This is my first of many planned rewind posts- a more summarized version of a past trip cobbled together from group memories, pictures, and some research. Unless otherwise noted, all commentaery is “as it was at the time”.

In December of 2014 we went on a family vacation to Saint Lucia. Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean south of Martinique and north of Saint Vincent. Laurie and Riki met Ashok, Savitri, and me in Saint Lucia since we flew from San Jose and they flew from Boston.

We arrived on Dec 19 at Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) on the southern tip of the island. We got a taxi ride up the east coast, then across through the mountains toward Castries on the west coast. We stopped and took some pictures in Dennery, a beautiful bay on the east coast with a picturesque island in the middle.

We visited a small traditional baker on the roadside with delicious bread.

We stayed at Coco Palm hotel in Rodney Bay Village. For tropical trips we generally avoid hotels, and even more so resorts. In dangerous areas like parts of Mexico we liked resorts though, and of course it’s all a matter of personal preference. Coco Palm worked really well for this trip since it has a great pool, good rooms, and is located in a fairly convenient location (more on that later).

It was holiday season so there were ornaments around, always a little odd in the tropics!

We were easy walking distance from Reduit Beach, a couple blocks to the northwest. As a result we went there several times. It was a very inviting beach- warm water and down at the end we entered at, lots of local kids around playing soccer. In the background you can see Pigeon Island.. which is now a peninsula.

To our left looking out to sea was a prominent hill called Pimard Summit. We never walked up there but we watched several sunsets over it. It was also the subject of some sand fun.

One day while we were on this beach a lady came by dragging a cooler, selling roti wraps. We were a little skeptical but got at least one and it was amazing. We wished we had bought more and never could find her again!

We spent quite a lot of time at the hotel pool. Ashok and I worked on increasingly complicated ways to throw and catch a beanie frisbee. Hours just fly by playing games like that in a warm pool!

Coco Palm had some simple entertainment as well.

We also went to several good restaurants in the area.

On 8/22, Riki, Ashok and I went on a ziplining trek. Lots of fun and a great way to see the forest from a different perspective.

Riki likes to throw a little twist into his zipline runs. Style points!

Ashok and his big hair modeled everywhere he could (yeah we probably told him to go stand there for the picture but whatever..).

We spent one day on Pigeon Island. It turns out it really was an island until 1971, when they built a causeway connecting it. Otherwise it’s a full-on peninsula and we took a taxi out and around to get to it despite it being in sight when we started. It has forts on it and a spectacular view of the coast.

Getting around on St Lucia was interesting as we didn’t have a rental car. If we were taking some official tour they generally picked us up so that was easy. For other destinations we started by taking taxis, until we realized that the small buses were usually the same taxi drivers driving the same popular routes at a much lower cost.

One of the big questions when exploring a new area of the world, especially in these days of increased connectivity and shared information, is whether to get a guide/tour or to self-explore. Our default is to figure it out ourselves, but there are lots of places that either will really benefit from a guide or even legally require it. I can’t say that one way is better, but certainly each has its strengths and weaknesses.

We visited Anse la Rey, a small harbor and village on the west coast. Somehow the colors really popped along the water.

Traveling up and down the coasts, you can’t help but notice the rugged mountains inland. Even more striking though, on the west coast are the two volcanic peak towering out of the water, the pitons