christiana.  The area is a unique cascading pool made up of three smaller pools and decks.  It was really fun and relaxing to spend time by the pool after a beautiful day at the beach.

upper pool deck

Brian jumping in

Spiky plant

Brian soaking up the view

cool pot/fountain by the pool

pretty yellow flowers growing by the pool

king of the world

view from the pool

After drying off from the pool we headed to our room to get ready for dinner.  We heard a knock on our cottage door, and it was one of the security guards.  He had picked some fresh coconuts for us and cut the top open so we could drink the coconut water.  What an unexpected treat!

As we were walking to dinner, we saw a big frog hopping along our path and coconuts all over the place. I love the lushness of the property.

Birthday dinner!

We started off dinner with the small garlic bread toasts that they bring to each table and a bottle of Chardonnay.  I had pumpkin soup and Brian had a salad as an appetizer.  For the main course I ordered the seafood pasta, which was penne pasta in a white sauce with big chunks of fresh fish.  Brian ordered the red snapper which was very good and fresh too.  The little kittens that live on the plantation came by meowing for food.  Since the restaurant is open to the outside, the kittens are free to come and go.  For desert we ordered two cocoa fond doux drinks and a banana flambe.

It might sound like we drank a lot today, but it was Brian's 26th birthday!  We had to celebrate.  At dinner I told Brian about his birthday gift, which was a sunset cruise.  They only do the cruises on certain days of the week, so we're going on Tuesday.  We're looking forward to another snorkel trip tomorrow!